The Team - Lesson Plans

The Team
Level D

About the Book

Text Type: Nonfiction/Informational
Page Count: 10
Word Count: 94

Book Summary
Each member of a team is important. This book explains why a team needs each player by demonstrating the role of each person in a baseball team. Teamwork is strongly enforced in this early reader, while realistic illustrations make the game come to life.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

Connect to prior knowledge

Objectives

Use prior knowledge about baseball to read new words and understand text
Identify main idea and details
Segment onset and rime
Associate the letter Bb with the sound /b/
Understand sentence capitalization and punctuation
Use content vocabulary in oral sentences

Materials

Book -- The Team (copy for each student)
Chalkboard or dry erase board
Main idea and details, content vocabulary 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: have, has, is, a, very
Content words: together, team, pitcher, catcher, batter, infielder, outfielder, important, baseball

Before Reading

Build Background

Ask students to talk about team sports they have participated in or know about. Ask them what it means to be a member of a team and whether each team member is important.
Ask students what they know about the game of baseball. Ask them whether they can name kinds of players on a baseball team.

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 The Team. (Accept any answers students can justify.) Ask students what kind of team is shown on the cover.
Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Connect to prior knowledge

Explain to students that good readers make connections between what they already know and new information they read. Remind them that thinking about what they already know about the topic of the book will help them understand what they read.
Model how to connect to prior knowledge.
Think-aloud: I know that good readers think about what they already know about the topic of the book. When I look at the picture on the back cover, I see people standing on a kind of playing field. The field is shaped like a diamond. One of the people in the picture is holding a bat. I know that baseball players use a bat to hit a ball. After they hit the ball, they run to each base. This picture makes me think that the story will be about baseball. Using what I know about baseball can help me to read new words and understand what is happening in the story.
Have students preview the covers and title page of the book. Invite them to share how they connected to something they know.
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

Model for students how identifying with events in the pictures and drawing on what they know about the experience can help them read the new word on the page.
Think-aloud: When I look at the picture on page 4, I see someone throwing a ball to a person holding a bat. In the game of baseball, the person who throws the ball to the batter is called the pitcher. I know that the word pitcher starts with /p/ and ends with /er/, so I can use this knowledge to read the word. When I use the word pitcher in the sentence, it makes sense. The word must be pitcher.
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 about the team in the story. Remind them to think about what they know about baseball as they read.

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 (Teams). 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.
Ask students which baseball players they have read about so far. Ask them to share how they connected to something that they know about baseball from the information on these pages.
Model making connections to prior knowledge.
Think-aloud: When I read page 6, it made me think about all the special equipment that a catcher needs to wear. They wear a special face mask and chest padding. I have seen how fast a pitcher can throw a baseball. Catchers wear these special clothes to protect them.
Invite students to share how they connected with that they already know as they read.
Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to continue to think about what they know about baseball 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 page ___, I thought about times I worked with others as a team. When everyone worked together, it took less time to finish.
Discuss with students how using what they already knew about baseball helped them understand what they read. Invite them to share how they connected to prior knowledge as they read.
Discuss additional strategies students used to gain meaning from the book.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Main idea and details

Discussion: Ask students what new things they learned about baseball from reading the book.
Introduce and model the skill: Explain to students that books they read have a main idea that tells what the book is about. The title of the book and the pictures can be clues to identify the main idea. Discuss with students the main idea of this book. (Each person on a baseball team is important.) Explain to them that there are facts in the book that tell about these people.
Think-aloud: I know the book is about how each person on a team is important. When I read page 4, I read about a pitcher. Baseball teams need pitchers. A pitcher throws the ball to the batter. This is a detail that tells about the main idea.
Check for understanding: Have students turn to page 5 in their book. Have them tell you another detail that supports the main idea.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the main idea and details worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Extend the discussion: Instruct students to use the last page of the book to draw a picture of the position on a team they would most like to play. Ask them to share their picture with the group and tell why they would like to play the position they chose.

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Blend onset and rime

Ask students to listen as you say two parts of a word and then blend them together: b-all; ball. Say the onset and rime again and have students blend the parts together to say the word.
Say the following words, one at a time, by splitting them into their onset and rime: t-eam; w-in; h-it; sp-ort; pl-ay. Have students say each part of the word and then blend the parts together to say the word.

Phonics: Initial consonant Bb

Have students turn to page 3 and put their finger on the word baseball. Have them read the word with you as you run your finger under the letters. Point out the letter Bb in the word baseball. Tell students that the letter Bb stands for the /b/ sound in the word baseball.
Have students turn to page 4 and find two words that start with the /b/ sound (ball, batter). Have them point to the letter in each word that stands for the /b/ sound.
Tell students they are going to read some words that start with the /b/ sound. Write the following words on the board, leaving off the initial consonant in each word: bat, bun, bet, bop, bit. Say each word aloud to students. Have volunteers come to the board and add the initial consonant in the words.
Have students practice writing the letter Bb on a separate piece of paper while saying the sound the letter represents.

Grammar and Mechanics: Capitalization and punctuation

Have students read the first sentence in the book. Remind them that there are different kinds of sentences and that sentences like this one tell the reader something. Remind students that a sentence always begins with a capital letter. Ask them to put their finger on the capital letter.
Explain to students that every sentence has a signal at the end so the reader will know when to stop reading. Have them put their finger on the period.
Write the following sentence on the board without capitalization or punctuation: the pitcher pitches. Ask students to tell what is wrong with the sentence (it needs to begin with a capital letter and end with a period).
Write the following sentences on the board: the catcher catches the ball; A team has nine players; baseball is a team sport. Ask students to tell what needs to be corrected in each sentence.

Word Work: Content vocabulary

Tell students that the words they read in the book are used to tell about the different players on a baseball team. Provide opportunities for them to talk about difficult words, such as infielder and outfielder. Ask students to find the word chunks that are the beginnings of each word (in and out). Explain to them that some of the words tell what a person on the team is and what he or she does, such as pitcher and pitches. Ask students to think of other words like these (batter, bats, catcher, catches).
Divide students into two teams. Assign each student a position on the team and play a game of baseball with students. (pitcher, catcher, first base, second base, and so on). As they play a brief game, review the names of the positions. After the game, have students review what happened by using the content words in oral sentences.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the content vocabulary worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Build Fluency

Independent Reading

Allow students to read their book independently. 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.

Extend the Reading

Writing Connection
Write the following sentence on the board: I like to play_____. Brainstorm a list of team sports that students like to play. Ask students to choose one, write the sentence, and create an illustration about their sentence. Display their work on a bulletin board titled We're Team Players!

Social Studies Connection
Tell students a fictional story about two team members who don't get along. For example: Will and Henry are on the same soccer team. Will thinks Henry doesn't pass the ball enough. Henry thinks Will is not good enough to be on the team. Ask students how they would solve this problem. Discuss the importance of everyone getting a chance to play, as well as the concept of fair play. Ask students to give examples of what it means to be a good sport and team member.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

recognize that using prior knowledge helps readers understand what they read
identify details that support the main idea during discussion and on a worksheet
orally blend onset and rime to say whole words
recognize words that start with the /b/ sound in the book; read simple CVC words that begin or end with the /b/ sound
correctly capitalize and punctuate sentences
use content words correctly in oral sentences and on a worksheet

Comprehension Checks

Go to "The Team" main page