The new book in the Food Series by Jory John – The Sour Grape – is here and she is *seriously* adorable. I probably relate to this book the most, I hold a grudge and I won’t budge — did I write this?? Get your students engaged in reading and enjoy the story with these free “The Sour Grape” activities.
The Sour Grape – Read aloud discussion questions
Interactive read alouds are my favorite activity as they truly foster group discussion. When reading “The Sour Grape”, make sure to stop and interact with the illustrations in the book focusing on the character’s emotions.
- Look at the Grape’s facial expressions when she lives on the wine, when she is in a store or when she meets Lenny.
- Contrast how she looks and feels at the beginning and at the end of the party.
- To add some vocabulary practice, write down the words you use to describe the character in two columns on the board: sweet words and sour words.
In my TpT resource you will find 9 discussion questions to go along with 5 days of detailed lesson plans to explore the theme of the book further.
The Sour Grape – Game idea
Call two students and ask one to give a ‘sour grape’ and another a ‘sweet grape’ response to life’s little annoyances: someone spilled your drink, missed your party.
TIP: Remember to be a really *really* sour grape: scowl, growl, make your face look squishy – this game is so much fun to get your students practice their drama skills and enact the characters from the book. Discuss why the sour grape response is unacceptable and how you can act as a sweet grape.
Use with any book! This “The Sour Grape” activity game is great to help reinforce the author’s message and help practice growth mindset. You can definitely use this strategy with other books in addition to “The Sour Grape”. Just come up with more fixed mindset situations based on the contents of the book and help practice mindfullness, compassion and kindness.
The Sour Grape – Writing activities
A must have writing activity to go along with “The Sour Grape” is writng a letter to a friend to apologize for the mistake with the date and holding a grudge. Not only is it a letter writing practice, it also helps students to retell a story from the viewpoint of the main character and once again remind themselves the message of “The Sour Grape”: life is sweet with forgiveness.
If you are looking for a quick no-prep writing activities to go along with “The Sour Grape”, visit my TpT store for a ‘build-a-grape’ craft with 5 writing prompts. A package with even more activities available HERE.
The Sour Grape – Lesson plans
When planning lesson plans with “The Sour Grape” read aloud activities, make sure to dedicate at least one day to discussing the Sour Grape’s character development:
- Compare the character at the beginning and at the end of the book
- Discuss what we mean when we say ‘sweet person’, ‘sour mood’.
The Good Egg – Book craft
In my TpT resource, I offer two crafts: one is a ‘sweet’ vs ‘sour’ lapbook and the other is a birthday invitation planner, where you will recall what happened at the previous party, appologize to your guests and plan the perfect party for the Grape’s birthday this year.
Did you enjoy the free “The Sour Grape” activities in this blog post? Even more fun ideas can be found in my TpT resource HERE . Receive 5 DAYS OF DETAILED LESSON PLANS to accompany reading The Sour Grape by Jory John, filled with 40+ rigorous and engaging activities to help your students effectively and meaningfully engage with the book. The focus of each day in this study is the following:
- Day 1 Introducing the book, Making inferences and predictions
- Day 2 Character analysis (traits, motivation, feelings)
- Day 3 Vocabulary development, Story elements (settings, point of view, key events), Retelling & Summarizing
- Day 4 Problem & Solution, Cause & Effect, Main idea & Theme
- Day 5 Author’s purpose and message, Reader’s response, Craft
Save big with bundles! Purchase all “The Food Group” resources more than 20% off and receive all future book companions. Click the images below to shop this post.
