Build Background

• Write the word salsa 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 if they have ever eaten salsa. Encourage them to explain how they think salsa is made and what ingredients are needed to make it.

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 Making Salsa. (Accept all answers that students can justify.)
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).
• Write the following repetitive phrase on the board: In goes the _____. Read the phrase aloud, pointing to the words as you read them to students. Have students read them aloud. Explain that these words repeat throughout the book.

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Visualize

• Explain that good readers often visualize, or make pictures in their mind, as they read. Readers often use what they already know about a topic to make the pictures in their mind.
• Read page 3 aloud to students. Model how to visualize.
  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 In go the peppers on page 3, I pictured a big, empty bowl on a counter in a kitchen. I pictured the boy pouring the pieces of red and green peppers from a smaller bowl into the big empty bowl.
• Read page 4 aloud to students. Invite them to share what they visualized when they heard the sentence In goes the onion.
• 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: Sequence events

• Review or explain that stories are generally told in order from beginning to end.
• Model sequencing the main steps of a familiar process, such as brushing teeth. Write key words about each event in order on the board as you describe them to students.
  Think-aloud: When I do something, I often seem to follow certain steps. For example, when I brush my teeth, I first need to get out my toothbrush and toothpaste. Next, I put some toothpaste on the bristles of my toothbrush. Then I gently rub the bristles of my toothbrush in small circles on my teeth and gums. Then I spit the toothpaste into the sink and rinse my mouth with water. Last, I rinse off my toothbrush and put the toothbrush and toothpaste away. I have a plan for how to brush my teeth. Since I think this story might be about how to make salsa, I will think about the steps I might take to make it. As I read, I will look for words that describe these steps.
• Explain that certain words are often used to explain a sequence of events. Read the list of events on the board to students in order, using words such as first, next, then, and last. Ask students to identify these sequencing words from the example.
• Have a volunteer use the key words on the board to sequence the events of brushing teeth out of order. Ask students to explain why the order of the steps is important (the sequence does not make sense out of order). Discuss with students that a story does not make sense when the events are out of order.
• Point out the difference between the sequence of events listed on the board and a retelling of how to brush teeth (the retelling contains more detail and description; the list shows only the steps that were most important for someone to complete the task). Ask students to provide examples of details for each step in brushing teeth.
• Review the steps so far for making salsa. Cut out the pictures from an extra copy of the sequence events worksheet. Place the pictures for a pepper and an onion in order in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Write each of the following content vocabulary words on a large index card: cilantro, lemon juice, onion, peppers, salsa, salt, tomato. Read each word aloud to students and have them repeat the word.
• Bring in examples of each of the foods listed above. Invite students to identify the foods they know. Introduce each of the foods to students. Allow students to smell and/or touch each food. (Note to teacher: Before introducing food items, please identify whether students are allergic to any of these foods.)
• Label each food item with the word on the index card.
• For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words or word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read to find out how to make salsa. Remind them to visualize as they read. Have them think about the step that happened first, next, and so on.

During Reading 

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Have a student volunteer point to the first word on page 3. Read the word together (In). Point out where to begin reading on the page. Remind students to read words from left to right.
• Ask students to place a finger on the page number in the bottom corner of the first page. Have them read to the end of page 6, using their finger to point to each word as they read. Encourage students who finish before others to reread the text.
• Model how to visualize and sequence events.
  Think-aloud: As I read each page, I created a picture in my mind about the steps for making salsa. For example, on page 5, I pictured the boy pouring the pieces of tomato into the big bowl on top of the onions. I pictured juice from the tomato turning the white onions red. The boy placed the tomato in the bowl after the onions. I will place the picture for tomato after the picture for onions. I wonder what the boy will put in next.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to page 8. Invite volunteers to explain what they pictured in their mind when they read about the salt, black pepper, and cilantro. (Accept all answers that show students understand how to visualize.)
• Use the cut-out pictures to discuss the sequence of events through the end of page 8. Encourage students to use words such as next and then when identifying the steps.
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to continue visualizing the sequence of events 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.
• Think-aloud: As I read, I continued to create pictures in my mind of the steps for making salsa. When I read page 10, I pictured the boy scooping salsa onto a chip and taking a bite. Picturing the events in my mind helped me to understand and remember the sequence of events in the book.
• Have students share how visualizing helped them better understand and enjoy what they read. Invite students to explain how they visualized a step for making salsa.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Discuss the sequence of events through the end of the book. Place the pictures in order in the pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge. Have students practice telling the sequence for making salsa to a partner using the pictures on the board.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the sequence events worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.
• Enduring understanding: In this story, you learned that there are steps for making salsa. Now that you know this information, why do you think it is important to know the steps to make something?

Build Skills 

Phonemic Awareness: Discriminate initial sound /g/

• Say the word go aloud to students, emphasizing the initial /g/ sound. Have students say the word aloud and then say the initial /g/ sound.
• Say the following words one at a time: salsa, goes, and lemon. Have students give the thumbs-up signal when they hear a word that begins with the /g/ sound, as in the word go.
• 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 /g/ sound, as in the word go: garden, fish, man, glass, bed, door, gum.

Phonics: Identify initial consonant Gg

• Write the word go on the board and say the word aloud with students.
• Have students say the /g/ 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 /g/ sound in the word go.
• Have students practice writing the letter Gg on a separate piece of paper as they say the sound the letter makes.
• Check for understanding: Write the following words that begin with the letter Gg on the board, leaving off the initial consonant: got, get, and gum. Say each word, one at a time, and have volunteers come to the board and add the initial consonant Gg in each word. Have the remaining students practice writing the letter Gg on a separate piece of paper as they say the sound the letter makes.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the initial consonant Gg worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Grammar and Mechanics: Periods

• Write the following sentence on the board: In go the peppers. Read the sentence aloud with students. Explain that every sentence has a signal at the end so readers will know when to stop reading. Ask a volunteer to come to the board and point to this signal at the end of the sentence.
• Explain that the signal is called a period. Have students say the word aloud. Point out that the period is like a stop sign because it tells readers to stop reading.
• Ask volunteers to identify a step for making salsa. Write each step on the board, leaving off the period. Read the sentences aloud to students without stopping. Then have volunteers come to the board and add a period to each sentence. Reread the sentences, stopping at the period at the end of each sentence.

    Check for understanding: Have students reread the book and highlight all the periods in the book. Have them read the book to a partner and have each partner make sure they stop when they come to a period.

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

Word Work: High-frequency word in

• Tell students that they are going to learn a word that they will often see in books they read. Write the word in on the board and read the word aloud. Have students read the word with you.
• Ask them to write the word in on the top of their desk with their finger as you spell it aloud with them, pointing to each letter on the board as you say the letter name with students.
• Read the sentence on page 3 aloud to students. Ask them to explain where the boy is putting the peppers (in the bowl). Explain to students that the word in is used to tell where an item is located.
• Model putting an object in something else, such as a book into a desk. Say: I put the book in the desk.
• Check for understanding: Have students use the word in in a sentence to tell where a classroom object is located.

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 students sequence the steps for making salsa aloud to someone at home.

Extend the Reading 

Writing and Art Connection
Have students draw a picture of themselves making something in the kitchen. Have them choose one ingredient and write a sentence to describe their picture using the following prompt: In goes the _________. Reinforce student understanding of periods and the high-frequency word in.

Math Connection
Review the steps for making salsa using the cut-out pictures from the extra copy of the worksheet. Have students count the number of steps. Have them number the steps in their book.

Assessment 

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• accurately and consistently share examples of visualizing while reading
• accurately sequence events during discussion and on a worksheet
• accurately discriminate the initial /g/ sound during discussion
• identify and write the letter symbol that stands for the /g/ sound during discussion and on a worksheet
• understand and identify the use of periods within text during discussion; correctly use periods on a worksheet
• read, write, and understand the use of the high-frequency word in

Comprehension Checks

• Book Quiz
• Retelling Rubric

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