Lauren Cunningham

Interactive Read Aloud

Grade Level: 1st

Subjects: ELA

Standards: RL.1.1 Ask and answer question about key detail in a text
RL.1.2 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate
understanding of their central message or lesson
1.ICR.1 Understand healthy and effective interpersonal
communication and relationships

Materials: ● We’re All Wonders​ by R.J. Palacio

Rational: I chose ​We’re All Wonders​ by R.J. Palacio for multiple reasons.
One of our focuses since we got back from Spring Break
has been understanding how others feel and how our
actions or words can influence the way someone else feels.
Not only has this become a focus in our classroom with
more emphasis recently, however, this is a life skill that is
essential for students to have and understand. The school
that I teach at has a self contained special education
classroom that we interact with occasionally. I felt that this
book would open conversation and help students to
understand than although people with disabilities may look
different, the way we treat them certainly matters. I will also
teach students that even if someone doesn’t have a
disability, their skin color, way they act, talk, or look doesn’t
change the way that we should treat them. For my first
grade students I think that it is important for part of our
conversation to be making connections to our life and if we
have experienced this before. Lastly, we will take what we
learned from the story and discuss how we will apply this to
our everyday life to help make a difference in the world!

Introduction: ● “The title of this book is ​We’re All Wonders​. This book is
written and illustrated by R.J. Palacio. This book is a
realistic fiction book that is based on the movie and chapter
book ​Wonder.​”

Before Reading:
● The teacher will spark students’ interest by telling them
“Today we will read a book about a little boy named Auggie.
In the story he tells us that his mom calls him a wonder. I
am already thinking about why she calls him that. We’re
going to discover why Auggie is called a wonder and if this
makes him a different person!”
 ● Teacher will activate students schema and discover
background knowledge by asking students to begin by
making a prediction to tell what the book will be about.
Students will turn and talk to the person beside them to
explain their prediction. The teacher should call students
back to whole group and have them share their prediction.
The teacher should scaffold students to explain why they
made that prediction. The teacher will continue to build
students schema and background knowledge by
introducing key vocabulary in the next step.
● Teacher will introduce key vocabulary to students. Teacher
should begin by asking students if they know what the word
‘wonder’ means. The teacher should scaffold students into
discovering that wonder means to be curious. The teacher
should prompt students to predict, “Why do you think the
title of this book is ‘Wonder’?” (Other key vocabulary that
will be discussed includes the word “ordinary.” This will be
introduced and discussed during reading)

During Reading: While reading, the teacher will read fluently and with an engaging
voice. The teacher will also stop when appropriate to scaffold
student towards deeper thinking and understanding of the book.
The questions that should be ask are the following:
● What does the word “ordinary” mean?
● Why do you think the character feels that he is not an
ordinary kid?
● What makes riding a bike, eating ice cream, and playing
ball ordinary things?
● Why do you think the character says he doesn’t look like
the other kids?
● Auggie says that all people see is how different he looks.
Turn to the person beside you and discuss how you two
may look different.
● Have students turn back to teacher and share how we look
different from our outside appearances.
● Teacher should discuss with students that our outside
appearance doesn’t keep us for having similar hobbies or
favorite things. Our skin color, the way we act or the way
we learn may just be one difference that makes us unique.
● Have you ever seen someone that looked or acted different
than you? What did you do when you saw them? Did you
wave? Point? Laugh? Smile? How do you think this made
Auggie feel?
● Has anyone ever pointed, laughed or talked about the way
that you looked? How did that make you feel?
● How can you tell Auggie and Daisy have hurt feelings by
using the illustration?
 ● Does Auggie really blast off to Pluto?
● Why do you think that he imagines and pretends to be on
another planet?
● What do you notice about the friends he sees on Pluto? Do
you think these friends pick on Auggie? Does this change
the way he feels?
● Auggie says the world is big enough for all kinds of people
and that he can’t change the way he looks. Why should we
be proud of the way we look?
● Turn to the person beside you and make a prediction about
what you think the boy in the green shirt will do with the
ball. (Have students turn back and share)
● Was your prediction correct? What do you think they two
boys are going to do now?
● How do you think Auggie‘s feelings have changed?

After Reading: The teacher will end the activity by discussing the lesson from the
story by prompting students with the following questions:
● What does this story teach us?
● How can we use what we learn from this story every day
during our lives?
● How can the way we treat others make them feel?
● Will this make the world be filled with more kindness and
acceptance of being unique or less?

Activity: The teacher will lead students into drawing a self portrait of
themselves. Then students will complete a writing activity to tell
how they are different from others and how they can change the
way that they see others.