Darby's Birthday Party Level J
Text Type: Fiction • Word Count: 350

MORE LEVEL J
LEVELED READERS
Darby's Birthday Party
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WORKSHEETS FOR
DARBY'S BIRTHDAY PARTY
Worksheets

LEVEL J
BENCHMARK BOOKS
Animal Olympics
What Comes from Plants

COMPREHENSION QUIZ FOR
DARBY'S BIRTHDAY PARTY
Comprehension Quiz
Level J Answer Sheet

Book Summary
Darby's Birthday Party is about a dog named Darby who is going to be 15 years old. His human friends, Mia and Mike, decide to have a special birthday party for Darby, but they are not sure where it should take place. They consider many locations and finally settle on a place that is Darby's favorite--the zoo.

Reader Supports

• Repeated use of story vocabulary
  
• Sequential development of the story
  
• Familiar concept: birthday party
  

Reader Challenges

• Less reliance on picture support
  
• Increased vocabulary
  
• Punctuation
  

Lesson Objectives

Reading Strategies
Children should use a variety of strategies to decode words and bring meaning to print. The targeted strategy for this lesson is: Using Think-Alouds.

Word and Print Skills
Phonological Awareness
Syllables
Have children clap to the syllables as you say the words birthday, party, and Darby. Ask them how many times they clapped. Clap along with them to give them the idea. Use other words from the text to demonstrate how children can count syllables in words.

Phonics
Short a and long a sounds in words

Word Work
High Utility Words
to, is, have take

Punctuation

Comprehension
You will likely address a number of comprehension skills as children work to understand the text. The targeted comprehension strategy for this lesson is: Pause-Think-Retell.

Visual Learning
Helping children to develop an understanding of the importance of noticing picture details will increase their word recognition, fluency, and story comprehension.

Targeted Vocabulary Words
High Utility Words
two, would, what, shall, haven’t, anything, because, make, know, went, saw, where, this, years, very, list

Content Words
Darby, birthday, Friday, unhappy, hike, special, invite, favorite