Teacher Share: Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao

Perfection may not look the same to everybody, but if you strive for your own version of it, imagine the wonderful things you’ll discover along the way.

Kimberly Harper, a grades 2–5 teacher from Mill Creek Elementary in Madison, Alabama, shares how she uses the Book of the Week, Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao, with her class. To Kimberly and many of her students, Amy’s story rings true on a personal level and offers a wonderful opportunity to teach the power of perseverance, open up conversations about family recipes and traditions, and much more.

• Sequencing: Recipes are a great way to introduce students to sequential writing. Students can use sentence starters, such as “first,” “then,” “next,” and “last,” and share their own recipes. Download a free printable “My Perfect Recipe” worksheet in this week’s Cooked Up from a Book!

• Antonyms: As Amy embarks on her quest to create the perfect bao, she makes a bao that’s too big and then one that’s too small. This is a great opportunity to introduce students to words with opposite meanings and encourage them to come up with their own pairs.

• Rich Vocabulary: Throughout the story, students might discover words they didn’t know before, such as “knead” and “bao.” Students can practice using their inference skills and context clues to guess the definitions.

• Problem and Solution: For every problem, there has to be a solution! Amy realizes the solution to her struggles and makes the perfect bao.

How do you plan to use Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao with your class? Please share with the Scholastic Book Clubs community on Facebook and Instagram using the hashtag #ScholasticBookClubs.