One Dog Canoe

One Dog Canoe was written by Mary Cassanova, and is a part of our reading series.  I love getting to teach this book!  If you haven't read it before, this girl and her dog go on a canoe ride, and all these animals keep joining them.  The repetitive text and predictable pattern makes it an enjoyable read for the kids.

I usually spent 3-4 days just on this book alone- it has great vocabulary, and a text that works well for retelling.  It also works really well in a compare and contrast with Jan Brett's The Mitten.

Day 1- We read the book, not stopping a whole bunch so the kids could appreciate the cadence of the story and just enjoy it all around.  I stopped only when there were vocabulary words that greatly hindered their understanding of the text.  I explained them briefly and moved on.  (We will spend a lot of time on those words in days to come).  We created a double bubble map to compare One Dog Canoe to the book The Mitten by Jan Brett.

Day 2- We read the book slower; taking time to talk about the vocabulary words and come up with our own definitions of them.  We made and anchor chart of these vocabulary words and their definitions.  I had the kids draw out one of the vocabulary words on a sticky note and adhere it to the chart, then as a class we developed definitions to go with each word.

Also on day 2, the students wrote a summary of the book.  They earned a sticker on their paper by using one or more of the vocabulary words in their summary.  

Day 3- We read the book again, this time with more of an emphasis on the details of the book.  Who got in the boat next?  We used a large canoe made of butcher paper and inserted the animals into the canoe as we read the story.  Students then were given the mini-book pages and required to put them into sequential order.  I love this mini-book because it is simple enough that when the students are finished putting it together the majority of the class is able to read the book.

Day 4- We read the book one final time.  (Although I have placed it in a bucket where they can read it on their own, I have a feeling it will get read a lot more.)  The students took a quick comprehension assessment about the book.

To grab these One Dog Canoe resources click any of the pictures on the page.