Introduce "The Popcorn Book" by showing the class the cover of the book and ask the students to predict what might happen in the story. Have the students write down their predictions and then pop a batch of popcorn as a class. Use string threaded through a blunt needle and make long popcorn strings to decorate the classroom. Place them around the room in a decorative manner. Allow students to eat any leftover popcorn while you read the book to see if their predictions came true.
The word "pop" appears in the story many times. Gather the class in a reading circle and read the story together. Write the word "pop" on the chalkboard and discuss rhyming words. Ask the class members to create a list of as many words as they can that rhyme with the word "pop." Develop new sentences using a rhyming word from the list and write these on sentence strips.
Tomie dePaola is known for being both a talented author and illustrator of a variety of children's literature. Discuss what it means to be an author versus an illustrator and ask the students to design a new cover for "The Popcorn Book." Give them a standard sheet of construction paper and have them use any art supplies you have in the classroom. Display the various covers around the room.
For young children, you can use popcorn as a basis for a math activity about counting. After reading the story, pop popcorn and distribute it to students. Print out numbers ranging from one to ten on paper and hold one number up at a time. Ask students to count the popcorn at their desk to correspond with the number you display. Circulate around the room and check to be sure the students are counting the kernels correctly.