Interactive Whiteboard Activities, Book Resources
Hoot: A Flashlight Readers Activity
This fun, visually appealing online hub brings the popular book by Carl Hiaasen to life with activities, author chats, slideshows, and more.
- Grades: 3–5, 6–8
“Explore Hoot,” an interactive literary experience from Scholastic’s Flashlight Readers, gives fans of the Carl Hiaasen book more of their favorite read.
Students can:
- Browse a slideshow of images from "Hoot the Movie."
- Engage with other Flashlight readers on Scholastic’s Flash Board
- Send a letter to a local politician with the “Write for a Change” three-step writing activity.
- Find out what inspired the author to write the book in “About Hoot.”
- Find out how the author creates a quiet place to write and get writing advice from “Carl Hiaasen on Writing.”
- Discover Hoot with a sample chapter from the book
- Find out “What’s Next? Flush” – Carl Hiaasen’s next book for kids
- Meet the Author with this brief bio
- Get recommendations for More Best Books that fans of Hoot will enjoy
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 book
- 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 Hoot Flashlight Readers Lesson Plans
Language Arts Standards (4th Ed.)
Lesson 1: Write for Change Lesson Plan
- Reflects on what has been learned after reading and formulates ideas, opinions, and personal responses to texts
- Uses a variety of strategies to plan research
- Writes persuasive compositions
- Evaluates own and others' writing
Lesson 2: Picturing the Story Lesson Plan
- Evaluates own and others' writing
- Drafting and revising: uses a variety of strategies to draft and revise written work
- Editing and publishing: uses a variety of strategies to edit and publish written work
Lesson 3: Up Close With the Author Lesson Plan
- Reflects on what has been learned after reading and formulates ideas, opinions, and personal responses to texts
- Evaluates own and others' writing
- Subjects:Birds, Changes and New Experiences, Environmental Conservation and Preservation, Writing Prompts, Character and Values, Endangered Animals and Welfare, Friends and Friendship, Peer Pressure, Understanding Self and Others, Communication and the Internet
- Skills:Reading Comprehension


