Build Background

• Write the word home on the board and point to the word as you read it aloud to students. Repeat the process and have students say the word aloud.
• Ask students to share what they think of when they hear the word home. Discuss their responses.

Book Walk

Introduce the Book

• Show students the front and back covers of the book and read the title with them. Ask what they think they might read about in a book called What Lives Here? (Accept any answer that students can justify.)
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).
• Turn to page 4. Point out the repetitive phrase A ________ lives here. Have students say it aloud. Explain to them that these words repeat throughout the book.

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Visualize

• Explain that good readers often visualize, or picture in their mind, what a book might be about before they start reading. Explain that readers often use what they already know about a topic to create the pictures in their mind.
• Model how to visualize using the covers of the book.
  Think-aloud: I see a bear, a deer, a frog, and a fish on the front cover. They look as though they are in a forest. When I look at this cover, I picture animals I have seen in their habitats. I have seen fish swimming in ponds and deer eating corn in a field. I picture how each habitat helps the animal stay warm and safe.
• Show students the title page. Encourage them to use their prior knowledge of animal homes to discuss the object on the page. Ask open-ended questions to facilitate the discussion: What animal might live here? What might this home be like on the inside? How would this home keep an animal warm and safe?
• Invite students to share names of animals they know. Write these on the board. Ask students to explain what they know about where each animal lives.
• 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: Classify information

• Place the picture cards worksheet in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge. Explain that sorting information into groups helps readers think about and remember what they read.
• Model how to classify information.
  Think-aloud: As I thought about how to group these animals, I started by asking myself what they have in common. When I looked at the pictures, I noticed that the cat and dog are both animals that have fur. I will group these pictures on the board under the heading Fur.
• Ask students what other objects can be sorted into the group labeled Fur. Have them explain why each object belongs in that group.
• Have volunteers suggest ways to sort the remaining pictures into groups and explain why each animal belongs in that group (number of legs, tail/no tail, size, habitat, and so on).

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Cut out the pictures of the animals on pages 4 through 10 from an extra copy of the book and glue each one onto a large index card.
• Write the word Animals in large letters on the board or chart paper. Have students say the word aloud. Place the animal cards around the word Animals.
• Show students the pictures of the animals, one at a time. As students name each animal, write its name on a large index card (bear, deer, and so on). Encourage volunteers to write the initial sound of the word on the card. Then have volunteers place each card on the corresponding animal. When finished, have the class read the words aloud as you point to each word and animal.
• After each word is written, have students share what they know about each animal. Facilitate the discussion with prompts: What does this animal eat? Where does it live? Describe what the animal looks like.
• Remind students to use the first letter and the pictures to figure out words when they read. For example, show the picture on page 4 and model pointing under the b in bear. Say: I am going to look at the picture and think about animal begins with /b/. Does bear make sense? Yes. The word is bear.
• If time allows, have students use the cards to match the pictures with the words.
• For tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read to find out about where animals live. Remind them to think about what they know about animals and their homes as they read the book.

During Reading 

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Give students their book. Point out the words on the pages in the book. Explain that the words on the pages are read from left to right. Ask a student to come up and point to where students should start reading and in which direction they go as they read.
• Point to the numbers at the bottom of the pages. Have students read to the end of page 5, using their finger to point to each word as they read. When students are ready, discuss what they visualized, or pictured in their mind, when they heard the words bear and deer. (Accept responses that show students have thought about what they read.)
• Model how to visualize.
  Think-aloud: As I read each page, I created a picture in my mind of the animal and its home. For example, on page 4, I pictured the bear with its thick fur. I thought about how hot the bear might feel in the middle of summer with all that fur. I pictured how cool and shady the cave might be on the inside. This seems like a good home for the bear.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to page 7. Invite volunteers to explain what they pictured in their mind when they heard the words fish and frog. Ask open-ended questions to facilitate a discussion: How are these animals different? What do all these animals have in common? How might the animals be sorted into groups?
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to continue visualizing 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 the animals and what their homes might be like. For example, on page 8, I pictured a worm wiggling its way through tiny tunnels in the ground. I think tiny holes and tunnels are good homes for worms. I know that birds eat worms, but a bird can't fit down such a tiny hole. I pictured the worm on page 8 wiggling quickly back down into its tunnel when it sensed a bird nearby.
• Ask students to turn to pages 9 and 10 in the book. Have them share examples of how they visualized these animals in their homes. Invite them to explain how visualizing helped them better understand what they read.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Review the pictures of animals on index cards from the vocabulary lesson with students. Place them in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge. Discuss how these animals from the book might be sorted into groups (size, habitat, descriptions, food, and so on). Provide opportunities for students to practice sorting the animals in several different ways.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the classify information worksheet.
• Extend the discussion: Have students explain why homes are important for animals (they keep the animals warm and safe). Explain that another word for a home is a shelter. Have students say the word aloud. Invite students to discuss what else animals need for their survival in addition to a shelter.

Build Skills 

Phonemic Awareness: Discriminate initial /h/

• Say the word here aloud and emphasize the initial /h/ sound. Have students say the word.
• Explain that when they say the /h/ sound, it creates a puff of air. Have students hold their hand in front of their mouth to feel the puff of air as they say the /h/ sound aloud.
• Say the following pairs, one at a time: horse, goat; mouse, hawk; cow, hen. Ask students to identify which word in the pair begins with the /h/ sound.
• Check for understanding: Say the following words one at a time: hat, gift, bug, house, corn, hive, honey, and farm. Have students repeat each word, holding their hand to their mouth as they say the word. Ask students to show a thumbs-up sign for each word that begins with the /h/ sound.

Phonics: Identify initial consonant Hh

• Say the word here aloud. Have students say the word aloud with you. Ask a volunteer to identify the first sound in the word. Write the letter h on the board. Explain that the letter h stands for the first sound they hear in the word here.
• Explain that you are going to write some words on the board. Choose decodable words that begin with the letter h, such as ham, hat, and hen. Say the words aloud and have students repeat them. Have them take turns tracing the initial consonant in each word on their hand with their pointer finger as they say the sound the letter makes.
• Check for understanding: Ask students to identify words that begin with the /h/ sound. Write each word on the board, leaving off the letter h. Have volunteers fill in the letter that stands for the /h/ sound. Have the remaining students trace the letter on their hand with their pointer finger.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the initial consonant Hh worksheet.

Grammar and Mechanics: Punctuation - Periods

• Write the following sentence on the board: Animals live here. Read the sentence aloud with students. Explain that every sentence has a signal at the end so readers will know when to stop reading. Ask a volunteer to come up and point to the "signal" at the end of the sentence.
• Explain that the signal is called a period. Have students say the word aloud. Point out that the period is like a stop sign because it tells readers to stop reading.
• Ask students to describe one of the animals in the book. Write each description in a sentence on the board, leaving off the period. Have volunteers come to the board and add a period to each sentence.

    Check for understanding: Have students reread the book. Have them highlight all the periods in the book.

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

Vocabulary: High-frequency words a, here, lives

• Explain that some words are found in many of the books they will read. Write the word a on the board and read the word aloud. Then have students say the word aloud.
• Ask students to write the word a in the air with their finger as you spell it out loud with them, pointing to the letter as you say the letter name with them. Repeat the process with the words here and lives.
• Show students page 4 in the book. Read the sentence aloud to them. Point to and say the word a. Ask students to explain how many bears are in the picture (one). Repeat the process on pages 5 and 6. Explain to students that the word a means one of something.
• Show students page 7 in the book. Read the sentence aloud to them. Ask students where the frog lives (in the water). Point to and say the word here. Explain that the word here refers to a place. Read page 8 aloud with students. Ask students to explain the place here refers to (under the ground).
• Point to the word lives on each of the pages in the book. Ask students what they think the word means. Explain that the word lives in this book means to stay in a place.
• Check for understanding: Ask volunteers to use each of the words aloud in a sentence. Have students use individual dry erase boards or paper to spell the high-frequency word they use in the sentence. For students needing additional support, use magnetic letters to have them build the word, trace the word with their pointer finger, and then write the word.

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. Encourage students to sort objects in their home with someone at home.

Extend the Reading 

Writing and Art Connection
Have students choose an animal familiar to them. Have each student draw the animal and where it lives on piece of 9 x 13 construction paper. Then have them write a sentence at the bottom of the page using the pattern A _______ lives here. Compile the pages as a big book, using the book to reinforce the use of periods and the high-frequency words a, here, and lives.

Science Connection
Show students the back cover of the book. Point out the frog and the lily pad in the picture. Ask students to describe the difference between the two. Explain that the frog is an animal and the lily pad is a plant. Create a two-column chart on paper with the headings Animals and Plants. Provide students with nature magazines or extra copies of What Lives Here? Have them cut out pictures of animals and plants, and place the pictures on the chart. Discuss the pictures under each heading and have students explain why each picture belongs under each heading.

Assessment 

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• accurately and consistently share examples of visualizing while reading
• accurately classify information during discussion and on a worksheet
• accurately discriminate the initial /h/ sound during discussion
• identify and write the letter Hh on a worksheet
• understand the use of periods during discussion and identify them within text; correctly use periods on a worksheet
• read, write, and understand the use of high-frequency words a, here, and lives

Comprehension Check

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