The Lemonade War

This resource can be used as supplemental teacher material or as a primary basis for literature study to:

• draw students into a text with pre-reading questions and warm-up prompts, maintain engagement and promote analysis with free-writing or discussion, and assess knowledge and comprehension with quizzes.
• ensure deeper understanding and enjoyment of the literature with activities for all learning types.
• stretch students’ critical thinking and writing skills with differentiated essay topics.

Note to Teachers: To support lesson-planning, connections to the work’s primary themes are noted throughout this resource (Best Business Practices, Resolving Emotional Conflict, and

Balance Between Work and Play).

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

In English, there is a popular expression about turning “lemons into lemonade.” It means that if you are given something that seems not to be worth very much—or that may even be bitter and unappealing—you can use your own hard work and creativity to turn it into something more appealing or valuable. Can you give an example of a time when you or someone else turned “lemons into lemonade”?

Teaching Suggestion and Helpful Links: Ask students to share what is important about the ability to “turn lemons into lemonade” in the scenarios they generate.