1. Prior to reading the book, show the students the book and determine what they know about the book.

2. Discuss the following information contained in the book: England, losing parents, living with relatives, being abused, insects and bugs, peaches, seagulls, flying, clouds, New York City, the Empire State Building, and Central Park.

3. Read information about the author to the students.

The book will be read aloud to the students chapter by chapter.

Before beginning each chapter, the new vocabulary words for that chapter will be introduced. The vocabulary words will be written on an index card and put on the wall chapter by chapter. The vocabulary words will be introduced in the following manner:

1. The students’ attention will be focused on the vocabulary word wall.

2. The teacher will ask students if they can read the first word.

3. The word will briefly be analyzed for prefixes, suffixes and identifying the root word.

4. Once the word has been identified, the teacher will ask the students if they know what the word means.

5. As the teacher reads the chapter, she will point out these vocabulary words and have the students try to determine the meaning of the word from context clues.

6. The teacher will clarify the meaning of the word by providing a definition, synonyms, and antonyms for the word. The teacher will also use the word in several sentences.

7. Each day the teacher will review the previous day’s vocabulary words with the students.

The students will be tested on the vocabulary from chapters 1-10.

The vocabulary words for each chapter are as follows:

Chapter 1 – enormous, escaped, mischief, nuisance, permitted

Chapter 2 – peculiar, hag, blunt, spectacles

Chapter 3 – emerging, beckoning

Chapter 4 – gulp, miserable

Chapter 5 – scattered, vanished

Chapter 6 – mistaken, ripe

Chapter 7 – extraordinary, mammoth, spellbound, cautiously

Chapter 8 – greedy

Chapter 9 – trembling

Chapter 10 – tunnel, soggy, gigantic, horror, glanced, bolt

Chapter 11 – recline, famished, faint

Chapter 12 – disagreeable, slither, scornful, musician, colossal, hysterics, rascal

Chapter 13 – hammock, shimmered, gossamer, ambled, drowsily

Chapter 14 – desolate, nibbling, journey, repulsive, lurching, venomous

Chapter 15 – fortune, horrid, panicked, jostling

Chapter 16 – plunged hurtling, hedges, paddock, stampede, wading, serenely

Chapter 17 – unfortunate, disentangle, bobbing up and down, giddy, refuse

Chapter 18 – impossible, unbelievable, awkward, perish, gloomy

Chapter 19 – swiftly, panic, pandemonium

Chapter 20 – frantically, seagulls, propose, martyr

Chapter 21 - genius

Chapter 22 – danger, wailed

Chapter 23 – ascent, steeple, inspection

Chapter 24 – audience, melodies, encore, ridiculous, rude, rambunctious

Chapter 25 – modestly, blushing, gazing, scarlet, pest, dreadful

Chapter 26 – teetering, brink, hauling, funeral

Chapter 27 – ¾ moon, stealthy, massive, quiver, immediately, imbeciles, infuriated, fury,

terror, statues, insulting

Chapter 28 – leaking, arch, hypnotized, enthralled, pandemonium, flabbergasted, pity

Chapter 29 - proposal

Chapter 30 – faucet, waterproof, somersaults

Chapter 31 – glimpses, blizzard

Chapter 32 -

Chapter 33 – sighted, hovering, bomb, smithereens, interrupted, population, summon

Chapter 34 -

Chapter 35 - plummeted

Chapter 36 – Empire State Building

Chapter 37 – flying saucer, swarmed, commotion, dangerous, introduce, subway tunnels,

sewer, simplicity

Chapter 38 – flabbergasted, escorted, procession

Chapter 39 – journey, famous, monument, acquired, gossip

Week 1 - "All in the same boat"

Week 2 – "Pulling my leg"

Week 3 – "Flood of Tears"

"Work Like Mad"

Week 4 – "White as a Sheet"

Each idiom will be typed and placed on the board for the students to see. The teacher will introduce the idiom by reading it to the students. The students will then draw a picture of the idiom’s literal meaning. The following day the students will share their pictures. The teacher will then read the idiom in context as it was used in the story. The students will use context clues to try to determine the meaning. The teacher will help the students create a definition for the idiom. The teacher will provide several examples of how the idiom is used in everyday life. The students will then draw a picture of the true idiom meaning and write a sentence explaining the idiom meaning. The next day the students will share their idiom drawings.

The students will make an idiom book from their drawings.

1. Compare the skin, seeds, color, and taste of a peach, nectarine, plum, and cherry (see attached chart). The students will then complete a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting a peach and a nectarine (see attached diagram).

2. When reading chapters 2, 3, 5, and 6, have students record characteristics about Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker (see attached chart). Then have students complete a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker (see attached diagram).

3. Classifying insects – Students will be taught the difference between a bug and an insect. They will learn that there are 3 essential characteristics of insects. They are three main body parts: head, thorax, and abdomen, three pairs of jointed legs attached to the thorax, and a stiff, shell-like outer covering. Students will be provided with a variety of bugs. They must determine which are bugs and which can be classified as insects.

4. Students will make the little green crystals (crocodile tongues) from the story. First, the students will count out 1, 000 grains of rice to make 1,000 crystals like the story. Then the students will use green food coloring to dye their crystals.

5. Students will make a papier-mâché peach to resemble the peach in the story.

6. Using the attached pattern, the students will make seagulls and will tie string around their necks and tie the strings to the peach to resemble the events of the story.

7. The students will make a boxed stringed instrument. See attached direction sheet.

8. The students will make a rainbow collage. See attached direction sheet.

9. After the book has been read, the class will watch the movie James and the Giant Peach. Then we will record the similarities and differences between the book and the movie.

Writing Activities

1. Have students write a paragraph and draw a picture of either Aunt Sponge or Aunt Spiker using the characteristics listed on the chart and/or the Venn diagram.

2. What do you think would have happened to James if he had swallowed the little green crystals instead of the insects?

3. After Chapter 19 - Pretend you are James and you are on the peach in the ocean surrounded by sharks. What would you do to keep from getting eaten?

4. James always wanted a friend. His wish came true when he became very good friends with the creatures in the peach. Write a Friendship Recipe telling how to be a good friend.

5. Write each student’s name on a separate piece of paper. The students will take turns writing something they like about one another. They will also write an act of friendship between them.

6. Students will conduct research on the Empire State Building using encyclopedias and the Internet. Using the information they found, they will write 3 paragraphs about the Empire State Building.

   Three Internet sites are:

• The Empire State Building Official Internet Site

www.esbnyc.com/html/empire_state_building.html

• The Empire State Building

www.nyctourist.com/empire1.htm

• Facts about the Empire State Building

www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/art/photo/hinex/empire/about.html

After the book has been read, the students will take a comprehensive test on James and the Giant Peach to determine their level of mastery.

I used A Guide for Using James and the Giant Peach in the Classroom by Coroline Nakajima as a reference. Teacher Created Materials, Inc published this guide. Several ideas were taken from this source.