Fish in a Tree Reading Comprehension Questions Updated

Fish in a Tree Reading Comprehension Questions

Welcome to the ninth installment of Brightly's Book Social club for Kids, where nosotros help young readers discover engaging stories to enjoy together! This month'due south volume is perfect for the "back to school" flavor. Fish in a Tree , by Lynda Mullaly Chase, is an emotionally charged story that captures the ups and downs of school, friendships, and the search for identity experienced by tweens and young teens. This is i of those brilliant books that leaves united states amend than it found us — with greater empathy and a larger appreciation of ourselves and others.

This Calendar month's Option

Best For: Kids ages eight – 13, simply the book is relevant for older teen readers, as well.

What It'due south About: Sixth grader Ally Nickerson has always dreaded school. She'due south been called "dumb" and "loser" by her fellow students and considered a troublemaker past her teachers. She's great at math and fine art but she's never let anyone know her darkest undercover: She can't read. Everything changes when she gets a new instructor, Mr. Daniels, and befriends two other misfits at schoolhouse, Keisha and Albert. Mr. D realizes that Ally has dyslexia and helps her acquire to read and see the value of her creative mind. Her new friends help her realize in that location's a lot more than to people than first meets the middle. This is an emotional and uplifting story about celebrating the uniqueness in everyone.

Major Themes: Appreciating our differences, overcoming adversity, friendship, bullying, dyslexia and learning differences, teacher/student relationships

Why We Picked It: Fish in a Tree is a perfect book to read during the "back to school" season when kids, parents, and teachers are all dealing with the adjustments of a new school yr. This book touches on many everyday challenges that kids (and adults) face, like dealing with "mean kids," feeling different from your peers, and figuring out how to persevere when things are hard. The ability of friendship, the role of teachers, and the need for grit are inspiring and practical messages. Fish in a Tree would also be a nifty grade read-aloud for teachers at the beginning of the schoolhouse yr.

This story is especially relevant for kids who have reading difficulties or learning differences. Reading this book together as a group, or listening to the audiobook version independently, is a keen way to share this book with readers who might non be able to tackle it on their ain; information technology can too spark a conversation about learning challenges and strategies for overcoming them.

Suggestions for Younger Readers: Are your readers a little too young for this book? Attempt these great film books that address friendship challenges and learning differences for younger readers:

What You lot'll Need for Book Social club

You lot'll need the book, DIY decorations, volume-themed snacks, our printable discussion questions (meet below), and admission to the Internet.

Book-Inspired Decorations:

FIT-Decorations

Inspirational Motto Signs: There are lots of inspirational mottos referenced in this story like "Be Yourself" and "Never Never Never Give up." Describe a poster with your favorite mottos or get digital and use cool fonts and backgrounds with a free design tool like Canva.

"Great Minds Don't Remember Alike" Badge or Poster: Download this epitome to create "Great Minds Don't Think Alike" badges and wear them during book club and beyond. Use clear tape and a safety pin to plough a simple printout into a article of clothing badge as shown here.

Celebrate "Different" Thinkers: Mr. Daniels mentions several famous people with dyslexia like Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, and Walt Disney. Print out pictures of the famous people or people in your life that have dyslexia and display them on your walls. Hither's a link to a list of famous "dyslexic achievers."

Book-Themed Sweets:

FIT-Snacks

Keisha's Secret Message Cupcakes: My oral cavity was watering when Keisha described her homemade cupcakes. Endeavour making your own cupcakes filled with underground messages with these instructions. Or, replicate these "fish-tree" cupcakes the author fabricated for the Fish in a Tree book release party.

Words with Cookies: Spell out powerful words with cookies. Here'southward a simple recipe for alphabet cookies or keep it super piece of cake and pick up a box of alphabetic character cookies at the grocery store.

A.C. Petersen Farms' Ice Cream Sundaes: Skip the baking and savour sundaes with scoops of strawberry, pistachio, and black raspberry ice cream like Ally has when she visits the restaurant where her mom works.

The Book Club Discussion

Fish in a Tree forces readers to think about what being "smart" actually means and how to embrace, non just tolerate, each other's differences. As you discuss the volume together, recall about how each graphic symbol grows and how they support each other in their ain journeys.

download-b-fishinatree

Fish in a Tree Give-and-take Questions

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Read the Albert Einstein quote shared by Mr. Daniels: "Everybody is smart in unlike ways. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid." What does this quote mean to you? How does it relate to Ally? Why does the author apply this as the basis for the book's title?

Define and talk over dyslexia. Do you or anyone y'all know take learning differences like dyslexia? Hither is some information and statistics about how prevalent this upshot is that may aid kids meliorate understand dyslexia. Attempt reading this passage to experience what information technology might be like to read with a learning inability. How did you experience? Did you lot become frustrated or discouraged? Did information technology brand yous want to read more or less?

Bullying is a major theme in the book. Discuss how Ally reacts and why she gets and then upset by things Shay says to her and others. How did Marry feel when she was mean to Albert? Why does Albert non stand up to the boys who choice on him? Have y'all ever been bullied or been a bully to someone else? Discuss how it felt and what yous might do differently next time.

We don't always know everything that is happening in other people's lives. Hash out what is happening with Ally and her family unit that others don't know and how this impacts her (e.thousand. her father is away from home and her mother works long hours). How about for Albert (his family can't pay their bills) or Shay (her mother is harsh to her)? Does knowing these things give you more than empathy for how they human activity at school? What practice classmates non know about you?

Ally compares her existence called a "slow reader" to people thinking she is like "a can of soup, and they tin can just read the listing of ingredients and know everything about me." How do we label each other? How do you label yourself? Discuss how labeling can assistance the states make sense of the world but also limit our view of others and ourselves.

Discuss the friendship between Ally, Albert, and Keisha. How does their friendship benefit each 1 of them? What friendships aid you be your all-time cocky? Contrast their relationship with the friendship between Shay and Jessica.

What role does Mr. Daniels play in Ally's development during the story? Share specific examples of things he does to encourage and motivate her. What teachers have had a significant impact on your life? How?

Ally talks virtually having a "Silver Dollar" twenty-four hours or a "Wooden Nickel" solar day. Where practise those references come from? What practise they mean? What would a Silver Dollar 24-hour interval look similar for you? How about a Wooden Nickel twenty-four hours?

There's a lot of talk these days about the importance of grit and having a "growth mindset." (Watch this TED talk past Carol Dweck or read about information technology hither.) How does Ally evidence a growth mindset? Discuss a situation where you have shown a growth mindset and when you have shown a stock-still mindset. Why is a growth mindset important in your life?

Read more near author Lynda Mullaly Hunt and why she wrote this story. Why is this book so important to her?

After the Word

Brand Your Own Mystery Boxes: Place random objects from around the house inside erstwhile shoeboxes. Exchange boxes and try to guess what is inside each person's box. Is it harder or easier than you expected? What skills did it take?

Shaving Cream Vocabulary: Make a listing of new vocabulary words. Check out these lists on vocabulary.com for ideas. Utilise shaving cream to write them out as you lot say the definition. Or, bank check out more than kinetic spelling activities.

Custom T-Shirt: Pattern a T-shirt similar Albert's FLINT shirt to make a statement near who you are. Go hi-tech or just iron on a design.

Gratitude Letter: Write a cheers letter to a teacher that has fabricated a big impact on your life. Don't forget to mail service it!

Share Your Secret Talent: What is a talent you take that others (fifty-fifty your family!) might non know about? Have everyone write a clandestine talent on a piece of newspaper (no names) and put it in a lid. Accept turns drawing out the papers and voting on whose talent information technology is. You might learn something new most your family or classmate.

Have a Chess Tournament: Don't know how to play? Bank check out these free lesson videos.

Share Your Vocalization: Charge per unit and review this book on Bookopolis or Goodreads. A great way to practice reading comprehension and opinion writing.