Stellaluna Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources
Author: Janell Cannon

This page contains Stellaluna teaching resources and
fun activities for your elementary school students.

Stellaluna: Summary of the Book

Stellaluna, written by Janell Cannon, is the story about a baby fruit bat that gets separated from her mother during an owl attack. To me, this picture book emphasizes that it's always best to be yourself and to appreciate the differences in other people.

This endearing picture book has become a favorite of teachers and children because of the lessons that are woven throughout the story about friendship and acceptance. Your students will enjoy learning interesting facts about bats while they listen to you read this story.

Cannon's beautiful bat illustrations are realistically, yet expressively, drawn and reading Stellaluna to your students will help to shine a positive spotlight on an animal that is usually viewed in a negative manner.

Teachers enjoy reading Stellaluna aloud to their students during the month of October to coincide with Halloween or during a thematic study about bats. This popular children's book can also be read anytime of the year to focus on friendship and to promote a positive message of accepting and celebrating people's differences.

Stellaluna is a baby bat who is accidentally separated from her mother and ends up being raised by a mother bird, along with her three baby birds. Although Stellaluna is a fruit bat, she tries to fit in with the customs of the birds by eating insects, sleeping at night, and she sleeps in their nest instead of hanging upside down by her feet.

Although Stellaluna is accepted by the birds, she somehow never feels at home or herself. When the baby birds learn to fly and land, poor Stellaluna is clumsy and embarrassed that she can't land gracefully on a branch because her feet are equipped for hanging, not perching.

In the end, Stellaluna is reunited with her real mother and she discovers that she isn't a bird, she's a bat! She learns that bats love to eat fruit, they sleep hanging upside down, they stay awake at night, and bats can fly in the dark because they travel by echolocation.

Stellaluna realizes that she can remain best friends with her bird siblings, but she doesn't have to look or act like them, she can be herself.

The full page illustrations drawn by Janell Cannon are large and vivid, making this a great book for reading out loud.

Be sure to point out the small pen and ink drawings at the top of the text pages. These small illustrations tell the story of how Stellaluna's mother is alive and searching for her baby.

October is the perfect time of the year to integrate science into your language arts curriculum. There are misconceptions that are often held about these interesting creatures of nature and your students will enjoy learning how bats are helpful to the environment and about their special quality of being able to fly at night using echolocation.

The last two pages of the book contain a section called "Bat Notes". These pages are filled with interesting and easy to understand information about bats.

In addition to the detailed lesson plans that you will find later on this page, below is a short list of some other Stellaluna activities that you may want to include in your lesson plans:

• Show your students the small pen and ink drawings at the top of each text page. These small illustrations tell the story of Stellaluna's mother. As an extension activity, have your students write captions that would go along with each of these smaller illustrations.
• Have your students write a sequel to Stellaluna that shows how she is still friends with the birds.
• Have your students choose an animal that is often thought of negatively like a bat (snake, rat, mouse, spider, etc.). Next, have your students write a story about their animal that will help change people's feeling and perceptions about this animal.

Below you will find some of the Stellaluna lesson plans that I have developed over the years as I have read this book to my students. My students love completing the fun projects that I have created specifically for this book and I hope that your students enjoy them as well.

All of the teaching resources on this page include a second version of each worksheet that contains British spelling rules (colour instead of color, favourite instead of favorite, etc).

Stellaluna Lesson Plans:
Bat Shaped Book Report Project Templates

Your students will go batty completing this fun book report project that requires them to write about the beginning, middle, and end of the story.

This uniquely shaped book report project contains 3 worksheet templates that assemble into the shape of a bat. The finished project measures 20 inches x 9 inches.

This set of Stellaluna teaching resources includes the following:

• assembling directions
• first draft writing worksheets
• final draft project templates
• 5 page bulletin board display banner

This set of teaching resources includes assembling directions on how to prepare and assemble this bat shaped book report project. Below is an example of the assembling directions worksheet.

I believe that the writing process is important and that teachers should use process writing whenever possible. For this reason, my students never begin their Stellaluna projects by writing on their final draft bat templates, instead they write on first draft worksheets.

Next, my students edit and revise their written work on their own, with a partner, or in individual writing conferences with me.

This set of teaching resources contains two printable worksheets for students to write their first drafts on. The writing line spaces on these first draft worksheets matches the spaces allotted on the final draft bat templates.

A book report grading rubric is included in this set of teaching resources. I believe that it is important for students to evaluate their own work, so my book report rubric contains an assessment section for both students and teachers.

When students evaluate their book report projects, they color in the faces on their grading rubric worksheets. When a teacher evaluates the projects, the teacher circles the small numbers inside each box on the printable worksheets.

Below is an example of my Stellaluna book report grading rubric.

This set of teaching resources includes 3 worksheet templates that are glued together to form a bat. The finished bat book report project measures 20 inches x 9 inches.

There are two versions of the head and body template for you to choose from to give to your students. On the first template, students draw their own face and on the second template, Stellaluna's face has already been drawn.

When I am first introducing my students to a new project, I believe that it is important for them to have a visual example of what the completed project will look like.

To save you time in coloring your example that you show to your students, I have included color bat templates in this set of teaching resources. I display my assembled example at the front of the classroom so that students can refer to it as they are completing their own projects.

I know that it takes teachers a lot of time to design and assemble their classroom bulletin board displays. Many teachers spend their valuable time cutting out large display letters or making a banner at home on their own computers.

In order to help save you time in assembling a bulletin board display featuring your students' Stellaluna book report projects, I have designed a 5 page banner that is included for free in this set of teaching resources.

Stellaluna Lesson Plans

Click on the book covers below to view
the fun, unique, and extra large projects that I have
designed for these popular novels and picture books.