Level H/13 Teacher s Guide For students reading at Literacy Level H/13, including: English-language learners Students reading below grade level First grade readers Skills & Strategies Anchor Comprehension Strategy Make predictions Metacognitive Strategy Visualize Genre Study Recognize the characteristics of a fable Determine the story s message Vocabulary Recognize high-frequency words Develop academic content (Tier Three) vocabulary Develop robust (Tier Two) oral vocabulary Word Study Use adjectives Language Recognize the sentence structures I am and I can t wait to Use contractions Phonics Problem-solve by searching all the way through words Recognize words with initial l-family blends Fluency Read italicized words Writing Write to a picture prompt Write to a text prompt THEME: Animal Life Cycles Watch a Frog Grow (Level F/9) A Frog Someday (Level F/9) Watch a Butterfly Grow (Level H/13) Caterpillar Can t Wait! (Level H/13) GENRE/SUMMARY: In this fable, Caterpillar can t wait to be big. Snail tells Caterpillar to wait and see, and in due time Caterpillar becomes a big, beautiful butterfly. 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 Company resources support the skills and strategies taught in this lesson. Early Explorers Partner Watch a Butterfly Grow (Nonfiction, Level H/13) Early Comprehension Strategy Poster Make Predictions Fluency and Language Development Caterpillar Can t Wait! Audio CD Text-Dependent Comprehension Resources Caterpillar Can t Wait! Comprehension Question Card Power Tool Flip Chart for Teachers Student Bookmark Assessment Early Explorers Overview & Assessment Handbook Grade 1 Comprehension Strategy Assessment Book Make Connections and Build Background Use a Picture or Realia Show students a picture of a caterpillar in Caterpillar Can t Wait! or another book. If possible, provide an actual caterpillar in an appropriate container. Say: We will read a book called Caterpillar Can t Wait! The caterpillar in the story eats lots of leaves. What other things do caterpillars do? Ask students to Think/Pair/Share about caterpillars activities. Use a Graphic Organizer Write the word Caterpillar on the board and underline it. Read the word and ask students to help you list the different caterpillar activities they mentioned. As students respond, write their ideas under the heading. Then read each item and ask students to echo-read. Introduce the Book Preview Cover and Title Page Give each student a copy of the book. Point to the front. Say: This story is about a caterpillar that can t wait to be big. Read the title and author, and ask students to echo-read. Invite them to tell what they see in the illustration. Repeat the process with the title page. Say: The cover and title page get us ready to read the book. Using the thinkaloud strategy, model how to make predictions about the book based on the cover and title page information: The title is Caterpillar Can t Wait! The illustration shows the caterpillar thinking about a butterfly. Maybe the caterpillar can t wait to be as big as a butterfly. Allow time for students to share their own predictions about the story. Introduce Characters and Setting Say: The animals in the story are called characters. Ask students to turn to pages 2 and 3, and point to each character as you read the matching name. Repeat the process, inviting students to echoread. Then say: The setting is where the story takes place. What is the setting of the story? Help students use the illustrations to determine that the story takes place outdoors in a garden or meadow. Preview Illustrations and Vocabulary Revisit the illustrations on the cover and title page. Say: The pictures in fiction books are called illustrations. Illustrations help us understand the words in the book. Take students on a picture walk, emphasizing the words butterfly, caterpillar, leaf, pupa, shed, snail, skin, silk, and shell as you talk about the illustrations and what is happening in the story. Make sure students can pronounce each vocabulary word. Caterpillar eats leaves hatches from an egg grows bigger hides from birds 2 Copyright 2007 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. ISBN: 978-1-4108-6137-5 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
During Reading Preview Sentence Structures For students who need additional support, write I am on the board. Read the sentence structure aloud and ask students to repeat it several times. Say: The words I am are in the book. Page 11 has a sentence with the words I am. Model how to frame the sentence between two fingers. Then read the sentence aloud and ask students to echo-read. Invite them to turn to page 16. Ask: Can you frame a sentence with the words I am? Assist as needed, and then read the sentence aloud and ask students to echo-read. Repeat the process with I can t wait to on pages 5, 9, and 11. Use Graphophonic Cues Say: Another word in this book is must. Say the word must. What are some letters you expect to see after the /m/? Allow time for students to respond, assisting as needed. Then ask them to find the word must on page 4. Say: Search all the way through a word to help you when you read. Repeat the process with the word felt on page 6. Scaffold Spanish-Language Speakers Say the word two. Ask: Does two sound like a word you know in Spanish? (Allow time for students to respond.) The English word two sounds like the Spanish word tu. Two and tu sound the same. Two and tu do not look the same, though. They do not mean the same thing, either. Write the word two on the board and ask students to locate it on page 14 in the book. Repeat the process with see on page 12 and sí. Finally, invite students with other first languages to share their cognates. Observe and Prompt Reading Strategies After the supportive introduction, students 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. Strategic Reading Prompts Cue Source Prompt Example Page Graphophonic Search all the next 14 way through the word. Are you blending the right sounds? Syntactic Think about the I can t wait 7 book s sentence to be a pattern. Use it to pupa. make this sound right. Semantic Look at the picture. hanging 8 What is Caterpillar doing that would make sense in this sentence? Set a Purpose for Reading Direct students attention to the Caterpillar list. Say: Now it s time to whisper-read the book. Read to find out what the caterpillars in the story do. 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC 3
4 After Reading Use the Graphic Organizer to Summarize Ask students to think about their reading. Say: Look at our list. Do the caterpillars in the story do any of these things? Put a beside any matching responses. Then ask students to name other things the caterpillars in the story do. Add these ideas and put check marks beside them. Choral-read the checkmarked words. Then ask students to use the graphic organizer to tell the story to a partner. Genre Study Say: This story is a fable. A fable teaches a lesson. A fable often has animal characters that act like humans, too. What do Snail, Tom, and Caterpillar do that humans do? Guide students to mention that the animals talk and have feelings. Say: The lesson in a fable is like a message from the author. I notice in Caterpillar Can t Wait! that Wise Old Snail says, Wait and you will see. What happens when Caterpillar waits? (Caterpillar becomes a big, beautiful butterfly.) Say: The theme for Caterpillar Can t Wait! could be Some things take time. The author uses the fable to send readers a message. The author is telling us to wait and see when things take time, too. Caterpillar eats leaves hatches from an egg grows bigger hides from birds becomes a butterfly sheds skin spins silk becomes a pupa Reading Strategy Mini-Lesson: Visualize Reflect Ask students to think about the parts of the book that were hard for them to understand. Ask: What did you do to help yourself understand what you read? Model Say: I want to make sure I understand what I read. One way is to visualize what I m reading. To visualize means to make a picture in my mind. I will turn back to pages 4 and 5. I will shut my eyes. I will imagine I m a caterpillar. I am in a beautiful flower garden. I can smell the sweet flowers. I feel hungry. I am eating the leaves on the plants. I can taste the leaves. Can you think of other things I might see, hear, or feel? Allow time for students to share their ideas. Say: Visualizing the pages helped me. Now I better understand what Caterpillar is doing. Guide Ask students to turn to page 7. Read the pages aloud together. Ask: What do you see? Can you imagine eating until your skin is too tight? How do you feel? Can you picture shedding your tight skin? How do you feel now? Allow time for students to share their visualizations. Then invite them to tell how visualizing the scene helped them better understand page 7. Apply Ask students to read their favorite page to a partner and then visualize it out loud. Observe students as they share their visualizations, providing assistance if needed. See the Early Explorers Overview & Assessment Handbook for an observation chart you can use to assess students understanding of the visualize monitor-reading strategy. Then say: You can visualize any time you read. Remember to visualize to help you understand. Answer Text-Dependent Questions Explain Remind students they can answer questions about books they have read. Say: We answer different kinds of questions in different ways. I will help you learn how to answer each kind. Tell students 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. 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Model Use the first Look Closer! question on the Comprehension Question Card. Say: I will show you how I answer a Look Closer! question. I will read the question to figure out what to do. The question says: Caterpillar grew and grew because... This question asks me to find why something happened, or a cause and effect. I know because the question has the cue word because. Now I need to look for other important information in the question. These words tell me what to look for in the book. What information do you think will help me? (Allow student responses.) Yes, I need to figure out why Caterpillar grew and grew. Now I will look back in the book. Page 6 says: Caterpillar kept eating. Caterpillar grew and grew. Now I know Caterpillar grew and grew because he kept eating. Put your fingers on these two sentences. 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 Comprehension 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: Make Predictions Explain Create an overhead transparency of the Caterpillar Can t Wait! graphic organizer on page 8, or draw it on the chalkboard. Say: Before reading a story, we make predictions. We use the title and cover illustration to think about what might happen. Then we check our prediction. While we are reading, we make new predictions. We use what we have already read to guess what might happen next. We check these predictions, too. After we read, we still make predictions. We think about what might happen to the characters after the story is finished. Making predictions helps us stay connected to the story and enjoyit more. this caterpillar can t wait to become a butterfly. I will write this prediction in the first box on the graphic organizer. I check the prediction by reading the story. I can mark the Yes column because the prediction comes true. Guide Say: Now let s think about a prediction in the middle of the story. Caterpillar goes to see Snail. Do you think someone might predict Caterpillar is becoming a pupa? Why? (Allow time for students to respond, assisting if needed.) Yes, readers might think Caterpillar is becoming a pupa because he is trying to spin sticky silk. Let s write this prediction on the graphic organizer.we check the prediction by reading the story. We can t mark Yes, because the prediction does not happen. Instead, we find out Caterpillar has to wait seven more days. We will write about this in the No column. Apply Ask students to work with a partner to make a prediction about what might happen after the story ends. Remind them they will not be able to check this prediction. After each partnership shares, agree on how to word the entry on the graphic organizer. Finally, read the completed graphic organizer aloud and invite students to echo-read. Teacher Tip Use Benchmark Education Company s K 2 Early Comprehension Strategy Poster Set to provide additional instruction in making predictions. Use BEC s Comprehension Strategy Assessment books to assess students ability to make predictions in other brief, grade-level texts. Model Say: Let s think about a prediction I might make before reading Caterpillar Can t Wait! First I read the title. I figure out that a caterpillar can t wait for something to happen. Then I look at the illustration on the cover. A caterpillar is thinking about a butterfly. I know some caterpillars change into butterflies. Maybe Home Connection Give students the take-home version of Caterpillar Can t Wait! to read to family members. Encourage students to ask family members about times they had a hard time waiting for something special. Invite students to share the stories with the group. 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC 5
Writing Connections Reader Response Invite students to respond to the book in a way that is meaningful to them. Model and use thinkalouds as needed to scaffold students before they try the activities on their own. Act out the story with two partners. Draw three pictures that show how Caterpillar looks at the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Think about the theme of the story. Tell about a time you had to wait and see. Tell about another book you have seen about caterpillars. Write about your favorite part of the story. Write a question you would like to ask each character. Write to a Picture Prompt Write a Personal Narrative Tell students they will think about their own experiences with growing and changing. Then they will write about the experiences. Say: I like the pictures in this book. Some of the pictures make me think of my own experiences. The picture on page 11 reminds me of an experience: I wanted to ride my older sister s bike. My legs were too short. Then I grew. Soon I could ride my sister s bike. Does this picture make you think of an experience? Allow time for students to respond. Ask: Which picture do you like best? What experience does the picture make you think about? Allow time for students to respond, prompting further if needed. Say: You have used a picture to remember an experience. Now write about your experience. After you are finished, read your narrative to a partner. Write to a Text Prompt Describe a Character Say: Think about your favorite character in the story. Then write a description of that character. When you are finished, read your description to a partner. Mini-Lessons for Differentiating Instruction Phonics: Initial l-family blends Ask students to locate the word flick on page 10. Write flick on the board. Explain that the two sounds at the beginning of the word /f/ and /l/ are blended together to make /fl/. Slowly draw your finger under the word as you blend the sounds. Then ask students to do the same in their books. Say: The word flick begins with an l-family blend. Another consonant blends with the letter l to start the word. Repeat the process with flap (page 15), and flew and glad (page 16). Ask students to brainstorm words that begin with the above l-family blends as you record them on index cards. Then spread the cards out in a pocket chart or on the table. Read each word, inviting students to echo-read. Say: I will ask a question. The answer will be on one of the cards. You can find the card with the correct word. Model the process using one of the words, such as What is hanging on the pole in the school yard? (flag) Then invite each student to make up a question that is answered by a card word. Vocabulary Academic Content Vocabulary Review the story with students and record words that apply to a butterfly s life cycle: butterfly, caterpillar, leaf, pupa, shed, skin, silk, and shell. Ask students to look at the illustrations on pages 6, 7, 13, and 15, and use the words to describe how a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. Robust Oral Vocabulary Say: In the story, Caterpillar is impatient. Impatient means not wanting to wait. Caterpillar doesn t want to wait to become a butterfly. Say the word with me: impatient. Here are some ways people are impatient: Carl is impatient when he has to wait in line. Hanna is impatient when her bus is late. Sol is impatient when his birthday is coming. Now, tell about a time you were impatient. Try to use the word impatient when you tell about it. You could start by saying, I was impatient when I. (Allow time for each student to respond, assisting if needed.) What is the word we ve been talking about? Yes impatient. Let s try to use the word impatient many times today. We can use the word at school and at home. 6 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Word Study: Adjectives Model Say: Authors sometimes use describing words when they write. Describing words are called adjectives. I see some adjectives on page 4: Little bits of leaf fell onto Wise Old Snail. The word little is an adjective. Little describes how the bits of leaf look. The words wise and old are adjectives, too. Wise and old tell about Snail. I can use the words little, wise, and old. Point to appropriate objects in the classroom and make up a sentence about each one, such as The little clock is on my desk; Wise people read many books; An old painting hangs on the wall. Guide Invite students to read the first sentence on page 11 with you. Ask: Which word is an adjective? (sticky) Why is the word sticky an adjective? (The word sticky describes the silk.) What could you describe with the word sticky? Apply Write the third sentence from page 13 on the board and underline the adjective hard. Invite student partners to make up their own sentences using the word hard. Then ask them to think of other adjectives that could replace the word hard in the sentence about Caterpillar s shell, such as long, green, or bumpy. Language Development: Contractions Model Ask students to read the book s title with you. Write the word can t on the board. Then write the word cannot and ask students to read both words. Say: Sometimes authors use contractions. Contractions are short ways of saying words. Can t is a short way to say cannot. Can t and cannot mean the same thing. I use the word can t, too. Pantomime some simple actions as you share sentences with the word can t, such as: I can t find my keys. I can t reach the ceiling. I can t carry that box by myself. Guide Ask students to locate the contraction can t on pages 5, 9, and 11, and read the sentences aloud. Then invite them to say the sentences using the word cannot in place of can t. Ask: Do the sentences mean the same thing when we say cannot? Why do you think the author uses the word can t? Apply Pair students and invite them to act out scenarios in which someone can t do something. As they share their sentences with the group, write them on the board and underline the word can t. Fluency: Read Italicized Words Say: Good readers do not read every word the same way. Instead, good readers watch for important words to emphasize. Sometimes authors put words in a special type called italics. Italics tell readers to emphasize the words. Emphasizing words in italics helps the reader understand the author s ideas. It also helps the listener better understand the story. Ask students to turn to page 10. First read the page in a flat voice. Discuss how this makes the listener feel. Then read the page again, emphasizing the words Flick. Flick. Flick. Point out that all three words are in italics. Read the page again, asking students to echo-read. Ask students to turn to page 15. Help them locate the words in italics and practice saying them with emphasis. Then choral-read the page with students. Invite students to take turns rereading Caterpillar Can t Wait! with a partner. Remind them to emphasize words in italics as they read. 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC 7
NAME DATE Caterpillar Can t Wait! Make Predictions Before-reading prediction Yes No Middle-story prediction Yes No After-reading prediction 8 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC