The Day the Crayons Quit
Who loves to read digital stories with their students and use digital choice boards? If your hand is up, this post is for you. The best part? If you are teaching virtually, keep reading because this post has everything you need for a lesson about the story, “The Day the Crayons Quit” including a link to listen to the story being read online! No paper copy needed! (unless you want it!)
I love the story “The Day the Crayons Quit” by Drew Daywalt (affiliate link) because it focuses on teaching students about point of view, which can be a difficult reading trait to teach as well as thinking outside the box which is a good lesson for all students to learn. Students also find it humorous that the crayons write letters to their owner and get upset about being used too much!
Story Summary
Poor Duncan, the main character, just wants to color. But when he opens his box of crayons, he finds only letters, all saying the same thing: His crayons have had enough! They quit! Blue crayon needs a break from coloring all those bodies of water. Black crayon wants to be used for more than just outlining. And Orange and Yellow are no longer speaking—each believes he is the true color of the sun. What can Duncan possibly do to appease all of the crayons and get them back to doing what they do best? He has to think outside the box!
The Day the Crayons Quit Picture Book Digital Choice Board
I like to use this Picture Book Digital Choice Board with the story, The Day the Crayons Quit.
Let me tell you the reasons why:
- You can share slides with students through Google Classroom, Seesaw and
other online learning platforms. - You can edit some of the slides.
- You only need Internet access to be able to use this (and a Google account!)
- The digital version of the story is available for use (no paper copy needed!)
- There are 6 activities to go with the story.
- You can access the slides on a computer or tablet.
- Students can easily work in the Google Slides file (they are each given their
own copy) - Students have choices in the activities that they choose.
- The activities are engaging and interactive
- very user-friendly!
What is a Digital Choice Board?
Choice boards are a form of differentiated learning that gives students a menu or choice of learning activities. Learning menus and choice boards can be created in a variety of styles and mediums. They’ve been around for a long time and originated in a static, paper format. A digital choice board is the same thing only in a digital format, such as through Google Slides.
Digital Choice Board Activities:
The following activities are choices that students can choose to do to show their comprehension of the story, The Day the Crayons Quit after listening to it during the read aloud. You can have the students do as many activities as you would like but the point of the choice board is to let them have choice in what they decide to work on so doing 2-3 of the activities typically works best for students.
These are the activity choices in the Picture Book Digital Choice Board:
- Activity 1: Students will choose one of the feelings from the list and share about a time they felt that way. The feelings are ones the crayons feel in the book. They can share it through Google Classroom, record a short video or draw/write about it.
- Activity 2: students will sequence the story events
- Activity 3: students will complete a word search activity and a crossword puzzle. The puzzles are from the website RIF (reading is fundamental).
- Activity 4: Students will think about each crayon from the book. They will move the adjective that best describes each crayon.
- Activity 5: Students will watch a short video about how crayons are made.
- Activity 6: students will put the color words in ABC order.
Best Grade Levels
The Day the Crayons Quit is best for grades preschool-2nd grade. The activities in the Picture Book Digital Choice Board are best used with grades K-2.
To plan the best interactive read aloud for your class, check out the blog post, How to Plan the Perfect Interactive Read Aloud.
Grab The Day the Crayons Quit Picture Book Digital Choice Board here:
For more Picture Book Digital Choice Boards options, check out:
Picture Book Digital Choice Board Bundle March Edition
Picture Book Digital Choice Board Bundle-Monthly Bundle
Have you used digital choice boards with your students before? What do you like about them?