Build Background

• Write the words spiders, slugs, and bugs on the board and point to each word as you read it aloud to students. Repeat the process and have students say the words aloud.
• Ask students to identify and describe types of spiders, slugs, and bugs they have seen living in or around their home. Discuss their responses. Invite volunteers to draw a picture of each animal on the board.

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 We Count. (Accept any answer 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 phrases on the board: I can count ten ___. You can count ten ___. Read each 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. Ask students to identify which word comes after ten on page 3 (ants). Remind them to use letter and picture clues to identify words.

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Visualize

• Explain that good readers often visualize, or make pictures in their mind, as they read. Explain that readers often use what they already know about a topic to create the pictures in their mind.
• Model how to visualize using the front cover of the book.
  Think-aloud: When I look at the covers of the book, I see many different types of things. I see butterflies and ladybugs. What do you see? When I think about the bugs, I visualize where I have seen them before. I picture butterflies flying around the flowers in my garden. What do butterflies have that allow them to fly? (wings)
• Show students the back cover of the book. Ask students to identify what the girl might be looking at on the plant. Have them explain why a larger picture of a ladybug also appears on the page. Encourage them to use their prior knowledge to discuss the tool the girl is using to look at the ladybugs (magnifying glass).
• Invite students to share what they picture in their mind as they look at the things pictured 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 Comprehension Skill: Classify information

• Cut apart the picture cards from a copy of the picture cards worksheet and place them in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge. Explain that sorting information into groups helps readers think about and remember what they read.
• Model how to classify information.
  Think-aloud: As I thought about how to group these things, I started by asking myself what they have in common. When I looked at the pictures, I noticed that the bird and bee are both animals that can fly. I will group these pictures on the board under the heading Fly.
• Ask students what other objects can be sorted into the group labeled Fly. Have them explain why each object belongs in that group.
• Have volunteers suggest ways to sort the remaining pictures into groups and explain why each thing belongs in that group (cannot fly, animal/not an animal, lives in water/lives on land, feathers/no feathers, and so on).

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Cut out the pictures under the magnifying glass on pages 3 through12 from an extra copy of the book and glue each one onto a large index card.
• Show students the pictures one at a time. As students name each animal, write its name on a large index card. Encourage volunteers to write the initial sound of each word on the card. Then have volunteers place each card beside the corresponding picture. Point to each picture card and read the corresponding word aloud with students.
• Shuffle the word cards. Have volunteers match each word to the correct picture and read the word aloud.
• For tips on teaching high-frequency words or word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read to identify what items are counted. Remind them to think about and visualize as they read.

During Reading 

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Point out the words on the pages. Explain that the words on the pages are read from left to right. Ask a student to point to where they should start reading and in which direction they go as they read.
• Point to 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 how to visualize.
  Think-aloud: As I read each page, I created a picture in my mind of each group of animals on the page and what they look like when I see them in real life. For example, on page 3 I pictured how groups of ants crawl in and out of dirt hills on the ground. I pictured how small ants look when they are traveling in a line along the sidewalk. How many ants were crawling in a line in the picture on page 3? Do you think ants always travel in a line? As I read, I will continue to visualize the groups of things pictured on each page.
• Have students share what they visualized, or pictured in their mind, when they heard the words ants, butterflies, and flies. (Accept responses that show students have thought about what they read.)
• Check for understanding: Have students read to page 9. Invite volunteers to explain what they pictured in their mind when they read the words fleas, grubs, ladybugs, and beetles. Show students the pictures for ants, butterflies, flies, and fleas used previously in the vocabulary lesson. Place the pictures for ants and fleas on one side of a pocket chart, and the pictures for butterflies and flies on the other side. Discuss reasons why the groups were sorted in this way. Have students suggest other things they know of that could be sorted into either group.
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to continue visualizing 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 groups of things on each page. For example, on page 10 I thought about a group of crickets. I pictured how quickly they jump and how difficult it is to catch them in your hand. What do you picture in your mind when you think about a group of crickets?
• Ask students to turn to pages 11 and 12 in the book. Have them share examples of what they visualized. Invite them to explain how visualizing helped them better understand and enjoy what they read.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Review with students all the pictures on index cards from the vocabulary lesson. Place them in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge. Discuss ways to sort these things into groups (size, fly/not fly, number of legs, and so on). Provide opportunities for students to practice sorting.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the classify information worksheet.
• Enduring understanding: There are many different types of insects, spiders, and other small living things. Now that you know this information, how are these animals important to our environment, and why might some people view them as pesky?

Build Skills 

Phonemic Awareness: Discriminate initial /k/ sound

• Say the word can aloud and emphasize the initial /k/ sound. Have students say the word.
• Say the following pairs of words, one at a time: cow, doll; cat, jar; house, coat. Ask students to identify which word in the pair begins with the /k/ sound.
• Check for understanding: Say the following words one at a time: hat, cup, cake, bug, count, and flies. Have students repeat each word after you. Ask students to show a thumbs-up sign for each word that begins with the /k/ sound.

Phonics: Identify initial consonant Cc

• Say the word can aloud. Have students say the word aloud with you. Ask a volunteer to identify the first sound in the word. Write the letter c on the board. Explain that the letter c stands for the first sound they hear in the word can.
• Write 3 or 4 decodable words beginning with the letter c on the board, such as cat, cap, cow, and cup. Read the words aloud and have students repeat them.
• Trace the initial consonant c in each word, modeling to students how to form the letter. Have students take turns tracing the consonant c in each word on their hand with their pointer finger as they say the sound the letter makes. (You may also want to explain that the letter c sometimes stands for the /s/ sound, as in the word circus.)

    Check for understanding: Reread the book aloud with students, pointing to each word one at a time. Ask students to identify words that begin with the consonant c that also stands for the /k/ sound. Have them circle these words. Then have students practice tracing each initial consonant c with their finger.

• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the initial consonant Cc worksheet.

Grammar and Mechanics: Initial capitalization

• Write the following sentence on the board: I can count ten ants. Read the sentence aloud with students.
• Underline the first word in the sentence. Write the lowercase i above the capital I on the board. Ask students to explain the difference between the letters.
• Point to the first word in the sentence. Explain that it is a capital letter and that every sentence begins with a capital letter.
• Ask volunteers to describe one of the bugs in the book. Write the sentence(s) on the board, but do not capitalize the first letter. Have volunteers come to the board and change the first letter in each sentence to a capital letter. Have an alphabet chart with uppercase and lowercase letters available for student reference.

    Check for understanding: Have students reread the book. Have them underline the capital letter at the beginning of each sentence.

• Independent practice: Introduce, explain and have students complete the initial capitalization worksheet.

Word Work: High-frequency words I and you

• Explain that some words are found in many of the books they will read. Write the word I on the board and read the word aloud. Then have students say the word aloud.
• Ask students to write the word I in the air with their finger as you spell it aloud with them, pointing to the letter as you say the letter name with them. Repeat the process with the word you.
• Show students page 3 in the book. Read the sentence aloud to them. Point to and say the word I. Explain that the word I is a word we use to refer to ourselves. Ask students to whom the word I refers on page 3 (the boy). Repeat the process on pages 5 and 7.
• Point out that the word I also explains who is telling the story. Have students identify who is telling the story (the boy).
• Show students page 4 in the book. Read the sentence aloud to them. Explain that the word you is a word we use to refer to someone else. Ask students to whom the word you refers on page 4 (the girl). Repeat the process on pages 6 and 8.
• Check for understanding: Have students use each word aloud in a sentence. Have them use dry erase boards or paper to write each high-frequency word as they use it in a sentence. For students needing additional support, use magnetic letters to 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. Encourage students to sort objects in their home with someone at home.

Extend the Reading 

Writing and Art Connection
Have students select an object from the book and draw 10 of them on the top half of a
9 x 13 piece of construction paper. Then have them write a sentence at the bottom of their paper using the phrase I can count ten _______. Compile the papers into pages of a big book. Use the book to reinforce the use of a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence and the high-frequency word I.

Math Connection
As a group, practice counting from 1 to 10 using the number of spiders, slugs, or bugs on each page of the book. Visually represent each item as it is counted using craft sticks or straws. When you have finished reading, recount the items from 0 to 100, bundling the items in groups of ten as they are counted. Write the numbers 10, 20, 30, etc., on an index card and place it below the appropriate bundle. Then practice counting to 100 by groups of ten, using the bundles as a visual reference.

Assessment 

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• accurately and consistently share examples of visualizing while reading
• accurately classify information during discussion and on a worksheet
• accurately discriminate the initial /k/ sound during discussion
• identify and write the letter Cc on a worksheet
• understand the use of capital letters at the beginning of a sentence and identify them within text; correctly use capital letters on a worksheet
• read, write, and understand the use of the high-frequency words I and you

Comprehension Checks

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