The Busy Pond - Lesson Plans

The Busy Pond
Level D

About the Book

Text Type: Nonfiction/Descriptive
Page Count: 10
Word Count: 117

Book Summary
In The Busy Pond, a boy sees many animals and plants when he goes to the pond. He notices what each animal is doing and what the plants look like. Repetitive text, high-frequency words, and supportive pictures make this book perfect for emerging readers.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

Visualize

Objectives

Use the reading strategy of visualizing to understand text
Classify information
Discriminate initial consonant sound /p/
Identify initial consonant Pp
Identify nouns as naming words
Identify and write the high-frequency word they

Materials

Book -- The Busy Pond (copy for each student)
Chalkboard or dry erase board
Picture cards, classify information, initial consonant Pp, nouns worksheets

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: all, are, around, many, see, they, when
Content words: busy, cattails, ducks, fish, frogs, lily pads, pond, swim, turtles, water

Before Reading

Build Background

Write the word pond on the board and point to the word as you read it aloud to students. Repeat the process and have students say the word aloud.
Ask students to tell what they know about a pond. Explain that a pond is a small body of water that is surrounded on all sides by land.
Ask students what types of animals and plants they would expect to see in or around a pond.

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 The Busy Pond. (Accept all answers 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 see _____ when I go to the pond. They _____. Read the phrases aloud, pointing to the words as you read them to students. Have students read them aloud. Explain that these words repeat throughout the book.

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Visualize

Explain to students that good readers often visualize, or make pictures in their mind, as they read. Readers often use what they already know about a topic and the words from the text to make pictures in their mind.
Model how to visualize using the title.
Think-aloud: When I read a book, I pause after a few pages or after reading a description of something to create a picture in my mind. This helps me understand the book. For example, when I read the title, The Busy Pond, I pictured a small body of water surrounded on all sides by land. I pictured lots of animals swimming and jumping in the water.
Invite students to share what they visualized when they heard the title of the book.
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

Explain to students that readers often think about the objects in a story and what they have in common. Thinking about what objects have in common and sorting them into groups helps readers understand and remember what they read.
Cut out the pictures from the picture cards worksheet and place them in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge.
Write the headings Large Animals and Small Animals on the board. Model how to classify information using the pictures.
Think-aloud: As I thought about how to group these objects, I started by asking myself what they have in common. I noticed that a cow and a bear are both large animals. I will group these pictures under the heading Large Animals. I noticed that a rabbit, a bird, a dog, and a chicken are all small animals. I will group these pictures under the heading Small Animals.
Invite students to suggest other ways to sort the pictures into groups and to explain how they sorted them (type of body covering, number of legs, and so on).

Introduce the Vocabulary

While previewing the book, reinforce the vocabulary words students will encounter in the story. Point out the following words to students: cattails (page 4), lily pads (page 5), frogs (page 6), turtles (page 7), ducks (page 8), fish (page 9). Read the word for each object with students on each page. Have them circle the word and color the corresponding object in the picture.

Remind students to look at the picture and the letter(s) with which a word begins or ends to figure out a difficult word. For example, point to the word swim on page 8 and say: I am going to check the picture and think about what would make sense to figure out this word. The picture shows ducks using their feet to paddle in the water. When I look at the first part of the word, it starts like /s/. However, the word paddle starts with the /p/ sound, so this can't be the word. I know that another word for paddle is swim. The word swim starts with the /s/ sound. The sentence makes sense with this word. The word must be swim.
For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words and word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

Have students read to find out about the animals and plants in the pond. Remind them to visualize as they read. Have students think about what the objects in the book have in common.

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 out where to begin reading on each page. Remind students to read the words from left to right.
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 visualizing and classifying information.
Think-aloud: As I read about the lily pads on page 5, I visualized shiny, flat, green plants floating on top of the water. I pictured their round shape moving side to side when the ripples move across the pond. I also thought about the fact that lily pads are plants. I thought about other objects I've read about so far in the book. The cattails are plants as well. I wonder if there are other objects in the book that are plants.
Have students share what they visualized, or pictured in their mind, as they read. (Accept responses that show students have thought about what they read.)
Check for understanding: Have students read to page 7. Invite volunteers to explain what they pictured in their mind when they read about the frogs and turtles. (Accept any answers that show students understand how to visualize.)
Cut apart pages 3 through 7 from an extra copy of the book. Place them in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge. Invite students to sort the pictures into two groups: Plants and Animals.
Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to continue visualizing and classifying information into groups 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 objects at the pond. When I read page 9, I pictured the smooth, shiny fish gliding quickly through the water. I pictured small and large fish and different colored fish swimming in the pond. Picturing these things in my mind helped me to understand and remember the objects in the book.
Have students share how visualizing helped them better understand and enjoy what they read. Invite students to share additional examples of how they visualized objects in the book.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

Discussion: Cut out pages 8 through 10 and place them in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge. Ask students to share how these pictures might be sorted into the groups Plants and Animals. Have volunteers sort the pictures into the groups and discuss why they belong in each group.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the classify information worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.
Enduring understanding: In this book, the boy took time to stop and notice many things that were in and around the pond. Now that you know this information, why is it important to stop and take notice of the things around you?

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Discriminate initial sound /p/

Say the word pond aloud to students, emphasizing the /p/ sound. Have students say the word aloud. Then have them say the /p/ sound.
Read page 5 aloud to students. Have them raise their hand when they hear a word that begins with the /p/ sound.
Check for understanding: Say the following words aloud. Pause after saying each word and have students give the thumbs-up signal if the word begins with the /p/ sound: page, fish, boy, picture, log, plane.

Phonics: Initial consonant Pp

Write the word pond on the board and say it aloud with students.
Have students say the /p/ 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 /p/ sound in the word pond.
Have students practice writing the letter Pp on a separate piece of paper as they say the sound of the letter.
Check for understanding: Write the following words that begin with the /p/ sound on the board, leaving off the initial consonant: pen, pig, pink, pan. Say each word with students. Have volunteers come to the board and add the initial consonant Pp in the words.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the initial consonant Pp worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Grammar and Mechanics: Naming words

Show students a picture of a person, a place, and a thing. Ask volunteers to identify the pictures. Explain that some words name a person, a place, or a thing. These naming words are called nouns. Ask volunteers to identify which picture names the person, the place, and the thing.
Have students turn to page 3 in their book. Invite them to read the first sentence together, pointing to the words as you read them aloud. Ask students to point to the nouns (I, water, pond).

Check for understanding: Have students reread the book and underline all of the nouns. When they have finished, discuss with students whether the nouns they underlined name a person, a place, or a thing.

Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the nouns worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Word Work: High-frequency word they

Explain to students that some words are found in many of the books they will read. Write the word they on the board and read the word aloud. Have students read the word with you.
Ask students to write the word they on the top of their desk with their finger as you spell it aloud to them, pointing to each letter on the board as you say the letter's name with students.
Read the sentence on page 4 aloud to students. Explain that the word they is used to substitute for the word cattails. Point to the picture of the cattails on the page and say: They are very tall.
Ask students to identify how many cattails are in the picture (more than one). Point out that the word they is used to tell about more than one of something.
Check for understanding: Have students use the word they in oral sentences to describe objects in the room.

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. Have students gather some objects at home and sort the objects in different ways with someone at home.

Extend the Reading

Expository Writing and Art Connection
Have students draw a picture of a plant or animal that lives in the water. Have them write where they see the plant or animal. Have them describe what the plant looks like or what the animal does. Reinforce the high-frequency word they and the use of nouns.

Science Connection
Bring in some fish or turtles and set up a place where students can observe and feed them. Keep a record of their behavior and what they eat.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

accurately and consistently share examples of visualizing while reading
accurately classify objects during discussion and on a worksheet
accurately discriminate the initial consonant sound /p/ during discussion
correctly identify and write the letter symbol that stands for the /p/ sound during discussion and on a worksheet
correctly understand and identify nouns within text during discussion and on a worksheet
accurately read, write, and understand the use of the high-frequency word they during discussion

Comprehension Checks

Go to "The Busy Pond" main page