Grade 1 · Week 10story elements
Where Is Peanut?
Students read a short story about Maya and Ben finding their class hamster, answer five questions about characters, setting, and plot, and explore teacher and homeschool guidance.
On screen - your kid, alone
- 1Day 1 - Meet the story
- 2Day 2 - Word work
- 3Day 3 - What it means
- 4Day 4 - Fix & re-read
- 5Day 5 - Show what you know
Offline - with you
Print the pages for offline work together; the answer key is for you.
Start by reading the story aloud together, then ask your child to tell you who the story is about, where it happens, and what the children find when they arrive. Good answers will name Maya and Ben as the characters, the classroom (in the morning) as the setting, and will follow the order of events: the empty cage first, the searching in the middle, and finding Peanut asleep in the reading corner at the end. Try asking, "What happened first? What happened next? What happened last?" to help your child retell the story in order. If your child gets stuck, reread just the part of the passage that answers the question and point to the words as you read. You can also act the story out together — pretend to walk in, peek under a desk, and tiptoe to find Peanut — which makes the beginning, middle, and end easier to remember. Celebrate when your child uses story words like "character," "setting," "beginning," and "end," even if they need a little help getting there.
Where Is Peanut?
Maya and Ben walked into their classroom. It was a sunny morning. They went to say hi to Peanut. But the cage door was open! Peanut was gone. Maya looked under the desks. Ben checked by the bookshelf. They peeked near the art table. Then Maya heard a soft sound. They tiptoed to the reading corner. Peanut was sleeping on a soft book! Ben smiled. Maya said, "We found you!" They put Peanut back in his cage.
What this lesson checks
- Supporting detail: Which word best tells about Maya and Ben in the story?
- Text evidence: Where did Maya and Ben find Peanut? Write the words from the story that tell you.
- Main idea: What problem did Maya and Ben have? How did they fix it?
- Supporting detail: When does this story take place?
- Text evidence: How does the story show that Maya and Ben work together to look for Peanut? Use 2-3 sentences. Use words from the story to tell what they each do.