To the Woods - Lesson Plans

To the Woods
Level D

About the Book

Text Type: Fiction/Personal
Page Count: 10
Word Count: 100

Book Summary
To the Woods describes a young girl's observations of woodland animals and plants. The text has a repetitive pattern that reinforces key vocabulary words. Illustrations support the text.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

Make, revise, and confirm predictions

Objectives

Make, revise, and confirm predictions based on information in the text
Identify the main idea and details
Discriminate medial sounds
Read words with the short /i/ vowel sound
Recognize and use verbs in sentences
Suggest synonyms for words

Materials

Book -- To the Woods (copy for each student)
Chalkboard or dry erase board
Main idea and details, verbs 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: I, see, when, go, to, the, run
Content words: woods, trees, squirrel, birds, fox, log, hides, bugs, grass, bear

Before Reading

Build Background

Ask students if they know what the word woods means. Discuss any nearby woodland, forest, or wooded park. For students who live in urban areas or deserts and have no prior knowledge of woodlands, provide photos or magazine pictures on which they can build background.
Ask students what kinds of things are found in the woods. Discuss plants and animals, as well as water features such as ponds, lakes, streams, and waterfalls.
Continue the discussion by asking students what types of activities they might do in the woods (camping, hiking, fishing, bird-watching, picnicking).

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 To the Woods. (Accept any answers students can justify.) Ask who they think might be going to the woods.
Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Make, revise, and confirm predictions

Explain to students that good readers make predictions, or guesses, about what will happen in a story. Explain to them that making predictions can help people to make decisions, solve problems, and learn new information. Emphasize that knowing how to make predictions is more important than whether the prediction is right, or confirmed.
Model using the cover pictures of the book to make a prediction.
Think-aloud: I know that readers can look at the cover of a book to get an idea of what the book is about. Looking at the cover pictures, I see girl peeking through some bushes. It looks as though she is looking at something. I know that there are different kinds of animals that live in the woods. I wonder if she followed an animal into the woods. Maybe she followed the animal so far into the woods that she got lost and could not find her way back home. Making predictions about the book gets me thinking about it and gives me a purpose for reading because I want to find out if my predictions are right.
Open to page 3 and ask students what they see. Model revising your prediction. Say: The picture doesn't seem to show the girl following any animals into the woods. However, she is surrounded by all the trees and plants that grow in the woods. It looks as if she is taking a walk. I will revise my prediction. I think that the girl goes exploring in the woods and gets lost.
Have students use the pictures on the covers and title page to make a prediction before reading the book. Invite them to share their prediction.
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

Reinforce new vocabulary and word-attack strategies by pointing to something in the picture, such as the squirrel. Ask students what sound they hear at the beginning of the word squirrel. Ask what sound they hear at the end of the word. Have students find the word squirrel on the page and tell you how they know the word is squirrel. Repeat with other vocabulary words if necessary.
Remind students to look at the beginning and ending sounds, and other parts that they recognize, to help them say words. They should also check whether a word makes sense by looking at the picture or rereading the sentence.
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 make, revise, and/or confirm predictions as they read based on the pictures and the text.

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 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 confirming a prediction.
Think-aloud: Before reading, I predicted that the girl would get lost while exploring the woods. Based on what I've read, I don't think this prediction is correct. The girl seems to be observing the different kinds of animals that live in the woods. I think the rest of the book will be about the animals the girl sees while walking through the woods.
Have students think about the prediction they made before reading. Invite them to share whether they confirmed, revised, or made a new prediction.
Have students read the remainder of the book. Encourage them to continue to make, revise, and/or confirm predictions as they read the rest of the story.

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.
Invite students to discuss whether their predictions turned out to be true or whether they needed to be revised. Reinforce that making predictions about what they are reading helps them get meaning from the book and gives them a purpose for reading.
Think-aloud: I predicted that I would read about other animals the girl sees while in the woods. This prediction was confirmed. She saw a fox, a bear, and bugs.
Discuss additional strategies students used to gain meaning from the book.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Main idea and details

Discussion: Review the names of the animals from the book with students. Ask students which animals they have seen before.
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 the main idea of this book. (There are many living things in the woods.) Make a large web on the board and write the following words in the center circle: Living things in the woods. Explain that there are details in the book that tell about the main idea.
Think-aloud: On page 5, I read about the birds the girl sees flying around in the woods. Birds are living things and they can live in the woods. This is a detail that tells about the main idea. Write birds in the first outer circle on the web.
Check for understanding: Have students point to another detail in their book that tells about the main idea. Observe and discuss their responses.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the main idea and details worksheet. When they have finished, discuss their responses.

Extend the discussion: Instruct students to use the last page of their book to draw a picture of another living thing that can be seen in the woods. Ask students to share their picture with the group.

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Discriminate medial sounds

Say the words woods and book, stretching the sounds as you say each word. Ask students if they can hear something that is the same about the words. Tell them to listen to the middle sounds as you say the words again. Discuss how the medial vowel sounds are the same. Have students say the vowel sound with you.
Tell students that you are going to say two words at a time. Have them clap if the words have the same middle vowel sound. Say the following pairs of words one at a time, stretching the sounds in each word: squirrel/bird; fox/pup; bug/run; head/men; goes/log.

Phonics: Short /i/

Write the word big on the board. Say the word as you run your finger under the letters. Repeat the process with the word hid. Ask students to tell which sound is the same in both words. Review or explain the short /i/ vowel sound. Ask students to identify which letter in the words stands for the short /i/ vowel sound.
Write the following words on the board, leaving out the letter i in each word: pin, fig, lid, sit. Have volunteers complete the words. Then have students blend the sounds in the words together as you run your finger under the letters.
Tell students that some words begin with the short /i/ vowel sound. Have students look on page 9 to find three words that begin with the short /i/ vowel sound (in, it, is).

Grammar and Mechanics: Verbs

Remind students that some words tell actions, such as run, jump, and play. Have students look on page 3 and find two words that tell what the girl does (see, go).
Direct students to page 4. Ask students to put their finger on an action word that tells what the squirrel does (climbs).
Have students identify other verbs from the book. Write the words on the board. Ask volunteers to choose a verb and use it in an oral sentence.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the verbs worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Word Work: Synonyms

Direct students to page 3 and have them read the second sentence. Have them put their finger on the word big. Ask students to think of other words that mean the same thing as the word big (large, huge, enormous, gigantic).
Have students put their finger on the word little. Ask students to think of other words that mean the same thing as the word little (small, tiny).
Explain to students that two or more words that have the same meaning are called synonyms. Invite students to share why writers might choose to use synonyms in their writing. Have them think of synonyms for the following words: pretty, tired, jump, good.

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
Brainstorm a list of things students might see in a particular area of land in their community, such as a park, forest, or field. Write the sentence I see _____ in the _____. Ask students to choose one place, write the sentence, and illustrate a picture about their sentence. Display the pages on a bulletin board titled "We See Many Things in the Woods."

Science Connection
Discuss the different types of animals found in the woods (bears, birds, and so on). Have pairs of students choose one animal. Provide print and Internet resources for students to locate the following information about the animal: what it looks like, where it lives, and what it eats. Ask students to share what they learned with the class.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

make, revise, and/or confirm predictions based on picture and text information
identify details that support the main idea during discussion and on a worksheet
correctly discriminate medial vowel sounds during discussion
accurately read simple CVC words with short /i/; correctly associate the letter Ii with the short /i/ vowel sound during discussion
correctly recognize verbs in the book; accurately use verbs in oral sentences and on a worksheet
correctly name appropriate synonyms for commonly used words

Comprehension Checks

Go to "To the Woods" main page