During this short story, students are going to make many predictions, as to what they think is going to happen next. Illustrating these predictions is a great idea for a storyboard. Plan on specific stopping points while reading, and have your students predict what will happen. They will illustrate their prediction in a storyboard cell and use evidence from the text, or prior knowledge, to back up their prediction.
The main focus for this example storyboard is what might happen if the family befriends the mongoose, Rikki-tikki. As the father points out, the animal is wild. He could be tame, or he could be wild and dangerous. Once the family feeds Rikki-tikki and nurse him back to health, then Rikki-tikki could possibly do one of two things: he could protect the family from deadly snakes, or he could attack Teddy.
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Student Instructions
Make predictions about what will happen following certain parts of the story.
Tell students they must use clues from the text or prior knowledge to support every prediction. This helps students practice critical thinking and justifies their ideas with facts.
Demonstrate making a prediction out loud and highlight which words or events in the story led you to that idea. Students see the process and learn to back up their thinking.
Ask students to share their predictions and reasoning with a partner or group. This allows them to compare ideas and refine their thinking.
Remind students to check their predictions at each stopping point and update them based on new information. This builds flexible thinking and engagement.
Highlight students who use strong evidence or original thinking in their predictions. Positive recognition motivates participation and effort.
Teaching prediction skills with 'Rikki-Tikki-Tavi' is effective by pausing at key moments in the story and asking students to predict what might happen next. Encourage them to use text evidence and prior knowledge to support their ideas, and have them illustrate their predictions in a storyboard to visualize their thinking.
Engaging activities include creating storyboards where students draw and write their predictions at different stopping points, group discussions to justify their reasoning, and using graphic organizers to track predictions versus outcomes as the story unfolds.
Using evidence when making predictions helps students develop critical thinking and reading comprehension skills. It encourages them to connect clues from the text with their own knowledge, leading to deeper understanding and more accurate predictions.
Effective stopping points are moments of suspense or major events, such as when the family first finds Rikki-tikki, after he is fed and nursed back to health, and before his encounters with the snakes. These points naturally prompt students to wonder what will happen next.
To create a prediction storyboard, have students divide their paper into sections or use digital tools. In each section, they describe what is happening, illustrate the scene, then write and draw their prediction for what will happen next, using clues from the story.