I would flag this page with a Post-it and say, “Wow, Punchinello sure has a lot of dots and feels so badly about himself that he is afraid to go outside. He was afraid that he would do something dumb such as forget his hat or step in water, and then people would give him another dot.

After a while he (Punchinello) had so many dots that he didn’t want to go outside.

Receiving the dots causes him to feel sad.

Read the book first for yourself and take note of the moments when Punchinello gets a gray dot.

Punchinello realizes, after he spends some time with Eli who loves him unconditionally, the dots will not stick to him, because he is special too. Skeptically, Punchinello goes to meet Eli, where he learns that he is loved and accepted, no matter what other’s may say his faults are. Eli creates all of the Wemmicks and lives on the other side of the hill. When Punchinello asks Lucia about this phenomenon, she refers him to Eli, the woodcarver. Every time someone gives her a mark, whether a star or dot, it just falls off. He meets Lucia, a Wemmick who is beautiful and talented, but has no stars or dots. It is affecting his self-esteem and he believes something must be really wrong with him. A Wemmick, named Punchinello, is one who receives gray dots all day long and is very sad about it. The gray dot stickers go to the chipped, scratched, and uncoordinated Wemmicks, and to those who cannot speak eloquently. The golden star stickers go to the talented, well liked, smart, and beautiful Wemmicks. It is about small wooden people called the Wemmicks who put golden star stickers and gray dot stickers on each other all day long. You Are Special is a brilliant story and chapter book for students of all ages. In a think aloud, the teacher thinks about what he or she is reading aloud for students to hear therefore, modeling comprehension. Please read the first lesson in this series, Think Aloud: The New Read Aloud before teaching this lesson plan for it to make sense. This read aloud is a planned think aloud.

Youtube max lucado you are special