Bananas Sometimes - Lesson Plans

Build Background

Ask students if they have ever looked at the sky and pictured objects in the clouds. Invite them to share the objects they pictured.
Show students other familiar objects, such as cotton balls and rocks. Invite them to share how these objects or the patterns in them resemble something else.

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 Bananas Sometimes. Have students use the pictures in the book to help them predict what the book might be about.
Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name).
Discuss the repetitive phrase Bananas sometimes look like and have students say it aloud. Explain that these words repeat through most of the book. Ask students to identify which word comes after like on page 3 (hands). Remind them to use letter and picture clues to identify words.

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. Visualizing is based on what a person already knows about a topic. Ask students how visualizing the shape of a banana might help them understand and remember what they read.
Model how to visualize.
Think-aloud: When I think of a banana, I picture a yellow, curved fruit. It reminds me of a smile because a smile is curved like a banana.
Invite students to share what they picture in their mind when they think about a banana.
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 this story.
Explain that the main idea of this story is that bananas can look like many different things.
Model how to identify details.
Think-aloud: I know that every book has details that help explain the big idea. When I think of a banana, I picture a smile. This helps to explain the big idea of this story.
Show students some bananas. Invite students to name other objects the bananas look like. Have them share their details aloud.

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 checking the picture on the page to see what might start with the same sound and make sense in the story. For example, on page 8, point to the sm in smile. Say: I am going to help myself by looking at the picture and thinking about what the banana looks like that starts like /sm/ (make the /sm/ sound).
Invite students to identify the word (smile). Use the word in the sentence and ask students if the word smile makes sense.
For additional tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

Have students read to find out the objects a banana sometimes look like. Remind them to stop and visualize, or picture in their mind, how a banana could look like the objects in the book.

During Reading

Student Reading

Guide the reading: Show students the book. Point out the words on the pages. Review or explain that the words on the pages are read from left to right. Ask a student to point to where students should start reading and tell in which direction they should read.
Give students their books. Have them read to the end of page 6, using their finger to point to each word as they read.
After students have finished reading, discuss what they visualized when they read that bananas sometimes look like hands or boats.
Think-aloud: As I read each page, I created pictures in my mind of how a banana might look like the objects the child was imagining. For example, on page 6, I pictured a spider with eight banana legs crawling on my floor. The spider is also a detail from the book that explains how bananas sometimes look like many different things.
Check for understanding: Have students read to page 8. Invite volunteers to explain what they pictured in their mind when they read that bananas sometimes look like smiles. Accept all answers that show students understand how to visualize.
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.
Have students share how visualizing helped them better understand and enjoy what they read. Invite students to explain how they visualized one of the objects in the book.
Think-aloud: As I read, I continued to create pictures in my mind about how a banana looks like everyday objects. When I read page 9, I thought about how the sides of my mouth turn down when I frown, just like an upside-down banana. Picturing the objects in my mind helped me to understand and remember the details in the book.
Ask students to turn to page 10. Have them decide if the boy is still imagining things or if he is really getting ready to eat a banana.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

Discussion: Read the big idea on the board with students. Invite them to explain the details in the book that match the big idea. List some of the details on the board.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the main idea and details worksheet.
Extend the discussion: Ask students to think of other objects a banana might be used for that would create a funny picture in their mind. Have them draw a picture of the object using a banana like the pictures in the book. Encourage them to write under the picture: A banana sometimes looks like _______.

Build Skills

Phonemic Awareness: Discriminate initial sound /l/

Explain to students that they are going to say a word from the book. Say like and emphasize the initial /l/ sound. Have students say the word like aloud and emphasize the initial /l/ sound.
Choose a variety of words to say aloud that do and do not begin with the /l/ sound, such as look, hand, spider, lion, pencils, and line. Say each word and have students repeat it. Have them give the thumbs-up signal if the word begins with the /l/ sound.
Check for understanding: Show students the pictures on the picture cards worksheet one at a time. Have them say the words aloud. Ask students to give the thumbs-up sign if the word begins with the /l/ sound.

Phonics: Identify initial consonant Ll

Write the word like on the board. Have students say the word aloud with you. Ask a volunteer to identify the first sound in the word. Write the letter l on the board. Explain that the letter l stands for the first sound they hear in the word like. Write the word look on the board. Ask a volunteer to underline the letter that stands for the /l/ sound.
Choose decodable words that begin with the letter l, such as let and log. Write these words on the board. Have volunteers trace the initial consonant in each word with their finger as they say the sound the letter makes.
Check for understanding: Have students name words that begin with the /l/ sound. Write each word on the board without the initial letter. Have volunteers come to the board and complete each word by writing the initial letter. Have them say the sound the letter l stands for and then say the whole word. Ask the other students to trace the letter on the tabletop with their pointer finger.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the initial consonant Ll worksheet.

Grammar and Mechanics: Identify naming words (nouns)

Show students pictures 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 students turn to page 3 in their books. Invite them to read the sentence together, pointing to the words. Ask them to find one of the naming words in the sentence (bananas, hands).
Have students turn to page 4. Read the sentence aloud with students, pointing to the words as they are read. Have them point to the two naming words on the page (bananas, boats).
Have students suggest other naming words that are not in the book.

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.

Vocabulary: High-frequency words

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

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

Build Fluency

Independent Reading

Allow students to read their books 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 books to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends. Have students ask someone at home to visualize and describe the pictures in their mind as the student reads the book aloud to them.

Extend the Reading

Writing and Art Connection
Have students draw another food that could look like an everyday object. Use the pictures in the text as a model. Under each picture, help them write: A _____ looks like a _______. Use the pages to make a book for shared reading. Reinforce student understanding of naming words and the high-frequency words like and look.

Math Connection
Have students count the number of bananas pictured in the book. Have them work with a partner to make tally marks as they count. Have each group share and compare their results. Write a sentence using the number word and the numeral. For example: There were ______ bananas in the book.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

accurately and consistently share examples of visualizing while reading
accurately identify the main idea and details during discussion and on a worksheet
accurately discriminate between words that do and do not begin with the /l/ sound
accurately identify and write the letter symbol that stands for the /l/ sound during discussion and on a worksheet
identify nouns and discriminate between words that name a person, place, and thing during discussion; identify nouns on a worksheet
locate, read, write, and understand the use of the high-frequency words look, like, and to

Comprehension Checks

Retelling Rubric

Go to "Bananas Sometimes" main page


Bananas Sometimes Level B About the Book Text Type: Nonfiction/Factual Description Page Count: 10 Word Count: 41 Book Summary This book builds on student imagination by showing a child envisioning everyday objects as made from bananas. Predictable sentence patterns and pictures support the students as they read. About the Lesson Targeted Reading Strategy Visualize Objectives Use the reading strategy of visualizing to understand text Identify main idea and details Discriminate initial sound /l/ Identify initial consonant Ll Recognize and understand that nouns are naming words Recognize and write the high-frequency words look, like, and to Materials Book -- Bananas Sometimes (copy for each student) Chalkboard or dry erase board Main idea and details, picture cards, initial consonant Ll, nouns worksheets 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: eat, good, like, look, to Content words: always, bananas, boats, frowns, hands, pencils, smiles, sometimes, spiders, telephone Before Reading Build Background Ask students if they have ever looked at the sky and pictured objects in the clouds. Invite them to share the objects they pictured. Show students other familiar objects, such as cotton balls and rocks. Invite them to share how these objects or the patterns in them resemble something else. 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 Bananas Sometimes. Have students use the pictures in the book to help them predict what the book might be about. Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name). Discuss the repetitive phrase Bananas sometimes look like and have students say it aloud. Explain that these words repeat through most of the book. Ask students to identify which word comes after like on page 3 (hands). Remind them to use letter and picture clues to identify words. 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. Visualizing is based on what a person already knows about a topic. Ask students how visualizing the shape of a banana might help them understand and remember what they read. Model how to visualize. Think-aloud: When I think of a banana, I picture a yellow, curved fruit. It reminds me of a smile because a smile is curved like a banana. Invite students to share what they picture in their mind when they think about a banana. 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 this story. Explain that the main idea of this story is that bananas can look like many different things. Model how to identify details. Think-aloud: I know that every book has details that help explain the big idea. When I think of a banana, I picture a smile. This helps to explain the big idea of this story. Show students some bananas. Invite students to name other objects the bananas look like. Have them share their details aloud. 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 checking the picture on the page to see what might start with the same sound and make sense in the story. For example, on page 8, point to the sm in smile. Say: I am going to help myself by looking at the picture and thinking about what the banana looks like that starts like /sm/ (make the /sm/ sound). Invite students to identify the word (smile). Use the word in the sentence and ask students if the word smile makes sense. For additional tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here. Set the Purpose Have students read to find out the objects a banana sometimes look like. Remind them to stop and visualize, or picture in their mind, how a banana could look like the objects in the book. During Reading Student Reading Guide the reading: Show students the book. Point out the words on the pages. Review or explain that the words on the pages are read from left to right. Ask a student to point to where students should start reading and tell in which direction they should read. Give students their books. Have them read to the end of page 6, using their finger to point to each word as they read. After students have finished reading, discuss what they visualized when they read that bananas sometimes look like hands or boats. Think-aloud: As I read each page, I created pictures in my mind of how a banana might look like the objects the child was imagining. For example, on page 6, I pictured a spider with eight banana legs crawling on my floor. The spider is also a detail from the book that explains how bananas sometimes look like many different things. Check for understanding: Have students read to page 8. Invite volunteers to explain what they pictured in their mind when they read that bananas sometimes look like smiles. Accept all answers that show students understand how to visualize. 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. Have students share how visualizing helped them better understand and enjoy what they read. Invite students to explain how they visualized one of the objects in the book. Think-aloud: As I read, I continued to create pictures in my mind about how a banana looks like everyday objects. When I read page 9, I thought about how the sides of my mouth turn down when I frown, just like an upside-down banana. Picturing the objects in my mind helped me to understand and remember the details in the book. Ask students to turn to page 10. Have them decide if the boy is still imagining things or if he is really getting ready to eat a banana. Reflect on the Comprehension Skill Discussion: Read the big idea on the board with students. Invite them to explain the details in the book that match the big idea. List some of the details on the board. Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the main idea and details worksheet. Extend the discussion: Ask students to think of other objects a banana might be used for that would create a funny picture in their mind. Have them draw a picture of the object using a banana like the pictures in the book. Encourage them to write under the picture: A banana sometimes looks like _______. Build Skills Phonemic Awareness: Discriminate initial sound /l/ Explain to students that they are going to say a word from the book. Say like and emphasize the initial /l/ sound. Have students say the word like aloud and emphasize the initial /l/ sound. Choose a variety of words to say aloud that do and do not begin with the /l/ sound, such as look, hand, spider, lion, pencils, and line. Say each word and have students repeat it. Have them give the thumbs-up signal if the word begins with the /l/ sound. Check for understanding: Show students the pictures on the picture cards worksheet one at a time. Have them say the words aloud. Ask students to give the thumbs-up sign if the word begins with the /l/ sound. Phonics: Identify initial consonant Ll Write the word like on the board. Have students say the word aloud with you. Ask a volunteer to identify the first sound in the word. Write the letter l on the board. Explain that the letter l stands for the first sound they hear in the word like. Write the word look on the board. Ask a volunteer to underline the letter that stands for the /l/ sound. Choose decodable words that begin with the letter l, such as let and log. Write these words on the board. Have volunteers trace the initial consonant in each word with their finger as they say the sound the letter makes. Check for understanding: Have students name words that begin with the /l/ sound. Write each word on the board without the initial letter. Have volunteers come to the board and complete each word by writing the initial letter. Have them say the sound the letter l stands for and then say the whole word. Ask the other students to trace the letter on the tabletop with their pointer finger. Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the initial consonant Ll worksheet. Grammar and Mechanics: Identify naming words (nouns) Show students pictures 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 students turn to page 3 in their books. Invite them to read the sentence together, pointing to the words. Ask them to find one of the naming words in the sentence (bananas, hands). Have students turn to page 4. Read the sentence aloud with students, pointing to the words as they are read. Have them point to the two naming words on the page (bananas, boats). Have students suggest other naming words that are not in the book. 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. Vocabulary: High-frequency words Tell students they are going to learn three new words that they need to be able to recognize and read quickly. Write the word to on the board and read the word aloud. Have students read the word with you. Ask them to write the word to in the air with their finger as you spell it out loud with them, pointing to each letter on the board as you say the letter name with students. Repeat the process with the words like and look. Ask a volunteer to use the word to in a sentence. Repeat the process with the words like and look. Check for understanding: Have students underline the word look each time they find it in the book. Have them circle the word like each time they find it and draw a box around the word to. Build Fluency Independent Reading Allow students to read their books 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 books to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends. Have students ask someone at home to visualize and describe the pictures in their mind as the student reads the book aloud to them. Extend the Reading Writing and Art Connection Have students draw another food that could look like an everyday object. Use the pictures in the text as a model. Under each picture, help them write: A _____ looks like a _______. Use the pages to make a book for shared reading. Reinforce student understanding of naming words and the high-frequency words like and look. Math Connection Have students count the number of bananas pictured in the book. Have them work with a partner to make tally marks as they count. Have each group share and compare their results. Write a sentence using the number word and the numeral. For example: There were ______ bananas in the book. Assessment Monitor students to determine if they can: accurately and consistently share examples of visualizing while reading accurately identify the main idea and details during discussion and on a worksheet accurately discriminate between words that do and do not begin with the /l/ sound accurately identify and write the letter symbol that stands for the /l/ sound during discussion and on a worksheet identify nouns and discriminate between words that name a person, place, and thing during discussion; identify nouns on a worksheet locate, read, write, and understand the use of the high-frequency words look, like, and to Comprehension Checks Retelling Rubric Go to "Bananas Sometimes" main page
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