“A Perfect Day”

Activity
Written and Illustrated
by Lane Smith
Meet Lane Smith!
Lane Smith was born in Oklahoma, but his family moved to southern California
when he was just three. Lane and his brother grew up building forts, collecting
lizards, and exploring the foothills behind their house. At school Lane tended to be
the quiet kid who sketched cartoon characters in the back of class. In high school
Lane's art teacher recognized his talents and encouraged him to enroll in art
school.

Lane Smith studied illustration and fine arts at the Art Center in Pasadena. While
living in the Los Angeles area, he also illustrated album covers for punk rock and
new wave music groups like Oingo Boingo. Shortly after graduation, Smith moved
to New York City and sold illustrations to The New York Times, Time magazine,
and Rolling Stone.

After illustrating his first children's book, Smith met aspiring author Jon Scieszka
and agreed to illustrate his parody of The Three Little Pigs. Once Smith found a
publisher who didn't think the story was too sophisticated, The True Story of the 3
Little Pigs! became a bestseller. Smith and Scieszka teamed up again to create
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, which won a Caldecott
Honor award in 1993. Over the years, Smith has continued to illustrate many of
the stories written by his good friend, Jon Scieszka. He has also found success
both writing and illustrating books like The Happy Hocky Family and John, Paul,
George & Ben.

Lane Smith and his wife, book designer Molly Leach, live in the small town of
Washington, Connecticut.

“A Video Interview with Lane Smith.” Reading Rockets, 26 Aug. 2014,

www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/smith.
Video of the Book:

A Perfect Day by Lane Smith

Element of Writing:
The writing element that I want to spotlight when giving this lesson is
reading like a writer, giving special attention to noticing how things are
written, and focusing on how writing looks and sounds when we read it.
What do you hear and see when reading?
Lesson Plan:
Introduce the story and John Lane. He is a writer who illustrates his own books. That’s who you
are!

Read, The Perfect Day .

Now we will read the book like a writer, paying particular attention to how the book is written.
Look and listen for crafting techniques that John Lane uses when making this book.

Re-read, The Perfect Day.

Talk about the crafting techniques used by the writer and illustrator John Lane in the story. What
do we know about this writer’s style?
Lesson Plan (cont.):
Using a whiteboard/ smartboard/easel pad, gather feedback.

Print Manipulation:
Words in bold
Different colors on different pages
Placement of text

Illustrations:
Vibrant
Textured

Prose Writing:
Simple text
The repeated phrase, “it was a perfect day.”
Lesson Plan (cont.):
Transition with the phrase, “it was a perfect day.” Hmmm. What does a perfect day look like to
you? What is your idea of a perfect day?

Enjoy sharing thoughts of what makes for a perfect day. (My idea of a perfect day is a long walk
on the beach because it makes me feel so calm!)

Next, invite students to take what has been learned and try some of the applied techniques in
their writing. What if you tried to use some of these crafting techniques in our own writing?

Encourage students to explore, play around, and get curious about the writing prompt, “it was a
perfect day.”

Using bookmaking materials, write a story about what makes for “a perfect day”? Why does that
make it a perfect day? Don’t forget to illustrate all the things that make for the perfect day!
 Level of learning: 1st grade

When students begin to see themselves as people who make books is an excellent
time to introduce this activity. When reading to them as writers, they should be able
to think about the meaning of a book and how a text is written.
Materials Needed:
Paper
Stapler/Staples
Colored Pencils
Scented Markers
Graphite Pencils
Crayons
Assessment
Core
In guiding my assessment of student crafted
literature, I would attempt to “catch students in the
act” of demonstrating that they were using ideas
discussed in the lesson. Perhaps even dropping in
with the writer and having those conversations
about their literary piece.
“Did you stand on the author’s shoulder to
write this? How?”
“What decisions did you make in
crafting this piece of writing?”
Common
Text Types and Purposes:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.1
Write opinion pieces in which they introduce
the topic or name the book they are writing
about, state an opinion, supply a reason for
the opinion, and provide some sense of
closure.
Production and Distribution of Writing:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.5
With guidance and support from adults, focus
on a topic, respond to questions and
suggestions from peers, and add details to
strengthen writing as needed.
Objective
Students will be able to practice
the skill of reading like a writer. In
analyzing the crafted techniques
of a writer/illustrator, they will be
able to make decisions and
apply learned techniques to their
created story.
Work Cited
Ray, Katie Wood, and Lisa B. Cleaveland. About the Authors: Writing Workshop with Our Youngest Writers. Heinemann, 2004.