Build Background

• Ask students to explain the meaning of the word mistake. Explain that it is natural for all people to make mistakes. Invite students to describe a time when they made a mistake. Have students share how they tried to fix the mistake they made. Record student responses on the board under the headings Mistake and How I Tried to Fix 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 I Need an Eraser. (Accept any answer students can justify.)
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of the book, author's name, illustrator's name). Ask students to explain what might be happening in the picture on this page.
• Turn to page 3. Point out the repetitive sentences I made a mistake and I need an eraser. Have students say them aloud. Explain to students that these words repeat throughout the book.

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Retell

• Explain to students that one way to understand what they are reading is to stop now and then during reading to retell in their mind what is happening in the story.
• Model how to retell.
  Think-aloud: As I read, I am going to stop now and then to remind myself what has happened so far in the story. This will help me to remember what I'm reading and make me think about what might happen next. When I finish the story, I should be able to tell someone what happened first, next, and last in the story.
• Invite volunteers to retell their story of making and fixing a mistake. Guide them by prompting: What mistake did you make? What did you do next? How did you try to fix the mistake? Did it work? Ask students to discuss how retelling the events in their story helped them remember what happened.
• Point out the numbers at the bottom of the pages in the book. Have students place sticky notes on pages 5, 7, and 9. Explain that as they read, they should stop on these pages to think about what has happened so far in the story. Encourage them to retell in their mind what is happening in the story as they read.
• 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: Problem and solution

• Write the word problem on the board and have students say it aloud. Explain that a problem is something that needs to be fixed. Review the list of mistakes on the board. Ask students to explain how these mistakes might be problems.
• Review the list of ways students fixed their mistakes. Explain that the way a mistake is fixed is a solution, or an answer to the problem. Write the word solution on the board and have students say it aloud.
• Explain that some problems can have more than one solution. Ask students to identify other solutions to the problems (mistakes) listed on the board. Have students explain whether they have needed to try more than one approach to finally solve a problem.
• Model how to identify a problem and solution using a familiar story.
  Think-aloud: I know the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. It is about a little girl named Goldilocks that comes upon the house of three bears. When she enters the house, she finds that the three bears are not home. While inside the house, she encounters many problems. Her first problem is she wants to sit down and rest in a comfortable chair. However, there are three chairs to choose from. She tries the first chair, but the chair is too hard. She tries the next chair, but that chair is too soft. She finally solves her problem when she tries the third chair, which is just right. Goldilocks tried three different approaches until she found a solution that fits her problem. What other problems does Goldilocks encounter? What approaches does she try to solve each problem?
• Have students think of a favorite story to share. Discuss the problems and solutions in familiar stories they know.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• While previewing the book, reinforce the vocabulary words students will encounter in the text. Remind students that they can help themselves when they come to a tricky word by looking at the first letter in the word and checking the picture on the page to see what word might start with the same sound or what word might make sense. For example, on page 8, model pointing under the dr in drawer. Say: I am going to help myself by looking at the picture and thinking about where they might be looking that starts like /dr/ (make the /dr/ sound). Invite students to share words that would make sense in the sentence. Then say: Does drawer make sense? Yes. The word is drawer.
• For additional tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read to find out why the boy needs an eraser. Remind them to stop reading at the end of each page with a sticky note to quickly retell in their mind what has happened so far in the story. Have them think about the problem and solution as they read.

During Reading 

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Show students the book. Point out the words on the pages. Review or explain that the words on the pages are read from left to right. Ask a student to point to where students should start reading and tell in which direction they should read.
• Give students their copy of the book. Have them read to the end of page 5 and then stop to think about the events that have happened so far in the story. Encourage students who finish before others to reread the text. When students are ready, invite them to retell what has happened so far. Ask them to identify the problem in the story (the boy needs an eraser to fix his mistake)
• Think-aloud: I stopped after a few pages to retell in my mind what I had read so far. For example, after page 5, I thought the girl in the story looked older than the boy. The girl might be his mother. That means the boy is her son. The boy needs to find an eraser to fix his mistake because the one he has is no good. Have students predict where the boy might look to solve his problem of needing an eraser.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 7. Ask volunteers to retell the events after the boy said he needed an eraser. Cut out the pictures from an extra copy of the book. Sequence the pictures from pages 3 through 7 in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge. Ask volunteers to use the pictures to retell the events in the story so far. Ask students why the eraser the boy found is no good for solving his problem. Have them predict where the boy might look next to find an eraser.
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to continue stopping on pages with sticky notes to retell in their mind what they have 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 they marked in their book. Model how they can read these words.
• Ask students to retell the events that happened after the boy found an eraser that wasn't what he needed (he looked in his pencil box and found the right kind of eraser; the boy fixed his mistake, but he made a hole in his paper and now he needs tape). Sequence all the pictures from the story in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge. Have volunteers use the pictures to retell the events of the entire story.
• Ask students to explain how retelling the events of the story in their mind as they read helped them understand the story.
  Think-aloud: As I retold the story in my mind, it helped me to think about what happened in the story and how I could use my own words to retell the events. Thinking about events that happen can help me identify the problems in my own life and figure out ways to solve them.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Have volunteers sort the pictures from pages 4, 7, and 9 into two groups: Solution and Not Solution. As students sort the pictures, have them explain why each picture belongs in the group.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the problem and solution worksheet.
• Enduring Understanding: Everyone experiences problems they need to solve. Sometimes you have to try different things in order to solve a problem. Now that you know this, what will you do next time you have a problem that needs to be solved?

Build Skills 

Phonemic Awareness: Discriminate final /d/

• Say the word good aloud to students, emphasizing the final /d/ sound. Have students say the word aloud and then say the final /d/ sound.
• Say the following words one at a time and have students give the thumbs-up signal if the word ends with the /d/ sound, as in the word good: bed, cat, fork, bird, rose, cloud, lizard.
• Check for understanding: Say the following words from the book aloud, one at a time: find, eraser, tape, need, found, box. Have students give the thumbs-up signal when they hear a word that ends with the /d/ sound, as in the word good.

Phonics: Initial and final consonant Dd

• Write the word good on the board and say the word aloud with students.
• Have students say the /d/ 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 /d/ sound in the word good.
• Explain that you are going to say some words that begin or end with the /d/ sound. Say: dog, mad, duck, bread, doll, head, and day. Have volunteers practice writing the letters on the board that stand for the /d/ sound in each word. Have the remaining students trace the letter on their desk with their pointer finger.
• Check for understanding: Explain that you are going to write some new words on the board. Write the following words, leaving off the d consonant: dip, bad, said, door, dad, and kid. Say each word, one at a time, and have volunteers come to the board and add the d consonant in each word. Have the remaining students trace the letters on their desk with their finger as they say the sound the letter makes.

Grammar and Mechanics: Capitalization

• Have students follow along as you read the sentences on page 4 aloud. Write a lower- and uppercase i and t on the board. Ask students which form of the letter they see at the beginning of each sentence (capital I and capital T).
• Explain that all sentences begin with a capital letter. Ask students to explain why they think sentences begin with a capital letter instead of a lowercase letters (capital letters are taller and easier to see; they let readers know where sentences begin). Remind students that a punctuation mark tells readers where a sentence ends.
• Have students turn to page 6 in their book. Invite them to find the beginning of each sentence on the page. Ask a volunteer to tell how they know where the sentences begin and end.

    Check for understanding: Have students locate the rest of the capital letters at the beginning of the sentences in the story. Invite them to draw a circle around the capital letter at the beginning of each sentence.

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

Word Work: High-frequency words my and your

• Explain that some words help readers understand who things belong to in a story. Have students turn to page 6. Read the first sentence aloud. Ask students what word tells them who the pencil box belongs to in the story (your). Write the word your on the board and have students say the word aloud.
• Have students read the first sentence on page 8 and locate the word that tells who the pencil drawer belongs to in the story (my). Write the word my on the board and have students say the word aloud.
• Check for understanding: Show students a book. Hand the book to a volunteer and say: This is your book. Then ask the volunteer say: This is my book. Have pairs of students use other classroom objects in a similar manner. (This is your _____. This is my ________.)
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the high-frequency words worksheet.

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 ask someone at home to predict where the boy and his sister might look to find the tape to fix his new problem. Identify the new problem and possible solutions.

Extend the Reading 

Writing and Art Connection
Have students draw a picture about a mistake they made and what they needed to fix it. Label the pictures My Problem and My Solution. Compile the pictures into a classroom book for the students to read.

Math Connection
Ask students to name objects in the classroom that can be used to fix mistakes (erasers, glue, tape, and so on). Graph the number of each object. Have students use the information on the graph to identify which object there was the most and least of in the classroom.

Assessment 

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• accurately and consistently demonstrate retelling the story during discussion
• accurately identify the problem and solution of the story during discussion and on a worksheet
• accurately discriminate the final /d/ sound during discussion
• identify and write initial and final consonant d during discussion and on a worksheet
• understand that a capital letter identifies the beginning of a sentence during discussion and on a worksheet
• correctly use high-frequency words my and your during discussion and on a worksheet

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