Book Summary
Ocean Animals is about various animals that can be found in oceans around the world. Animals are a topic of high interest for children, who will enjoy reading this book and learning fascinating facts about these ocean creatures. Each page has both a photo and a line drawing of the animal discussed.

Reader Supports

• High-interest topic
• Simple sentence structure
• High frequency words
• Repetitive patterns
• Familiar topic

Reader Challenges
Some of the words used to describe the animals in the book may be new to some children and may be seen as a challenge for some. The pictures should help them decode some of these words.

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 context clues

Children are likely to use various strategies to help them decode words in this book. Encourage them to go back and reread to make sure the sentence makes sense, to use the pictures in the book to help them with the more difficult words, and to look for words within words.  

To check for comprehension, you may want to us these strategies: asking questions before and during reading, visualizing, and making connections between what they are reading and what they already know. The follow-up worksheet will also help you to see how much children understood.

Word and Print Skills

Phonological Awareness
Initial and Final Consonants

Phonics
Syllabication

Word Work

High Utility Words
am, have, live, like, eat

Word Work
Punctuation

Each page begins with the words, "I am a(n)...". This is a great book to introduce and discuss when and how to use commas and periods in text.

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: Main ideas and details

The follow-up worksheet that goes with this book is a wonderful tool to find out how much each child has comprehended. By having children write the correct animal name next to the description, you will be able to see what children know and/or learned from the book. For any children that may need it, you can allow them to use the book to help themselves as they are completing the worksheet.

Visual Learning
Before reading the book, you can have children look at the pictures and brainstorm words associated with the pictures on each page. You can have the pictures alone on a blank page, then pass the page around and have each child write a word that comes to mind when they see the picture. You can talk about the words as a group or compare them to the words on the page and see if they came up with the same ideas as the author. This will connect the visuals with vocabulary that may help comprehension of the book.

Targeted Vocabulary Words

High Utility Words
am, have, live, like, eat

Content
These content words fall into the category of types of ocean animals. You may wish to have children add words to the list, such as these: dolphin, walrus, hammerhead shark, California sea lion, octopus, great white shark, manta ray, seahorse, leatherback turtle, and blue whale