We Make Cookies - Lesson Plans

We Make Cookies
Level B

About the Book

Text Type: Fiction/Realistic
Page Count: 10
Word Count: 43

Book Summary
We Make Cookies tells the story of a girl and her father making cookies. As students read the book, they learn what ingredients are used to make the cookies. The whimsical illustrations are sure to delight readers.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

Retell

Objectives

Use the strategy of mentally retelling while reading to make sense of text
Sequence story events
Orally blend onset and rime
Associate the letter Aa with the sound /a/
Recognize words that tell how much or how many
Identify opposites (antonyms)

Materials

Book -- We Make Cookies (copy for each student)
Chalkboard or dry erase board
Sequence events, short /a/ 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 words: we, two, some, little, it, in, the, a
Content words: flour, sugar, salt, eggs, milk, butter, mix, oven, yum, Dad

Before Reading

Build Background

Show students a cookbook. As you flip through the book, ask students to tell what is in it (recipes for different kinds of foods). Explain that a cookbook contains directions for making many kinds of foods and that everyone can cook if they follow the directions, or recipes, in the cookbook.
Ask students to think of a time they used a recipe to make, or help someone make, cakes or cookies. Encourage students to share what they have made, whom they were helping, or who was helping them. Point out that both men and women like to cook. Ask students where they found the recipe they used, what ingredients were needed, how long the food took to cook, and what it tasted like when it was finished.

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 We Make Cookies. (Accept any answers students can justify.) Ask what is happening in the picture. Ask who they think "we" is. Once students have identified that the girl and the man are cooking something, ask what they think they are pouring in the bowl. Point out the clue of the milk carton.
Have students predict the ingredients the characters might use to make cookies. Write their ideas on a chart called "Making Cookies."
Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name). Ask what they are putting in the bowl now. Have them check their list of ingredients to see if eggs are on the list.

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.
Explain that when someone retells something, they explain the details of what happened in order. Point out that people retell stories as part of their daily lives, such as explaining what happened during a movie. Ask students to share other examples of when people might give a retelling.
Reinforce that the strategy of pausing to mentally retell what is happening in the story helps readers understand and remember what they read.
Model retelling a familiar process, such as making a sandwich.
Think-aloud: When I am hungry, I like to make a peanut butter sandwich to eat. First, I get everything that I will need to make the sandwich. I get the bread and peanut butter from the pantry, a plate from the cupboard, and a butter knife from the drawer. Next, I open the bread bag and take out two slices of bread. I set them next to each other on the plate. Then I twist the lid off the peanut butter jar. I use the butter knife to scoop up some peanut butter and spread it across the top of one piece of bread. Continue retelling in detail to 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

As you preview the book with students, model the language patterns in the book. For example, ask: What are they putting in the bowl now? Yes, they are putting in the flour. What do you think they might say to us to tell us what they are doing?
As vocabulary words are mentioned, point to the corresponding word to help the students make the picture/word connection. For example, ask which word on the page says flour and how students can tell this (initial sound, final sound, picture clue).
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 to find out about making cookies. Remind them to pause every now and then to retell in their mind the process of making cookies.

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 (We). 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 the events in detail.
Think-aloud: After I read page 5, I stopped to think what the girl and her dad put in the bowl. First, they used a cup to scoop and pour flour into the bowl. Next, they used a spoon or measuring cup to scoop and pour sugar into the bowl.
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 story in their mind. Remind students to include details from the words and pictures in the book as they retell 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, 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.
Discuss how pausing to retell the story helped students remember the process the characters used to make cookies.
Think-aloud: After the girl put in the salt, they broke open two eggs into the bowl. Then they used a cup to pour in some milk into the bowl.
Ask students to retell the remainder of the story. Then have them retell the whole story to a partner.
Discuss additional strategies students used to gain meaning from the book.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Sequence events

Discussion: Ask students whether they enjoyed the story. Ask how they think the little girl felt as she was making cookies. Have them infer who the man in the story might be.
Introduce and model the skill: Tell students that a story is a series of events that happen in a particular order. First one thing happens, then something else, and so on. Explain that the order in which events happen is called the sequence. Point out the sequence in this story.
Think-aloud: In this story, the girl and man added ingredients in a certain order. First, they added flour. Next, they added sugar. I'm not including all the details of the story, as I would in a retelling. I only tell the most important events to tell the story correctly.
Check for understanding: Have students share the sequence of events through the end of the story. Allow them to use the pictures in the book as a guide.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the sequence events worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Extend the discussion: Instruct students to use the last page of their book to draw a picture of themselves cooking or helping someone cook. Ask students share their pictures with the group.

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Blend onset and rime

Ask students to listen as you say two parts of a word and then blend them together: d-ad ... dad. Say the onset and rime again and have students blend the parts together to say the word.
Say the following onsets and rimes one at a time: m-ix, p-ut, c-ake, p-an, d-ish, b-ake. Have students repeat the onset and rime for each word. Then have them blend the word parts together to say the word.

Phonics: Short /a/

Write the letter Aa on the board and have students name the letter. Tell students that the letter Aa stands for the short vowel sound they can hear in the middle of the word dad. Have them say the short /a/ vowel sound aloud.
Have students turn to page 10 to find the word dad. Have them read the word and then put their finger on the letter that stands for the short /a/ vowel sound.
Write the words can and hat in a line on the board. Have students blend the sounds in the word can with you as you run your finger under the letters: /k/ /a/ /n/. Repeat the process with the word hat. Ask volunteers to come to the board and point to the letter in each word that stands for the short /a/ vowel sound.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the short /a/ worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Grammar and Mechanics: Adjectives

Have students reread page 6 and ask how many eggs they put it. Point out that two is a word that tells how many. Explain that words that tell how much or how many are called adjectives.
Say the following sentences one at a time and have students say the adjective in each sentence that tells how much or how many:

I have two pets.
There are many books on the shelf.
He wants three cookies.
Give me some milk please.
I have four pencils.

Have students circle the words in the book that tell how many or how much.

Word Work: Opposites (antonyms)

Write the word in on the board and have students read it. Then write the word out. Explain that the word out is the opposite of the word in.
Say the following words one at a time and have students name the opposite of each word: up, big, happy, day, over, soft, dark. If they have difficulty, tell them the opposite.

Build Fluency

Independent Reading

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

Home Connection

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

Extend the Reading

Writing Connection
Make a class recipe book. Give each student a piece of drawing paper. Ask them to identify the steps needed to make the food item and draw them in order on a separate piece of paper.

Math Connection
Take a survey of the students to find out what their favorite parts of cooking are: deciding on what to cook, shopping for the ingredients, making the food, eating the food, being with the person who they were helping or was helping them. Tally the totals.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

retell in their mind the process used to make cookies
correctly identify the process of making cookies in the correct order according to the book on a worksheet
orally blend onset and rime to say words
read simple CVC words with the short /a/ vowel sound during discussion; identify names of pictures that contain the short /a/ vowel sound on a worksheet
identify words that tell how much or how many in oral sentences; identify these words in the text
identify words that are opposites (antonyms)

Comprehension Check

Retelling Rubric

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