How Zebras Got Their Stripes
Level K
Text Type: Fiction • Word Count : 432

Book Summary
How Zebras Got Their Stripes is a folktale about two donkeys who are tired of working and want an easier life. They meet a wise man who devises a solution to their problem: to turn the donkeys into zebras.

Reader Supports

• Good picture support to enhance interpretation
  
• Repeated use of story words
  
• Story progresses logically from page to page
  
• Print is laid out with clear spaces between words and lines.
  

Reader Challenges

• Increased vocabulary/high-utility words
  
• Less reliance on patterns
  
• Concept of cause and effect
  

Lesson Objectives

Reading Strategies
As children work to understand the story, you will use a number of reading strategies. The targeted reading strategy in How Zebras Got Their Stripes is: Predicting before and during reading. Recall and comprehension can improve when readers identify what they know about a topic before they even open the book.

Word and Print Skills
Phonics
The long vowel a sound

Word Work
High utility words, adjectives and syllables.

Comprehension
You will likely address a number of comprehension skills as children work to understand How Zebras Got Their Stripes. The targeted comprehension strategy in the story is: Brainstorming cause and effect.

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
To, two, into

Content Words
Appreciated, finished, patient, paint, problem, worked, relax, fooled, pleaded