Curious George Gets a Medal by: H.A. Rey - Teaching Ideas




In this 1957 Curious George book  George, and the reader, is taken on quite an adventure. He not only gets to ride on the back of a cow, he takes a trip to a museum and rides into space in a spaceship! Your students will love all the mischief that George gets into in this book and, in the end, will see George get a medal for doing something so brave.

The below skills and strategies will help you create a lesson your students will really enjoy. Don't forget about the FREE questioning download I have available as well as the packet of awesome activities.

Reading level: 3.1
Theme: Curiosity
Genre: Humorous Fiction

Suggested Vocabulary: fountain pen, funnel, blotter, tap (faucet), lather, slipped inside, sway, bail out

Reading skills and strategies:
  • author's point of view - third person point of view.
  • author's purpose - entertain {evidence} George filled the house with lots of bubbles. George was riding on a cow pulling a pump and George stood frozen in the museum pretending to be a stuffed monkey. All of these things are silly which makes the book entertaining.
  • beginning, middle, end - {most important event from beginning} {most important event from middle} {most important event from end}
  • cause and effect - Why did George want to write a letter? because he couldn't read the letter that was delivered. Why was George riding on a cow? because he was trying to have the cow drag the pump to his house so he could pump out the water from his house. Why did George go to the museum? because the truck he jumped in went to the library. Why did the tree in the museum fall down? because George was trying to pick the nuts and he tugged too hard. Why was Professor Wiseman going to send George to the zoo? because they though he ran away from the zoo. Why did Professor Wiseman ask George to go in the space ship? because it was too small for a man but a perfect size for a monkey. Why was everyone waiting anxiously? because they didn't see that George ejected from the space ship. Why did George get a medal? because he was the first living thing to come back to earth from space.
  • characterization - describe George {looks like, feelings, thoughts, character}
  • compare & contrast - Curious George Gets a Medal and Curious George Rides a Bike.
  • connections - {possible text-to-self connections} Spilling something and trying to clean it up.  Going to a museum. Winning a medal for something you did. {possible text-to-text connections} Connect this book to any of the Curious George books.
  • drawing conclusions & inferencing - {text clues} {what I know} {my conclusion}
  • fact & opinion - {facts} George lives with the man in the yellow hat. George spilled ink on the floor. The room was filled with lather. George rode on the back of a cow. George pretended to be a stuffed monkey. George got a medal. {opinions} George was a good little monkey. George is a thief. The farmers were very angry at George. The pump was heavy. George was excited to go in the space ship.
  • plot - the turning point in the story is when the man with the yellow hat finds George at the museum and reads him a letter.
  • predict - Why do you think George will get a medal? What do you think the letter says? What do you think will happen if George tries to fill the ink pen? What do you think will happen if George puts water on all that powdered soap? Who do you think George will get to help him move the pump? Do you think the farmers will catch George? What do you think Professor Wiseman will do with George after he knocked down the dinosaur display?  Do you think George will choose to go in the space ship? Will George pull the lever and get out of the space ship?
  • sequencing - The mailman delivered a letter. George wanted to write a letter. George spilled ink on the floor. George poured powdered soap on the ink. George put water on the soap and made a bunch of lather. George was going to shovel out the lather but it was gone. George needed a pump to pump out the water from the house. The pump was too heavy for George so he tried to get a goat to help him. The goat knocked George over to the pig pen. George let out all the pigs. George got a cow to help move the pump. The farmers had to gather all the pigs that George let out. George and the cow tried to run away from the farmers. George jumped into a truck that was going to the museum. George saw a lot of animals that were stuffed. George tried to pick some nuts from a tree and the dinosaur and tree fell over. The museum guards caught George and were sending him back to the zoo. The man in the yellow hat came running in and told George about Professor Wiseman's letter. George agreed to go in the spaceship. George took a long time to pull the handle to escape from the space ship. George parachuted down from space. When George landed he received a medal. 
  • story elements - list title, author, character's, setting, beginning, middle, end, or problem & solution.
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Activity packet

For this book I created a writing activity. It is a super cute activity (pictured above) where you can use the prompt I provide in the packet, or you can have them write about what you want. Here is what it could look like when done.







Click here to see ALL the preview pictures of this packet.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Skills-Strategies-Activity-Pack-inspired-by-Curious-George-by-HA-Rey

 $ PACKET $


Coming soon, Curious George Goes to the Hospital


Happy reading!

1 comment

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