Annotation: Alexander wakes up with gum in his hair. His best friend is mean to him. He has too eat lima beans for dinner. And there''s kissing on TV. For Alexander, it''s a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. As stated from the back cover of the book, the main character is a boy named Alexander who no matter what he does, can not get away from the dark cloud that seems to be hovering over him. His cure for all this is to use Australia as an escape route in hopes of a better day. Alexander''s struggles with life''s daily dramas will encourage students to share their feeling and realize that we all experience bad days. In the end his moter helps him realize that even in Australia, some days are terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days. Goals: TLW: Identify the main character. Demonstrate critical reading skills by answering comprehension questions. Use geography skills to locate and gain information about the location, the setting, where the story takes place or where the character wants to go. Use prediction to relate the events to the illustrations in the book. Use creative writing skills to present their interpretation of the story. Name and identify the characters in the literature selection and their importance in the story structure. Pre-reading Activities: * TLW Predict what the story is about from the title. *TLW Predict what the story is about from thefront cover. *TLW List the predictions on a chart paper and mark them most by the students to reflect back to at end of the story to verify how many correct or good predictions their were. *TTW Review challenging vocabulary and meaning prior to reading. Vocabulary: Review punctuation and meaning of story vocabulary prior reading. *Horrible, Terrible (synonyms) *Agent *Australia *Smushed, Scrunched (synonyms) *Carsick *Invisible *Track *Elevator *Dentist *Scolded *Sneakers