Cats vs. dogs is the ultimate opinion reading and writing project! Students choose a side and read both fiction and nonfiction books to learn more about their decision. In the end, students choose a winner and write their opinion paragraph to determine which is the best pet!
I love integrating reading and writing and last Spring I was receiving my last Scholastic Book Order and snagged these two books:
*Both books are still available on Scholastic Book Club for $3 each. They are also available in the Teacher Store as well as Amazon for a bit more.*
I ended up getting them right before school ended, reading them to the kids and they just LOVED them! We compared and contrasted the books and had a whole love of lively debate about which animal we believed to be the BEST pet! My mind was left reeling with all he activities I wish I had time to plan! So…I decided to make a little unit for them!
It is a reading and writing unit, which has plenty of activities for the nonfiction book, the fiction book, and comparing/contrasting both! Again, it is a whole lot of fun to listen to students share their opinions about these 2 animals that they think they know so well! It’s also fun to see what they learn about some of their favorite pets!
For nonfiction activities I included:
Book responses including:
– True or False Comprehension Check
– Multiple Choice Comprehension Check
– Vocabulary
– Cat Facts
– Dog Facts
Question Cards for whole group, small group, and partner discussion.
All about Dogs/Cats mini books
Cat and Dog fact match up
– True or False Comprehension Check
– Multiple Choice Comprehension Check
– Vocabulary
– Cat Facts
– Dog Facts
Question Cards for whole group, small group, and partner discussion.
All about Dogs/Cats mini books
Cat and Dog fact match up
Mini fact books for each animal!
Students record their learning!
Cat and dog fact match up.
Comprehension Checks!
Fiction activities include:
Book responses including:
– Dog vs. Cat comparisons
– Dog and Cat character traits
– Retelling (B,M,E)
– Vocabulary
– Story Map
Question Cards for whole group, small group, and partner discussion.
Problem/Solution flipbook
Life After Baby… fill in speech bubbles
Order cards for retelling
– Dog vs. Cat comparisons
– Dog and Cat character traits
– Retelling (B,M,E)
– Vocabulary
– Story Map
Question Cards for whole group, small group, and partner discussion.
Problem/Solution flipbook
Life After Baby… fill in speech bubbles
Order cards for retelling
Get into the character’s head and guess what they would say to their owners if they could talk!
Also, a problem and solution flip book!
12 different questions for each book – great for whole group, small group, and partner discussion!
Writing and craft activities include
– Comparing books
– Choosing the winner (cat vs. dog)
– Cats Rule/Dogs Rule – providing reasons for opinions
Six writing prompt cards
Craft and bulletin board ideas
– Cut and paste craft option
– Directed drawing option
– Writing paper for both cat & dog
– Choosing the winner (cat vs. dog)
– Cats Rule/Dogs Rule – providing reasons for opinions
Six writing prompt cards
Craft and bulletin board ideas
– Cut and paste craft option
– Directed drawing option
– Writing paper for both cat & dog
Easy dog and cat crafts for students to complete and add to their opinion writing.
There are both cat and dog directed drawings included if students would rather draw their own animal and write their opinions!
You can snag all the activities for a couple week’s worth of fun by clicking the cover below!
I hope you and your students enjoy it!
Want to take your students from scribbles and sketches to writing published stories?!
I have a free 4-part video series you can watch here. Just click below to get the info!
Pin it:
A poetry book along the same theme would be Bow Wow, Meow, Meow, by Douglas Florian (we hosted him at our school last year and one of the projects we did was a graph of which kids liked cats vs. dogs), using cutouts of each pet.
This looks a great activity!! The whole Dogs v Cats unit sounds like it would be so much fun to do!
Teaching Autism
This is a great lesson! Thanks!
This looks fantastic!
This looks like a lot of fun.
This will be an exciting beginning-of-the-year reading and writing activity. Thank you so much for sharing! I live it and I’m sure my grandson will as well.
would like to have a print outs of dog vs cat activities thanks