Book-of-the-Week: Sunflower House

To start out the summer our book of the week is "The Sunflower House" by Eve Bunting with Illistrations by Katheryn Hewitt. The story over the course of a summer with spring planting, and watching the flowers grow tall. They grow so tall eventually that the little boy and his friends in the story pretend it is a house, a castle and a zoo. They spend marvelous hours pretending and even spend the night in their sunflower house. At the end of the story they can no longer get the sun flowers to stand up straight with string or glue, but they have their memories and enough seeds to start again next spring.

Story Questions:

Why does to boy water the sunflowers everyday?
What animals want to eat the sunflower seeds?
What does the boy do to keep the animals away?
Does Bernice think the flowers will grow? Why or why not?
Why did the author decide to make this a rhyming book?
How long do you think it takes to grow sunflowers?
What doe they make out of the sunflower patch?
Why can't his parents fit?
They stay out in the sunflower patch at night. Would you?
How do they feel when their sunflowers start to die off?
What do they try to do to save the sunflower house?
What is their plan for next year?
Did you like this story? Why or why not?

Story Vocabulary:
 

Sew Seeds
Pesky
mammoth
Guaranteed
Golden
Spread
Rage
Whisper

Extension Ideas:

Sunflower Life Cycle Cards

Sunflower Science Observation Cards

Sunflower Synonyms

I am Special Sunflower Craftivity