Text Type: Nonfiction/Personal Narrative
Page Count: 10
Word Count: 46

Book Summary
Have you ever ridden on a public bus to get from one place to another? Students will follow the steps of a young girl as she takes the bus to school with her mother. Supportive photographs, simple repetitive sentences, and high-frequency words will help beginning readers to be successful as they read this informative book.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

• Visualize

Objectives

• Use the reading strategy of visualizing to understand text
• Sequence events
• Discriminate initial consonant sound /w/
• Identify initial consonant Ww
• Recognize and locate verbs
• Identify and use high-frequency word I

Materials

• Book -- Taking the Bus (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Sequence events, initial consonant Ww, verbs, high-frequency word I worksheets
• Discussion cards

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

Vocabulary

• High-frequency words: come, for, I, off, on, ride, see, the, to
• Content words: bus, pay, ride, school, wait, walk, way

Build Background

• Write the word bus 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.
• Ask students whether they have ever taken a ride on a bus other than a school bus. Encourage them to explain what they experienced on their bus ride.

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 Taking the Bus. (Accept all answers that students can justify.)
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name).

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Visualize

• Explain that good readers often visualize, or make pictures in their mind, as they read. Readers often use what they already know about a topic to make the pictures in their mind.
• Read pages 3 and 4 aloud to students. Model how to visualize.
  Think-aloud: When I read a book, I pause after a few pages or after reading a description of something to create a picture in my mind of the information I've just read. This helps me understand the book. For example, when I read that the girl was walking to the bus stop, I pictured her walking down the sidewalk toward a sign that says Bus Stop. I pictured a bench with people sitting on it and some people standing as they waited for the bus to come so they could get on.
• Invite students to share what they visualized when they heard the sentence I wait for the bus.
• 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: Sequence events

• Explain that stories are generally told in order from beginning to end.
• Model sequencing the main steps of a familiar process, such as getting ready for school. Write key words about each event in order on the board as you describe them to students.
  Think-aloud: When I do something, I often seem to follow certain steps. For example, when I get ready to go to school, I first get out of bed and eat breakfast. Next, I get dressed and brush my teeth. Then I put on my coat and grab my backpack. Last, I go outside and get on the bus that takes me to school. I have a plan for how to get ready to go to school each day. Since I think this story might be about riding on a bus someplace, I will think about the steps I might take to ride the bus from one place to another. As I read, I will look for words that describe these steps.
• Explain that certain words are often used to explain a sequence of events. Read the list of events on the board to students in order, using words such as first, next, then, and last. Have students use the key words on the board and sequencing words to tell you the process of getting ready to go to school.
• Have a volunteer use the key words on the board to sequence the events of getting ready for school out of order. Ask students to explain why the order of the steps is important (the sequence does not make sense out of order). Discuss with students that a story does not make sense when the events are out of order.
• Point out the difference between the sequence of events listed on the board and the retelling of how to get ready to go to school (the retelling contains more detail and description; the list shows only the steps that were most important for someone to complete the task). Invite students to provide examples of details for each step in getting ready to go to school.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• While previewing the book, reinforce the vocabulary words students will encounter in the story. For example, while looking at the picture on page 7, you might say: It looks as though the girl is paying for the bus ride.
• Remind students to look at the picture and the letters with which a word begins or ends to figure out a difficult word. For example, point to the word wait on page 4 and say: I am going to check the picture and think about what would make sense to figure out this word. The picture shows the girl sitting on a bench at the bus stop. When I look at the first part of the word, it starts like /w/. However, the word sitting starts with the /s/ sound, so this can't be the word. I know that when people sit on a bench at a bus stop, they are often waiting for the bus to arrive. The word wait starts with the /w/ sound. The sentence makes sense with this word. The word must be wait.
• For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words and word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read to find out how to take the bus home. Remind them to visualize as they read. Have them think about the steps that happened first, next, and so on.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Have a volunteer point to the first word on page 3 (I). Point out to students where to begin reading on each page. Remind them 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.
• Cut apart the pages of an extra copy of the book. Place them out of order in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge. Model how to visualize and sequence events.
  Think-aloud: As I read each page, I created a picture in my mind about the steps for taking the bus. For example, on page 6, I pictured the girl walking up to the bus doors as they opened. I pictured her climbing the steps to get on the bus. This was the last step I read that the girl did. The first step she did was walk to the bus stop. I will place this picture first in the sequence. After she walked to the bus, she waited for the bus stop. I will place this picture second in the sequence.
• Have students tell which events come next. Have volunteers choose the appropriate pictures and place them in the correct order in the sequence.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to page 8. Invite volunteers to explain what they pictured in their mind when they read about the girl paying for and riding on the bus. (Accept any answers that show students understand how to visualize.)
• Use the cut-out pictures to discuss the sequence of events for taking the bus through the end of page 8. Encourage students to use words such as next and then when they identify the steps.
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to continue visualizing the sequence of events 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.

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: As I read, I continued to create pictures in my mind of the steps for taking the bus to school. When I read page 9, I pictured the girl carefully getting off the bus, looking to see where the steps of the bus were and how far they were from the ground. I pictured how she held the railing to help her as she moved down the steps. Picturing the events in my mind helped me to understand and remember the sequence of events in the book.
• Have students share how visualizing helped them better understand and enjoy what they read. Invite students to explain how they visualized a step for taking the bus.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Discuss the sequence of events through the end of the book. Place the pictures in order in the pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge. Have students practice telling the sequence for taking the bus to a partner using the pictures on the board.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the sequence events worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.
• Enduring understanding: In this story, you learned the steps for taking the bus to school. Now that you know this information, why do you think it is important to pay attention to the steps for doing things?

Phonological Awareness: Discriminate initial consonant sound /w/

• Say the word walk aloud to students, emphasizing the /w/ sound. Have students say the word aloud and then say the /w/ sound.
• Read pages 3 and 4 aloud to students. Have them raise their hand when they hear a word that begins with the /w/ 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 /w/ sound: water, bus, ride, winter, wind.

Phonics: Initial consonant Ww

• Write the word walk on the board and say it aloud with students.
• Have students say the /w/ sound aloud. Then run your finger under the letters in the word as students say the whole word aloud. Ask students to tell which letter represents the /w/ sound in the word walk.
• Have students practice writing the letter Ww on a separate piece of paper while saying the sound the letter represents.
• Check for understanding: Write the following words that begin with the /w/ sound on the board, leaving off the initial consonant: win, wet, wag. Say each word, one at a time, and have volunteers come to the board and add the initial consonant Ww in each word. Have students practice blending the sounds together to say each word.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the initial consonant Ww worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Grammar and Mechanics: Verbs

• Ask students to run in place. Ask a volunteer to tell what he or she did (ran). Explain to them that some words name actions. These words are called verbs. Invite students to name other action words they know.
• Have students turn to page 3 in their book. Read the sentence together with students, pointing to the words as they are read aloud. Ask students to point to the word that identifies an action (walk).
• Invite students to share other verbs they know.

      Check for understanding: Have students reread the story and underline the verbs. When they have finished, discuss their answers.

• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the verbs worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Word Work: High-frequency word I

• Explain to students that they are going to learn a word that they will often see in books they read. Write the word I on the board and read the word aloud. Have students read the word with you.
• Read the sentence on page 3 aloud to students. Explain that the word I is a word people use to talk about themselves. Point out that the word I is capitalized because it is another name to identify a person. Ask students to identify to whom the word I refers on page 3 (the young girl).
• Have students write the word I on a sheet of paper. Encourage them to practice writing the word several more times on the paper.
• Check for understanding: Have students use their name aloud in a sentence. Then have them substitute the word I for their name in the same sentence.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the high-frequency word I worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their book independently or with a partner. 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 students share what they visualized as they read the book with someone at home.

Personal Narrative Writing and Art Connection
Discuss with students how the young girl in the story was with an adult she knew when she took the bus to her school. Have students draw a picture about something they do with someone they know. Help them write a sentence to describe the picture. Reinforce the use of the high-frequency word I and verbs.

Social Studies Connection
Discuss with students different types of transportation. Create a list of different ways they can travel from place to place. Have each student draw and label a picture of one type of transportation. Combine the pages into a class book on transportation.

Skill Review
Discussion cards covering comprehension skills and strategies not explicitly taught with the book are provided as an extension activity. The following is a list of some ways these cards can be used with students:

• Use as discussion starters for literature circles.
• Have students choose one or more card and write a response, either as an essay or a journal entry.
• Distribute before reading the book and have students use one of the questions as a purpose for reading.
• Cut apart and use the cards as game cards with a board game.
• Conduct a class discussion as a review before the book quiz.