In this activity, students will be provided a question or prompt to answer using textual evidence. The prompt here is, “How do animals help humans? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.”
The three examples provided include:
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Student Instructions
Create a storyboard that answers the prompt using at least three examples from Mr. Popper's Penguins. Click on "Add / Delete Cells" to change the number of examples.
Encourage students to restate information in their own words rather than copying directly from the text. This helps deepen comprehension and prevents plagiarism.
Choose a short passage and demonstrate how to read, understand, and rephrase it aloud. Show your thinking as you switch from the author's words to your own.
Assign students a sentence or short excerpt from Mr. Popper's Penguins and have them paraphrase together. Let them compare and discuss their versions for clarity and accuracy.
Provide helpful sentence frames such as “In other words…” or “This shows that…” to guide students as they paraphrase evidence. Gradually reduce support as confidence grows.
Review student paraphrasing for accuracy and reward attempts to express ideas uniquely. Positive feedback encourages risk-taking and strengthens writing skills.
Animals help humans in 'Mr. Popper's Penguins' by providing companionship, bringing out the best in people, and sparking curiosity. For example, Mr. Popper is happier with his penguins, Mrs. Popper grows to enjoy them, and the penguins' behaviors are fascinating for the characters.
Text evidence includes Mr. Popper feeling much happier with his penguins, Mrs. Popper unexpectedly enjoying the pets, and examples where the penguins' actions—like checking for danger—are interesting and thought-provoking for the family.
Students can create a spider map storyboard by placing the main question in the center, then adding at least three examples from the book around it. Each example should include a paraphrased or quoted piece of text and an illustration.
Easy examples include: animals giving people company (Mr. Popper and his penguins), helping people feel happier (Mrs. Popper enjoying the pets), and animals being interesting or teaching new things (penguins checking for danger).
The best way is to have students answer a prompt with text evidence, organize their answers visually (like with a spider map), and use both paraphrasing and direct quotes from the story to support their ideas.