Interactive Whiteboard Activities, Book Resources
A Dog’s Life: A Flashlight Readers Activity
With engaging online activities based on the book, Scholastic offers fans of A Dog’s Life more of the characters and story they love.
- Grades: 3–5, 6–8
Fans of the book will love the “Explore A Dog’s Life” interactive hub, part of Scholastic’s Flashlight Readers. With activities starring the book’s characters, chats with the author, content for dog lovers, and much more, this visually appealing online experience gives students more of the book they love.
Students can:
- Direct the character Bones through an online adventure in “Bone Travels On.”
- Imagine a new adventure for Squirrel or other favorite characters with the Create a Tale activity.
- Meet the Author, Ann Matthews Martin, by reading this brief bio of her.
- Discover A Dog’s Life with this excerpt and introduction from the author.
- Get the story behind the story, with photos and text from the author herself, with our Creating A Dog’s Life slideshow.
- Read Ann M. Martin on Writing, which shares how she developed a love for writing.
- Dive into our Doggie Grab Bag for some trivia for true dog-lovers.
- Find out the differences between purebred dogs, mixed-breeds, and hybrid dogs with our It Takes Two! activity.
- Share a photo and story of their dogs with Pet Pictures.
- Meet Dog Savior Mike Malloy, an animal behaviorist with the North Shore Animal League America (NSALA), who helped rescue dogs after Hurricane Katrina.
- Get Involved by adopting a dog or volunteering for one of these no-kill shelter organizations.
- Get a sneak peek of What’s Next: Main Street, the author’s next book series.
- Read More Best Books that fans of A Dog’s Life will love.
Learning Objectives
While participating in “Flashlight Readers,” students will:
- Offer observations, make connections, react, speculate, interpret, and raise questions in response to text
- Identify and discuss book themes, characters, plots, and settings
- Connect their experiences with those of the author and/or with characters from the books
- Support predictions, interpretations, conclusions, etc. with examples from text
- Practice key reading skills and strategies (cause-and-effect, problem/solution, compare-and-contrast, summarizing, etc.)
- Monitor their own comprehension
- Discuss ideas from the book with you, the author, and/or other students online
Benchmarks for A Dog's Life Flashlight Readers Lesson Plans
Language Arts Standards (4th Ed.)
Lesson 1: A Tale to Tell! Lesson Plan
- Uses prewriting strategies to plan written work (e.g., uses graphic organizers; brainstorms ideas; organizes information according to type and purpose of writing)
- Uses strategies to draft and revise written work (e.g., elaborates on a central idea; writes with attention to audience, word choice, sentence variation)
- Uses strategies to edit and publish written work (e.g., edits for grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling at a developmentally appropriate level; selects presentation format according to purpose; incorporates photos and illustrations; uses technology to compose and publish work)
- Evaluates own and others' writing (e.g., determines the best features of a piece of writing, determines how own writing achieves its purposes, asks for feedback, responds to classmates' writing)
- Writes narrative accounts, such as poems and stories (e.g. establishes a context that enables the reader to imagine the event or experience; develops characters, setting, and plot; creates an organizing structure; sequences events; uses concrete sensory details; uses an identifiable voice)
- Writes in response to literature (e.g., summarizes main ideas and significant details; relates own ideas to supporting details; advances judgments; supports judgments with references to the text, other works, other authors, non-print media, and personal knowledge)
Lesson 2: Bone's Adventures Lesson Plan
- Establishes a purpose for reading (e.g., for information, for pleasure, to understand a specific viewpoint)
- Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts
- Understands the basic concept of plot (e.g., main problem, conflict, resolution, cause-and-effect)
- Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes
Lesson 3: Ann M. Martin's Writing Model Lesson Plan
- Uses prewriting strategies to plan written work (e.g., uses graphic organizers; brainstorms ideas; organizes information according to type and purpose of writing)
- Uses strategies to draft and revise written work (e.g., elaborates on a central idea; writes with attention to audience, word choice, sentence variation)
- Uses strategies to edit and publish written work (e.g., edits for grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling at a developmentally appropriate level; selects presentation format according to purpose; incorporates photos and illustrations; uses technology to compose and publish work)
- Evaluates own and others' writing (e.g., determines the best features of a piece of writing, determines how own writing achieves its purposes, asks for feedback, responds to classmates' writing)
- Writes in response to literature (e.g., summarizes main ideas and significant details; relates own ideas to supporting details; advances judgments; supports judgments with references to the text, other works, other authors, non-print media, and personal knowledge)
- Provides feedback in a constructive manner and recognizes the importance of seeking and receiving constructive feedback in a non-defensive manner
Related Resources
This reader's guide, which focuses on the book A Dog's Life by Ann M. Martin, challenges students to create stories from a first- or third-person point of view, make plot decisions, and examine the author’s writing process.
Fun activities that let students go inside nine popular and highly-taught books.
- Subjects:Literature Appreciation, Revision, Animals, Writing Process
