Achievement First Thunder Cake Recommended for Grade K

Title/Author: Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco

Suggested Time to Spend: 4 Days (Recommendation: two sessions per day, at least 20 minutes per day)
Common Core grade-level ELA/Literacy Standards:
RL.K.1, RL.K.2, RL.K.3, RL.K.4, RL.K.7, RL.K.10; W.K.2; SL.K.1, SL.K.2, SL.K.6; L.K.4

Lesson Objective:
Students will listen to an illustrated picture book read aloud and use literacy skills (reading, writing, discussion and listening) to
understand the characters’ lesson in the story.

Teacher Instructions
Before the Lesson
1. Read the Big Ideas and Key Understandings and the Synopsis below. Please do not read this to the students. This is a
description to help you prepare to teach the book and be clear about what you want your children to take away from the work.
Big Ideas/Key Understandings:
Patricia realizes that she is able to overcome her fears with support of others and by being brave.
Focusing Question:
What did Patricia learn about herself?
One key takeaway is that Patricia learned that she is a brave person because she faced fears and completed difficult
tasks despite being scared.

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 Achievement First Thunder Cake Recommended for Grade K

Synopsis
Thunder Cake is the story of how Patricia Polacco conquered her childhood fear of Michigan thunderstorms with the
assistance of her grandmother. By encouraging the young Patricia to ignore the approaching storm, the two wander outside
to gather the ingredients for Thunder Cake, the perfect recipe for a rainy day. After the cake is in the oven, Grandma
recounts the day’s events, convincing Patricia that only a "brave" girl would climb out from her hiding spot to collect eggs
and tomatoes, milk the cow, and venture through Tangleweed Woods to the dry shed. Realizing that her grandma is right,
Patricia welcomes the storm and a warm slice of Thunder Cake, never again to fear the "voice of thunder."
2. Go to the last page of the lesson and review “What Makes This Read-Aloud Complex.” This was created for you as part of the
lesson and will give you guidance about what the lesson writers saw as the sources of complexity or key access points for this
book. You will of course evaluate text complexity with your own students in mind, and make adjustments to the lesson pacing
and even the suggested activities and questions.
3. Read the entire book, adding your own insights to the understandings identified. Also note the stopping points for the text-
inspired questions and activities. Hint: you may want to copy the questions, vocabulary words and activities onto sticky notes so
they can be stuck to the right pages for each day’s questions and vocabulary work.
4. Consider pairing this series of lessons on Thunder Cake with a text set to increase student knowledge and familiarity with the
topic. A custom text set can be found here. Note: This is particularly supportive of ELL students.

Note to teachers of English Language Learners (ELLs): Read Aloud Project Lessons are designed for children who cannot read yet for
themselves. They are highly interactive and have many scaffolds built into the brief daily lessons to support reading comprehension.
Because of this, they are filled with scaffolds that are appropriate for English Language Learners who, by definition, are developing
language and learning to read (English). This read aloud text includes complex features which offer many opportunities for learning,
but at the same time includes supports and structures to make the text accessible to even the youngest students.

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 Achievement First Thunder Cake Recommended for Grade K

This lesson includes features that align to best practices for supporting English Language Learners. Some of the supports you may see
built into this, and /or other Read Aloud Project lessons, assist non-native speakers in the following ways:

 These lessons include embedded vocabulary scaffolds that help students acquire new vocabulary in the context of reading.
They feature multi-modal ways of learning new words, including prompts for where to use visual representations, the
inclusion of student-friendly definitions, built-in opportunities to use newly acquired vocabulary through discussion or
activities, and featured academic vocabulary for deeper study.
 These lessons also include embedded scaffolds to help students make meaning of the text itself. It calls out opportunities for
paired or small group discussion, includes recommendations for ways in which visuals, videos, and/or graphic organizers
could aid in understanding, provides a mix of questions (both factual and inferential) to guide students gradually toward
deeper understanding, and offers recommendations for supplementary texts to build background knowledge supporting the
content in the anchor text.
 These lessons feature embedded supports to aid students in developing their overall language and communication skills by
featuring scaffolds such as sentence frames for discussion and written work (more guidance available here) as well as writing
opportunities (and the inclusion of graphic organizers to scaffold the writing process). These supports help students develop
and use newly acquired vocabulary and text-based content knowledge.

The Lesson – Questions, Activities, and Tasks

Questions/Activities/Vocabulary/Tasks Expected Outcome or Response (for each)

FIRST READING: The goal here is for students to enjoy the book, both writing
Pull students together or use a document camera so that all can and pictures, and to experience it as a whole. This will give
enjoy the illustrations. Read aloud the entire book with minimal them some context and a sense of the entire story before they
interruptions. dive into examining parts of the book more carefully.
SECOND READING:

As you read this time, you are going to focus on close reading
and responding to Text Dependent questions to build meaning

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 Achievement First Thunder Cake Recommended for Grade K

and knowledge about thunderstorms and what is happening to

Patricia and grandma in the story.

Reread page 2: (display on a document camera if possible) Students will likely say “a girl” and about her grandma.

Question: Draw the students’ attention to the dedication on p. 1 and the

Reread the last line, “This is the story of how my grandma…” front cover for additional clues. Guide students to understand
and ask students who is telling the story. that the author, Patricia Polacco, is telling the story about when
she was a girl.

Question:
Patricia says she fears the sound of thunderstorms. What Students will likely say that thunder makes a loud noise. You
about thunderstorms makes her scared? will want to reread the fourth sentence “The clouds glow…” to
have them pull from that sentence that the “glow” and
“crackling light” are the lighting, the shudder in the panes, and
the roaring and the tumbling refer to the thunder.

Reread page 3: (While reading, model how grandma drew a

breath.)
Students will explain that horizon means where the sky meets
Questions: the land because grandma is looking towards the storm is and
Using clues from the pictures and text, what do you think says that the storm is coming. She draws a breath because she
horizon means? Why do you think Grandma drew a deep knows the storm is coming. [The teacher could elect to linger
breath when she looked at the horizon? on the multiple meanings of the word, “draw.”]

Reread page 8:

Questions:
What does Grandma do to tell how a storm is getting closer? Grandma begins counting when she sees lightening and stops

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 Achievement First Thunder Cake Recommended for Grade K

Why does she say Patricia need to know how far away the when she hears thunder. The number tells her how many miles
storm is? the storm is. Patricia needs to know this to see how long they
have to make their thunder cake. (This will be explained more
concretely through the activity at the end of the lesson.)
Reread page 9:

Question: Surveying means to look closely. She is looking closely at the

What does survey mean? Why is Grandma surveying black black clouds to see how far away the storm is. Some students
clouds? may note that Babushka is trying to see if they have time to
make the cake and get it in the oven before the storm comes.

See sample graphic organizer in Teacher Notes. Possible

Activity: responses for pg 14-16:
Establish the following pattern of activities to help students
build knowledge about thunderstorms Pg Thunder Lightning Patricia
#
11 ROARED! flashed 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-
Activity: 9-10
After the second read you will return to the text to focus
students on building their understanding of thunderstorms and flashed 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-
the craft moves the author makes to show that the storm is 9
moving closer and closer to the farm. You will build their 12 BAROOOOOOM! ZIP 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8
understanding by rereading pages 11-16 and allowing students
to pantomime what is occurring. Students or groups of 13 BOOOOM-BA- slit the sky 1-2-3-4-5-6-7
students can be assigned to the roles of lightning, thunder and BOOOOOOOM
Patricia. As you read have students act out what is happening,
for instance, when thunder is mentioned in the book students
can stomp, clap or repeat the sounds of thunder from the book. Help students understand how the storm gets bigger and
Students assigned to be lightening can step forward and hold louder by asking the class to give suggestions about the actor’s
up a prop (i.e. flashlight, lightening rod cutout) when lightening body language and expression.

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 Achievement First Thunder Cake Recommended for Grade K

is mentioned in the book and students acting out Patricia’s role

can count out loud to show how far away the thunder is. Have students describe that as a thunderstorm gets closer the
storm gets louder and stronger and Patricia’s count becomes
Chart down what is happening as the pages progress so shorter and shorter. Have students explain how Patricia is
students can see the correlation between the number Patricia monitoring how far the storm is away by counting.
is counting to and what is happening with the storm.

THIRD READING:

Explain that today you will re-read the text again focusing on
how Patricia overcame her fear of thunderstorms.

Reread page 2

Question: To overcome a must mean to fix a problem you are having. In

Patricia says that Babushka helped her overcome her fear of the story it said her Babushka helped her overcome her fear so
thunderstorms. What do you think overcome means? that must mean she helped her not to be afraid anymore.

Reread page 8
Then reread the sentence; “Thunder Cake?” I stammered…

Question: She is really nervous so I think stammer must mean to talk in a

What do you think stammered means? Why do you think scared or shaky voice. She was stammering and hugging her
Patricia was stammering and hugging her grandma? grandma because she was afraid of the thunder.

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 Achievement First Thunder Cake Recommended for Grade K

Reread page 11
Patricia got the eggs because her grandma said, “I’m here, she
Question: won’t hurt you.” She got the eggs because grandma was
Patricia said, “I was scared. I knew she would try to peck me.” helping her to feel safe. She also got the eggs because she
Why do you think she got the eggs anyway? knew she needed them to make the Thunder Cake.

Reread page 20
Grandma talked to Patricia in a steady voice because she
Question: wanted to help her to feel safe. Patricia was scared when she
Why do you think grandma used a steady (calm, firm) voice was climbing the trellis but her grandma was helping her to be
when talking to Patricia? brave by letting her know she would be ok.

Activity: See sample graphic organizer in Teacher Notes. Possible

Establish the following pattern of activities to help students responses for pg 6-11:
answer the question: How did Patricia overcome her fear of
thunderstorms. Pg Patricia’s Grandma’s Actions Patricia’s
1. Stop at each of the following pages to chart evidence # Feelings Actions
from the illustrations and text to describe evidence of 6 Scared- “.. come out from -Hiding
Patricia’s feeling, Grandma’s actions and Patricia’s hiding under under that bed. It’s
actions. Allow scholars to pantomime what is happening bed only thunder you’re
with Patricia and Grandma on each page. hearing”
8 Scared- -Taught her how to -Came out
stammering count to see how far from under
a) Pg. 6 storm was. bed.
b) Pg. 8 -Hugged
c) Pg 11 grandma
d) Pg 17 11 Scared- “I “I’m here she won’t -Got the eggs

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 Achievement First Thunder Cake Recommended for Grade K

e) Pg 20 was scared. I hurt you.”

f) Pg 21 knew she
would peck
me.”

1. Have scholars explain what happened throughout the a) In the beginning of the story Patricia was really scared. She
story by answering the following questions and hid under the bed and was shaking. By the end she wasn’t
providing evidence. scared. Even when the thunder rumbled and crashed she was
smiling and baking the Thunder Cake.
a) How did Patricia feel throughout the story?
b) Grandma was saying and doing things to make Patricia feel
b) Why was grandma saying/doing these things safe like, “It’s only thunder you’re hearing.” She also taught her
throughout the story? how to count to see how far the storm was. This helped her
understand thunder more so she was less afraid of it. She also
taught her how to make Thunder Cake. This helped her to keep
her mind on making the cake and not on the thunder.
c) How did Patricia’s actions change from the beginning to In the beginning she hid under the bed from the storm. By the
the end? end she was out doing things to make the Thunder Cake even
though she was scared.

4. Culminating Task:  TDQ: Patricia overcame her fear of thunderstorms

because she went out and faced her fear of thunder as
TDQ: she went through the steps of making the Thunder
How did Patricia overcome her fear of the thunder? Cake, even though she was afraid. She was also able to
overcome her fear because she had the support of her
Optional Activity-Explain, act out or write a response to the grandmother throughout the story.
following: Based on how Patricia learned to overcome her fear  Optional Activity: Have scholars explain, act out or
of thunderstorms, what advice would you give someone who is write how someone would face their fears of flying by
afraid. facing their fear and having someone there for support.

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 Achievement First Thunder Cake Recommended for Grade K

FOURTH AND BEYOND:

Explain that today you will re-read the end of the text, guide a
discussion on what Patricia learned about herself throughout
the story.

Reread page 23: This is not a question because it does not have a question mark,
Reread sentence and write on easel- “Why, you aren’t afraid of but does have a comma. Grandma is telling her that she is not
thunder.” afraid of thunder.

Question:
Is this a question? How do you know? What do you think
grandma meant by this then?

Reread- “I’m not brave, Grandma”…to the end of the page.

Activity:

Establish the following pattern of activities to help students Action Thought/Feelings

answer the question: What did Patricia learn about herself. Got eggs from “I am so scared! She might
Nellie peck me!”
1. Ask students to list things grandma said Patricia did that Got milk from Kick “Kick cow looks mean!” “I
proved she was brave. List them in first column. Cow am scared!”
2. Refer back to the pages where Patricia demonstrated Went throught “It is dark and scary!” “The
the action. Tangleweed Woods thunder is making loud
a) Hold up a cutout of a thought bubble. Have noises!”
scholars act out/ say what they think Patricia Climbed the trellis “I am so high up! This is
might be thinking. Add ideas to the thought scary! I hope I don’t fall!”
column.

Have scholars synthesize information from the table Patricia is really scared when she is doing all of these things.

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 Achievement First Thunder Cake Recommended for Grade K

Question: How is Patricia feeling when she is doing these Grandma thinks she is brave though because she keeps doing
things? Why do you think grandma says she is brave for doing all the things to make the Thunder Cake even though she is
these things? afraid.

FINAL DAY WITH THE BOOK - Culminating Task

 What did Patricia learn about herself?
o To provide guidance for students in completing the culminating task consider engaging in shared writing to respond to
the question. Go back to the book and have students provide evidence from the text to confirm their position. Students
can then independently respond to the question by writing from the point of view of Patricia to explain what she learned
about herself.
o If students are not yet capable of expressing themselves through written response they can respond through drawing.
While students are drawing you can confer with students individually and allow them to give an oral explanation to the
question.
Sample Response: I learned that even though I was very scared I am a brave person. I am brave because even though the thunder
was booming and the lightning was flashing in the sky I still got out from under the bed and went to the dry shed and got the
ingredients for the cake. Brave people, like me, do things that they want or need to do even when they are scared.

Vocabulary
These words merit less time and attention These words merit more time and attention
(They are concrete and easy to explain, or describe events/ (They are abstract, have multiple meanings, and/or are a part

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 Achievement First Thunder Cake Recommended for Grade K

processes/ideas/concepts/experiences that are familiar to your students) of a large family of words with related meanings. These words are likely
to describe events, ideas, processes or experiences that most of your
student will be unfamiliar with)

Page 2- sultry – hot, humid, muggy Page 2- overcome- beat, conquer

damp- wet, humid, muggy Page 3- horizon- where the land meets the sky
shudder-shake Page 8- mile- a way to measure distance
Babushka- Russian word for grandmother
Page 3- drew (as in drew a deep breath)- took, breathed in
Page 8-rattled- shook
stammer-stutter
Page 9- survey- look closely at
strode- walked
crowed- to cry out happily
creased- wrinkled
penned-wrote down
scurried- walk quickly
Page 11- peck- poke with beak
Page 13- croaked- to say in a rough, low voice
dry shed- a place to keep dry foods
Page 16- slit-to make a line through
Page 17- jagged- pointy
bellowed-make a loud sound
Page 20- trellis- something that holds up a plant on a wall
Page 21- churned-stirred
Page 26- rumbled- make a deep sound

Extension learning activities for this book and other useful resources
 Write about a time you learned the same lesson about yourself as Patricia did. Explain how you came to learn this about
yourself.

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 Achievement First Thunder Cake Recommended for Grade K

 Bake Thunder Cake with your class using the recipe at the end. Ask students- If we are afraid of thunder, will this cake cure
our fear? If Patricia didn’t eat this cake at the end would she still be scared of thunder? Why not? Discuss how the
preparation of the cake helped her face her fears, not the cake itself.
 Go to National Severe Storms Laboratory Links to learn more about severe weather and thunderstorms.
http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/. Print copies of "Bill, Maria and the Thunderstorm" for students. Have scholars act what they
should do to stay safe in a thunderstorm. Note: This is particularly supportive of English Language Learners.
 Have students describe the difference between how Grandma and Patricia make a cake and how students and their families
would make a cake. Discuss how city and country life differ.

Note to Teacher
 Below are samples of a completed class chart of “public notes”. In this type of group note taking, the teacher helps the class
to decide what to record. Notes may take the form of words, illustrations from the book, drawings, or any combination of the
three. Notes may be paraphrased or quoted. Notes can also be added using post-its students draw or wrote on and add to
the chart. Refer to your public notes frequently.

Second Reading:
Drawing attention to the patterns in the chart will help students build knowledge about thunderstorms.
Pg Thunder Lightning Patricia
#

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 Achievement First Thunder Cake Recommended for Grade K

11 ROARED! flashed 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9
flashed
12 BAROOOOOOM! ZIP 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8

13 BOOOOM-BA-BOOOOOOOM slit the sky 1-2-3-4-5-6-7

14 CRACKLE, CRACKLE, BOOOOM, flashed 1-2-3-4-5-6

KA-BOOOOOOM
15 KA-BANG Lightening again 1-2-3-4-5
BOOOOOOOOAROOOM
16 RRRRRUMBLED Lit the kitchen 1-2-3
CRASHED

Third Reading:
Drawing attention to the patterns in the chart will help students understand that though she was scared, Patricia was able to
overcome her fears because she faced her fears and had the support of her grandmother.
Pg Patricia’s Feelings Grandma’s Actions Patricia’s Actions
#
6 Scared-hiding under bed “.. come out from under that bed. It’s only thunder you’re -Hiding
hearing”
8 Scared-stammering -Taught her how to count to see how far storm was. -Came out from under bed.
-Hugged grandma
11 Scared- “I was scared. I “I’m here she won’t hurt you.” -Counted
knew she would peck -Got the eggs
me.”
17 Scared- “crept” “It was “I’m here child.” -Counted

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 Achievement First Thunder Cake Recommended for Grade K

dark and I was scared.” “Hurry now we haven’t got much time. We’ve got -Got supplies from the dry
everything but the secret ingredient. shed
20 “The ground looked a “I’m here child.” -Counted
long way down. I was Steady voice -Got the tomatoes
scared.”
21 Smiling-not scared -mixed ingredients, poured batter, put in the oven -Counted
“Three miles away! We made it!” -churned butter, melted
chocolate, poured batter, put
in oven

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 What Makes this Text Complex?

1. Quantitative Measure
Go to http://www.lexile.com/ and enter the title of your text in the Quick Book Search in the upper
right of home page. Most texts will have a Lexile measure in this database.

Most of the texts that we read aloud in K-2 should

be in the 2-3 or 4-5 band, more complex than the
630L students can read themselves.
2-3 band 420-820L
4-5 band 740-1010L

2. Qualitative Features
Consider the four dimensions of text complexity below. For each dimension *, note specific examples
from the text that make it more or less complex.
In this text students must understand that the purpose of the This text has straight forward narrative structure. The story is
thunder cake is to distract the main character from her fear of told in chronological order. There is clear problem introduced
thunderstorms. Students must also understand the relationship by the narrator at the beginning of the story and clear steps the
of family and the role the grandmother plays in helping the child character take to overcome the problem. What makes this text
overcome her fear and also teacher her life skills (i.e over coming complex is the way the story is told through dialogue between
fear) the grandmother and the child.

Meaning/Purpose Structure
The language in the story is complex for Language Knowledge Demands
this grade band. There is dense tier 2 and tier 3 vocabulary In order to understand this text students must understand
specifically focusing on words that are specific to thunderstorms, information about
farm life, and Russian culture. The syntax of sentences is on the Storm patterns particularly thunderstorms
complex side. There is some dialect specific language focusing Country and farm life
on the grandmother Russian background. Baking
Some Russian immigrant culture

*For more information on the qualitative dimensions of text complexity, visit

http://www.achievethecore.org/content/upload/Companion_to_Qualitative_Scale_Features_Explained.pdf

3. Reader and Task Considerations

What will challenge my students most in this text? What supports can I provide?

The two dimensions of text complexity that will be most demanding are the language and
knowledge demands. Students will need to make meaning of the complex sentences and dialogue in
the story. They will also need support in understanding some of the vocabulary related to the
embedded knowledge demands.

Supports we can provide:

 Spend time crafting questions to clarify word meaning.

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  Previewing background knowledge prior to reading (and within reading) to focus on knowledge
demands.
 Using illustrations as a support for vocabulary acquisition.
 Dramatic reads of dialogue
 For particularly complex sentences with pronoun references and where dialogue and dialect
might be confusion close reading those sentences.

How will this text help my students build knowledge about the world?
 Scholars will be exposed to concepts about weather, farm/country life and some Russian
immigrant culture.

4. Grade level
What grade does this book best belong in?

Kindergarten

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