There are several themes to explore when thinking about back-to-school read-aloud lessons and activities. Stories centered around building relationships are one of the most popular because they help students create positive relationships – which is the first step to building a positive classroom community. Our favorite read aloud to help students learn how to build positive relationships is Do Unto Otters by Laurie Keller. Let’s explore how Keller does this by looking at our Do Unto Otters Lesson Plan for back to school. Then, keep reading to the end to see our suggestions for read alouds to teach other important themes for back to school!
Do Unto Otters Summary
Do Unto Otters follows the main character Mr. Rabbit as he learns how to treat his new otter neighbors with respect and empathy. Mr. Rabbit is initially unsure of how to behave around his otter neighbors since he has never had otter neighbors and they are different from him.
However, rather than just ignoring his new neighbors, Mr. Rabbit seeks advice from his wise friend, Mrs. Owl. Mrs. Owl offers Mr. Rabbit a valuable piece of wisdom: “Do unto otters as you would have otters do unto you.”
This advice is a playful twist on the Golden Rule to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Just as these wise words often guide humans to be more accepting, Owl’s wise words also encourage Mr. Rabbit to treat the otters the way he would like to be treated himself.
Mr. Rabbit learns what this golden rule means as he goes through different steps like learning how to say, “please” and “thank you.” In addition, he learns about sharing, being considerate, and apologizing for mistakes.
As Mr. Rabbit applies these principles to his interactions with the otters, he discovers that they are friendly and kind neighbors. In the end, they all become good friends, highlighting the positive outcomes of practicing good manners and treating others with kindness.
As you can see these are all important lessons to teach students at the beginning of the school year because they help build positive relationships. Let’s dive a little deeper to explore HOW these lessons are taught throughout the book.
Important Lessons in Do Unto Otters
Beyond the basics of the Golden Rule, Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners teaches students specific key principles that are needed for building positive relationships:
- Empathy: The book encourages empathy by prompting readers to consider how they would like to be treated by others, in this case, the otters. By putting themselves in the otters’ shoes, children learn the importance of understanding others’ feelings and perspectives.
- Respect: The central message of treating others as you would like to be treated reinforces the concept of respect. Mr. Rabbit learns that respecting his otter neighbors’ needs and feelings is crucial for building a harmonious relationship with them.
- Communication: Through the story’s lessons on saying “please” and “thank you,” Mr. Rabbit models effective communication. These simple phrases demonstrate the importance of polite and clear communication in building positive relationships.
- Sharing: The book teaches the value of sharing, an important aspect of building positive relationships. Mr. Rabbit learns to share his belongings and time with the otters, fostering a sense of generosity and cooperation.
- Apologizing and Forgiving: Mr. Rabbit’s willingness to apologize when he makes a mistake and the otters’ readiness to forgive him emphasize the importance of acknowledging one’s errors and forgiving others. This promotes conflict resolution and maintaining positive relationships even when disagreements occur.
- Friendship: Ultimately, the story showcases the rewards of applying these principles—Mr. Rabbit and the otters become good friends. This illustrates that by practicing empathy, respect, communication, sharing, and forgiveness, children can develop meaningful and positive friendships.
Now that you have an understanding of how this delightful book teaches these key principles let’s look at how you can explore them further with your students.
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Do Unto Otters Activities
Throughout the book, the wise Owl asks Mr. Rabbit several questions. These questions can be used beyond simply reading the text to engage students in whole class discussions. You can begin by simply asking your students if they have ever felt the way Rabbit feels.
While this is a great starting point, it is by no means the end point of where you can go with this book! To help you out we created several whole group response to text activities to explore with your students in our Do Unto Otters read aloud.
Whole Class Discussion Questions: Do Unto Otters
We have provided you with several whole class discussion questions that can be used over the course of several days. This allows you to guide your students back into the text multiple times. Moreover, it provides you with an easy way to look at several different elements of literature in easy chunks.
Here are some examples of the types of questions that we created for you to use in discussing Do Unto Otters as a whole group:
Before Reading Comprehension Questions
- What is the title of this story?
- Who is the author of this story?
- Who is the illustrator of this story?
Main Idea and Details Questions
- What is the big idea of the story?
- How does Mr. Otter want the Otters to treat him?
Story Element Questions
- Who are the characters?
- What is the problem of the story?
- What is the author’s message?
In addition to the questions above, there are several comprehension questions that address elements of craft and structure, textual evidence, vocabulary, words and illustrations, text-to-self connections. You can view more examples of these questions in the read aloud preview.
To help engage students in their learning we provided not only the questions but several engaging ways for you to teach them. For example, you will find sorting activities that can be done digitally or with printed materials.
Do Unto Otters Writing Activities
In addition to the reading comprehension activities provided in this read aloud you will also find a writing activity. This is because writing is just as important in developing literacy skills as reading is.
In this writing activity, students make a personal connection to the story by writing about how they would want “otters” to treat them. Moreover, they go one step further and explain what they will do in order to have others treat them in that way.
Do Unto Otters Crafts
Along with the reading and writing resources provided we have created two creative learning activities. The first activity is retelling puppets.
These retelling puppets are one of the newer additions to our read alouds and provide students with a fun way to show what they have learned. They are especially great for supporting students who are auditory learners.
While the retelling puppets can be used as a whole group activity they are also excellent for small group learning. You choose what works best for your classroom!
The second Do Unto Otter craft is a cute otter page topper to attach to any student writing. This can be used as a culminating activity after the quiz or as a way to review before the quiz.
While we have seen both of these creative forms provide value and additional opportunities for learning in the classroom they are not a “must do”. Therefore, if you are short on time you can choose to leave one or both at the end of the unit. However, we hope you will get a chance to use them!
Building a Positive Classroom Community
If you do get time to complete the craft for Do Unto Otters we encourage you to showcase it in your room. When we were teaching, we loved to hang them on our bulletin boards with the students’ writing activity responses.
Hanging students’ work in the classroom is a great way to remind them of lessons you learned in the book. It also is a great way to give students ownership of their learning space, which further develops a sense of belonging in their classroom!
All things we truly believe will set you and your students up for an amazing year together!
