Who, Who, Who? - Lesson Plans

Who, Who, Who?
Level C

About the Book

Text Type: Fiction/Fantasy
Page Count: 10
Word Count: 53

Book Summary
Who? is the question asked again and again by a little owl as it tries to find friends with whom to fly, hunt, play, read, sing, and eat. Unfortunately, the most willing character is not the one the little owl was hoping for. The repetitive text pattern is supported by delightful illustrations.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

Retell

Objectives

Use the strategy of pausing to retell to clarify information in the story
Identify elements of fantasy and reality
Segment onset and rime
Associate the letter Ww with the /w/ sound
Understand the use of question marks
Identify words that ask questions

Materials

Book -- Who, Who, Who? (copy for each student)
Chalkboard or dry erase board
Photograph or magazine picture: owl
Reality and fantasy, initial consonant Ww 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: who, wants, to, with, me
Content words: owl, fly, hunt, play, read, sing, eat, alligator

Before Reading

Build Background

Show students a picture of an owl. Ask students to identify the name of the animal. Write the word owl on the board.
Discuss how the bird spends its day (sleeping; owls are nocturnal and hunt at night), what it eats (small rodents, insects, frogs, and birds), and the sound it makes (hoo, hoo).

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 Who, Who, Who? (Accept any answers students can justify.) Ask students who they think is asking the question "Who, who, who?" and why.
Point out the picture on the back cover. Ask students what the owl is doing here. Have them predict what the owl might do in the story.
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 from the book on the board: Who wants to ____ with me? Read the phrase aloud with students. Explain that these words repeat throughout the book.

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Retell

Reinforce that the strategy of pausing to mentally retell what is happening in the story helps readers understand and remember what they read.
Model retelling a familiar story in detail, such as The Three Little Pigs.
Think-aloud: In The Three Little Pigs, three pigs each decide to build a house. The first pig decides to make his house out of straw. He gathers all of the materials and builds his house. The second pig decides to build his house out of sticks. He gathers all the materials and builds his house. The third pig decides to build his house out of bricks. He gathers all the materials and builds his house. One day, a big bad wolf comes to the house of the first little pig. He wants the little pig to let him inside. The wolf says that he will huff and puff and blow the pig's house down.
Continue retelling in detail to the end of 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

As you preview the book with students, model the language patterns in the book. For example, ask: What is the owl doing here? Yes, it's flying. I think it might be asking: “Who wants to fly with me?” What do you think?
As vocabulary words are mentioned, point to the corresponding word to help students make the picture/word connection. For example, ask which word on the page says fly and how students can tell this (initial sounds, picture clue).
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 what happens to the owl in the story. Remind them to pause every few pages to retell in their mind what they have read so far.

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 (Who). 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 6, using their finger to point to each word as they read. Encourage students who finish before others to reread the text.
Model retelling story events in detail.
Think-aloud: After I read page 6, I stopped to think about what has happened so far in the story. First, the owl asked with whom it would fly and hunt. Other animals, such as the mouse, ran away from the owl. The mouse seemed scared of the owl.
Ask students to retell what happened next. Then have them retell all the events from the beginning the story to a partner.
Have students read the remainder of the story. Ask them to pause after a few pages to think about what has happened in the story and to make sure they understand it. Remind students to include details from the words and pictures when they retell.

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 as an opportunity to model how to read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
Think-aloud: After the owl asks the mouse to hunt, it stops on a swing to ask who it will play with. Then it opened up a big book and asks who will read with it.
Ask students to retell the remainder of the story. Then have them retell the whole story to a partner. Observe the amount of detail and the order of the events in the retellings.
Ask students to explain how pausing to retell the story in their mind helped them remember and enjoy what was happening in the story.
Discuss additional strategies students used to gain meaning from the book.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Reality and fantasy

Discussion: Ask students whom they think the little owl might have asked to play with him. Ask whom the little owl did not want to play with. Have students tell why.
Introduce and model the skill: Review or explain that some books are about real things and some books are fantasy, or make-believe. Remind students that sometimes a book is a little of each. Say: I look at the back cover picture and I see an owl flying. I know that owls have wings and can fly. But then I look at the picture on the title page of the owl holding on to a swing. I know that owls can't hold on to things like that, so this part of the story is likely fantasy.
Check for understanding: Ask students to identify other events in the story that the author showed that were real (mouse, owl, alligator, the owl flying). Ask students to explain what events are not real in the story (mouse running on two feet; owl reading, singing, and eating like a person).
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the reality and fantasy worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Extend the discussion: Instruct students to use the last page of their book to draw a picture that shows the little owl either doing something an owl could do, or an owl doing something make-believe. Ask students to share their picture with the group. Ask students to identify their classmates' pictures as reality or fantasy.

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Segment onset and rime

Say the word big and tell students you can say the beginning part and the ending part of the word separately: b-ig. Tell students we call the beginning sounds in the word onset and the ending sounds of the word rime.
Model segmenting the word pig into its onset and rime: p-ig. Ask students to identify how the two words are similar (the ending sound /ig/).
Say the following words to students: cop, hop, pop. Have them say each word without the beginning sound.

Phonics: Initial consonant Ww

Say the word with and ask students what sound they hear at the beginning of the word. Have them turn to page 4 and put their finger on the word with. Run your finger under each letter as you model blending together the sounds in the word aloud to students.
Ask students which letter in the word with stands for the /w/ sound. Write the letter Ww on the board, and tell students the letter's name. Explain that the letter Ww stands for the sound they can hear at the beginning of the word with.
Have students find the word wants on page 4 and point to the letter that stands for the /w/ sound (wants).
Ask students to think of other words that start with the /w/ sound. Write each word on the board, leaving off the initial consonant. Have volunteers come to the board to write the missing letter, saying the sound the letter makes. Have the remaining students trace the letter on their hand while saying the sound it makes.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the initial consonant Ww worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Grammar and Mechanics: Question mark

Review or explain that there are two kinds of sentences. One is a sentence that tells the reader something: I am your teacher. Ask students what comes at the beginning and at the end of every telling sentence (capital letter, period). Remind students that the period is the signal at the end of this kind of sentence that tells the reader to stop reading.
Review or explain that another type of sentence asks a question. Ask students to give an example of a question and write one of the questions on the board. Circle the question mark in the example sentence. Explain that a question mark is placed at the end of a sentence that asks a question.

Have students practice writing question marks on a separate piece of paper. Have them circle the periods in blue and the question marks in red.

Word Work: Question words

Direct students to page 4 in the book and have them read the question that the little owl asks. Ask them what word starts the question (who). Explain that this word is a signal that the sentence is a question.
Have students ask a partner a question that begins with the word who.
Tell students there are other words like the word who that signal a question. Write the words what, where, when, why, and how on the board. Read each word aloud to students. Then have them say each word aloud.
Model asking questions, one at a time, using one of the question words: What time is it? How old are you? When do we go home? Why are you laughing? Where is my jacket? Have volunteers come to the board and point to the word used in the question.

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
Ask students to think of things they like to do with other people. Write the following sentence pattern on the board: Who wants to ___ with me? Ask each student what they would like to write in the sentence. Ask students to draw a picture for their sentence. Collect the pages and make them into a class book titled Who?

Science Connection
Read additional books about owls. Help students make a bulletin board web of facts about owls (habitat, food, types, and so on).

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

consistently pause while reading to retell story events in detail during discussion
correctly identify elements of fantasy and reality in the story during discussion and on a worksheet
blend onset and rime to say words during discussion
correctly associate the letter Ww with the /w/ sound during discussion and on a worksheet
identify correct punctuation in telling and asking sentences during discussion
ask questions using question words during discussion

Comprehension Checks

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