How-To Books

1. The teacher will read the story ‘How to Catch an Elf’ by Adam Wallace and Andy Elkerton. During the read-aloud, the teacher should stop and discuss ways in which you can catch the Elf. (Make a list on chart paper of the steps as you read)
2. Discuss the steps the story had in how to go about catching an Elf and open a discussion on things we know how to do well. Such as, how to line up for lunch, how to read a book, how to play basketball, how to draw a flower etc. Have students generate a list of ideas for their own how-to books.
3. Each student should be given a writing booklet to go and get started writing their how-to books. They should choose one topic from the list of ideas they created. (Allow students 30 or so minutes to write.)

*Students may not finish in 30 minutes. Some students might need two or so days to complete their how-to books. Once they have finished their how-to books, they can color their books.

4. Once all students have completed their how-to books they will share their booklets aloud to the class as a whole or with a partner.

*The video on how to make an elf trap could be a possible STEAM project you could add to the lesson if you wanted to have a STEAM component.

Students will be assessed on whether or not they were able to write a how-to book. The how-to books that they created should be turned in for review.