What is the best way to teach ‘The Boy in the Dress’?

The best way to approach teaching the book The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams, is to enjoy it. I have found that the best way to start each lesson is to read a chapter of the book together as a class. Discuss the important parts and talk about the literacy techniques in the book, (Are there letters? Newspaper reports? Poetry?) Use the events of chapters to guide the lessons. Use The Boy in the Dress characters to influence your planning.

What are the best topics to cover with The Boy in the Dress?

When writing your Boy in the Dress lesson plans, start with the important points your need to go over. The book is great for covering a range of different literacy topics. I have used it to cover; story structures (chapter 21), Character descriptions (chapter 4), Diary writing (chapter 8), Verb tenses (chapter 14), Play Scripts (Chapter 2), Comprehension – throughout the book but with a main focus in chapter one and many others.

There are so many topics that you can cover using the chapters as a base. I have found that It is easy to relate each chapter to a particular area of literacy learning.

Is The Boy in the Dress a good book for primary or elementary age children?

It is an excellent book for this age group. Not only is it perfect for teaching literacy techniques, it has some great messages that young children can understand and possibly even relate to.

How can I teach difficult or unrelated concepts to The Boy in the Dress?

I have used The Boy in the Dress to teach things such as editing (in chapter 16) by using the children’s own work and texts from the book to make improvements. You will find that once you start looking for ways to relate your lessons to the different chapters, you will get lots of new ideas.

What are the important messages that The Boy in the Dress covers?

The main message in The Boy in the Dress is that it is ok to be yourself. As teachers we can really encourage and reinforce that message to our students. We can do this by discussing the events in the book, talking about what happens and allow safe spaces for difficult conversations.

What resources are available to help teach The Boy in the Dress?

I currently have 22, individual, The Boy in the Dress lessons – one for each chapter in the book.