Build Background

• Write the word ball 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.
• Invite students to name kinds of balls they know that are used in games and the kinds of games they play with these balls. Draw and label each ball on a chart.

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 Play Ball! (Accept all answers students can justify.)
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of the book, author's name).
• Write the word A _____ ball on the board. Read the words aloud with students. Explain that these words repeat throughout the book.

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 the information on the covers.
  Think-aloud: When I look at the front cover of Play Ball!, I see different kinds of balls on a shelf. I have seen many football games. I know that the ball on the second shelf is used to play the game of football. I know that you can catch, throw, and kick a football. However, the balls on the other shelves are not used in football. They must be used in other kinds of games. I wonder if this book is going to be about the different kinds of balls used to play games. The information I already know about playing games with balls will help me read and understand the information in the book.
• 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, or main, 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 main idea. Invite students to share predictions about the main idea of this story.
• Explain that the main, or big, idea of this story is different kinds of balls are used in games. Write the following sentence on the board: Different kinds of balls are used in games. Point to each word as you read the sentence 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 different kinds of balls used in games. I see a picture of two children on the back cover. They have rackets and there is a net behind them. I know that when you play tennis, the ball is hit back and forth across the net with a racket. I know the ball used to play a game of tennis is called a tennis ball. Since this type of ball helps to explain the big idea, a tennis ball might be a detail in the story.
• Review the kinds of balls and the kinds of games played with these balls that were discussed during the Build Background section. List these ideas on the board. 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 5, point to the initial letter b in basketball. Say: I am going to help myself by looking at the picture and thinking about what object I see in the picture that starts like /b/ (make the /b/ sound).
• Invite students to identify the word (basketball). Use the word in the sentence and ask students if the word basketball makes sense.
• For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words or word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students use what they already know about kinds of balls used in games to help them read the book. Remind them to think about details that support the main idea as they read.

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 the words from left to right.
• 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 6, using their finger to point to each word as they read. Encourage students who finish before others to reread the text.
• Model connecting to prior knowledge.
  Think-aloud: On page 5, I see a picture of a ball that I have seen before in a game on television. I've seen people bounce and dribble this ball across the floor. I've seen them shoot this ball into hoops at each end of a long floor. This kind of ball is used to play the game of basketball.
• Invite students to share how they connected with what they already knew as they read.
• Review the main idea of the book: Different kinds of balls are used in games. Ask students to explain whether a basketball is a detail that supports the main idea of the story and why (yes; a basketball is a kind of ball used in a game).
• Introduce and explain the main idea and details worksheet. Write the word basketball on the board. Have students write the word and draw a picture of a basketball in one of the spaces on their worksheet.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 8. Encourage them to share how they connected to prior knowledge as they read. (Accept all answers that show students understand how to connect to prior knowledge.)
• Ask students to think about other details they read that support the main idea Different kinds of balls are used in games. Have them choose one of the details to draw on their worksheet. Invite them to label their drawing using the word from the book. Ask students to share the detail they drew and wrote about.
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to use what they already know about kinds of balls to help them understand new information 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: When I read page 10, I thought about the kinds of balls I know about that are used in games. In the picture, the ball is above a net. I know that tennis balls are passed back and forth over a net. However, this ball does not look like a tennis ball. It is larger than a tennis ball. I've played another game that passes a ball back a forth over a net using hands instead of a racket. The game is called volleyball. The ball must be a volleyball. I used the information I already knew about volleyball and the picture to help me read this page.
• Have students draw a picture on a separate piece of paper showing how they connected to prior knowledge when reading about one of the balls in the book. Invite them to share and explain their picture to the rest of the class.
• Ask students to explain how thinking about what they already knew helped them to understand and remember the story.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Read the main 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: In this story, you learned that different kinds of balls are used to play different games. Now that you know this information, why is different equipment needed to play different games?

Build Skills 

Phonemic Awareness: Discriminate initial /b/

• Say the word ball and emphasize the initial /b/ sound. Have students say the word aloud and emphasize the initial /b/ sound.
• Have students say the /b/ sound. Read pages 3 and 4 aloud to students. Have them clap their hands when they hear a word that begins with the /b/ sound.
• 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 /b/ sound: bat, feet, bed, castle, man, bug, girl.

Phonics: Initial consonant Bb

• Write the word ball on the board and say the word aloud with students.
• Have students say the /b/ 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 /b/ sound in the word ball.
• Have students practice writing the letter Bb 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 Bb on the board, leaving off the initial consonant: bat, bed, bug. Say each word, one at a time, and have volunteers come to the board and add the initial consonant Bb in each word. Have the remaining students practice writing the letter Bb 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 Bb worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Grammar and Mechanics: Nouns

• Show students a picture of a person, a place, and a thing. Ask volunteers to identify the pictures. Explain that some words name a person, a place, or a thing. These naming words are called nouns.
• Have students turn to page 3 in their book. Ask them to name the object in the picture. Then read the sentence with students, pointing to the words as you read them aloud. Ask students to point to the words that name the object, or thing, in the picture (beach ball). Explain that these two words are the noun.
• Have students turn to page 4. Ask them to name the object in the picture. Then read the sentence aloud with students, pointing to the words as you read them aloud. Ask students to point to the word that names the object, or thing, in the picture (baseball).

    Check for understanding: Have students look at the object in the picture on each page of the book. Point to the words as you read each page aloud with students. Have them 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 word a

• Tell students that they are going to learn a word that they will often see in books they read. Write the word a on the board and read the word aloud. Have students read the word with you.
• Have students write the word on a sheet of paper. Encourage them to practice writing the word several more times on the paper.
• Read page 3 aloud to students. Ask them how many beach balls they see in the picture (one). Then read page 4 aloud to students. Ask them to explain how many baseballs they see on the page (one). Point out that the word a is used to show one of something.
• Check for understanding: Have students use the word a to name an object they see in the room. Have them point to the object as they identify it aloud (for example, a book, a pencil, a desk).

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 them share with someone at home how they connect with what they already know as they read the story together.

Extend the Reading 

Writing and Art Connection
Have students draw a picture of themselves playing a game with a ball. Under the drawing, help them write a phrase to describe the ball in their picture using the following prompt: A ________. Combine the pages into a class book.

Math Connection
Make a graph listing all of the kinds of balls in the book. Have students write their name on a sticky note and place the note next to the kind of ball used in their favorite game. Tally the results. Discuss which ball received the most and the least votes.

Assessment 

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• accurately and consistently connect to prior knowledge to understand text
• accurately identify the main idea and details during discussion and on a worksheet
• accurately discriminate between words that begin with the /b/ sound
• accurately identify and write the letter symbol that stands for the /b/ sound during discussion and on a worksheet
• identify nouns as words that name people, places, and things during discussion and on a worksheet
• correctly identify and use high-frequency word a

Comprehension Check

• Retelling Rubric

Go to "Play Ball!" main page