Level C/4 Math Teacher s Guide Skills & Strategies Anchor Comprehension Strategy Identify Sequence of Events Phonemic Awareness Syllables Phonics Initial, medial, and final d Concepts About Print Front cover Where to begin reading High-Frequency Words some, then, what Concept Vocabulary Things to count around town Genre Narrative nonfiction Math Big Idea Counting helps us compare quantities. Small Group Reading Lesson Skills Bank Reproducible Activity B e n c h m a r k E d u c a t i o n C o m p a n y
Small Group Reading Lesson Before Reading stores lights cars Things to Count in Town f lowers Visual Cues Look at the beginning letter. (b in bakery) Look for familiar chunks within the word. (cook in cookies) Structure Cues Look for repeated language patterns. ( I see some... ) Meaning Cues Think about what makes sense in the sentence. Look at the pictures to confirm the meaning of the word. shopping bags swings Activate Prior Knowledge Encourage students to draw on prior knowledge and build background for reading the text. Create an overhead transparency of the graphic organizer Things to Count in Town (left), or copy the organizer on chart paper, omitting possible answers. Tell students that they are going to read a book about things you find in town that you can count. Ask them to predict things that will be in the book. Record their suggestions in the outer circles of the web. Inform students that they will come back to the graphic organizer when they have finished reading the book. Preview the Book Read the title and name of the author to students. Ask: What are the children on the cover doing? Where are they? What do you think they are looking at? Preview the photographs with students, reinforcing the language used in the text. For example, say: What kind of shop is this? What do they sell? What is at the playground? How many swings do you see? How many slides do you see? Set a Purpose for Reading Have students turn to page 2 and whisper-read the book. Say: I want you to read the book to find out what the children count around town and compare the numbers of these things. Monitor students reading and provide support when necessary. Review Reading Strategies Use the cues provided to remind students that they can apply different strategies to identify unfamiliar words. 2
During Reading Observe and Prompt Reading Strategies Observe students as they read the book. Take note of how they are problem-solving on text. Guide, or prompt, individual students who cannot problem-solve independently. After Reading Reflect on Reading Strategies After students have completed their reading, encourage them to discuss the reading strategies they used. Reinforce the good reading behaviors you noticed by saying: I noticed, [student s name], that when you came to a word you didn t know, you went back and reread the sentence. Did this help you figure out the word? [Student s name], I saw you try to sound out the word playground. You chunked the word into parts, and then you checked the picture. That is a good strategy to use. Build Comprehension Ask and Answer Questions Help students review text content and relate it to what they already know by asking some or all of the following questions. Look at the things on the graphic organizer. Which ones are in the book? (Answers will vary.) (Locate facts/compare and contrast) What things to eat does the book name? (donuts, cookies, gumdrops, and lollipops, pp. 11, 15) (Classify and categorize information) Why does a baker need to know how many donuts and cookies he or she has? (Answers will vary. One possible answer: The baker can plan to make a different number of cookies or donuts so none will be left over. He or she can also make more if there are not enough.) (Make inferences/identify cause and effect) What are some things for sale in your town or neighborhood that you could count? (Answers will vary.) (Use creative thinking) Teacher Tip Using the Skills Bank Based on your observations of students reading behaviors, you may wish to select activities from the Skills Bank (pp. 6 7) that will develop students reading strategies. Question Types Students need to understand that they can use information from various places in the book, as well as background knowledge, to answer different types of questions. These lessons provide four types of questions, designed to give students practice in understanding the relationship between a question and the source of its answer. Questions that require students to go to a specific place in the book. Questions that require students to integrate information from several sentences, paragraphs, or chapters within the book. Questions that require students to combine background knowledge with information from the book. Questions that relate to the book topic but require students to use only background knowledge and experience, not information from the book. 3
Small Group Reading Lesson (continued) Teacher Tip Monitoring Comprehension Are students able to revisit the text to locate specific answers to text-dependent questions? If they are having difficulty, show them how to match the wording of the question to the wording in the text. Are students able to find answers to questions that require a search of the text? If they are having difficulty, model how you would search for the answer. Can students combine their background knowledge with information from the text to make inferences? If they are having difficulty, model how you would answer the question. Are students answers to creative questions logical and relevant to the topic? Do students completed graphic organizers reflect the ability to identify places and sequence them by book order? If students are having difficulty, provide more modeling. Build Comprehension Identify Sequence of events Model Create an overhead transparency of the graphic organizer Places in Town, or copy it on the board. Begin a discussion about the places where the person in the book went. Ask students to name them in order. Model for students how to record this information. Use the following think-aloud. When I read nonfiction material that puts things in order, I can use a sequence chart to help me remember the order. This book listed places around town in the order in which they were visited. The chart has numbers in the first column. The number 1 comes first. I will look in the book to find where the person went first. On page 2 I read that he or she went to a flower shop. I will write flower shop beside the number 1 on the chart. Where did the person go next? Let s look and see what place goes with the number 2. Practice and Apply Guide students through the book, having them list places the narrator visited in sequence. Have them tell you what to write beside the numbers on the chart. If you think students can complete the chart independently, distribute copies and monitor their work. Allow time for students to share their recorded information. Places in Town 1 f lower shop _ playground 2 _ 3 bakery _ candy store 4 _ 4
Interactive Writing Have students use the information from the graphic organizer to write summary sentences about the book. Say: The author shows us things we might see and count around town. We compare amounts. Let s look at our graphic organizer to remember the places where these things were. What sentence could we write about the places and things in town? (Possible sentences include The flower shop had many red flowers. and The bakery had more donuts than cookies. ) Repeat the sentence aloud several times with students so they can internalize the language pattern. Collaborate with them to write the sentence on chart paper or on the board one word at a time. Start by saying the first word slowly. Ask: What sound do you hear at the beginning of this word? What other sounds do you hear? Let students write the known sounds in each word, and then fill in the remaining letters for them. Continue until the sentence is completed. Write Independently Have students write their own sentences based on the text. Encourage them to articulate words slowly, use spaces between words, and write known words fluently. When students have completed their sentences, conference with them individually. Validate their knowledge of known words and letter/sound correspondences by placing a light check mark above the students contributions. Provide explicit praise as you write the message conventionally for the students to see. Reread for Fluency Ask students to reread with a partner. Have one partner read four pages and the other answer the question. Then students can change roles and read the next four pages. Connect to Home Have students read the take-home version of Counting Around Town to family members. Encourage them to name places they might go in town and things they could count there. Owr pagowd haf 6 sesoz and 10 sing. Our playground has 6 seesaws and 10 swings. Teacher Tip Modeling Fluency Read sections of the book aloud to students to model fluent reading of the text. Model using appropriate phrasing, intonation, volume, expression, and rate. Have students listen to you read a portion of the text and then read it back to you. 5
Skills Bank Phonemic Awareness: Syllables Say the word bakery, and then say the syllables slowly. Ask students how many syllables they hear. (three) Have students say the syllables with you. Tell them that you are going to say some words. You want them to repeat each word, say its syllables, and tell how many syllables are in the word. Use the following words: counting, flower, lollipops, yellow, gumdrops, candy. Beginning do donuts Middle slides candy model End red food cloud Phonics: Initial, medial, and final d Have students turn to page 4 and find the words do and red. Ask: What is the same in these two words? Read the sentence aloud and ask: Where do you hear the /d/ sound in do? Where do you hear the /d/ sound in red? Write the headings Beginning, Middle, and End on chart paper. Have volunteers tell you in which column to write red and do. Pair students and have them find and copy other words in the book that have the letter d. As they read the words, have them tell you where the /d/ sound is found. Write the words in the appropriate columns on the chart. Concepts About Print Hold up the book so that the cover shows. Ask: What is this part of the book called? Have students point to the title. Then have them open their books to page 2 and show you where to begin reading. As you read the sentence slowly, have them point to each word. Then ask: Where do I go next? 6
High-Frequency Word Vocabulary Write the words some, then, and what on the board. Read through the words, and then have the class spell them aloud, clapping once for each letter. Make up a series of oral close sentences, or use the following sentences: First comb your hair and brush your teeth. game do you like best? Will you buy pencils at the store? Have students tell you which word completes each sentence or question. Give each student letter cards and have them spell some, using the board as a resource. Continue with then and what. After they have practiced spelling all three words, erase the words from the board and have students spell the words on their own. Concept Vocabulary: Things to count around town Have students page through their books to recall things that were counted in town. Then have them look at the pre-reading graphic organizer to find other things to count around town. Help students brainstorm other words. Write the list on the board. Read the words with students, and ask volunteers to make up sentences using each word. The list might include flowers, trees, lights, cars, stores, swings, slides, donuts, cookies, shopping bags, gumdrops, lollipops, and people. Make a mural on butcher paper. Draw lines to show streets and shapes for buildings. Have students draw shapes of something from the list, color them, and cut them out. Invite students to glue their pictures on the mural to make a town. Then work together to count how many of each thing is in town. Make up word problems for students to solve using the mural. For example, ask: Are there more trees or flowers in our town? some then stores slides cars trees donuts Copyright. All rights reserved. Teachers may photocopy the reproducible pages for classroom use. No other part of the guide may be reproduced or transmitted in whole or in part in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. ISBN# 978-1-4108-0070-1 7
Name Date Places in Town 1 _ 2 _ 3 _ 4 _