Every Monday, I highlight a book from our school bookroom and offer lesson plan suggestions.
There’s an Alligator Under my Bed, by Mercer Mayer
This book is one of the old SFA Roots listening comprehension texts, and as such, there are three copies available! Perfect for collaborative lesson planning with your teammates!
In There’s an Alligator Under my Bed, a young boy is fully cognizant of the reptile hanging out below his mattress, despite the fact that he can’t get his parents to believe him. He takes matters into his own hands to solve the problem.
You can watch Mr. Mayer himself read the book in this video:
Boy, would a Mercer Mayer author study be awesome. Especially for folks working on a writing unit on realistic fiction or personal narrative (I’m thinking of the Little Critter books, not There’s an Alligator Under my Bed :)). Also, did you know that Mercer Mayer does non-picture book art too?
There is a CAFE menu included with this mentor text, and I’ve highlighted these as suggestions:
Comprehension
- Predict what will happen, use text to confirm. The surprise ending of this book would be fun to predict then disprove with explanations from the text.
- Summarize text, include sequence of main events. This simple story would be perfect for teaching the Somebody-Wanted-But-So framework.
- Compare and contrast within and between text. Why not compare and contrast this book with There’s a Nightmare in my Closet? Video available here:
Please add any lessons or supplemental materials to the book bag so future teachers can utilize your good thinking!
Comments and constructive feedback are always welcomed. Please let me know if these lessons were useful in your class!
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