Going Away - Lesson Plans

Going Away
Level C

About the Book

Text Type: Fiction/Fantasy
Page Count: 10
Word Count: 80

Book Summary
Going Away is a story about three children who think of many ways to travel, including by car, boat, plane, bike, balloon, train, rocket, and on foot. The repetitive text pattern is supported by delightful illustrations.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

Make, revise, and confirm predictions

Objectives

Make logical predictions based on text information
Identify fantasy and reality
Orally blend phonemes
Associate the letter Cc with the sound /k/
Recognize action words (verbs)
Identify position words

Materials

Book -- Going Away (copy for each student)
Chalkboard or dry erase board
Sticky notes
Reality and fantasy, initial consonant Cc 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, can, get, our, away
Content words: car, boat, sail, plane, bike, pedal, balloon, float, train, chug, rocket, zoom, shoes

Before Reading

Build Background

Ask students to name ways to travel from one place to another. Ask them to explain the similarities and differences between the types of transportation. Discuss why different types of transportation are necessary.

Book Walk

Introduce the Book

Show students the front cover of the book and read the title. Ask students to predict who might be going away and where they might go.
Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title, author's name, illustrator's name).
Write the following repetitive phrases from the book on the board: We can get in a ____. We can ____. Read the phrases aloud with students. Explain that these words repeat throughout the book.

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Make, revise, and confirm predictions

Explain that good readers make predictions, or guesses, about what will happen in a story. Explain that making predictions can help people make decisions, solve problems, and learn new information. Emphasize that making predictions is more important than whether the prediction is right, or confirmed.
Model making a prediction.
Think-aloud: I know that good readers always look at the cover of a book to get an idea of what the book is about. Looking at the picture on the front cover, I see three children getting into a boat. Since the title is Going Away, it makes me think that they are leaving to go somewhere new. I wonder if they are traveling with their family in the boat. I know that people use boats to fish. Maybe they are going on a fishing trip with their family. Making predictions gets me thinking about the story and gives me a purpose for reading it because I want to find out if my predictions are correct.
Show students the title page. Invite them to make a prediction about what might happen in 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

Use the book walk as an opportunity to reinforce the language patterns in the book as well as new vocabulary. For example, on page 3, ask: What do the children get in on this page? Yes, that's right. They get in a car. Do you think they might drive away?
Have students point to the word that says drive. Ask how they know that the word says drive. Remind students to use what they know about sounds and letters to help them figure out new words. Tell them to use the picture clues and to reread the sentence with the new word to make sure it makes sense.
Encourage students to add the 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 where the children are going.

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 revising predictions based on the reading.
Think-aloud: When I first looked at the cover pictures, I thought that the children were going with their family on a fishing trip. Now that I have read these pages, I think the story is about different ways to travel to places. I predict that I will read about other ways people travel by land, by water, and by air. I am going to read about more ways that the children go places.
Have students share the prediction they made before reading the book and the outcome of that prediction. Then have them revise or make a new prediction about what might happen next in the book.
Tell students to read the remainder of the story to check their prediction.

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 to read these words using word-attack strategies and context clues.
Ask students how the story ended and whether their prediction was correct. Discuss how predicting can help the reader get meaning from the book and how it gives the reader a reason to read to find out if the predictions are correct.
Think aloud: I predicted that the story would be about other ways people travel by land, by water, and by air. This prediction was correct. However, I did not read about any additional ways people travel by water.
Discuss additional strategies students used to gain meaning from the book.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Reality and fantasy

Discussion: Ask students to share the types of travel in the book that they have tried. Invite them to explain which type was their favorite. Discuss with students which types of travel listed in the book are possible for them to use on their own, which types require an adult's help, and which types are not likely for a child to use.
Introduce and model the skill: Review that some books contain objects and events that are real, and some contain objects and events that are fantasy, or make-believe. Discuss examples of reality (people driving cars down the road) and fantasy (people driving flying cars).
Think-aloud: As I look at the back cover, I see children riding a bike. A bike is a type of transportation that children could use. This is an example of an event in the story that is real. When I look at page 5, I see the children climbing into a plane. The sentence says We can fly away. The children couldn't fly away by themselves without an adult. So I think this event is fantasy, or something make-believe that couldn't really happen.
Check for understanding: Ask students to look at each page and tell whether the event is reality or fantasy. Prompt with questions such as: How are the children traveling? Could they travel this way as children?
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the reality and fantasy worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Instruct students to use the last page of their book to draw a picture of what they would use to go away. Ask students to share their picture with the group.

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Orally blend phonemes

Say the word chug by segmenting the sounds: /ch/ /u/ /g/. Tell students that if you blend the sounds together, you can make a word: chug.
Provide another example by segmenting the word get: /g/ /e/ /t/.
Tell students that you are going to say some words but you are going to split them up and say them sound by sound. Tell students they need to listen very carefully so that they can blend the sounds together to say the word. Say the following words, one at a time, by segmenting the sounds: bike, can, float, sail, boat, plane, zoom, shoes, put, run.

Phonics: Initial consonant Cc

Write the letter Cc on the board, and ask students to tell you the name of the letter. Have students turn to page 3 and point to two words that start with the letter Cc (can, car). Ask students to read the two words and tell you what sound the letter Cc stands for in each word.
Tell students that they are going to read some words that start with the letter Cc. Write the words cap, cat, cab, cob, and cut on the board. Point to the word cap. Run your finger under each of the letters as you sound out the word. Repeat and have students sound it out with you.
Have students sound out the remaining words. Ask volunteers to come to the board and circle the letter in the words that stands for the /k/ sound.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the initial consonant Cc worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Grammar and Mechanics: Verbs

Review or explain that some words tell actions. This means that they tell things people do, such as singing, climbing, or sleeping.
Have students locate the word drive on page 3 in their book. Point out that the word drive tells what the children did.
Have students locate the action word in the second sentence on page 4 (sail).

Ask students to circle each action word they find in the book.

Word Work : Position words

Direct students to the first sentences on pages 4 and 5 in the book. Choral read the sentences (We can get in a boat. We can get on a plane). Review that in and on tell where the children go.
Show students an object, such as a pencil. Model how to place the object in something. Repeat the process for the word on.
Ask students to look around the room to find something that is in something else. Ask students to say I see ____. It is in ______. Repeat for on.

Build Fluency

Independent Reading

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

Home Connection

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

Extend the Reading

Writing Connection
Write the following sentence patterns on the board: I can get in a _____. I can get on a _____. (I can get in a bus. I can get on a skateboard.) Have students copy the pattern and complete each sentence on a separate piece of paper. Have them draw pictures to go with their sentences. Collect the pages and make them into a class book titled Ways We Go Someplace.

Math Connection
Take a survey of the ways students like to travel. Draw each type of transportation across the bottom of a graph. Give each student a sticky note on which to write his or her name. Tell students to put their name in the column of the graph that shows their favorite way to travel. Discuss which type of transportation had the most and least responses.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

make logical predictions about the text and revise or confirm them as necessary
differentiate between events in the book that are real and fantasy; demonstrate understanding of reality and fantasy on a worksheet
correctly blend segmented sounds of a word during discussion
correctly associate the letter Cc with the /k/ sound during discussion and on a worksheet
correctly find the verbs in the book
use the words in and on correctly in oral sentences

Comprehension Checks

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