Level X/X xplorers Teacher s Guide For students reading at Literacy Level J/18, including: English-language learners Students reading below grade level Second-grade readers First graders reading above grade level Skills & Strategies Anchor comprehension strategies Identify cause and effect Analyze text structure and organization Use text features to locate information Metacognitive strategy Ask questions Vocabulary Recognize high-frequency words Develop Tier Two vocabulary Develop Tier Three vocabulary Grammar, Word Study, and Language Development Use prepositions during and from Use antonyms Recognize the sentence structure because. Phonics Use word parts to problem-solve multisyllable words Recognize words with long i digraphs Fluency Read bold words Writing Write to a picture prompt Write to a text prompt Theme: Weather and Seasons Earth s Water Cycle (L/24) Science Big Idea: Readers learn how plants and animals adapt to spring, summer, fall, and winter. 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
Before Reading Related Resources The following Benchmark Education resources support this lesson. Other Early Explorers Books A Week of Weather (B/2) What Is the Season? (C/4) Rainy Day (D/6) Weather Tools (E/8) Summer to Fall (F/10) Ready for Fall (F/10) Predicting the Weather (G/11) Winter to Spring (H/14) See You in Spring (H/14) Weather Every Day (I/15) Fluency and Language Development Plants and Animals in Different Seasons Audio CD Comprehension Resources Plants and Animals in Different Seasons question card Power Tool Flip Chart for Teachers Student Bookmark Identify Cause and Effect poster Assessment Early Explorers Overview & Assessment Handbook Grade 2 Comprehension Strategy Assessment Book Make Connections and Build Background Use Art Give each student a pencil and sheet of paper. Say: We will read a book about plants and animals in different seasons. I will divide my paper into four parts. I will draw a plant in summer in the first part. I will draw the plant in fall, winter, and spring in the other parts. Sketch simple drawings that show a plant in each season. Then display and tell about your pictures. Finally, invite students to sketch their own plant pictures to share with the group. Use a Graphic Organizer Draw a KWL chart on the board. Explain that K stands for What I Know, W for What I Want to Find Out, and L for What I Learned. Say: We shared some ideas about plants in each season. Now we will list our ideas about plants and animals on the chart. Write students responses in the K column of the chart. Then ask them what they want to find out about plants and animals in the different seasons. Write their questions in the W column. Finally, read the entries in both columns and ask students to echo-read. K W L Trees are green in summer. Trees lose their leaves in fall. Trees get leaves again in spring. Flowers bloom in spring. Birds lay eggs in spring. Some animals sleep all winter. Why do plants get green in spring? Why don t plants grow in winter? How do animals live in winter? What do animals do in fall? Introduce the Book Give each student a copy of the book. Remind students that they will read about plants and animals in different seasons. Preview the book, encouraging stu dents to interact with the pictures 2 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Pages Text and Graphic Features Words to Discuss English/Spanish Cognates Sentence Structures Cover title, photo, author 1 title, author, table of contents, photo 2 3 photos flowers, nests, seasons, sunlight, temperature, weather 4 chapter head, photo, diagram, captions seasons, different, year, weather, spring, sunlight different/diferente (False Cognate: large / largo. Largo means long, not large.) because. 5 photo, inset photo, caption summer, temperature, days, nights temperature/ la temperatura 6 photo, caption fall, air 7 photo, caption winter, freezes, snow 8 chapter head, photos, captions plants, seeds, flowers, trees plant/la planta, flower/ la flor 9 photos, captions grow, produce, fruit 10 photos, captions color color/el color 11 photo, caption less 12 chapter head, photos, captions animals, nests, eggs, babies animal/el animal 13 photos, captions more 14 photos, captions save 15 photos, captions fur, sleep 16 glossary, index 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC. 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. Printed in Canada. ISBN: 978-1-60437-496-4 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC 3
Before Reading (continued) 4 and text on each page as you emphasize the elements from the page 3 chart that will best support their under standing of the book s language, concepts, and organization. (Items in bold print include sample teacher talk. ) Pages 2 3 Words to Discuss Ask students to point to each photograph as you say its matching label. Repeat the process, inviting students to echoread. After students Think/Pair/Share what they know about each word, fill in any missing details. Say: We will see these words in the book. Page 4 Graphic Feature Say: This page has a diagram. A diagram is a drawing that gives us information. What does this diagram show? (how Earth looks as it moves around the sun) What do we learn from the diagram? (A different part of Earth is closest to the sun during each season.) Page 4 Spanish Cognate Ask: Does different sound like a word you know in Spanish? (Allow time for students to respond.) The English word different sounds like the Spanish word diferente. Different and diferente mean the same thing. How are a pencil and pen different? (Allow time for students to respond.) Write the word different on the board and ask students to locate it on page 4 in the book. Page 4 Sentence Structure Write because on the board. Read the sentence structure aloud and ask students to repeat it several times. Say: We use this sentence structure to tell what happens and why. Model using the sen tence structure to tell about one of the photographs, such as The children wear raincoats because of the rain. Then assist students in forming their own sentences using the struc ture. Say: This sentence structure is in the book. Can you find the structure on page 4? Frame the sentence. Let s read the sentence together. Rehearse Reading Strategies Write the word hottest on the board. Say: One word in this book is hottest. Look at the word hottest. Say the word hottest. What parts are in hottest? Allow time for students to respond, assisting as needed. Say: The word hottest has two parts. The first part is the word hot. (Write hot on the board.) The second part is the suffix -est. We add a t to hot and then add -est to make hottest. Ask students to find the word hottest on page 5. Say: Use word parts to help you when you read. Remind students to use other reading strategies that they are learning as well, such as thinking about the meanings of prefixes and suffixes or reading on to the end of the sentence to figure out a word through context clues. Set a Purpose for Reading Say: Now it s time to read the book. You may whisper-read or read silently to yourself. Assign one or more chapters, depending on available time and the needs and abilities of students in the group. Use the chart on page 5 to set a purpose for each chapter, and look for opportunities to add to the KWL chart at each stopping point. If students do not complete the book, orally summa rize the previously read chapters and begin at this point in the Teacher s Guide the next time you meet. 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Pages During Reading Purpose for Reading 4 7 Read to find out what seasons are. 8 11 Read to find out what happens to plants in different seasons. 12 15 Read to find out what happens to animals in different seasons. Observe and Prompt Reading Strategies After the supportive introduction, stu dents should be able to read all or most of the book on their own. Observe students as they read. Take note of the graphophonic, syntactic, and semantic cues they use to make sense of the text and self-correct. Prompt individual students who have difficulty problem-solving independently, but be careful not to prompt English-language learners too quickly. They may need more time to process the text as they rely on their first language for comprehension. After Reading Use the Graphic Organizer to Summarize Ask students to think about their reading. Ask: Can you answer any questions in the W column of our chart? (Allow time for students to respond, assisting as needed.) What did you learn about plants and animals in the different seasons? Record appropriate responses in the L column of the KWL chart. Choral-read the entire chart. Then ask students to use the graphic organizer to tell a partner about the book. K W L Trees are green in summer. Trees lose their leaves in fall. Trees get leaves again in spring. Flowers bloom in spring. Birds lay eggs in spring. Some animals sleep all winter. Why do plants get green in spring? Why don t plants grow in winter? How do animals live in winter? What do animals do in fall? Plants get more sunlight in spring and use it to make food. Plants don t get enough sunlight or water to grow much in winter. Some animals grow more fur in winter, and some animals go to a warmer place. Many animals save food in their nests or eat more in fall to prepare for winter. 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC 5
After Reading (continued) 6 Reading Strategy Mini-Lesson: Ask Questions Reflect Ask: Did you understand what you read? What parts were hard to understand? How did you help yourself? Model Say: I want to understand what I read. One way is to ask questions about the book. Ask students to turn to page 4. Say: I had a question about this page. I wanted to know what happens to plants and animals in spring. How do the plants and animals change? I will write my question on a self-stick note and place it on the page. Model doing so, and then ask students to look at page 8. Say: I find part of the answer on page 8. Seeds sprout, flowers grow, and trees make new leaves in spring. I will write the answer on the self-stick note. Model doing so. Say: Now I have another question. What happens to the plants in summer? I will write this question on a self-stick note and place it on page 8. Model doing so, explaining that the question may or may not be answered in the book. Guide Invite students to read page 9 with you. Ask the following questions, allowing time for students to respond after each one: Did you ask yourself a question when you read this page? How do plants use sunlight to make food? What types of plants make fruit in summer? Did you wonder what happens to the plants when fall comes? Invite students to write down one of their questions on a self-stick note and place it on the page. Assist them if they need help composing their thoughts. Then ask them to tell a partner how asking questions helped them better understand page 9. Apply Ask each student to turn to his or her favorite page and read it to a partner. Invite them to share any questions they have, write them on a selfstick note, and place it on the page. The partner may then find the answer in the book or help think of another way to find the answer. Observe students as they ask questions, providing assistance if needed. See the Early Explorers Overview & Assessment Handbook for an observation chart you can use to assess students understand ing of the monitor-reading strategy. Then say: You can ask questions any time you read. Remember to ask questions to help you understand. Answer Text-Dependent Questions Explain Remind students that they can answer questions about books that they have read. Say: We answer different types of questions in different ways. I will help you learn how to answer each type. Tell students that today they will practice answering Look Closer! questions. Say: The answer to a Look Closer! question is in the book. You have to look in more than one place, though. You find the different parts of the answer. Then you put the parts together to answer the question. Model Use the first Look Closer! question on the question card. Say: I will read the question to figure out what to do: Summer and winter are different. How are summer and winter different? The question asks me to compare and contrast two things. I know because the question has the cue word different. What other words in the question will help me? (Allow student responses.) Yes, I need to look for information about 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
summer and winter. Model looking through the book. Say: On page 5 the author says that the temperature is hot in summer, the days are long, and the nights are short. On page 7 the author says that the temperature is cold in winter, the days are short, and the nights come early. These are ways summer and winter are different. Putting this information together answers the question. The answer makes sense. I have found the answer in the book. Guide Ask students to answer the other questions on the question card. Use the Power Tool Flip Chart and Student Bookmark to provide additional modeling as needed. Remind students to ask themselves: What is the question asking? How can I find the answer? Does my answer make sense? How do I know? Build Comprehension: Identify Cause and Effect Explain Create an overhead transparency of the graphic organizer on page 12 or draw it on the board. Say: Nonfiction books sometimes tell about things that happen and why they happen. The reason something happens is the cause. What happens is the effect. organizer. Say: The effect of having more sun light is that days get longer. Write Days get longer in the first Effect box on the graphic organizer. Then ask students to turn to page 5. Say: The nights are short in summer because the days are very long. Long days are the cause. Short nights are the effect. Write this cause-and-effect relationship in the next row. Guide Say: Let s find another cause and effect. Look at page 6. What happens to the temperature in fall? (Allow time for students to respond, assisting if needed.) Yes, the temperature gets lower. A lower temperature is the cause. What happens because the temperature gets lower? (Again, allow time for students to respond.) Yes, cooler air is the effect. Write the cause and effect in the third row on the graphic organizer. Model Say: Let s find cause-andeffect relationships in the first chapter of Plants and Animals in Different Seasons. Ask students to turn to page 4. Say: We read that the days get longer in spring because we have more sunlight. Because is a cue word that signals a cause and effect. More sunlight is the cause. Write We have more sunlight in spring in the first Cause box of the graphic 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC 7
After Reading (continued) Apply Ask students to work with a partner to find other causes and effects in the chapter. Remind them to look for cue words such as because or when. After each partnership shares, agree on how to word the entries on the graphic organizer. Finally, read the completed graphic organizer aloud and invite students to echo-read. Home Connection Give students the take-home version of Plants and Animals in Different Seasons to read to family members. Encourage students to work with a friend or family member to write sentences describing how one kind of plant or animal changes from season to season. Invite them to bring their sentences to share with the group. Reader Response Invite students to respond to the book in a way that is meaningful to them. Model and use think-alouds as needed to scaffold students before they try the activities on their own. Act out something you like to do in summer or winter. Draw a picture of your favorite season. Tell why you like it. Tell something you already knew about plants and animals in spring. Tell what you remember best about the book. Write a new caption for the photograph on page 6. Write what you thought was the most important fact in the book. Mini-Lessons for Differentiating Instruction Write to a Picture Prompt Write a Personal Narrative Tell students that they will talk about a picture from the book. Then they will write about the picture. Ask them to turn to page 4. Say: I can use this picture to tell about something that happened to me: I went for a walk. I got caught in the rain. The day was warm, so I kept walking. Now I will write my idea. Model writing your sentences on the board. Ask students to tell a partner about something they have experienced that goes with one of the pictures. Allow time for students to share their narratives, providing assistance as needed. Then say: You used a picture to tell about an experience. Now write your idea. When you finish, read your writing to a partner. Write to a Text Prompt Analyze the Book Ask: What do you like best about the book? What do you dislike? Write about your likes and dislikes. When you finish, read your writing to a partner. Phonics: Long i Digraphs Ask students to locate the word nights on page 5. Write nights on the board and circle the letters igh. Say: The letters igh in the middle of the word nights stand for the long i sound. Slowly draw your finger under the word as you say it, and ask students to do the same in their books. Then repeat the process with the word sunlight on page 4. 8 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Ask students to brainstorm words with the long i sound. Acknowledge all correct responses, and record those in which the long i sound is spelled igh on the board. Read each word, inviting students to echo-read. Say: I will choose one of the words on the board. I will give you a clue about the word. Use my clue to figure out which word I chose. I will circle the letters for the long i sound in the word. Then you will know you guessed correctly. Model the process using one of the words on the board, such as This is my left hand, and this is my. (right) Then invite each student to choose one of the words, offer a clue, and circle the letters for the long i sound once group members have guessed the correct word. Vocabulary Tier Two Vocabulary Pronounce the word drop and ask students to repeat it. Say: On page 10 we read that leaves drop to the ground. When things drop, they fall down. I might drop a book if my hands are too full. You might drop the ball when you are playing baseball. People should drop trash into a trash can. Discuss other things that drop, such as rain and balloons that have popped. Then model a sentence, such as The boys drop their shoes on the floor. Invite students to share their own sentences, providing assistance as needed. Ask: What word have we been talking about? Yes drop. Let s try to use the word drop many times today. We can use the word at school and at home. Tier Three Vocabulary Review the book with students and write the words flowers, freezes, nests, produce, seasons, sunlight, temper ature, and weather on index cards. Invite students to read the words with you and add illustrations to the cards. Then hold the cards up one at a time and use each word in a sentence starter, such as Water freezes in. (winter) Ask student partners to complete the sentences, assisting as needed. For additional practice, students may work as a group or in pairs to com plete the vocabulary activity on page 11. Grammar, Word Study, and Language Development Prepositions during and from Model Explain that authors sometimes use phrases that begin with the word during. Ask students to read page 15 with you: Other animals sleep during this season because they cannot find food. Say: The words during this season tell when the animals sleep. I can use the word during as well. Make up sentences about daily activities, such as: We go to school during the day. We spend time with our families during the evening. We sleep during the night. Guide Invite students to read the last caption on page 10 with you. Ask: How do the leaves get on the ground? (The leaves drop from these trees.) Explain that we use the word from to describe where something starts. Demonstrate by walking across the room. Say: I walked from my desk to the door. Then invite students to make up sentences using the word from and pantomime the actions. 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC 9
Apply Write falls during the and falls from the on the board. Pair students and ask them to complete the sentence frames to make sentences. As each partnership shares, fill in the blanks on the board and invite the group to read the sentences with you. Antonyms Model Explain that authors sometimes use antonyms, or opposites, when they write. Say: I see some antonyms on pages 5 and 7: The temperature is hottest in summer. Winter is the coldest season of the year. The words hottest and coldest are antonyms. The words hottest and coldest have opposite meanings. Guide Invite students to read page 5 with you. Ask: Which words are antonyms? (days, nights; long, short) Why are days and nights antonyms? Why are long and short antonyms? Invite students to use the words days/nights and long/short in pairs of oral sentences. Fluency: Read Bold Words Say: We do not read every word the same way. Instead, we watch for impor tant words to emphasize. Sometimes authors use a dark type called bold. Glossary words are bold in this book. Bold words can be words to emphasize, too. Ask students to turn to page 12. Read the first sentence in a flat voice. Discuss how this makes the listener feel. Then read the sentence again, emphasizing the bold word nests. Ask students to echo-read. Ask students to turn to page 4. Help them locate the bold words and practice saying them with emphasis. Then choral-read the page with students. Invite students to take turns rereading Plants and Animals in Different Seasons with a partner. Remind them to emphasize bold words as they read. Apply Pair students. Ask partners to find the antonyms on pages 4 and 6. (warmer, cooler) On the board, write these sentences: I am warmer with my sweater on. I am cooler with my sweater off. Invite a volunteer to underline the antonyms in the sentences. Finally, invite the partners to make up an oral sentence using an antonym pair of their own choice. 10 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Name: Date: Vocabulary Read each sentence. Circle the correct term. Reread to check. 1. Plants use to make food. (summer, sunlight) 2. Many animals make in spring. (nests, night) 3. Weather changes in different. (seasons, summer) 4. Some plants fruit in summer. (temperature, produce) 5. Water and becomes ice in winter. (fall, freezes) 6. The is coldest in winter. (color, temperature) 7. start to grow in spring. (Flowers, Nests) 8. Different seasons have different. (warmer, weather) 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC 11
Name: Date: Cause Effect 12 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Skills Bank Build Comprehension Analyze Text Structure and Organization Explain Create an overhead transparency of the graphic organizer or draw it on the board. Say: Authors give their writing a structure, or organization, that fits their ideas. A text that tells about things that happen in sequence often is written in chronological order, with events in the order in which they happen. Authors use cue words that suggest the text structure. Cue words for chronological order include first, second, then, next, later, last, before, and after. When we analyze text structure and organization, we look for cue words and the pattern of organization as we read. This helps us to know what to expect and to understand a text better. Model Say: Let s analyze the text structure and organization in. Ask students to read pages 4 7. Say: In this part, we read about the seasons. The author describes spring, then summer, then fall, and then winter. She uses the cue word after. The author tells about changes in the weather in each season. The text structure is chronological order because seasons are discussed in the order in which they occur. Ask students to identify the seasonal changes. Record information about each season s weather in the Weather row of the graphic organizer. Guide Say: Let s continue to analyze text structure and organization in this book. Ask students to read pages 8 11. Ask: What information does this part include? How does the author organize this information? (Allow time for students to respond.) Yes, the author uses chronological order to explain how plants change in each season. In spring, in summer, in fall, and in winter are cue words. The author explains that seeds sprout, flowers grow, and trees make new leaves in spring. In summer plants make food, grow more, and produce fruit. In fall many leaves change color and drop. In winter, most plants are not active. Record information from pages 8 11 in the Plants row of the graphic organizer. Apply Ask pairs of students to analyze the text structure on pages 12 15 and record their findings in the Animals row of the graphic organizer. After each pair shares its ideas, work together to identify the text structure and answer the question Why does the author use this text structure to organize the text? Encourage students to support their answer with reasons. Agree on how to word the answer and add it to the bottom box of the graphic organizer. Finally, invite volunteers to read the completed graphic organizer aloud. 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC 13
Name Date Analyze Text Structure and Organization Spring Summer Fall Winter Weather Plants Animals The author uses text structure. Why does the author use this text structure to organize the text? 14 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
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Notes 16 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC