How Can Teachers Use Beverly Cleary's Books in the Classroom?
Beverly Cleary has provided activities and lesson guides for teachers and librarians on her website. Some of these resources include:
Teacher could try some of these activities too after reading whole books or excerpts from Beverly Cleary Books:
Activities to use for Henry Huggins:
Activity 1: In the book, Ribsy gets lost and must be proven as Henry's dog. To use this in the classroom have the students make a lost or missing poster on construction paper of the pet or article they "lost." Then have the students write a very descriptive paragraph to go with the poster to explain what they are missing. The paragraphs must be very detailed, this helps teach young writers the importance of details in writing and being descriptive!
Activities to use for Dear. Mr. Henshaw:
Activity 1: As the title suggests, Dear Mr. Henshaw is a book that is composed of letter of a young boy writing to his his favorite author. As an activity in the classroom, have students think of their favorite author. Have each student write a letter to their favorite author. The letter much include a date, a heading (example: Dear Mrs. Cleary,), a salutation, and the name of the writer. The letter needs to also be written in paragraph form and include correct punctuation through out.
Activity 2: Dear Mr. Henshaw is a great book to do a R.A.F.T. activity with. The role is as Mr. Henshaw, the audience is Leigh Botts, the format is a letter, and the topic is a reply to a letter. Have each student pick a letter that Leigh wrote in the book and write a response letter. Provide with a letter template where the body just needs to be filled in. The importance of the activity is not how the letter format itself, but how to respond to someone.
Activity 2: Dear Mr. Henshaw is a great book to do a R.A.F.T. activity with. The role is as Mr. Henshaw, the audience is Leigh Botts, the format is a letter, and the topic is a reply to a letter. Have each student pick a letter that Leigh wrote in the book and write a response letter. Provide with a letter template where the body just needs to be filled in. The importance of the activity is not how the letter format itself, but how to respond to someone.
Activities to use for Ramona Quimby, Age 8:
Activity 1: Use snapshots to work on writing with descriptive details. In the book, Ramona cracks a raw egg over her head at lunch. Read the snapshot of this moment with students (Page 60-61). Point out the detail that Beverly Cleary uses to paint this scene in her readers' minds (ex. "she found herself with a handful of crumbled shell and something cool and slimy running down her face"). Then, have students write their own snapshot about a time they felt embarrassed.
Activity 2: In the story Ramona must do a book report assigned to her by the teacher. She decides to base her book report on a cat commercial she saw instead of doing a traditional book report like everyone else in the class does. After finishing the book have students write their own short book reports on Ramona Quimby, Age 8. Challenge students to think outside of the box like Ramona did. You can set apart a special time that students can share their reports with the class like in the book.
Other Activities to Try:
Activity 1: Beverly Cleary gets inspiration for her characters through people she knows in her life. Have students create their very own character based on someone in their life. They can write a biography about their imagined character and then draw a picture of him/her. This would be a great activity after teaching about what a biography is.