1) Practice Non-Fiction Reading Skills
These leveled articles are intended for use in teaching and practicing non-fiction reading skills, including cause and effect, fact and opinion, main idea and details, and sequencing. This article works particularly well for main idea and details and for cause and effect.
2) Fluency Practice
Select passages from the appropriate level article to have students read aloud for fluency practice.
3) Analyze Validity and Reliability of a Source
Look for other articles and news segments about similar topics. Compare information shared. Is there conflicting information? Which source is most likely to be accurate? How can you know? How can you verify the facts?
4) Social Connection: The Need for Food Banks and Donations
Use with other sources to explain what a “food bank” does and why it’s needed. Consider hosting a school food drive to support a local help organization. In the story, one family sings Christmas carols to increase attention and giving when they volunteer to be bell ringers. Have students brainstorm simple ways they might help.
5) Creative Writing
Have students write a short story about something unusual or valuable they imagine could end up in a bell ringer’s bucket. Have them explain in the story how the item ended up in the bucket and why.
