Build Background

• Write the word fun on the board and point to it as you read it aloud to students. Then have students say the word aloud.
• Ask students to share what they think of when they hear the word fun. Invite them to share types of fun activities.

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 You and I. (Accept any answer students can justify.)
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Connect to prior knowledge

• Explain that good readers make connections between what they already know and new information they read. Remind students that thinking about what they already know about the topic of the book will help them understand what they read.
• Model connecting to prior knowledge.
  Think-aloud: I know that good readers think about what they already know while they read. This helps them read new words and understand new information. As I look at the front cover, I see two children swinging. This picture makes me think about the children I see using the swings on the playground. They always seem to be having a lot of fun.
• Write the words park and playground on the board. Say each word aloud with students. Give each student a blank sheet of paper. Encourage them to use their prior knowledge to draw something they like to do with someone else at a park or playground.
• Invite students to explain their drawings. Prompt with questions such as: Who do you go to the park or playground with? How do you have fun at the park or playground?
• 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: Main idea and details

• Explain that every book has a big idea, which is the most important thing the book is about. Read the title to students. Explain that the title often provides clues about the book's big idea. Invite students to share predictions about the main idea of this story.
• Explain that the main idea of this story is that there are many ways to have fun with another person. Write Have Fun on the board. Point to each word as you read it with students.
• Model how to identify details.
  Think-aloud: I know that every book has details that help explain the big idea. I have seen many children having fun on the playground swings. Since the front cover of the book shows two children using the swings, this might be a detail in this story.
• Invite students to share other ways two children have fun together.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• While previewing the book, reinforce the vocabulary words students will encounter in the text. Remind students that they can help themselves when they come to a tricky word by looking at the first letter in the word and checking the picture on the page to see what might start with the same sound and make sense in the story. For example, on page 8, point to the sl in slide. Say: I am going to help myself by looking at the picture and thinking about what the children are doing that begins like /sl/ (make the /sl/ sound).
• Invite students to identify the word (slide). Use the word in the sentence and ask students if the word slide makes sense.
• For additional tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read to find out how the two children in the story have fun. Remind them to use what they already know about what to do at a park or playground to help them understand new information they read.

During Reading 

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Show students the book. Point out the words on the pages. Review or explain that the words on the pages are read from left to right. Ask a student to point to where students should start reading and tell in which direction they should read.
• Give students their book. Point out the numbers at the bottom of the pages. Have students read to the end of page 5, using their finger to point to each word as they read.
• Model connecting to prior knowledge.
  Think-aloud: On page 5, the children are on a merry-go-round. It goes around and around like the carousel with horses at the amusement park. You hold on to the bars as you spin around. Some kids don't like to ride the merry-go-round because it makes them dizzy.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to page 7. Encourage them to share how they connected to prior knowledge as they read. Ask open-ended questions to facilitate the discussion: Which of these activities have you done before? What did the pictures make you think about? How do you know the children are having fun? Why would these activities be things other children would like to do?
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to use what they already know about ways to play at a park or playground to help them understand new information 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.

After Reading 

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.
• Have students share examples of how they connected their own experience with the activities shown on pages 8 and 9.
  Think-aloud: When I read page 8, I thought about the games children play that involve running. In the picture, the girl looks as though she is chasing the boy. This reminds me of children playing tag.
• Ask students to explain how thinking about what they know helped them to understand and remember the story.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Read the big idea on the board with students. Then read each detail students listed before reading. Invite them to explain the details in the book that match the big idea. List some of the details on the board.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the main idea and details worksheet.
• Extend the discussion: Ask students to describe activities that are fun to do with someone else. Invite them to share the names of people they like to play with and why those people are fun to be around. Ask students to explain types of activities they prefer to do by themselves.

Build Skills 

Phonemic Awareness: Identify rhyme

• Read page 8 to students. Say the word run. Have students say the word aloud.
• Read page 8 aloud to students again. Ask them to listen for a word that sounds almost the same as the word fun. Have them identify which word in the sentence sounds almost like the word fun (run).
• Say the word fun aloud with students. Ask them to say the word without the /f/ sound (un). Then say the word run aloud with students. Ask them to say the word without the /r/ sound (un).
• Ask students to identify which part of both words sounds exactly the same (un). Explain that words that sound the same at the end are called rhyming words.
• Say the word fun aloud to students. Ask them to identify words that have the /un/ sound at the end of the word (done, ton, won, bun, and so on).
• Check for understanding: Say the following words one at a time: bun, cup, rat, sun. Have students show the thumbs-up signal for each word that rhymes with fun. If the word doesn't rhyme with fun, they should show the thumbs-down signal.

Phonics: Identify short vowel u

• Write the word fun on the board. Have students say the word aloud with you. Ask a volunteer to identify the middle sound in the word (short /u/). Write the letter u on the board. Explain that the letter u stands for the sound they hear in the middle of the word fun. Write the word bug on the board. Ask a volunteer to underline the letter that stands for the short /u/ sound.
• Write the following decodable words on the board: cut, slug, up. Have volunteers trace the vowel in each word with their finger as they say the sound the letter makes.
• Check for understanding: Write the following words on the board without the vowel: gum, nut, tub. Say each word aloud, one at a time, to students. Have volunteers come to the board and complete each word by writing the vowel. Have them say the sound the letter u stands for and then say the whole word. Ask the other students to trace the letter on the tabletop with their pointer finger.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the short vowel u worksheet.

Grammar and Mechanics: Proper noun (I)

• Say the following sentence aloud to students: My friend and I went to the store. Ask students to identify who went to the store (My friend and I). Ask students to explain to whom I refers (teacher).
• Have students use the starter My friend and I to explain something they do with a friend. Ask students to explain to whom I refers in the sentence (themselves).
• Show students page 3 in the story. Read the sentence aloud with students. Point to the word I. Write a lowercase and uppercase i on the board. Have students identify which letter matches the word on the page (I).
• Explain that the word I is a name a person calls himself or herself. Remind students that names of people always begin with a capital letter. Ask students whom to I refers on the page (one of the children).
• Point to the words as you read each page aloud with students. Have students point to each I in the book.
• Check for understanding: Have students use the word I in an oral sentence to describe something they did.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the proper noun worksheet.

Vocabulary: High-frequency word and

• Explain that some words are in many of the books they will read. Write the word and on the board and read the word aloud. Then have students say the word aloud.
• Ask students to write the word and in the air with their finger as you spell it out loud with them, pointing to each letter on the board as you say the letter name with them.
• Read the sentence on page 4 aloud to students. Ask them to explain how many people are swinging (two). Then read the sentence on page 5 aloud to students. Ask them to explain how many people are sliding (two).
• Point to the word and on page 5. Explain to students that the word and is used to list more than one item.
• Hold up various classroom objects, two at a time, and identify each object using the word and (for example, a stapler and a book; a desk and a chair).
• Check for understanding: Ask students to point to and identify two objects in the classroom using the word and. Have them use individual dry erase boards or paper to write or draw the names of the objects, writing the word and in the middle. For students needing additional support, use magnetic letters to have them build the word, trace the word with their pointer finger, and then write the word.

Build Fluency 

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their book independently or with a partner. Encourage repeated timed readings of a specific section in the book. 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 ask someone at home to share how they connect with what they already know as they read.

Extend the Reading 

Writing and Art Connection
Ask students to explain another activity two children might do together at a playground or park. Have them draw a picture of the activity on a 9 x 13 sheet of construction paper. Under each picture, help them write a sentence that describes their picture using the repetitive phrase from the book: You and I ____________. Combine the pages into a class book.

Math Connection
Create a graph based on the question What is your favorite activity to do with a friend? Have students draw their activity on a 3 x 3 sheet of paper. Have them place their pictures on the floor or on a chart paper graph. Count each column to figure out and discuss which activity had the most, least, and same number of drawings. Identify the number in each column.

Assessment 

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• accurately and consistently connect to prior knowledge to understand text
• accurately identify the main idea and details during discussion and on a worksheet
• accurately discriminate between words that do and do not rhyme during discussion
• accurately identify and write the letter that stands for the /u/ sound during discussion and on a worksheet
• identify the word I as a proper noun during discussion and on a worksheet
• identify, read, write, and understand the use of the high-frequency word and

Comprehension Check

• Retelling Rubric

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