The last month of school we worked on identifying major events in text and how they effect the characters (Common core standard RL 2.3). We reviewed what a character is and how we could identify what a major story event is. This standard is important because it helps to make connections to the text and understand the plot. We read Verdi by Janell Cannon and narrowed down the story to three major events. Students discussed with their partners what they felt was one major event from the story. We then worked on completing this worksheet together and created this poster about the story. 
He Here are some pictures of the graphic organizers that we used. If you would like a FREE copy of this simply click one of the pictures below :). 
Students also researched an animal and created reports. I made a little Amazon Creature Reports form for them to use to guide the process. I totally meant to take pictures of this to show you guys, but ran out of time at the end of the year. If you are interested, you can pick up a copy of my creature report organizer and writing papers by clicking any of the pictures below. 
Ok, I’ll admit that I may be been a tad inspired by the Octonauts when I created the creature reports :). My kids love that show! 
Mrs. Kilburn's Kiddos 