Turn My Brave Year of Firsts into a meaningful literacy lesson that gets students reading, thinking, talking, writing—and discovering what it means to be BRAVE!
This K–2 literacy resource is designed to accompany the read aloud My Brave Year of Firsts and takes students from before-reading connections to comprehension, personal narrative writing, word work, and a memorable craft.
Best of all, the activities are designed with CHOICE in mind. Teachers can select the pages that match the skills they are teaching and the needs of their students—making this resource easy to use for a one-day literacy lesson, several days of learning, literacy centers, small groups, morning work, or the first days of school.
⭐ START WITH BRAVERY!
Before reading, students begin thinking about firsts, new experiences, feelings, and bravery.
The My Bravery Meter gives young learners a kid-friendly way to think about how they feel when faced with something new:
⭐ Not Yet
⭐⭐ A Little Nervous
⭐⭐⭐ I’ll Give It a Try!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ I’m Ready!
Students quickly discover an important message:
Bravery looks different for everyone!
The lesson naturally incorporates important social-emotional concepts including trying new things, recognizing feelings, bravery, and celebrating growth while strengthening K–2 literacy skills.
📚 READ, THINK & CONNECT!
During the read aloud, students stop to think about the little girl’s many first experiences.
What is she trying for the first time?
How might she feel?
What clues tell you that?
How is she showing bravery?
How would YOU feel if you were trying it?
These conversations help students move beyond simple story recall and begin analyzing the character, supporting their thinking, recognizing feelings, and making meaningful text-to-self connections.
✏️ COMPREHENSION WITH CHOICES!
Choose the comprehension skill that works best for YOUR students and YOUR lesson.
Activities provide opportunities to work with:
Story Recall • Character Analysis • Sensory Details • Compare & Contrast • Text-to-Self Connections • Feelings • Story Message • Personal Connections
Students can write, draw, discuss, and use details from the story to explain their thinking.
📝 TURN THE STORY INTO PERSONAL NARRATIVE WRITING!
After reading about the character’s firsts, students turn the learning back to themselves:
What is a FIRST that YOU remember?
Students brainstorm a personal experience and then use graphic organizers to plan and sequence their ideas.
The suggested progression is simple and purposeful:
BRAINSTORM → ORGANIZE → RETELL → WRITE → CREATE
Students practice sequencing with:
First → Next → Then → After That
Then they use differentiated writing pages to tell what they tried, what happened, how they felt, and how the experience ended. Multiple writing formats allow teachers to choose the level of support that works best for each young writer.
You can even combine student pages to create an adorable Our Class Book of Firsts!
🎨 FINISH WITH A MY BRAVE FIRST CRAFT!
Bring the writing to life with the included My Brave First craft!
Students create a child to look like themselves and pair the craft with their finished writing.
Put them together for an adorable classroom or hallway display:
OUR BRAVE YEAR OF FIRSTS!
It’s a wonderful way to celebrate each child’s unique experiences and growing confidence.
🔤 ADD WORD WORK & VOCABULARY!
Extend the story into your literacy block with illustrated vocabulary cards and word work activities.
The resource includes 15 story-related vocabulary cards, with words such as brave, bike, bee, bug, pony, tooth, pet, twins, T-ball, camp, s’more, classroom, and jump rope.
Choose the word work activities that reinforce the skills your students are currently learning and use the extras for centers, independent practice, partner work, or another day.
🍎 PERFECT FOR THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, TOO!
This resource includes a special First Day of School connection, making it especially useful at the beginning of the year!
Use the welcome activity and Bravery Meter to help students talk about those BIG first-day feelings. After reading, students can complete First Day of School graphic organizers and writing pages instead of writing about another personal first.
Finish with the craft for a meaningful beginning-of-the-year display!
⭐ SKILLS & CONCEPTS
Vocabulary • Story Recall • Character Analysis • Making Connections • Sequencing • Narrative Writing • Feelings • Bravery • Trying New Things • Celebrating Growth
❤️ WHY TEACHERS WILL LOVE IT
This isn’t a resource where you have to complete every page.
YOU choose what fits your students!
Use it as a complete literacy lesson, spread the activities across several days, or pull individual pages for guided reading, literacy centers, small groups, writing, morning work, partner work, or independent practice.
Whether you use it during the first days of school or anytime you want to encourage children to try something new, My Brave Year of Firsts provides a wonderful springboard for combining literacy, writing, comprehension, SEL, and classroom community.
Because every child has firsts.
Every child experiences new things differently.
And every child deserves the opportunity to discover:
I CAN BE BRAVE AND TRY!
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