The Stray Dog

#storytime #socialemotionaldevelopment #childrenreading #readaloudchannel #kidsbooksonline The Stray Dog The Caldecott Honor-winning picture book The Stray Dog by Marc Simont follows a family who meets a scruffy dog named Willy during a Saturday picnic. After thinking about him all week, they return the following Saturday to rescue Willy from the dog catcher and welcome him into their home. Perfect for: 🥔 Story time at home or school 📚 Preschool and elementary read-aloud ❤️ Social-emotional learning Visit my TPT story related activities: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/s... Comments or Questions can be emailed to jimmypooreads@gmail.com Pedagogical Focus & Core Concepts • Social-Emotional Learning (SEL): Empathy, compassion, responsibility, and belonging. Provides clear prompts to discuss caring for animals and treating living things with kindness. • Early Literacy & Narrative Structure: Focuses on sequence of events (days of the week), making predictions, and reading visual cues from detailed watercolor illustrations. • Phonics & Vocabulary Development: Focuses on the short 'a' sound (cat, hat, tag), long 'a' vowel patterns, and high-frequency sight words (park, day, week, home). Instructional Framework: "I Do, We Do, You Do" Lesson Plan 1. "I Do" — Teacher Modeling & Read-Aloud Prediction Prompt: Show the cover image of Willy. Ask: "What details in the picture show us this dog might not have a home?" Visual Cue Anchor: Pause on the page where the family leaves the park without Willy. Highlight how the character expressions show sadness and concern. Explicit Strategy: Model connecting heard words to printed story cards showing days of the week to emphasize elapsed time. 2. "We Do" — Guided Group Activity Story Sequence Sequencing: Use a felt board or pocket chart with printable sequence cards showing the family picnic, the week of thinking about Willy, the return to the park, and the rescue. Rhyming & Sound Hunt: Have children listen for short 'a' word family patterns in accompanying story chants ("Willy is a stray, running fast to play"). Hands-on Practice: Match picture cards of story items (leash, collar, bone, park) to matching letter-sound cards. 3. "You Do" — Hands-On Independent / Small Group Learning Printable Companion Worksheet: Students draw a picture of Willy in his new home and complete a sentence frame: "Willy felt happy when _____." Collar Tag Craft Activity: Children cut out a paper dog tag manipulative, write their name or a rhyming word on it, and attach it to a paper leash. Retelling Station: Provide a stuffed dog manipulative and picture cards for students to retell the story sequence to a partner. Activity Verification & Delivery Checklist Prepare velcro felt board sequence cutouts for Monday through Saturday events. Print short 'a' word cards (rag, bag, tag, stray) and leash-tag manipulatives. Set up a companion storytime recording station for independent listening and digital retells.