Reading with Franklin: Turtles in Literature is a comprehensive author study designed for Grades 1–3, introducing students to Paulette Bourgeois’s beloved Franklin stories while building strong literacy skills. The unit blends fiction and nonfiction, allowing students to explore Franklin’s world while learning real facts about turtles, habitats, and reptile characteristics. Through guided reading, comprehension questions, vocabulary development, and creative response activities, students deepen their understanding of story structure, character traits, and themes such as friendship, responsibility, courage, honesty, and problem‑solving.

The resource is structured to support individualized reading programs, small‑group instruction, and whole‑class author studies. Students complete reading responses, comprehension tasks, word study activities, and creative projects for each Franklin title. The unit also includes teacher evaluation sheets, student tracking sheets, reproducible activity cards, crosswords, and creative extensions. With a balance of literacy, science, and character education, Reading with Franklin helps students connect personally with stories while developing essential reading strategies and creative thinking skills.

Learning Expectations for this unit:

1. To familiarize students with an author and his/her writings and style of writing
2. To develop the literacy strategies necessary to obtain meaning from print.
3. To read to find new information about a topic deriving it from print and
4. To develop the student's ability to think and write creatively. 

Introduction includes:

• Learning Expectations and List of Resources
• Teacher Input Suggestions
  • Note to the Teacher
  • Setting Up Ideas
  • Planning Ahead
  • Bulletin Board Display Ideas
  • Introduction
  • Discussion Topics for each book
•  Teacher Information
•  Teacher Evaluation Sheets
•  Students My Activity Tracking Sheet
• Story Summaries
• List of Skills
• Author and Illustrator Biographies

Reading Activities

Includes

• Story summaries
• Reproducible work sheets for 16 different Franklin stories
• Answer key 

Each story has a Comprehension section dealing with Knowledge, Comprehension, and Evaluation based on Bloom's taxonomy. e.g. identifying, sequencing events, matching a character to an event, judging why a character acted a certain way. 

There are two questions under the heading Word Study. One question relates to phonics and the other word study. If you students are unfamiliar with any of these skills, then they should be taught as mini lessons to ensure successful completion of the reading activities. 

The following skills will be explored: 

Phonics: short vowels; long vowels; long vowels with silent e; double vowels; "y" as a vowel; initial consonants; blends; digraphs; initial consonant substitution; hard and soft c; double letters 

Word Study: classifying words; word meanings; plural and singular words; verbs, adjectives; compound words; root words; contractions; rhyming words, one, two, and three syllable words 

In the Thinking About the Story section, the students are asked to relate what happened to the story to their own personal experiences. 

Stories Included:

1. Franklin's Bad Day
2. Franklin's Blanket
3. Franklin is Bossy
4. Franklin in the Dark
5. Franklin Fibs
6. Franklin Goes to School
7. Franklin's Hallowe'en
8. Hurry Up, Franklin
9. Franklin is Lost
10. Franklin is Messy
11. Franklin Plays the Game
12. Franklin Rides a Bike
13. Franklin has a Sleepover
14. Franklin's School Play
15. Franklin and the Tooth Fairy
16. Franklin Wants a Pet 

Novel Extension Activities

Creative Writing & Storytelling

1. Write a Story Students write a new Franklin adventure using a provided title or one they create.
2. Illustrations Students illustrate their story in the style of Brenda Clark, focusing on full color, borders, and realistic backgrounds.
3. Letter Writing Students write a letter to Franklin suggesting another way he could have solved his problem.
4. Drama – Puppet Play Students make puppets and scenery to perform a Franklin story.
5. Painting Students paint their favourite part of the story and write three sentences explaining their choice.
6. Song Writing Students create a song about their favourite Franklin book using a familiar tune.
7. Comic Strip Students create a four‑panel comic strip showing Franklin’s problem, attempts to solve it, and the ending.
8. Graphing Students survey classmates about favourite Franklin stories and create a pictograph.
9. Modeling Students create a Plasticine model of Franklin doing something from the story and write three sentences describing it.
10. Limerick Students write a funny five‑line poem about the Franklin story using the correct rhyme pattern.
11. Riddles Students create a riddle about Franklin, his friends, or events in the story.
12. Word Search Students choose 10–15 important words from the story and create a word search puzzle.
13. Bookmark Students design a bookmark including title, author, their name, and a favourite part or sentence.
14. Story Questions Students write five questions about the story and post them for classmates to answer.
15. Book Puzzle Students draw a favourite scene, color it, and cut it into puzzle pieces to create a jigsaw.
16. Research – Real Turtles Students research a real turtle species (habitat, food, appearance, special details).
17. Research – Fictional Turtle Stories Students find three fictional turtle books and share their favourite.

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