Grade: Elementary

#4171. Possum Come a Knockin Lesson

Reading/Writing, level: Elementary
Posted Sat Apr 5 10:20:34 PDT 2008 by Meghan Webb (Meghan Webb).

Possum Come a Knockin
Read Aloud

Pre-Reading
1. What is a possum? (Inside front cover of the book)
2. What is possum short for? (Show Pictures)
3. Possum Joke (Inside Front Cover of the Book)
4. This book has a lot of rhythm. What is rhythm? (Demonstrate)
5. This story has a lot of words that we use in Appalachia. We shorten a lot of the words. Example: cookin, makin, taters, etc. Can you think of anymore words that we shorten?

During Reading
1. Can you find any rhyming words in this story? Look for them!

Post Reading
1. Name some of the characters in the story.
2. Why was possum knocking at the door?
3. What was Pa busy doing when possum came a knockin? (fixing something)
4. What do the dog and cat think of possum knockin at the door? (They do not like it) How can you tell? (Expressions) (Go back through the story and look at some of the animal expressions)
5. What was Granny busy doing when possum was a knockin? (Knitting) What is Knitting?
6. Who peeks below the door to find possum? (Sis) What does she say to the family? (It's a possum come a knockin on the door!)
7. What did possum do when Pa opened the door? (He hid behind the tree)
8. Where does this story take place? (At home)
9. What does the possum do at the end of the story? (He climbs up the tree and hangs upside down)

Additional Activities
• Make up funny rhyming rhythmic songs. Example: There was a hamburger, bamburger, slamburger, tanburger, etc. Use musical instruments or tapping.
• Demonstrate how to make words longer by adding --ing words to the end. Example: sleeping, eating, snoring, chasing, etc.
• Have you ever heard of the phrase "Playing Possum"? What does this mean? Talk about it and how this relates to the opossum.
• Opossum Facts and Coloring Sheet
• Words that Start with O Book
• Graphic Organizer: How many animals can we think of that start with the letter O