Never Smile at a Monkey by Steve Jenkins Read-Aloud Activities

Make and support predictions about an informational picture book using cover and illustration clues.

Answer comprehension questions about dangerous animals using details and examples from the text.

Convert a data table into a bar graph and use size data to solve comparison problems.

Project the book under a document camera while reading aloud, since the teacher-tips page notes the illustrations are necessary to understanding the story and many activities reference them directly.

Assign the two bar-graph pages and the Animal Size Showdown page together as a short data unit, using each page’s own animal-size data table.

Use the two True or False versions to differentiate: the bubble-only version for students who need a simpler check, and the correct-the-false-statement version for students ready to write evidence-based corrections.

Predicting and confirming — students use cover art and illustrations to predict content, then check their predictions against the text.

Text-evidence comprehension — Thinking About the Text and Thinking Beyond the Text prompts require answers supported by examples from the story.

Vocabulary in context — word scramble, Who Am I?, crossword and New Vocabulary tasks build content vocabulary from the book's animal profiles.