Stuart Little Resources & Activities

Even though Stuart Little was originally published many decades ago, this story of friendship, family, and adventure still captures the hearts of readers today!  This story is a great read aloud for a second grade classroom, but third and fourth graders can tackle this book during reading groups.  Today I’m here to share some resources you can use with your own class in either a large group or small group setting.

 

If you aren’t familiar, this story features a very small mouse on a very big adventure!  Stuart Little is no ordinary mouse.  Born to a family of humans, he lives in New York City with his family.  But when Stuart’s best friend goes missing, he’s determined to leave home and take an epic journey to find his friend.

When reading this with a small group, comprehension and vocabulary are always my top priority.  I tend to make reading response packets for my group.  These can be printed on colored paper (as shown) or white paper so the kids can decorate how they want:

Inside their reading packets, students will find graphic organizers, vocabulary practice, and comprehension questions for each chapter of the story.  To keep the packets from getting too thick, I like to copy pages back-to-back.

For this particular book, I have a few different vocabulary options that have worked for my students.  First, I keep a list of targeted vocabulary words for each chapter in their packets.  I also have a vocabulary graphic organizer that we use from time to time (NOT with every word listed).  Every few chapters students will choose one word to add to the graphic organizer to solidify their understanding of the vocabulary term.  I also added a sailboat craft to tie in with the story and keep vocabulary work fresh and exciting.

Students can also collect interesting words along the way with this WOW Words Organizer:

FYI – Chapters 6 and 7 are loaded with vocabulary related to ships and sailing.  I am not fluent in those terms myself, so I recommend finding a ship diagram online or in a book.  Your school librarian or media specialist might be able to help you with this.

Students are often surprised to find the story doesn’t end the way they thought it would.  I like to extend the story and have my students write about one of the following:
Stuart’s Next Adventure
Stuart Returns Home
Stuart Finds Margalo

For this activity, students complete one of the writing prompts and then complete a mouse craft to hold their writing.

You can find all of these resources and more in this Stuart Little Book Companion:

I hope you’ll be able to use some of these resources in your own classroom.

Happy Reading!