Winter - Lesson Plans

Winter
Level aa

About the Book

Text Type: Nonfiction/Concept Book
Page Count: 10
Word Count: 17

Book Summary
This cheerful beginning reader introduces students to all the fun things many people associate with winter. Ice skates, snowmen, mittens, and a warm fire are all represented by simple illustrations and one-to-one picture correspondence.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

Make, revise, and confirm predictions

Objectives

Make, revise, and confirm predictions while reading
Identify the main idea of the book and list details that support the main idea
Orally discriminate initial sounds
Associate the letter Ww with the sound /w/
Recognize that some words name things
List words that mean the opposite

Materials

Book -- Winter (copy for each student)
Chalkboard or dry erase board
Main idea and details, initial consonant Ww 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 word: the
Content words: snow, ice skates, sled, snowman, mittens, coat, fire, winter

Before Reading

Build Background

Ask students to think of two things they use (or would use) during winter. Discuss their responses. Expand the discussion by talking about students' knowledge of winter weather, activities, and clothing.

Book Walk

Introduce the Book

Show students the front and back covers of the book and read the title with them. Ask them what they might read about in a book called Winter. (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: Make, revise, and confirm predictions

Explain that good readers make predictions, or guesses, about what will happen in a story. Explain that making predictions can help people make decisions, solve problems, and learn new information. Emphasize that making predictions is more important than whether the prediction is right, or confirmed.
Model making a prediction based on the title.
Think-aloud: I see two things on the covers: a snowman and a pair of ice skates. The title says Winter. I predict that this book will have other things you see in the winter, such as snow. I think that I might read about a sled in the book, too.
Show students the title page and have them make a prediction about 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 Vocabulary

Reinforce new vocabulary and word-attack strategies by pointing to an object in the picture, for example, mittens. Ask students what sound they hear at the beginning of the word mittens and what letter stands for that sound. Ask them to find the word on the page and have them tell you how they know the word is mittens. 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 read to revise or confirm whether or not their prediction based on the pictures and the text.

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 (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. Encourage students who finish before others to reread the text.
Think-aloud: I predicted that this book would include other things you see in winter, such as a sled. So far, this prediction seems correct. I also read about ice skates. Ice skating and sledding are both things to do in the winter snow. I predict that the rest of the book will be about winter activities.
When they have finished, ask them if they can confirm their prediction based on the words they read and the pictures. Ask if they want to revise any of the predictions for 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 that making predictions about a book helps readers enjoy and understand the story. Invite students to share the outcome of their prediction.
Think-aloud: I predicted that the rest of the book would be about winter activities. This prediction was incorrect. The book named winter objects, such as mittens and a coat. Making predictions helped me become more interested in reading the book. I wanted to keep reading to check that my predictions about the pictures were correct.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Main idea and details

Discussion: Ask students to share what they learned about winter while reading.
Introduce and model the skill: Explain that every book has a main idea that tells what the book is about. The title of the book and the pictures can be clues to identify the main idea. Discuss the main idea of the book. (Certain things remind us of the winter.)
Think-aloud: On page 3, I see a picture of snow. I know that snow falls in many places during the winter. People play in and make snowmen with the snow. This is a detail that tells about the main idea.
Check for understanding: Ask students to point to a detail in their book that supports the main idea. Observe their responses.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the main idea and details worksheet. When they have finished, discuss their answers.

Extend the discussion: Instruct students to use the last page of their book to draw a picture of their favorite winter thing or place. Have students share their pictures with the group.

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Sound discrimination

Say the words winter and well and have students repeat the words. Tell students the two words start with the same sound. Then say the words winter and snow and tell students that the two words do not start with the same sound. Have students repeat the words and listen to the beginning sounds.
Tell students that you are going to say some words. If both words start with the same sound, like winter and well, they are to give a thumbs-up signal. If the two words start with different sounds, they are to give a thumbs-down signal. Say the following pairs of words: cat/card; pet/bag; run/rat; leaf/long; wise/night; big/pen; hand/help; man/nest.

Phonics: Initial consonant Ww

Write the lower- and uppercase letter Ww on the board. Ask students what the name of this letter is. Then tell them that the letter w stands for the /w/ sound they can hear in the word winter. Have students look at the cover of the book to find the word and have them point to the letter that makes the /w/ sound.
Write the words win, wet, and wag on the board and underline the w in each word.
Model sounding out the word win by running your finger under the letters while you blend the sounds, holding each sound for one second: /www/ /iii/ /nnn/: win. Then have students blend the word with you. Repeat with the words wet and wag.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the initial consonant Ww worksheet.

Grammar and Mechanics: Naming words (nouns)

Tell students that there are special words that name people, places, and things. Point to the picture on the cover and ask students what the name of the object is (snowman).
Have students look for other naming words in the book. Reinforce that all of the winter items in the book are naming words because they tell the names of things.

Word Work: Opposites (antonyms)

Tell students that there are words that mean the opposite of another word. Provide a common example: The opposite of day is night. The opposite of up is down. What do you think the opposite of big is?
Ask students to tell the name of the book they just read (Winter). Ask students to name the time of year that is the opposite of winter (summer).
Have students brainstorm a list of words that mean the opposite. Write the common antonyms they suggest on a chart for future reference.

Build Fluency

Independent Reading

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

Home Connection

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

Extend the Reading

Writing and Art Connection
Instruct students to work with a partner to create and illustrate a silly sentence in which most of the words begin with the same sound as the word winter. For example, Wacky Wanda rode in a wagon waving her wand. (Allow invented spelling or take dictation.) Create a class book of silly sentences.

Science Connection
Discuss the ways in which the seasons are different. Divide students into groups and give each group a season. Tell each group to create a poster that shows things about their season. Provide magazines and books for students to refer to for ideas.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

make logical predictions based on available text information
understand that the book is about winter and locate details about the main topic of the book
tell whether words start with the same or different sounds during discussion
associate the letter Ww with the sound /w/ and read simple CVC words that start with /w/
understand that some words name things; locate words that name things in the book
list antonym pairs during discussion

Comprehension Check

Retelling Rubric

Go to "Winter" main page