Resources

Teachers’ Guide with slideshow, “A Lesson in Story Elements,” and Student Packet

Classroom Activities
Ideas for classroom activities from art projects to discussions of comparisons, word form matching, and writing, all centered around Polka-dot’s story.

Character Traits
Polka-dot Fixes Kindergarten is a good book for studying social-emotional topics.  You’ll find a Character Traits PowerPoint (in PDF format), a student packet, and lesson plans.

Irregular Verb Matching Game
One of the challenges of learning to read is the mastery of irregular past-tense verbs. Many children — especially second-language learners — automatically create past-tense verbs by adding ‘ed.’ Often they need extra help to learn the many exceptions to the ‘ed’ trick.

Using words from Polka-dot Fixes Kindergarten, this game challenges students to match a verb with its past-tense form. To create the game, make two sets of cards using the pattern and verb templates. One set will have polka-dots on the fronts and present-tense verbs on the backs. The other set will have stripes on the fronts and past-tense verbs on the backs. Print multiple sets double-sided on heavy paper. Then cut them into cards and mix one set of polka-dot cards with one set of striped cards. You also can use the templates to create your own pairs of past/present tense verbs.

Divide the children into groups of four or five and give each group a set of cards. Children take turns flipping over a polka-dot card, then a striped card. If the striped card is the past tense of the polka-dot card, the child puts the two cards in his or her lap. If the cards don’t match, the child flips them back over and play continues.