Build Background

• Write the word spring on the board and point to the word as you read it aloud to students. Repeat the process and have students read the word aloud.
• Ask students what they picture in their mind when they hear the word spring. Invite volunteers to draw on the board what they pictured in their mind.

Book Walk

Introduce the Book

• Show students the front and back covers of the book and read the title with them. Ask what they might read about in a book called Spring Weather.
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name).
• Write the repetitive phrase The ______ comes on the board. Read the phrase aloud with students. Explain that these words repeat throughout the book.

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Visualize

• Explain that good readers often visualize, or make pictures in their mind, as they read. Readers often use what they already know about a topic to make the pictures in their mind.
• Model how to visualize using the picture on the front cover of the book.
  Think-aloud: As I look at the front cover, I see lots of lightning. When I think of lightning, I think of how it flashes in the sky like giant fireworks. Sometimes it can even light up the whole sky. Lightning makes me think of stormy weather. What else usually happens when there is a storm outside? (rain, thunder) When I think about spring weather, I picture storms with lightning and rain. Rainy weather makes me think of the spring because I know it rains a lot in the springtime.
• As students read, encourage them to use other reading strategies in addition to the targeted strategy presented in this section. For tips on additional reading strategies, click here.

Introduce the Comprehension Skill: Main idea and details

• Explain that every book has a big idea, which is the most important thing the book is about. Read the title to students. Explain that the title often provides clues about the book's big idea. Invite students to share predictions about the main idea of the story.
• Explain that the main idea of this story is that several different types of weather happen in the spring. Write Types of Spring Weather on the board. Read the phrase aloud with students.
• Model how to identify details.
  Think-aloud: I know that every book has details that help explain the big idea. I know that this book is about the different types of weather that happen in the spring. When I think of spring weather, I think of rain. Why is it important that it rains in the spring? (It helps plants to grow.) Since this helps to explain the big idea, rainy weather might be a detail in the story.
• Invite students to share what they visualize, or picture in their mind, when they think of spring weather. Discuss whether these ideas might be details in the story.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• While previewing the book, reinforce the vocabulary words students will encounter in the text. Remind students that they can help themselves when they come to a tricky word by looking at the first letter in the word and then checking the picture on the page to see what might start with the same sound and what might make sense in the story. For example, on page 3, point to the f in fog. Say: I am going to help myself by looking at the picture and thinking about what kind of weather I see in the picture that starts like /f/ (make the /f/ sound).
• Invite students to identify the word (fog). Use the word in the sentence and ask students if the word fog makes sense.
• For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words or word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read to find out the types of weather that happen in the spring. Remind them to stop and visualize, or picture in their mind, the details of the story as they read.

During Reading 

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Have a student volunteer point to the first word on page 3. Read the word together (The). Point out where to begin reading on each page. Remind students to read words from left to right. Point to each word as you read it aloud while students follow along in their own book.
• Ask students to place a finger on the page number in the bottom corner of the page. Have them read to the end of page 5, using their finger to point to each word as they read.
• Model how to visualize.
  Think-aloud: As I read each page, I created a picture in my mind about the types of weather that happen in spring. For example, on page 4, I pictured a sunny day. Then I pictured how the clouds begin to gather up in the sky and turn dark. What do you think will happen next? When I see lots of dark clouds in the sky, I think it might rain soon.
• Review the main idea of the book, Types of Spring Weather. Ask students to explain whether cloudy weather is a detail that supports the big idea of the story and why (yes, cloudy weather is a type of weather that can happen in the spring).
• Introduce and explain the main idea and details worksheet. Write the word cloudy on the board. Have students write the word and draw a picture of cloudy weather in one of the boxes on their worksheet.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to page 7. Invite volunteers to explain what they pictured in their mind when they read about the rain and wind. Accept all answers that show students understand how to visualize.
• Ask students to think about other details they read about that support the main idea Types of Spring Weather. Have them choose one of the details to draw on their worksheet. Invite them to label their drawing, and assist with spelling as necessary. Ask students to share the detail they drew and wrote about.
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to continue visualizing the details of the book as they read.

    Have students make a small question mark in their book beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. These can be addressed in the discussion that follows.

After Reading 

Reflect on the Reading Strategy

• Ask students what words, if any, they marked in their book. Use this opportunity to model how they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
• Think-aloud: As I read, I continued to create pictures in my mind about types of spring weather. When I read page 9, I pictured the flowers that I see grow and bloom in the spring. What helps the flowers come out in the spring? (the rain, the sun) Are the flowers a type of weather? Why are the flowers listed in a book about spring weather? (The types of weather that happen in the spring help the flowers to grow.) Picturing the objects in my mind helped me to understand and remember the details of the book.
• Have students share how visualizing helped them better understand and enjoy what they read. Invite students to explain how they visualized one type of weather in the book.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Read the big idea on the board with students. Review the details students drew on their worksheet. Invite them to explain why each of the details on their worksheet matches the main idea of the story.
• Independent practice: Have students complete the main idea and details worksheet.
• Enduring understanding: Many types of weather happen in spring. Now that you know this information, what do you think is important to understand about the weather in the spring?

Build Skills 

Phonemic Awareness: Discriminate initial sound /f/

• Say the word fun aloud to students, emphasizing the initial /f/ sound. Have students say the word aloud and then say the initial /f/ sound.
• Say the following words from the book, one at a time: fog, clouds, rain, flowers, sun. Have students give the thumbs-up signal when they hear a word that begins with the /f/ sound, as in the word fun.
• Check for understanding: Say the following words one at a time and have students give the thumbs-up signal if the word begins with the /f/ sound, as in the word fun: face, hat, fork, fish, girl, shoe, and flag.

Phonics: Identify initial consonant Ff

• Write the word fun on the board and say the word aloud with students.
• Have students say the /f/ sound aloud. Then run your finger under the letters in the word as students say the whole word aloud. Ask students what letter stands for the /f/ sound in the word fun.
• Have students practice writing the letter f on a separate piece of paper as they say the sound the letter makes.
• Check for understanding: Write the following words that begin with the letter Ff on the board, leaving off the initial consonant Ff: fish, face, flag, and family. Say each word, one at a time, and have volunteers come to the board and add the initial consonant Ff in each word. Have the remaining students practice writing the letter f on a separate piece of paper as they say the sound the letter makes.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain and have students complete the initial consonant Ff worksheet.

Grammar and Mechanics: Identify naming words (nouns)

• Draw a picture of a person, a place, and a thing. Ask volunteers to identify the pictures. Explain that some words they read name a person, a place, or a thing. These naming words are called nouns.
• Have student turn to page 3 in their book. Invite them to read the sentence together, pointing to the words as you read them aloud. Ask students to point to the word that names a thing (fog).
• Have students turn to page 4. Read the sentence aloud with students, pointing to the words as you read them aloud. Ask students to point to the word that names another thing (clouds).

    Check for understanding: Point to the words as you read each page aloud with students. Have students underline the naming words in the book. Discuss the words they underlined.

• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the nouns worksheet.

Word Work: High-frequency words come, comes, the

• Tell students they are going to learn three new words that they need to be able to recognize and read quickly. Write the word come on the board and read the word aloud. Have students read the word with you.
• Ask them to write the word come on the tabletop with their finger as you spell it aloud with them, pointing to each letter on the board as you say the letter name with students. Repeat the process with the words comes and the.
• Ask a volunteer to use the word come in a sentence. Repeat the process with the words comes and the.

    Check for understanding: Have students underline the word come each time they find it in the book. Have them circle the word comes and draw a box around the word the each time they find them.

Build Fluency 

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their book independently or with a partner. Encourage repeated timed readings of a specific section in the book. Additionally, partners can take turns reading parts of the book to each other.

Home Connection

• Give students their book to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends. Have students compare with someone at home what they visualized about the events of the story.

Extend the Reading 

Writing and Art Connection
Have students draw a picture of their favorite kind of weather. Under each picture, help them write: The ______ weather comes. Discuss during which season their favorite weather occurs most of the time. Divide the responses by season and make a weather book for each season. Reinforce student understanding of naming words and the high-frequency words come, comes, and the.

Math Connection
Create a graph that lists different types of weather (snowy, rainy, cloudy, windy, and so on). Have students observe and graph the weather over a period of two weeks. Discuss the changes in weather that occurred day to day and which type of weather happened the most and the least.

Assessment 

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• accurately and consistently share examples of visualizing while reading
• accurately and consistently identify details that support a main idea during discussion and on a worksheet
• accurately discriminate between words that do and do not begin with the /f/ sound
• accurately identify and write the letter symbol that stands for the /f/ sound during discussion and on a worksheet
• identify nouns as words that name people, places, and things during discussion and on a worksheet
• locate, read, write, and understand the use of the high-frequency words come, comes, and the

Comprehension Checks

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