Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs Book Companion

This picture book companion is a complete supplemental resource for the book Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs by Tomie dePaola. It includes 31 print-and-go reading activities to choose from, making this resource ideal for customizing learning to your student's specific needs and academic abilities.

Students will investigate characters, identify story elements, determine the theme, practice plotting story events, compare & contrast, make predictions, inferences, & connections, answer questions that require them to think beyond the text, and much more!

Students will thoroughly enjoy the captivating activities, and you'll value the time saved from scouring for advanced resources to address challenging reading concepts. The offered activities are crafted to foster higher-order thinking, prompt students to present textual proof for their reasoning, and inspire them to share their personal insights and viewpoints.

⭐️This Resource Includes:⭐️

• ◾ Making Predictions: Before reading the book, students will make predictions about the text.

  • ◾ Story Elements: Students fill in the boxes with words & pictures to represent the story elements.

    • ◾ Sequencing: Students will retell & illustrate the important parts of the story.

    • ◾ Recalling events in Chronological Order: Students describe and illustrate four major events in the story in chronological order.

    • ◾ Summary: Students complete the Somebody, Wanted, Because, But, So graphic organizer and write a summary of the story.

    • ◾ Story Event Sort: Students will describe a scene or event from the story that fits into each of the categories & explain how the event made them feel & how it relates to the category.

    • ◾ Cause & Effect (simplified): Students are given either the cause or effect and will cut & match up cause & effect cards, then paste them in the correct boxes (ANSWER KEY included).

    • ◾ Cause & Effect: Students cut & match up cause & effect cards, then paste them in the correct boxes (ANSWER KEY included).

    • ◾ Making Inferences: Students use clues & schema to make inferences while reading the story.

    • ◾ Making Connections: Students make connections to an event from the story.

    • ◾ Notice & Note: Students will notice the important details the author includes in the text & illustrations and take notes on what they notice.

    • ◾ Author's Message: Students describe four important events from the story in chronological order and answer the questions about the author's message.

    • ◾ Character Inside & Out (Tommy): Students include details from the story to describe what the character says, thinks, does, and feels.

    • ◾ Character Inside & Out (Nana Upstairs): Students include details from the story to describe what the character says, thinks, does, and feels.

    • ◾ Character Inside & Out (Nana Downstairs): Students include details from the story to describe what the character says, thinks, does, and feels.

    • ◾ Character Traits: Students choose 4 important character traits that describe the main character and provide evidence from the text to support their choices.

    • ◾ Character Feelings: Students describe how the character's feelings change throughout the story & give examples of the events that cause them to feel the way they do.

    • ◾ Character Development: Students select the character traits that best describe Tommy at different times throughout the story and provide examples from the book to support each character trait.

    • ◾ Character Change: Students will explain how the character changed from the beginning to the end of the story and describe the events that caused the change to happen.

    • ◾ Sketch a Scene From the Story: Students will draw a scene from the story and explain why it's important to the plot.

    • ◾ Setting Influences the Plot: Students will draw a scene from the story that takes place in one of the settings and write about what happened there and why it was important to the plot.

    • ◾ Theme: Students answer the questions to determine which theme best fits the story and provide text evidence to support their choice.

    • ◾ Thinking About the Text: Students will answer the questions about the story & include examples from the text to support their answers.

    • ◾ Thinking Beyond the Text: Students will answer questions that require them to think beyond the text.

    • ◾ Sensory Details: Students choose an event from the story and describe it using the five senses.

    • ◾ Wait... There's More!: Students will write about what happens next in the story.

    • ◾ Something Special: Students draw pictures of Tommy & Nana Upstairs doing something special and of themselves doing something special with an older family member or friend. Then, they compare and contrast Tommy & Nana's relationship to their relationship with an older relative or friend.

    • ◾ Book Review: Students will color in the stars to rate how much they enjoyed the book and draw a new cover & their favorite character from the story. Then, they will explain why other kids should or should not read it.

    • ◾ Biography Brochure: Students conduct research to learn more about the author, Tomie dePaola's life, and create a brochure.

    • ◾ Biography One-Pager: Students research further into the life of Tomie dePaola and complete the biography handout.

    • ◾ Acrostic Poem: Students write an acrostic poem that includes facts and describes the author, Tomie dePaola.

💡Need ideas for different ways you can implement these activities?

• ◾ Focus on different reading skills each day for targeted instruction, and have students complete a corresponding printable to check for understanding.

• ◾ During centers, students can independently read the story again and complete an activity that reviews a previously taught concept.

• ◾ Work with students on a reading concept they struggle with during guided reading or strategy groups.

• ◾ Students work with a partner or in literature circles to complete additional reading activities.

This resource is for extension read-aloud activities only. The book is not included.

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