Sibling Rivalry

The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davis is a story about a brother and sister, Evan and Jessie, who are going to be in the same grade and same class next year in fourth grade. Jessie was in second grade last year, but since she was ahead of all the other second graders she is going to skip the third grade. When Evan finds out that his little sister is going to be in his class, he is extremely upset and starts being mean to Jessie, because all he really wants is not to be compared to his sister. One of the last days of summer Evan decides he's going to sell lemonade and when Jessie asks to join in he refuses to let her, so she sells lemonade up the road from him with a girl from his class named Megan, when he finds out he is furious. Jessie and Evan get into a fight and to resolve the fight they decided to make a bet. They bet that whoever gets to $100 first after selling only lemonade over a five day period will win and have to give their money to the other person. If they do not reach $100 then it is whoever has the most at the end, or if they go over, it is also who has the most at the end. After only 3 days Evan is already over $100 and Jessie is no where close to $100. Although Evan is ahead now who will win? Jessie knows how to do the math and Evan knows how to work with people. This story a true tale of sibling rivalry, but also how people are smart in different ways. Jessie may be able to do the math, but Evan sure knows how to make more money.
Web resources for teachers:

• Making Connections: This site has a couple of different ways to connect this book not only to math and language arts, but also social studies. 
• Activities and Discussions: This site has multiple discussions, about the book and activities. 
• Author's Site

Vocabulary: Again the vocabulary was pretty easy but there were a few words I noticed might be difficult, they are: complicated, humiliated, compartments, vendor, infestation, expectantly, consultant, optimist, chintzy, bristly, pathetic, impatiently, taunting, miser, menacing, scorcher, rhododendron, investment. Also one of my favorite parts of this book is that there is new vocabulary at the beginning of each chapter and there is a definition. I think a great way to use these words is to have my students use them in sentences so they practice using the new words. There are also some specific economic words within the chapters that they could also write sentences about. 
Before Reading: I will talk with students about sibling rivalries. I will ask them to imagine what it would be like if their younger sibling skipped a grade and all the sudden was going to be in your grade? I would ask them to imagine how they would feel. Since some children may be only children I would then ask the students to share with three to four other students about what they think it would be like. Then I would flip the question and ask the students to share amongst themselves what it would be like if you skipped a grade and were in your older brother or sister's grade. Then I would tell them that the story they are about to read is about two siblings who end up in the same grade because the younger sister skips a grade. I will then tell them that they end up making a bet to see who can sell the most lemonade. Finally I will ask them to brainstorm if they think the older sibling or the younger sibling will sell the most and why do they think so?
During Reading: I will use these discussion questions.
After Reading: Now I will ask the students to make up their own word problems which involve selling lemonade.They will be required to come up with 5 different word problems.I will give them the example from the book that if each pitcher makes 64oz of lemonade and from that you get 8 glasses and you sell one glass for $0.50 how much will you make if you sell four pitchers worth of lemonade? Once they have made their word problems I will collect and the ones that make sense I will compile into one worksheet for the students to do in free time during class.