Activity: Analyzing Character Growth

What would you do if you joined a brand-new team and discovered that your bully was also one of your teammates?

That’s the challenge Rhino faces in Little Rhino: My New Team, when he finds out that Dylan is also a Mustang. From there, Rhino and Dylan’s relationship evolves—they don’t become best friends, but they do learn how to be good teammates to one another.

It’s that nuance that prompted early childhood educator Jenise R. Collins to start a class discussion about how Rhino and Dylan’s relationship grows and transforms. Inspired by Jenise’s Book Talk this week, we put together a free downloadable discussion guide to help you create a thoughtful classroom dialogue:

Then as a follow-up to your conversation, students can use this free downloadable activity to practice synthesizing the points brought up in your class discussion while also practicing writing skills.

How do your students think Rhino changed throughout the book? What about Dylan? We’d love to hear from you! If you’re able, please share with us and other Scholastic Book Clubs teachers on Facebook and Instagram using the hashtag #ScholasticBookClubs.