Build Background

• Discuss the kinds of plants students have seen. Have them tell what the plant looked like and where it was growing. Make a KWL chart on the board and explain each section. Write what students know about plants in the first column.
• Expand the discussion by talking about how living things need certain things to grow. Talk about what people and animals need to grow.

Book Walk

Introduce the Strategy: Ask and Answer Questions

• Show students the front and back covers of the book and read the title. Ask students what they think this book will be about based on the cover information. Model how to ask questions as you preview the book.
• Think aloud: I see a big plant on the front cover of the book. It is a saguaro (sa WAR o) cactus. I wonder what it grows in. I'll write that question on our chart (What does a cactus grow in?). The picture on the back cover looks like a garden. I wonder if the saguaro and the plants in the garden need the same things to stay alive. I'll write that question on the chart. (What do plants need to stay alive?)
• Show students the title page and ask them what they see in the picture. Turn the pages in the book so students can see the pictures. Ask students what questions they have and add them to the KWL chart. If necessary, model once more for the students how to ask questions about the book.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Go through each page of the book with the students. Ask them to talk about what they see in the illustrations. Encourage them to use the vocabulary they will encounter in the text. Have them name what they see in the pictures. For example, point to the pictures on page 3 and ask: Where are these plants growing? (inside, outside)
• Point out the words on the page. Explain that the words on the page tell them the facts about the plants.
• Show that the words are read left to right.
• Ask a student to come up and point to the place on the book where he or she should start reading, and which direction he or she should go while reading.
• Reinforce new vocabulary and word attack strategies by modeling how students can read unfamiliar words. Ask a volunteer to point to the word sand. Ask students how they know this word says sand. Model how they can find the familiar word and in the word, and then say the sound of the letter that is at the beginning of the word to help them. Point out that they can check whether the word makes sense by reading the sentence and looking at the picture. Read aloud the sentence with the word sand and ask if they think the sentence makes sense. Repeat with other vocabulary words if you feel students need more modeling. Remind students to look at the beginning and ending sounds in words, and/or word parts within words that they recognize, to help them sound out the word. They should check whether the word makes sense by looking at the picture and rereading the sentence.
• For additional teaching tips on word attack and high frequency words, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have the students look for the answers to the questions on the KWL as they read the book.

• Guide the Reading: Give students their books and have them put a sticky note on page 5. Direct them to read to the end of this page. Tell students to reread the pages if they finish before everyone else.
• When they have finished, ask students to tell the places where plants grow (inside, outside, soil, pots). Ask them if they have found the answers to any of the questions written on the KWL. Circle these on the KWL.
• Model asking and answering questions.
• Think aloud: I wanted to know where cactus grows. I haven't found the answer, but if I keep reading I might. I also wanted to know what plants need to stay alive. I haven't found the answer to that question either. I think they need water. I'll keep reading to see if I'm right.
• Tell students to read the remainder of the book.

    Tell students to make a small question mark in their books beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. These can be addressed in the discussion that follows.

Reflect on Reading Strategies

• Ask students what words they marked in their books. Use this opportunity to model how they could read these words using decoding strategies and context clues. For example, point out the word can and ask students how they know this word doesn't say pan. Focus on the sound of /k/ at the beginning of the word.
• Reinforce how asking questions about the book before they begin reading and then looking for the answers while they are reading helps them understand and remember what they read.

Comprehension Skill: Main Idea and Details

• Introduce and Model: Review or explain that every writer has a big idea in mind when he or she writes a book. Tell students that the "big" idea of a book is what most of the sentences are about. Give students the main idea worksheet. Point out the circle in the middle of the page. Tell students that this is where they will write the words that tell the "big" idea. Model how to figure out that the main idea is "where plants grow" by looking back through the book and finding what is the same about all of the things in the book. Have students write "where plants grow" in the center circle. Next, model how to go to page 3 to find the name of a place where plants grow. For example, say: This is a picture of plants growing outside. This is a picture of plants growing inside. I read the sentences to find out that plants grow inside and outside, so I'll write the words inside and outside in any 2 of the smaller circles.
• Checking for understanding: Have students tell the next place plants grow, and then write it on the worksheet.
• Discussion: Have students tell the 3 things plants need in order to live (water, air, sunlight). Talk about the different plants in the book and how some may need more or less water, air, or sunlight than others.
• Independent Practice: Tell students to complete the main idea worksheet. Discuss their responses.
• Extend the Discussion:

    Have students use the last page of their book to draw a plant they would like to grow.

Phonological Awareness: Identify Medial Sounds

• Say the words soil and toy and tell students that the words have the same sound in the middle: /oi/. Have students repeat the words and the middle sound.
• Say the following words: grow/show/oil. Have students repeat the words and tell you which 2 words have the same middle sound.
• Repeat the steps with the following words, one group at a time: boy/toy/most; treat/feet/flow; look/lake/boot; chase/pat/dad. Have students tell the sound that is the same in each group.
• Say the following sentences slowly to allow time for students to clap each time they hear the /oi/ sound in the middle of the words: The boy bought a toy with 6 shiny coins. Then filled with joy, he went home again. His dog took the toy and buried it in the soil.

Phonics: Practice short Vowels o and i

• Have the students turn to page 3 and find a word with the short i sound. When students have found the word in, have them run their finger under the word as they say the sounds: /i/ /n/
• Have students find the word in on the other pages of the book and count how many times they find it. (5)
• Have students look on page 7 to find the word on. Ask what vowel sound they hear in the word. Read the word rocks and ask what vowel sound they hear in this word.
• Write the following words on the board: pot, fit, cob, him, rob, sit, not, Tim. Run your finger under each letter in the words as you have the students sound out the words.
• Give volunteers different colored chalk and ask them to come up one at a time and circle two words from the same word family (-ot, -ob, -im, -it). If necessary, explain that words from the same word family end with the same sounds and they rhyme.

Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage: Sentence Capitalization and Punctuation

• Write the following sentence on the board Plants grow in pots. Review or explain that there are different kinds of sentences, and that a sentence like this one tells the reader something. Explain or review that sentences always begin with a capital letter. Ask the students to identify the capital letter. Explain or review that every telling sentence has a period at the end so the reader will know when to stop reading. Explain or review that the period is used as a "stop sign." Circle the period at the end of the sentence.
• Write the following sentence on the board without capitalization or punctuation: plants need water to grow Ask students to tell what is wrong with the sentence (it needs to begin with a capital letter and end with a period). Have a student come to the board and change the lowercase letter to a capital. Have another student put the punctuation at the end of the sentence.
• Write the following sentences on the board:

some plants grow inside
some plants grow in water.
plants need sunlight to grow  
plants need air to grow

Ask the students to tell what needs to be corrected in each sentence. Have students come to the board and make the needed changes.

Vocabulary: Content Vocabulary

• Tell students that many of the words they read in the book tell about plants and where plants grow. Have students work in pairs to find the words in the book that are related to plants and where plants grow.
• Record the words that students find on a word web on the board.
• Give students the content vocabulary worksheet and have them find the words in the word search. Tell them they can use the book as a reference.

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their books independently or with a partner. Partners can take turns reading in the book.

Home Connection

• Give students their books to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.

Writing

• Write the sentence Plants grow in ____. on the board. Ask each student to provide a word to finish the sentence. Have students illustrate their sentences. Display their sentences and illustrations on a bulletin board titled "We Know Where Plants Grow!"

Science Connection

• Use this book as an introduction to a science unit about plant growth. Provide seeds, soil, and paper cups for students to grow their own plants. Discuss how often and how much water is needed, and where the plants can be placed to receive sunlight. Have students check their plants daily and tell about any changes they see.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• use the strategy of asking and answering questions to understand informational text.
• understand the main idea and identify details about it.
• listen to differentiate medial sounds.
• read CVC words with short /o/ and short /i/.
• capitalize and punctuate sentences.
• understand vocabulary related to growing plants.