Students will organize a food and clothing drive.

Anticipatory Set:

Ask students if they know the meaning of the word "homeless."  Talk about that meaning of the suffix "less."  Ask students if they know or have ever seen someone who is homeless.  Discuss that homeless people are everywhere--in big and small communities.  Discuss what a homeless person might need other than a home.  Where do students think a  person who is homeless might get those needs met?

• Read the book to the class. Use a finger to run under the line being read and to point to key picture items.
  
  
• On selected pages, stop and encourage the children to interact with the book in the following ways:
  
  • Identify key items in the picture that will aid in listening comprehension.
  • Hypothesize about what may happen next, what the motives of characters might be, and why something is happening.
  • Label the feelings of the characters.
    
    
• Discuss how Selavi worked with the other homeless children in the neighborhood to help themselves and other children. Selavi could not have solved the problem alone. Discuss the benefit of group cooperation.
  
  
• Define common good. Ask students to define philanthropy as the giving and sharing of time, talent, or treasure intended for the common good. Ask whether Selavi and the other children were philanthropists, and challenge the students to give examples of how they as individuals can give a little for the common good. Brainstorm some small ways they can give to people in need in their own community.
  
  
• If students are motivated, organize a food and clothing drive. When several items are collected, invite someone from the local food pantry or shelter to pick up the items and thank the students. Note: Please be sensitive to the possibility that someone in your class may have some personal experience with homelessness.
  
  
• After the students have participated in a group project to help some people in the community, have them write about the experience in their journals. Have them include a description of the project as well as their personal feelings. How was their experience similar and different from Abby’s experience?

• Language Arts Connection: Brainstorm words that end with the suffix "less." Define the words.
  
• Math Connection: As items come on from the clothing and food drive, create a graph of the items collected. 
  
• Art Connection: Imitate the art from the book.  The author is a muralist.  If possible, allow the students to paint a mural on a wall or window.  Otherwise, they may create a mural on mural paper and hang it in the hall.