I Read a Book - Lesson Plans

I Read a Book
Level B

About the Book

Text Type: Fiction/Realistic
Page Count: 10
Word Count: 40

Book Summary
The little girl in this book loves to read so much that she reads with every member of her family, including her dog. The book gives practice with high-frequency words and vocabulary while reinforcing the idea that reading is fun and enjoyable.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

Retell

Objectives

Use the strategy of mentally retelling while reading
Sequence story events
Discriminate initial sound /r/
Associate the letter Rr with the sound /r/
Capitalize the first word in sentences and end with appropriate punctuation
Learn vocabulary for members of a family

Materials

Book -- I Read a Book (copy for each student)
Chalkboard or dry erase board
Sequence events, vocabulary worksheets
Cut-up sentences (groups of words indicated by slashes): Mom / reads. I read / to / my / dog. Grandma / reads. My grandpa / reads. I / read / with / my / sister. My / aunt / reads.
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: I, with, my, to
Content words: read, mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, aunt, sister, brother, dog

Before Reading

Build Background

Ask students to tell about the types of reading materials they have in their homes (books, magazines, newspapers, comics) and which are their favorites. Discuss when and where students read. Suggest that a comfortable reading spot makes reading even more enjoyable. Ask if students are read to at home or if they read to someone else. Explain that reading to another person is a good way to learn new words and learn to read more easily.
Expand the discussion by making a list on the board of why students read (for fun, to learn, to find out information). Ask students to come up with a definition for the word read (to look at words and understand what they mean).

Book Walk

Introduce the Book

Show students the front cover of the book and read the title with them. Ask what they might read about in a book called I Read a Book. (Accept any answers students can justify.) Ask what is happening in the picture and ask who they think "I" is.
Show students the back cover. Ask who the girl is reading with in this picture. Ask students who else they think the girl in the story will read with.
Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Retell

Explain to students that one way to understand and remember what they are reading is to stop now and then during reading to retell in their mind the details of what is happening in the story.
Model how to retell using a familiar story such as the The Three Little Pigs.
Think-aloud: In The Three Little Pigs, three pigs each decide to build a house. The first pig decides to make his house out of straw. He gathers all of the materials and builds his house. The second pig decides to build his house out of sticks. The third pig gathers the materials and builds his brick house. One day a big bad wolf comes to the house of the first little pig. He wants the pig to let him inside. The wolf says, " I'll huff and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house down." Continue retelling in detail until the end of the story.
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

Use the book walk as an opportunity to reinforce the language patterns in the book as well as new vocabulary. For example, on page 3, ask: Who is the girl reading with here? Yes, that's right. She is reading with her mom. What do you think the girl might be saying on this page?
Have students point to the word that says mom. Ask how they know that the word says mom. Remind students to look at the beginnning and ending letters in the word, and the pictures, to read new words.
Encourage students to add new vocabulary words to their word journals.
For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words or word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

Have students read the book, pausing every few pages to retell in their mind what they have read so far.

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 (I). Point to 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.
Model retelling story events in detail.
Think-aloud: I stopped to think about what happened so far in the story. I learned that the girl first reads at a table with her mom. Then she reads under a tree with her dad.
Ask students to retell what happened next. Then have them retell all of the events of the story so far to a partner.
Have students read the remainder of the story, stopping every few pages to retell the the story in their mind. Remind students to include details from the words and pictures when they retell.

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, if any, words they marked in their book. Use this as an opportunity to model how to read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
Think-aloud: After the girl read with her grandma, she read in a chair with her grandpa and outside with her aunt.
Ask students to retell the remainder of the story. Then have them retell the whole story to a partner.
Discuss how pausing to retell the story helped students remember what was happening.
Discuss additional strategies students used to gain meaning from the book.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Sequence events

Discussion: Ask students if they read with any of the same people the girl in the book read with. Ask what they know about the girl from reading the book (she likes to read; they can learn who else is in her family; she has a dog, etc.)
Introduce and model the skill: Tell students that the things that happen in the story are called story events, or the plot of the story. Model finding the first event.
Think-aloud: This story is about a little girl who likes to read. The first thing that happens in the story is that she reads with her mom. I will write the word mom on the board so I have a prompt I can use to tell the story later in more detail.
Check for understanding: Make a large web on the board, similar to the worksheet. Ask students to name the second event in the story (the girl reads with her dad). Write the words mom and dad on the web.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the sequence events worksheet. Have them draw or write the two events that you recorded on the board on their worksheets. Then have them record the remaining events in order. When they have finished, have students use the web as a prompt to retell the story to a partner.

Extend the discussion: Instruct students to use the last page of their book to draw a picture of themselves reading with someone. Tell students it can be a real or make-believe picture. Ask students share to their pictures with the group.

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Discriminate initial sound /r/

Say the word read, and ask students to repeat it. Ask what sound they hear at the beginning of read.
Tell students that you are going to say a funny poem and you want them to listen for the /r/ sound:

Randy the rat and Rose the raccoon
read every day from morning 'til noon.
They read about rockets and roses that bloom.
They read about rabbits and cars that go zoom.

Repeat the poem. Ask students to clap each time they hear a word that starts with the /r/ sound.

Phonics: Initial consonant Rr

Write the letter Rr on the board, and ask students to tell the letter's name. Explain that the letter Rr stands for the sound they can hear at the beginning of the word read.
Have students find the word read on the cover and point to the letter that stands for the /r/ sound.
Tell students they are going to read some words that start with /r/. Write the words rat, rip, red, and rob on the board. Point to the word rat. Run your finger under each letter as you model sounding out the word. Then repeat while students sound it out with you. Have a volunteer circle the letter in the word that stands for the /r/ sound.
Repeat the steps with the remaining words.

Grammar and Mechanics: Capitalization and punctuation

Have students put their finger on the sentence on page 3. Tell students that there are different kinds of sentences and that sentences like this one tell the reader something.
Remind students that every telling sentence has a signal at the end so the reader will know when to stop reading. Ask students what it is (a period). Remind students that the period is used as a "stop sign." Have students put their finger on the period in the sentence.
Remind students that every sentence begins with a capital letter. Have students put their finger on the capital letter.

Have students circle all the periods in the book and underline the capital letters.

Word Work: Content vocabulary

Ask students whom the girl in the book read with (members of her family). Explain that there are special words for family members. Create a large web on the board, and write the word family members in the center circle. Have students read the words with you.
Ask students which family members the little girl read with. As they say each family member, write it in one of the circles on the web.
Point to the word mom on the web. Ask students if they identify their mom with any other name (for example, mother, mama, or mommy). Explain that all of these words mean the same thing.
Repeat for dad, grandma, grandpa, brother, and sister. Ask students to tell special names they have for their grandparents or any other family members. (Blended family terms, like stepfather and stepmother, may need to be addressed.) Provide opportunities for students to say the words and use them in sentences.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the vocabulary worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Build Fluency

Independent Reading

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
Write the sentence I read ______. Brainstorm a list of places that students like to read (in my bed, in a chair, in a tent, on the floor, at the beach). Ask students to finish the sentence and draw a picture that shows them reading a book in that place. Display the sentences and illustrations on a bulletin board titled "We Read Books."

Literature Connection
Bring in a variety of books for children to look at. Explain the various genres, and allow children to look through the books at a reading center.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

use the strategy of retelling to help understand the story
correctly sequence the events of the story on a worksheet
identify which words begin with the /r/ sound in a poem read orally
associate the letter Rr with the sound /r/; read CVC words that begin with the /r/ sound
identify capital letters and periods in sentences
identify names of family members during discussion and on a worksheet

Comprehension Check

Retelling Rubric

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