Lesson Plan Title : Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Age Range: Grade 3 through Grade 5 (Elementary Level)

Overview and Purpose : Everyone has bad days, but Alexander's seems to be just awful. In this activity, students create their own bad day by describing a series of events that go wrong for them.

Objective: The student will be able to write a short story about his own bad day.

Resources:

Two or three copies of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Writing journals

Activities:

Read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day to your students. Talk about and chart what happened to Alexander, how he felt about it, and how his family reacted to his day. Explain that your students are going to get to use their imaginations to create a day like Alexander's but they are going to pretend it happens to them. They should include what happens, how they feel, and how their family reacts. When everyone is finished, have them share their stories with the class.

Closure:

This activity could also be done as a whole group. The class could have a bad day and write a story about what happened, how they felt as a class, and how their teachers and principal reacted to them. The students could then create a mural of the story to hang outside the classroom.