What a skillful way to incorporate Shel Silverstein, a wonderful author, into the classroom. Composed of three tasks, children are led through a series of text-dependent questions that force them to unveil the meaning of Silverstein's words, "WhatIf." Through class discussion, learners display their understanding of the text, culminating into an in-depth reading of the poem. Lastly, individuals write about certain portions of the text in order to demonstrate their understanding of the author's use of language. This is a great lesson to use in whole-class instruction or even in small, guided reading groups. Can be completed over the course of two days.

Common Core

RL.3.1 RL.3.3 RL.3.4 RL.3.10 RI.3.6 W.3.1.a SL.3.1.a L.3.5.a