The Empty Pot Read Aloud – Our The Empty Pot activities are now digital for distance learning with editable slides and worksheets based on Demi’s book. Read a picture book aloud, then use printouts or use Google or Paperless Swing to practice standards-based skills.
The story “The Empty Pot” tells the story of the boy Ping. Ping loves flowers and everything he plants blooms beautifully.
The Empty Pot Read Aloud
One day, the emperor announces that his successor on the throne will be the one who will blossom the best flower from the seed that the emperor will give him. All the children of the country go to the palace to get the seeds and go to plant them in the hope of becoming the next emperor.
Best Sites For Finding Free Children’s Books And Activities
Ping plants his seed and is surprised when nothing blooms. A year later, still nothing has blossomed and he has to present his empty vase to the emperor. Ping is embarrassed when he sees that all the other boys and girls have beautiful flowers.
However, the emperor announces that Ping will be the next emperor! He says the seeds he distributed to all the boys and girls were boiled and couldn’t grow flowers. Ping was the only honest one. Students will learn a lesson in honesty by reading this book. At the start of the school year, I started sharing picture books with you that I found to add to my class to make sure my read-aloud collection matched a diverse group of characters and authors. This post is the last of four where I share picture books to help diversify your reading aloud choices. In this post, I will focus on books dealing with the issues of responsibility, managing emotions, happiness and integrity. If you missed my top three posts where I shared aloud readings that are great for teaching community building and empathy, relationship skills, and motivation and goal management, click here.
In my quest to maintain an inclusive picture book collection, I drew heavily from the research of The Conscious Kid, “an educational, research and policy organization dedicated to equity and promoting healthy racial identity development in young people” . The Conscious Kid has created “a curated list of teacher materials and assessment criteria to affirm and reflect student identity and help foster important conversations about equity, racism and belonging.”
The Conscious Kid has 14 helpful tips and questions to consider when choosing inclusive books. I found the guidelines extremely useful and informative. I recommend reading the entire 9-page document, but I would like to highlight a few guidelines to look out for on topics like growth mindset, persistence, intrinsic motivation, goal setting, and courage:
The Empty Pot On Vimeo
Note: The links to the featured posts in this post are affiliate links. This means that I am a member of the Amazon Services LLC affiliate advertising program, which allows sites to earn advertising commissions by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Read my full disclosure here.
Noodle tries to take responsibility for his actions. He constantly makes excuses and blames everyone around him for things like not doing homework or forgetting a library book. In this book, readers will learn the importance of taking responsibility, how to use mistakes as an opportunity to solve problems, and how to turn negative situations into positive ones.
Two friends, Jane and Chad, are in the park when Chad notices that Jane is upset about something. Chad goes out of his way to make her feel better, but nothing works. This book is simple, but it provides a great starting point for high school students to discuss what happens when we can’t let go of our emotions and the best way to support friends when they are emotionally unavailable.
This book is about a guy who has “big” feelings. When he feels an emotion, he experiences it to the extreme. The boy tries to hide his extreme emotions from him for fear of being laughed at, but this makes him feel more alone than ever. One day a guy meets a girl who shares that she too has “great” feelings. This story is great for discussing the range of people’s emotions, the importance of not hiding your emotions and accepting others.
Mentor Texts For Teaching Synthesizing
Jeremy is desperate for a pair of shoes like those worn by many of his peers at school. However, her grandmother only has enough money to buy Jeremy a new pair of boots for the winter, something she desperately needs but doesn’t want. Although he doesn’t have the money to buy the popular shoes, Jeremy can’t get them out of his mind. One day, Jeremy finds the shoes he needs in a thrift store, but they are too small. He buys them anyway and is faced with a conflict between selflessness and selfishness when he discovers that another classmate is in dire need of shoes and a pair at the thrift store is his size. This reading aloud is a great catalyst for discussions about jealousy, compassion for others, and being true to yourself.
All Antonia can think about is how much she wishes she had a little sister, Mei Mei. However, when she flies to China with her mother to adopt a new sister, she is surprised to learn that her sister is very different from what she imagined. She cannot walk, talk, play and cry a lot.
It’s a wonderful reading aloud to reflect the mixed feelings we experience when changes are made in our lives.
Ruby is a normal girl who loves to travel outdoors. One day she shows some concern and he starts chasing her. At first there is nothing to worry about her, but she soon begins to grow rapidly and she takes over all of Ruby’s thoughts.
Lotus & Feather Read By Michelle Yeoh
It is a great metaphor for students when discussing how to deal with emotions and natural consequences when we try to ignore them instead of facing them directly.
Is a retelling of a Cherokee legend that explains how strawberries were born. The story takes place when man and woman were created to live together. One day, a man and a woman argue and the woman leaves angry with no intention of returning. When a man follows his wife in search of forgiveness, the sun tries to slow the woman down by putting various ripe fruits in her path to try to distract her. This book is a simple yet compelling story that intertwines the themes of forgiveness and anger management strategies.
Jerome loves words. They make him so happy that he starts collecting them and sorting them into books when he listens to them or reads them. He discovers that words have power in syllables, rhythm and meaning and decides to share the power of words with others. Not only is there
A great example of the happiness and beauty of sharing one’s happiness with others, but along the way students will be introduced to many wonderful words from words.
The Empty Pot — Positively Literacy
This is the story of a young black girl who sees only ugliness around her. When her mother says that “there should be something beautiful in everyone’s life”, she decides to look for her “something beautiful” about her in her neighborhood. While she searches for her, she visits many of her neighbors and they share what they find beautiful. The girl decides to take matters into her own hands and make it “something beautiful”. This book touches on the themes of gratitude, happiness and the power of hope.
Reuben sees a woman in a grocery store drop what he thinks is a dollar bill and collects it to keep. When she comes home, she realizes it’s actually a hundred dollar bill. Ruben spends the next two days struggling between doing the right thing and doing what he wants, buying a new bike in order to be like all of his friends. This book captures the range of emotions one feels when faced with an ethical dilemma and would be a great catalyst for class discussions about integrity.
This African story is about two beautiful sisters with completely different personalities. One day the king calls his daughters to appear before him so that he can choose his queen. There are many obstacles in the way that show true character. The theme of altruism versus selfishness is woven throughout the story, making it a great read aloud for quality class discussions about conscientiousness.
When Shayna discovers a chicken, a sign, and a broken crate in her backyard, she deduces that the chicken fell from a farmer’s truck named Izzy Pipick. Shayna decides that the right thing to do is take care of the chicken until Mr. Pipik comes back for her. However, other residents of the city disagree with this. Money and resources are scarce, and others see chicken as a potential food source. However, Shayna maintains her position and considers the chicken and its offspring forbidden. Students
Storybook Theatre The Empty Pot
The napping house read aloud, the ramped up read aloud, the good egg read aloud, the rainbow fish read aloud, the kissing hand read aloud, pete the cat read aloud, the book thief read aloud, clark the shark read aloud, the glass castle read aloud, the read aloud handbook, the read aloud family, the crucible read aloud
