Penguin's Cozy Hat Cored Literacy Readers Level D

Book Snapshot

Title: Penguin’s Cozy Hat
Genre: Fiction
Primary Topic: Persevering through a windy challenge
Estimated Guided Reading Level (A–Z): D

What This Book Teaches Best

• Perseverance / determination: Percy keeps holding on until his hat stayed put, showing real determination.

• Cause and effect: A small puff of wind turns into a stronger wind that tugged at his hat.

• Problem-solving with actions: Percy changes his body position—wiggles, squats low, and holds steady—to keep the hat on.

• Descriptive language: Words like crisp, icy cold, and roared help readers feel the setting.

Learning Goals

Students will:

• retell the main events from the story

• describe why Percy loved his hat using details from the text

• explain how the wind affected Percy’s hat and what Percy did in response

• identify words and phrases that describe the cold, windy setting

• explain how Percy feels at the end and support the idea with text evidence

Key Vocabulary From the Text

• waddled — walked with short, side-to-side steps

• crisp — cold and fresh feeling

• tugged — pulled hard on something

• squatted — bent down very low

• determination — not giving up when it’s difficult

FULL CATALOG OF DOWNLOAD LINKS AND ENCYCLOPEDIA INDEX HERE

Printing Tips

1. Best Printing Method (Recommended)

“Booklet” Printing (Best if Available)

If your printer or PDF viewer supports Booklet Printing, use this.

Settings to use:

• Print mode: Booklet

• Paper size: Letter or A4 (either works)

• Orientation: Landscape

• Print on both sides: Yes

• Flip on: Short edge

• Scaling: Fit to printable area

• Booklet subset:

  • First test: Front sides only

  • Then: Back sides only

This will automatically:

• Pair pages correctly

• Put the cover on the outside

• Align everything for folding

After printing, fold in half and staple along the spine.

2. If “Booklet” Printing Is NOT Available

You can still print this correctly with manual duplex printing.

Step-by-step:

1. Open the PDF.

2. Choose Print.

3. Set:

   • Orientation: Landscape

   • Pages per sheet: 1

   • Print on both sides: Yes

   • Flip on: Short edge

4. Print all pages.

Because each PDF page already contains two facing book pages, the result will still fold cleanly into a book.

Literacy Readers Overview

This product is perfect for small group instruction, such as guided reading, strategy groups, or interventions. It could also be used for independent reading, homework, or holiday work. It could also be used for literacy stations, read-aloud practice, or sub plans.

Extension Ideas

There are several ways to extend the lesson, including reading twice—first for understanding, and the second time to find the key details. Perhaps you can highlight or underline a detail that answers the comprehension questions. You can also turn it into a writing activity: What did you learn, or retell the story using first, next, then, finally. You could even choose a vocabulary word, draw it, with a caption from the text. For more advanced learners, perhaps you can compare this to another text they have read recently.

Differentiation Tips

For differentiation, if the words are hard, then perhaps you can preview some of them before you begin. For responses, perhaps you can give the students the first few words, for example, “In the book…”. You can also pair up the students, which normally leads to one of them helping the other. You can read it through again for fluency. Perhaps you can read two or three pages at a time and then come together as a group and analyze.

For similar downloads and other frees, do check out Cored Group on TeachSimple.