Illustration of four owls singing and sitting on a branch
Illustrated by Rebecca Elliott

Eva Rocks Out

By Written and Illustrated by Rebecca Elliott

Learning Objective: Children will distinguish between fiction and nonfiction, as well as explore diaries as a genre.

Lexiles: 460L

Monday

Hi, Diary!

It’s me, Eva. We have a big show coming up! On Friday night, our rock band is going to play for the whole school. It is going to be flap-tastic.

Zara is the lead singer. Hailey, Lucy, and I are the backup singers. Today we practiced our songs after school.

“Your voice is be-hoot-iful, Zara!” I said.

“Thank you!” Zara said. “Your voices are beautiful too!”

“No way. We’d sound awful without you,” said Lucy.

Thank goodness Zara is in the band. I would not want to do the show without her! She has the best voice.

Friday

We practiced all week. At last, it was time for the show!

But just as we were about to flap onstage . . .DISASTER! Zara was missing!

“We can’t sing without Zara!” Hailey said.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go find her!” I said.

I looked all around the forest. I couldn’t find her! 

So I flew backstage. “I can’t find her,” I said. 

“We can’t do the show without Zara!” Hailey said. “We’re not good enough!”

But all the seats were filled. Every owl in school was there. Our teacher was onstage.

“Owlets, it’s time!” she said.

We looked at one another. 

“I guess we have to,” I said.

We sang our hearts out for the first song. And you know what? We were good! 

Then Zara flew onstage. The audience went wild! 

“Zara, where have you been?” Lucy asked.

“I was here all along_hiding! I wanted you to see I’m not the only good singer in the band. We are all great!” she said.

“She’s right! Let’s rock!” I said. 

We put our wings around one another and sang. The rest of the concert was owlmazing!!!!

Guess what, Diary! It turns out that my BFFs (Best Feathery Friends) and I are ALL rock stars!

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Activities (3)
Answer Key (1)
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Activities (3) Download All Quizzes and Activities
Answer Key (1)

About the Story

English Language Arts Focus

Sequencing, problem and solution, characters

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan

Implementation

Whole Group; Small Group

Pairings and Text Connections

  • In this issue: “Big Read-Aloud: Tiny Owl in the Big City”
  • Suggested booksThe Owl Diaries series by Rebecca Elliott

Before-Reading Resources

  • Video: Fiction and Nonfiction (5 minutes)  Use this video when pairing this article with the Big Read-Aloud.

Suggested Reading Focus

Genres of fiction (15 minutes)
  • Walk students through the structure of this article, pointing out the days of the week  headings and the introduction, “Hi, Diary!” Have students  think-pair-share about what type of story they are about to read, and what the different headings might indicate.
  • Read the story aloud while students follow along in their magazines, or have students  read a sentence or page at a time. Model summarizing the section and asking comprehension questions at  each Pause and Think prompt. 
  • Finally, discuss how Eva’s  feelings changed throughout  the story, based on her diary entries. What does Eva learn about herself and her band?

After-Reading Skills Practice

  • Skills: Comparing texts, fine motor skills (15 minutes)

Extension Writing Activity

Skills: Teamwork (15 minutes)

  • Have students discuss how the owlets felt at the end of the story and  how it felt for them to perform all together. 
  • Then invite students to write or draw about something that feels best  when it’s done in a group. They can label their pieces with specific people  who help the teamwork feel successful.

Text-to-Speech