Book Spotlight: One Grain of Rice

After recess everyday, we have a quiet time in class. During this time, we spend a few minutes engrossed in a book just for the pleasure of it. Students listen along while drawing or coloring or even just relaxing. It is a nice way to transition from active play outside to coming back inside and getting ready for more work in class.

At the start of the year, I checked out a ton of new and familiar books from the library. I displayed them along the tray of the whiteboard. We have been reading them for the past three weeks, but last week, I was running low. I dipped into my own stash and found this old familiar story, One Grain of Rice by Demi. I had completely forgotten about this book and have not opened it or shared it in years. Immediately, I snatched it up and saved it to share that day or the next. It is perfect to not only read for pleasure, but also to reread for learning.

One Grain of Rice is great for many reasons. First, it features a folktale from another culture. The setting of the story is India. I love to bring in multi-cultural books often. It opens up the world to my students who have never traveled the far-away places featured in the story. Also, if provides characters with which some of the students in class can identify. They feel seen and heard.

Second, I love this book because it has a great tie-in to math. It is easy to bring in math skills that are being practiced early in the year such as place value and rounding. It also features doubling numbers. It is perfect to take some of these numbers and use them in math class. It gives purpose and meaning.

Third, there are many, many reading skills that can be incorporated into this book. Comprehension questions can help you go deep. Through a character study you can see the qualities that the strong characters have and how some characters change over time. I 
would also pair this with the Biblical story of Joseph and use the two stories to compare and contrast using a Venn diagram.

Fourth, the illustrations and colors in the book are stunning. The are so well done and bring the book to life, keeping true to the setting and all that is India.

Lastly, this is a great book to use to talk about thinking of others and not being selfish. It is a valuable lesson for all children, and even adults to learn and also internalize.

If you are interested in checking out this book activity pack, click on any of the pictures above.