About the Book

Text Type: Nonfiction/Concept Book
Page Count: 10
Word Count: 24

Book Summary
What's the biggest thing a young reader can think of? A house? A tree? A plane? A dinosaur? They are all featured in this adorable book. Repeated high-frequency words assist in decoding, and new vocabulary is introduced with one-to-one picture correspondence.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

• Connect to prior knowledge

Objectives

• Use the reading strategy of connecting to prior knowledge to understand new information
• Compare and contrast information
• Identify the /b/ sound
• Associate the letter Bb with the sound /b/
• Recognize naming words (nouns)
• Recognize opposites (antonyms)

Materials

• Book -- Big (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Compare and contrast, initial consonant Bb worksheets
• Word journal (optional)

Indicates an opportunity for student to mark in the book. (All activities may be completed with paper and pencil if books are reusable.)

Vocabulary

• High-frequency words: a, big
• Content words: house, dog, car, bus, plane, tree, elephant, dinosaur

Before Reading

Build Background

• Ask students to close their eyes and think of the biggest thing they have ever seen. Tell them it could be something they have seen in real life, in a movie, or in a book. Discuss their responses.
• Have students look around the classroom and list things they might call big.

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 Big. (Accept any answers students can justify).
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Connect to prior knowledge

• Explain that good readers make connections between what they already know and new information they read. Remind students that thinking about what they already know about the topic of the book will help them understand what they read.
• Model connecting to prior knowledge using information found on the covers.
• Think-aloud: I see a picture of a tree on the cover. I know this will be one of the big things in the book. I have seen a tree, so I know that some trees can be big.
• Show students the title page and ask what clues the picture gives them about the book. Model using prior knowledge of the bus in the picture and relating it to the concept of big. Encourage students to talk about their prior knowledge of buses.
• 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 Vocabulary

• Go through each page of the book with students, talking about the illustrations and using the vocabulary they will encounter in the text. Ask them to name what they see in the pictures. Encourage them to use prior knowledge to make connections to the concept of big.
• Reinforce new vocabulary and word-attack strategies by pointing to an object in the picture, such as the bus. Ask them what sound they hear at the beginning of the word bus. Ask what sound they hear at the end of the word. Have students find the word bus on the page and tell you how they know the word is bus. Repeat with other vocabulary words if necessary.
• Remind students to look at the beginning and ending sounds, and other parts that they recognize, to help them sound out words. They should also check whether a word makes sense by looking at the picture or rereading the sentence.
• For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words or word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students think about what the big things in the book remind them of.

During Reading

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Have a volunteer point to the first word on page 3. Read the word together (A). 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 4, using their finger to point to each word as they read. Encourage students who finish before others to reread the text.
• Ask students what things they have read about that are big. Ask whether they have seen these things and whether they agree that these things are big. Discuss that although both the dog and the house are big compared to some objects, they are not the same size.
• Think-aloud: It is easier to understand the book when I can think of the things in the book that I have seen before. It helps me decide if the things are really big. I've seen a big house that looked something like the one on page 3. My house is big enough for me, but it isn't this big. I think this house may have more rooms than mine does. I'm going to keep looking for other big things I've seen as I read the rest of the book.
• Have students read the remainder of the story.

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.
• Reinforce how making connections to prior knowledge helped them understand what they read. (Using prior knowledge of a topic helps students personally relate to, as well as remember, what they have read.) Invite students to share additional ways they connected prior knowledge.
• Think-aloud: Because I have seen these things in the book and I know what size they are, it helped me understand what I was reading.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Compare and contrast

• Discussion: Help students understand the concept of comparing and contrasting by referring to concrete objects. Show students a cup and a glass. Ask them what they can use the cup and glass for.
• Introduce and model the skill: Compare and contrast the similarities and differences between a cup and a glass.
• Think-aloud: We can use both a glass and a cup for drinking. This is one way they are similar. The cup has a handle and the glass doesn't. This is a way they are different.
• Check for understanding: Ask students how a cup and glass are similar. After all students have had a chance to share, ask students how the two are different.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the compare and contrast worksheet. Discuss their responses.

Extend the discussion: Instruct students to use the last page of their book to draw a picture of something big they have seen. Have students share their picture with the group.

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Discriminate initial consonant /b/

• Say the word big and tell students the sound at the beginning of the word is /b/.
• Ask students to identify things in the room that begin with the /b/ sound (book, board, ball).
• Tell students that you are going to play a game. Explain that you will give them clues and they are to think of something that begins with /b/. They are to raise their hand when they know what the item is. Use the following clues:

This is something my new sweater came in. (box)
This is something that is worn with pants. (belt)
This is something that creeps on the floor. (bug)
This is something that flies through the air. (bird)
This is something that can be mean or cuddly. (bear)
This is something that moves through water. (boat)

Phonics: Initial consonant Bb

• Write bug on the board and read the word. Ask students what sound the letter b stands for in the word bug.
• Write the following words on the board: bed, bit, bat, bop, bam. Model how to sound out the first word, moving your finger under each letter while blending the sounds. Hold the sounds, except for stop sounds, for one second (beeed). Then say the word. Ask students to sound out the word with you while you run your finger under the letters.
• Ask individual students to come to the board and run their finger under each of the other words as they blend the sounds. Have them circle the letter that stands for the /b/ sound in each word.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the initial consonant Bb worksheet. When they have finished, discuss their answers.

Grammar and Mechanics: Naming words (nouns)

• Tell students that some words name people, places, or things. Explain that the word house is the name of a thing. The word city is a name of a place, and the word mom is the name of a person.
• Ask students to find examples of naming words they read in the book. Reinforce that all of the big items in the book are naming words.

Word Work: Opposites (antonyms)

• Tell students that there are words that mean the opposite of another word. Provide common examples. Say: The opposite of day is night. The opposite of up is down. What do you think the opposite of big is?
• Provide examples of the words used in context: I have a big chair; you have little chairs. I have a big desk; you have little desks.
• Provide the first word of the following pairs and ask students to name its opposite: old (new); fast (slow); happy (sad); short (tall); hot (cold); stop (go); sit (stand); over (under); hard (soft); up (down)

Build Fluency

• Allow students to read their book independently or with a partner. Additionally, partners can take turns reading parts of the book.

Home Connection

• Give students their book to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.

Extend the Reading

Writing Connection
Instruct students to work with a partner to create a big imaginary animal and write a story about it.

Science Connection
Provide animal books or other resources and discuss with students the biggest animal in the world (blue whale) and the biggest land animal (African elephant).

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• draw on prior knowledge as they read and discuss the book
• compare and contrast information during discussion and on a worksheet
• recognize the /b/ sound during discussion
• associate the letter Bb with the /b/ sound during discussion and on a worksheet
• recognize naming words during discussion
• recognize opposites (antonyms) during discussion

Comprehension Check

• Retelling Rubric

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