Olive, theOtherReindeer

Written by Vivian Walsh

Illustrated by J. Otto Seibold

Genre: Fiction

Skills: Story Elements

Simile

Before Reading

1. Introduction:

  • If this book is read during the Christmas season, discuss Santa and his reindeer.
  • Ask the students to list the names of all the reindeer.
  • Ask the students why they think the author chose to name this book, Olive, the Other Reindeer?

2. Introduce these vocabulary words before reading the book.

  • By using context clues, see if the students understand the definitions of these words.
  • Write these words and definitions on sentence strips.

1. line-up
Santa noticed that there was a little dog in the line-up.
2. smack
They flew smack into the top of a too tall tree.
3. clung
Olive clung to the side of the tree.
4. spun around
She spun around on her string to see the night sky filled with falling flutes.
5. fetching
Olive was very good at fetching sticks.
6. patching
Before Santa had finished patching the hole in the sleigh, Olive had returned each and every flute back to the sack.
7. glorious
Back at the North Pole it was a glorious morning.

During Reading

1. Play the e-book once without stopping.

2. Play the e-book again. This time have the students read

along chorally. Play the book in automatic mode to do so and turn off the sound.

3. Play the e-book in manual mode so the students can read

as partners. Have the partners be either peanut butter

or jelly.

Page 1--Peanut Butter reads.

Jelly retells.

Page 2--Jelly reads.

Peanut Butter retells.

Continue this pattern until the text is completely read.

After Reading

1. Ask the students:

What was the author’s purpose?

to persuade?

to inform?

to entertain?

to explain?

2. Before reading, the students were ask why the author would name the book, Olive, the Other Reindeer? Now after reading the book, see if their answers are still the same.

3. Story Elements:

Buy a pair of cloth garden gloves. With a black permanent marker, write one of these on each finger:

Setting

Characters

Problem/Problems

Solution/Solutions

What is the story mostly about?

By touching each finger, ask a student to answer the question. Do this activity to retell the story.

Also ask the students to retell all the ways Olive helped Santa.

4. Simile:

A simile is used to compare two things. A simile uses the words “like” and “as” when making those comparisons. This simile came from the story. Use it as an example. Then have the students practice making other similes.

Ex: The fog was as thick as a pillow.

5. Art Extension:

If the book is read during the Christmas season, students could make a reindeer from a dog bone.

  • Give each student a large dog bone.
  • Turn the bone vertically.
  • Glue wiggly eyes and a red or black pom-pom on the bone for a face.
  • Form antlers from brown pipe cleaners and glue them with a hot glue gun on the back of the bone.
  • A hanger can be glued on the back of the bone so it can be used as a Christmas tree ornament.