Text Type: Nonfiction/Informational
Page Count: 10
Word Count: 32

Book Summary
In Winter Fun, kids are all dressed up in winter clothing. They are having fun playing in the winter weather. Patterned text, the high-frequency word are, and supportive pictures make this book perfect for emerging readers.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

• Visualize

Objectives

• Use the reading strategy of visualizing to understand text
• Classify information
• Discriminate initial /w/ sound
• Identify initial consonant Ww
• Identify adjectives
• Write words in alphabetical order

Materials

• Book -- Winter Fun (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Picture cards, classify information, initial consonant Ww, adjectives 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: are, fun, is, these, this
• Content words: boots, coats, hats, mittens, pants, scarves, sleds, winter

Build Background

• Write the word winter 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 to tell what they know about winter and the kinds of clothing they wear during winter.

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 Winter Fun (Accept all answers that students can justify.)
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name).
• Write the following repetitive sentence on the board: These are winter _____. Read the sentence aloud, pointing to the words as you read them to students. Have students read the sentence aloud. Explain that these words repeat throughout the book.

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Visualize

• Explain to students that good readers often visualize, or make pictures in their mind, as they read. Readers use what they already know about a topic and the words from the text to make pictures in their mind.
• Model how to visualize using the title.
  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 read. This helps me understand the book. For example, when I read the title Winter Fun, I pictured getting ready to go outside to play in the wintertime. I know it is cold outside. I look at the clothes in my closet and think about what I might wear. I choose a sweater, pants, and a coat. On my way out the door, I grab my mittens and a scarf. Then I put boots on my feet. These pieces of clothing and boots will keep me warm when it is cold outside.
• Invite students to share what they visualized when they heard the title of the book. Have them compare the picture in their mind with the picture on the front cover.
• 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: Classify information

• Explain to students that readers often think about the objects in a story and what they have in common. Thinking about what objects have in common and sorting them into groups helps readers understand and remember what they read.
• Cut out the pictures from the picture cards worksheet and place them in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge.
• Model how to classify information using the pictures.
  Think-aloud: As I thought about how to group these objects, I started by asking myself what they have in common. I noticed that the boots and coat are both items that might be worn when it is cold outside. I will group these pictures under the heading Winter.
• Invite students to suggest other ways to sort the pictures into groups and to explain how they sorted them (such as clothing worn on the foot, chest; clothing and other items, and so on).

Introduce the Vocabulary

      While previewing the book, reinforce the vocabulary words students will encounter in the story. Point out the following words to students: hats (page 3), boots (page 4), scarves (page 5), mittens (page 6), pants (page 7), coats (page 8), sleds (page 9). Read the word for each object with students. Have them circle the word and the corresponding object on the page.

• Remind students to look at the picture and the letter(s) with which a word begins or ends to figure out a difficult word. For example, point to the word coats on page 8 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 kids wearing jackets. When I look at the first part of the word, it starts like /c/. However, the word jackets starts with the /j/ sound, so this can't be the word. I know that another word for jacket is coat. The word coat starts with the /c/ sound. The sentence makes sense with this word. The word must be coat.
• For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words and word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read to find out about clothing worn in winter. Remind them to visualize as they read. Have students think about how the clothing and other items in the book might be sorted in different ways.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Have a volunteer point to the first word on page 3 (These). Read the word together. Point out where to begin reading on each page. Remind students 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 5, using their finger to point to each word as they read. Encourage students who finish before others to reread the text.
• Model visualizing and classifying information.
  Think-aloud: As I read page 5, I visualized a child wrapping a scarf around her neck and zipping up her coat around it. I thought about other kinds of clothing worn in cold weather to keep warm. I know that a sweater and a jacket are also kinds of clothing worn in the winter. They are usually worn over a shirt in cold weather.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to page 8. Invite volunteers to explain what they pictured in their mind when they read about the mittens and coats. (Accept all answers that show students understand how to visualize.)
• Use the picture cards from the previous sorting activity. Place them in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge. Invite students to sort the pictures into groups.
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to continue visualizing and classifying information into groups 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.

• 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.

Reflect on the Reading Strategy

• Think-aloud: As I read, I continued to create pictures in my mind. When I read page 9, I pictured the children smiling and laughing with each other as they play outside in winter. They are all wearing warm clothing. I pictured some children making snowballs and others building a snowman. Picturing these things in my mind helped me to understand and remember the objects in the book.
• Have students share how visualizing helped them better understand and enjoy what they read. Invite students to share additional examples of how they visualized objects from the book.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Place pictures from the picture card worksheet in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge. Ask students to share how these pictures might be sorted into different groups from the ones discussed in the Introduce the Comprehension Skill section (such as things worn on hands or feet, items that have pairs, and so on). Have volunteers sort the pictures into the groups and discuss why they belong in the groups.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the classify information worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.
• Enduring understanding: In this book, the children put warm clothing on their bodies. At the end of the story, they are playing outside and having fun. Now that you know this information, why do you think it might be important to play outdoors even when it is cold?

Phonological Awareness: Discriminate initial /w/ sound

• Say the word winter aloud to students, emphasizing the /w/ sound. Have students say the word aloud and then say the /w/ sound.
• Read page 5 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: wear, wet, boots, mittens, wind.

Phonics: Identify initial consonant Ww

• Write the word winter 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 what letter stands for the /w/ sound in the word winter.
• Have students practice writing the letter Ww on a separate piece of paper as they say the sound of the letter.
• Check for understanding: Write the following words that begin with the /w/ sound on the board, leaving off the initial Ww: web, wagon, wig, wet. Say each word, one at a time, and have volunteers come to the board and add the initial consonant Ww in each word.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the initial consonant Ww worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Grammar and Mechanics: Adjectives

• Have students turn to page 3. Read the page aloud to them. Ask them which word describes the hats (winter). Explain that there are special words that describe people, places, and things. These words are called adjectives.
• Have students name other words to describe the hats on page 3.
• Have students turn to page 4 in their book. Invite them to read the sentence together, pointing to the words as you read them aloud. Ask students to point to the word that describes the boots (winter).
• Have students name other words to describe the boots on page 4.

      Check for understanding: Have students reread the book and underline all of the adjectives. When they have finished, discuss with students other adjectives that describe the things in the book.

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

Word Work: Alphabetical order

• Explain to students that words are sometimes placed in a list by alphabetical order. Words are placed in alphabetical order by first looking at the beginning letter of each word and then deciding which letter comes first in the alphabet.
• Write the words coats and winter on the board. Underline the first letter in each word. Ask students which letter comes first in the alphabet, c or w. Explain that the word coats would come first in an alphabetical list.
• Write the words coats and mittens on the board. Have students identify the initial letter in each word (c and m). Ask students to identify which letter comes first in the alphabet (c). Explain that the word coats would come first in an alphabetical list.
• Check for understanding: Write the following words on the board: sleds, hats, pants, boots. Have students write the words in alphabetical order on a separate piece of paper. When they have finished, discuss their answers.

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their book independently. 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 them discuss with someone at home different ways to sort the objects in the book.

Informational Writing and Art Connection
Have students draw a picture of a piece of winter clothing. Have them write about the clothing and what it looks like. Reinforce the high-frequency word are and the use of adjectives. Collect the pictures and create a class book titled What We Wear in Winter.

Visit Writing A–Z for a lesson and leveled materials on informational report writing.

Math Connection
Have students count the number of clothing items in the pictures. Make a chart listing the clothing items and the number of each pictured. Pose simple addition and subtraction problems using the items.

Skill Review
Discussion cards covering comprehension skills and strategies not explicitly taught with the books 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 cards 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.

Comprehension Checks

• Retelling Rubric