Splat the Cat Back to School Activities | First Week of School Read Aloud Lesson
Splat the Cat Back to School Activities | First Week of School Read Aloud Lesson
Make your back-to-school read aloud meaningful, engaging, and easy to prep with this Splat the Cat: Back to School, Splat! companion resource. This lesson set is designed to help students build comprehension, discuss story elements, learn new vocabulary, describe characters, and connect the story to their own first-day-of-school experiences.
What’s Included
First Read Lesson Plan: A guided lesson outline to help you introduce the story, support student listening, and lead a purposeful read aloud with discussion prompts.
Comprehension Anchor Charts: Visual supports you can display during the lesson to review story elements, retelling, vocabulary, character traits, and text connections.
Plot Activities: Student-friendly pages that help children identify and organize the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
Vocabulary Activities: Practice pages and discussion opportunities for important story words so students can build meaning before, during, and after reading.
Character Traits Activities: Activities that guide students to describe Splat using evidence from the story and explain how his feelings, actions, and choices connect to the first day of school.
Text-to-Self Connection Pages: Response activities that encourage students to connect Splat’s back-to-school experience to their own feelings, routines, and classroom expectations.
Writing Response Activities: Back-to-school writing prompts that give students a meaningful way to reflect on the story, share about themselves, and practice written expression.
Retelling and Story Response Activities: Additional companion pages that support sequencing, oral language, comprehension checks, and independent student response.
Flexible Activity Options: Use the activities for whole group lessons, partner work, morning work, literacy centers, early finishers, or a quick follow-up after the read aloud.
Why Teachers Love It
Low-prep and teacher-friendly: Use the lesson plan and activities without spending extra time planning from scratch.
Perfect for the first week of school: Build classroom community while practicing important literacy skills.
Supports comprehension: Students practice plot, vocabulary, character traits, text connections, and written response.
Flexible for whole group, small group, or centers: Use the pages together as a full read aloud unit or choose the activities that fit your schedule.
Use This Resource For
Back-to-school read aloud lessons
First week of school activities
Reading comprehension practice
Literacy centers
Whole group story discussions
Writing response activities
Sub plans or quick literacy review