Welcome back to {Book Looks}: Book Reviews for the Classroom! I absolutely LOVE using picture books in my classroom and it makes my teacher heart so happy to share them with my readers! You can read all about The Jelly Donut Difference here and Sneaky Spinach here!
One of my ALL TIME favorite books is Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun by Maria Dismondy! Whenever she publishes a new book, I {have} to add it to my library! Her newest book, The Fruit Salad Friend, was no exception!
The Fruit Salad Friend is the sweetest book all about finding the recipe for a true friend! What I love most about this book is that it teaches SO many lessons and you can incorporate it into your classroom in many different ways to meet academic standards AND teach social skills!
This book is all about Chloe, a little girl that loves fruit and school! However, lately something is different and she wonders, “What do you do when friends don’t treat you with kindness?” This brave character navigates the trials and tribulations that pop up on her way to discover the recipe for a true friend! This book is perfect to read at the beginning of the school year, or anytime!
Maria Dismondy is an inspiring author whose books focus on topics that challenge children. Maria has a background in early education and is commited to teaching the importance of character building, which allows her to touch lives all over the world! She travels as a public speaker to schools, community forums, and national conferences! When she is not busy writing or speaking, she is at home in Michigan with her family!
In my classroom, we started our activities by reading the book! One of my absolute favorite parts about teaching is reading aloud to my students. I love it even more when my students get really into a book! Since we have read other Maria Dismondy books, they were SO excited to hear this book!
After reading the book, we discussed different characteristics of a good friend. I wrote down some of my students’ responses inside the fruit on an anchor chart. They came up with so many different words to describe true friends! It made my heart so happy!
In our classroom, we have been working really hard on finding the lesson or the central message of a story! This hasn’t been the easiest skill for my first graders, so I love using Maria Dismondy books because they are so relatable for my young students! We had a class discussion on the different lessons that this book taught us, and my students got right to work!
We also got to make our own {fruit salads} by naming students in our class and writing about HOW they are true friends and show those characterists. I absolutely LOVE ways to make spread smiles and happiness, and I love how this little activity allowed my students to give sweet shout-outs to their friends!
These activities made the sweetest display for the hallway!
You can grab these activities and more in my Kindness Counts: A Maria Dismondy Unit in my Teachers Pay Teachers store!
This is such a great book full of sweetness and kindness! Do you want to WIN your own copy of The Fruit Salad Friend and my Kindness Counts unit? Enter the giveaway below!!
If you want to save these ideas for later, make sure to pin the image below!
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