Substitute Lesson Plan: The Cat Bandit — Grade 2 Reader

Objective

Students will read (or listen to) two or more stories from The Cat Bandit and be able to identify the repeated story pattern (a smell tempts the cat bandit, he makes a plan, he uses tools/objects, he gets the food), retell the sequence of events in a story, and identify sound words (like "munch, munch, munch" and "sniff, sniff, sniff") that authors use to show action.

Materials

• Class copies of The Cat Bandit — Grade 2 Reader (one per student, or one to read aloud if copies are limited)
• Whiteboard or chart paper and marker
• Paper and pencil for each student (for the exit ticket)

Warm-up (~5 min)

1. Write the title The Cat Bandit on the board.
2. Ask students: "What do you think a 'bandit' is? What do you think this cat might do?"
3. Take 2–3 quick answers (no wrong answers needed — just get them thinking).
4. Tell students: "Every story in this book is about the same sneaky cat trying to steal food. Let's find out how he does it!"

Main Activity (~25 min)

1. Read Story 1 aloud together: "The Hot Dog" (pages 2–5). Have students follow along in their own copies, or read aloud if copies are shared. (~5 min)
2. Stop and discuss (~3 min):
3. What food did the cat bandit want?
4. How did he know it was there? (the smell drifted, he sniffed)
5. How did he get up to the shelf? (bench → TV set → shelf, in a big jump)
6. What sound word shows he ate it? ("munch, munch, munch")
7. Read Story 2: "The Chicken Nugget" (pages 6–9). (~5 min)
8. Stop and discuss (~3 min):
9. What was the same about this story and the hot dog story? (smell drifts, cat bandit sniffs, makes a plan, uses objects to climb, eats food with a sound word)
10. What did he use this time to reach the nugget? (boxes stacked up)
11. Read Story 3: "The Snack Mix" (pages 10–15) if time allows (~6 min), or read as much as time allows.
12. Class discussion (~3 min): On the board, write the repeating pattern together as a list:
13. Smell drifts
14. Cat bandit sniffs and sits thinking
15. He gets objects/tools for a plan
16. He gets the food
17. Sound word shows him eating ("munch, munch, munch" or "chomp, chomp, chomp")

Wrap-up / Exit Ticket (~10 min)

Have students write or draw answers to these on their paper:

1. Pick one story we read today. Write the name of the food the cat bandit wanted.
2. Write or draw ONE thing the cat bandit used as part of his plan (example: a box, a bench, tongs, rocks).
3. Write the sound word from the story that shows the cat bandit eating (example: munch, munch, munch or chomp, chomp, chomp).

Collect the exit tickets before the end of class.

If Time Remains

Ask students to act out (with simple gestures, no props needed) the cat bandit sniffing the air ("sniff, sniff, sniff"), climbing up, and eating ("munch, munch, munch") from one of the stories read. Call on volunteers to perform for the class, or have the whole class do the motions together at their seats.