Build Background

• Ask students to tell about large bodies of water they have seen or been in, or other places where they have seen water. Encourage students to tell what the water looked and/or felt like.
• Expand the discussion by talking about different uses for water, water conservation, and any large (or small) bodies of water that might be nearby.

Book Walk

Introduce the Strategy: Connect life experience and use prior knowledge

• Show students the front and back covers of the book and read the title. Ask students what they think this book will be about based on the cover information. Model how to use prior knowledge.
• Think aloud: When I read a new book, I try to think about what I already know about the topic in the book. When I look at the picture of the surfer, I remember what I know about surfing from my own experience. I've never been surfing, but I've watched people do it. I know it has to be done in water that has waves. I can predict that there may be other things in the book that can be done in water.
• Show students the title page and ask them what they see in the picture. Ask them if they have ever seen a stream like this one. Turn the pages in the book so students can see the pictures. If necessary, model once more for the students how you draw on your personal knowledge to make predictions about the book.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Go through each page of the book with the students, talking about what they see in the pictures and encouraging them to use the vocabulary they will encounter in the text. Ask them to name what they see in the pictures and have them draw on prior knowledge and experience with each body of water. For example, ask: What is this place? What do you know about it?
• Point out the words on the page. Explain that the words on the page tell the story, and that the words are read left to right.
• Ask a student to come up and point on the book you are holding to the place where he/she should start reading and which direction he/she should go while reading.
• Reinforce new vocabulary and word-attack strategies by modeling how students can read unfamiliar words. Ask a volunteer to point to the word water. Ask students how they know this word says water. Model how they can use the beginning sound to help them. Point out that they can look at the picture and think about what word starts with /w/ and would make sense. Read the sentence aloud with the word water and ask if they think the sentence makes sense. Repeat with other vocabulary words if you feel students need more modeling. Remind students to look at the beginning and ending sounds in words and/or parts within words to help them sound out the word. They should check whether the word makes sense by looking at the picture and rereading the sentence.
• For additional teaching tips on word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have the students read the book to find out about places they can find water. Remind them to think about what they already know about water as they read.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Give students their books and have them put a sticky note on page 6. Direct them to read to the end of this page. Tell students to reread the pages if they finish before everyone else.
• When they have finished, ask students to tell the places where water is found that they have read about so far. Have students point out the places they have been to or seen where there was water and tell how this helped them understand the book.
• Model making connections to prior knowledge.
• Think aloud: I've seen water in the same kinds of places that are in the book. It helps me understand what I am reading if I can think about what I already know about those kinds of places.
• Tell students to read the remainder of the book.

    Tell students to make a small question mark in their books beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. These can be addressed in the discussion that follows.

Reflect on Reading Strategies

• Ask students what words they marked in their books. Use this opportunity to model how they could read these words using word-attack strategies and context clues. For example, point out the word is and ask students how they know this word doesn't say it. Encourage them to recognize that the word it has the /t/ sound at the end, and this word doesn’t end with a t. Point out that the word it doesn’t make sense in the sentence.
• Reinforce how using what they already knew about water and the places where they can find water helped them understand what they read. (Connecting life experiences and using prior knowledge of a topic helps students personally relate to and remember what they have read.)

Comprehension: Identify facts

• Introduce and model: Explain to students that organizing the facts they learn when they read will help them understand the book and remember what they read. Give students a copy of the Fact Web worksheet. Point out the large circle in the middle of the page. Tell students that this is where they will write the word that tells what the book is about. Model how to figure out that the book is about water by looking back through the book and finding what all of the sentences in the book are about. Have students write the word water in the center circle. Next, model how to go page 4 to find the name of a place where water is found. Read the sentence: The picture is of a river. I read the sentence and find out that water is in rivers, so I will write the word rivers in one of the smaller circles. It doesn't matter which one.
• Check for understanding: Have students tell the next place where water is found and write it on the worksheet.
• Independent practice: Tell students to complete the worksheet. They should find the other places where water is found and write one in each circle. Discuss their responses.
• Extend the discussion:

     Instruct students to use the last page of their book to draw a picture of a place they have seen water. Have students share their pictures with the group.

Phonemic Awareness: Differentiating initial sounds

• Say the words water, wet, and river. Ask students to repeat the words. Tell them that water and wet start with the same sound. Have students repeat the words, listening for the initial sound.
• Say the following sets of words. After each set, have the students repeat the words and then tell you the words that start with the same sounds: lake, lap, top; pool, man, pat; dog, cane, cap; man, tin, met; sit, see, knee; run, bat, rat; ball, bag, fin.

Phonics: Letter W

• Write the word wet on the board and read it with the students. Underline the w and explain that this letter stands for the /w/ sound. Ask students to repeat the word. Show students the Ww Alphabet Flashcard and point out the upper and lowercase letters.
• Give each student a 3-cell Elkonin box and the letter cards w, e, and t. Sound out the phonemes in the word wet and model how to push the letters into the cells as you segment each sound: /w/ /e/ /t/. When the letters are together, blend them and say the word. Model how to pull the letters out of the cells as you once again segment the sounds.
• Give students the following letter cards: w, i, g, e, b, a, t.
• Repeat the above process with the following words: wig, web, wet, wag.
• Give students the Letter W worksheet and explain what they are to do. When completed, discuss their answers.
• Click here for more resources to help you teach /w/ and w: Ww Alphabet Book, Nursery Rhyme: Wee Willie Winkie.

Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage: Sentence capitalization and punctuation

• Write the following sentence on the board: Water is in rivers. Explain or review that there are different kinds of sentences, and that sentences like this one tell the reader something. Ask students what a telling sentence always begins with (a capital letter). Circle the W and tell students that this is a capital letter. Review that every sentence has a signal at the end so the reader will know when to stop reading. Ask students what a telling sentence always ends with (a period). Remind students that a period is used as a "stop sign." Circle the period at the end of the sentence.
• Write the following sentences on the board: water is in lakes / the lake has water / a wave is made of water (no period). Ask individual students to come to the board. Give the student one of the following capital letter cards (W, T, A) and a period. Ask the student to place the capital letter at the beginning of the sentence and the period at the end. Ask the other students for a "thumbs-up" if correct.
• Click here for a Capitalization and Punctuation worksheet.

Vocabulary: Content Vocabulary

• Tell students that the words they read in the book are used to tell about places where water is found. Explain that these words are called naming words. Have students look at page 4. Ask them to find the naming word that tells where the water is found.
• Have students work in pairs to find the naming words in the book. Tell them to highlight the words they find.
• Ask students to read the words they find.

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their books independently or with a partner. Partners can take turns reading in the book.

Home Connection

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

Writing

• Write the sentence Water is in ____. on the board. Ask each student to provide a word to finish the sentence and to illustrate. Display their sentences and illustrations on a bulletin board titled "We Know Where Water Is!"

Science Connection

• Use this book as an introduction to a science unit about water conservation. Provide examples of how water is wasted when left running while brushing teeth or washing hands, or when served in a restaurant and not consumed. Brainstorm a list of ways students can save water. Make a chart with their suggestions and post alongside the above sentences on a bulletin board titled "We Know How to Save Water."

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• locate and map facts relating to the topic of water.
• differentiate initial sounds in oral words.
• sound out CVC words with w.
• capitalize and punctuate sentences.
• understand content vocabulary.