Open and Close - Lesson Plans

Open and Close
Level C

About the Book

Text Type: Fiction/Realistic
Page Count: 10
Word Count: 57

Book Summary
Open and Close is a story about two girls who open and close a variety of objects. The surprise ending adds an element of fun for students. Early readers will enjoy the playful illustrations that accompany the predictable text pattern.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

Make, revise, and confirm predictions

Objectives

Make logical predictions based on text information
Identify character, setting, and plot
Orally blend phonemes
Associate the letter Jj with the sound /j/
Recognize pronouns in the text
Identify words that are opposites (antonyms)

Materials

Book -- Open and Close (copy for each student)
Chalkboard or dry erase board
Sequence events, initial consonant Jj 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: I, you, the
Content words: open, close, door, window, drawer, box, book, jar, cage, quick

Before Reading

Build Background

Ask students to look around the classroom and find something that can be opened and closed (door, drawer, cabinet, window, book). Ask them to say I can open the ____. I can close the _____. Ask students whether they have ever opened something they should not have opened and then tried to close it so no one would know (a gift, a pet's door, and so on).

Book Walk

Introduce the Book

Show students the front and back covers of the book and read the title with them. Ask students to predict what the book might be about. Ask what the girls are opening and closing in the pictures. Have students think of other things that they might open and close.
Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name). Ask what the girls are opening and closing in the picture. Ask what is in the drawer. If students predicted that a drawer might be opened and closed, reinforce confirming their prediction.
Write the following repetitive phrases from the book on the board: I open the ____. You close the ____. Read the phrases aloud with students. Explain that these words repeat throughout most of 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 predictions.
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. When I look at the front cover, I see two girls with a box. The box has some sort of toy coming out of it. The picture on the title page shows the girls pulling socks out of an open drawer. I wonder if the girls are supposed to get into these things. I predict that they open something they are not supposed to and get into trouble. Making predictions about the book gets me thinking about it and gives me a purpose for reading it because I want to find out whether any of my predictions are right.
Invite students to make a prediction based on the pictures on the covers.
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

As you preview the book with students, use the language pattern used in the book in your discussion. For example, show students page 3 and ask: What is the girl with dark hair doing in this picture? What is the girl with light hair doing? I think the girl with dark hair might be saying? I open the door? and the other girl might be saying? I close the door? What do you think the girl with dark hair might be saying on page 4?
Ask students which word on the page says door. Ask how they know. Remind students to use beginning and ending sounds of words to help them figure out new words. Tell them to check the picture and think which word 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 to find out how the story ends. Remind them to see if the words confirm the prediction they made before reading.

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 (I). 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 a prediction.
Think-aloud: I predicted that the girls would get into trouble for opening something. Now that I've read the words so far in the book, I want to revise my prediction. I think that the girls enjoy opening and closing things. All the things that they open and close appear to be in a house. I predict that the girls continue to open and close things inside the house.
Have students share predictions they made before reading and the outcome of those predictions. Then have them revise or make a new prediction about what might happen next in the story.
Have students read the remainder of the story. Remind them to make, revise, or confirm predictions while 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 to read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
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. Have students share the outcomes of their predictions.
Think-aloud: I predicted that the girls would continue to open and close things inside the house. This prediction was correct. The girls opened and closed a box, a book, a jar, and a cage.
Discuss additional strategies students used to gain meaning from the book.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Identify character, setting, and plot

Discussion: Ask students what they can tell about the two girls from the story. Ask whether they think the girls have fun together and to explain why they think that.
Introduce and model the skill: Tell students that all stories have characters, setting, and a plot. Write who on the board and tell students that the characters are the people or animals that are in the story. Write characters next to the word who. Write the word where on the board and tell students that the setting is where the story happens. Write setting next to the word where. Write what on the board and tell students that the plot is what happens in the story. Write plot next to the word what.
Model how to determine the setting.
Think-aloud: Sometimes a story tells me where the story happens, and sometimes I have to figure it out myself. This book doesn't tell me where the story happens, but I can look at the pictures to get a clue. I think the story mostly happens inside, and I think maybe the story happens at the home of one of the two girls.
Check for understanding: Ask students to identify the characters in the story. Discuss with students the main events that happened in the story in the order which they happened.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the sequence events worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Have students use the last page of their book to draw a picture of something that can be opened and closed. Ask students to share their picture with the group.

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Orally blend phonemes

Say the word box by segmenting the phonemes: /b/ /o/ /x/. Tell students that you can blend the sounds together to say a word. Blend the segmented sounds together to say the word box.
Say the following words one at a time, segmenting the sounds in each word: close, book, cage, girl, cat, kite, sled, block. Have students blend the sounds together to say the words.

Phonics: Initial consonant Jj

Have students turn to page 8 and find the word jar. Say the word with students as you run your finger under the letters.
Cover the letters a and r at the end of the word. Ask students to say the word without these letters. Circle the letter j in the word. Explain that the letter Jj stands for the /j/ sound they hear at the beginning of the word jar.
Tell students they are going to read some words that start with the /j/ sound. Write the following words on the board: jam, jet, Jim, job, jug. Say each word with students as you run your fingers under the letters.
Ask students what is the same about the words (all begin with the letter j and the /j/ sound). Have students practice writing the letter Jj on a separate piece of paper, saying the sound the letter stands for.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the initial consonant Jj worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Grammar and Mechanics: Pronouns

Tell students to look at page 4 of the book. Choral read the sentences I open the window. You close the window. Ask students to tell whom the word I is referring to (one of the girls). Ask students if they can tell which girl it is and why (the dark haired girl; her hands are pushing up on the window). Ask who the word you refers to and why (the light-haired girl; her hands are pushing down on the window).
Ask students to identify who is telling the story. Make sure they understand that the dark-haired girl is telling the story since she is calling herself I. She refers to the other girl as you.
Model using the words in context. I am going to lunch. You (point to a student) are going to lunch. I am reading a book. You are reading a book. Have students create several oral sentences using the pronouns.

Have students underline the words on each page that are used instead of the girl's names.

Word Work: Opposites (antonyms)

Read the title of the book to students. Review or explain that the word open is the opposite of the word close.
Say one word from each pair of opposites, one at a time: day/night, soft/hard, empty/full, under/over, in/out. Ask students to tell the opposite for each word. Provide examples of the words used in context. For example: The moon shines at night. The sun shines during the day. The floor is hard. The pillow is soft. Ask students to use the remaining opposite words in sentences.

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 sentences on the board: I open the _____. I close the ____. Brainstorm a list of things students can open and close (book, door, backpack, cereal box, milk carton, refrigerator, cabinet, closet). Ask students to choose one thing, write the sentence, and illustrate it. Display the pages on a bulletin board titled Open and Close.

Science Connection
Discuss having birds as pets. Ask how a bird needs to be taken care of, what it is fed, and what students would do with the bird when the cage needs to be cleaned. Ask students how they would make the cage dark so the bird could sleep during the day. If possible, ask a bird expert from a local zoo or other animal facility to talk to students about domestic birds and birds in the wild.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

make logical predictions based on available book information; confirm and revise predictions as they obtain more information
correctly identify the characters, setting, and plot of the story during discussion and on a worksheet
orally blend sounds to say words during discussion
correctly associate the letter Jj with the /j/ sound during discussion and on a worksheet
recognize pronouns I and you in the book; use the pronouns correctly in oral sentences
correctly identify words that are opposites during discussion

Comprehension Checks

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