The Bailey School Kids book series is an entertaining set of chapter books for kids. The series is written by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones. Each book follows Howie, Liza, Melody, and Eddie as they encounter a strange grown-up who may or may not be a mythical creature. Throughout the series the students have found a grown-up who they believe to be a vampire, a mermaid, an elf, a ghost, a werewolf, Santa Claus, and more! Does this sound like a series your students would enjoy? Here are three activities your students can use with these books in the classroom.
BAILEY SCHOOL KIDS FLIP BOOKS
These flip books are open-ended enough to be used with any of the books in the Bailey School Kids series. You’ll find seven pages included in this flip book.
Because the students encounter a strange grown-up in each text, I have included a Strange Sightings page. For the book Mermaids Don’t Run Track, a few of the kids are convinced that Coach Waterford is really a mermaid who has turned into a human. As students read, they can record information about Coach Waterford’s appearance, thoughts, actions, and words.
When students are finished reading, they can also rate the book and recommend it to a friend.
You can find this Bailey School Kids flip book here.
BAILEY SCHOOL KIDS SCHOOL HOUSE CRAFT BOOKLET
All four students go to Bailey Elementary School, which is also the setting for many of the books in the series. I thought it would be fun to create a school house craft booklet to go with the Bailey School Kids series.
I have included the same response pages that can be found in the flip book. These pages have a pentagon shape so they fit into the school house craft booklet. While many of the stories take place in Bailey Elementary School, there are some that take place outside of the school. In Monsters Don’t Scuba Dive, the story takes place at Camp Lone Wolf. This Story Setting Page allows students to describe and draw a picture to match each story.
If your students are working on a specific reading skill, the open-ended pages are easy to add on to the school house craft booklet. There are blank pages, lined pages, and a picture/writing combination page. These are great for students working on visualization, vocabulary, making connections, questions, and more! Here’s an example of how the lined page can be used for writing questions during reading.
The picture/writing combination page is great for working on vocabulary. Students can write the context of the vocabulary word and a definition. Then students can add an illustration to demonstrate understanding.
You can find this Bailey School Kids school house craft booklet here.
BAILEY SCHOOL KIDS READING JOURNALS
If you’re planning to use the Bailey School Kids books with your reading group or book club, you can use a reading response journal to keep all of the student materials in one place. These book companions contain comprehension questions to guide your readers through each chapter and a handful of graphic organizers.
You can find all of the book companions I have created for the Bailey School Kids series here. I will be adding even more book companions for this series in the future. Let me know if there’s a book companion you would like to see.
PEEK INSIDE THE BAILEY SCHOOL KIDS SERIES
This series has branched out into a junior series, as well. For your third grade readers, stick with the original series. These books will include the word DON’T in the title. Your second grade readers can start with the junior series. Each of these books will include the word DO in the title. Here is a little glimpse into both sets of books so you can determine which works best for your readers.
I hope your students continue to read and enjoy the Mercy Watson series as much as mine do!
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Happy Reading!
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