Hugs
Level E

About the Book

Text Type: Fiction/Realistic
Page Count: 10
Word Count: 121

Book Summary
Hugs tells the story of a group of friends, all but one of whom is having a bad day and needs a hug. The unexpected conclusion ends the book on an uplifting note. Hugs reinforces the validity of both good and bad feelings and the importance of receiving hugs for either kind. The simple story structure presents situations with which most students will be familiar. Charming illustrations support the text.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

  • Retell

Objectives

  • Use the strategy of retelling to understand the text
  • Identify cause-and-effect relationships
  • Blend phonemes
  • Read words with final blend -st
  • Recognize adjectives as words that describe
  • Identify and produce synonyms

Materials

  • Book -- Hugs (copy for each student)
  • Chalkboard or dry erase board
  • Cause and effect, adjectives 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: hug, very, away, gave
  • Content words: terrible, huge, rotten, giant, miserable, enormous, horrible

Before Reading

Build Background

  • Discuss with students what makes them feel happy and what makes them feel sad. Ask what makes them feel better when they are feeling sad or angry.
  • Discuss different feelings that everyone has, such as happiness, anger, fear, sadness, disappointment, and loneliness. Ask volunteers to show how they express each feeling through facial expressions and body movement.

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 Hugs. (Accept any answers students can justify.) Ask why they think the children in the picture might be smiling.
  • Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Retell

  • Explain to students that one way to understand and remember what they are reading is to stop now and then during reading to retell in their mind what is happening in the story.
  • Explain to students that when someone retells something, they explain the details of what happened in order. Point out to them that people retell stories as part of their daily lives, such as explaining what happened at a sports game. Ask students to share other examples of when people might give a retelling.
  • Model retelling a familiar story in detail, such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
    Think-aloud: In Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Goldilocks comes to a house in the forest that belongs to three bears: a mama bear, a papa bear, and a baby bear. The bears leave the house for a walk in the forest while their porridge is cooling. Goldilocks goes inside the house, even though no one is home. First, Goldilocks sees three bowls of porridge on the table. She tries each one. The first bowl is too hot, the second bowl is too cold, and the third bowl is just right, so she eats it all up. Next, she sees three chairs and sits in each one. The first chair is too hard, the second chair is too soft, and the third chair is just right. However, that chair breaks and Goldilocks falls to the ground.
  • Continue retelling in detail to the end of the story. Invite students to suggest information for the retelling of this story.
  • Have students place sticky notes on pages 4, 6, 8, and 10. Explain to them that as they read, they should stop on these pages to think about what has happened in the story. Encourage students to retell in their mind what happens 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 Vocabulary
  • As you preview the book, use vocabulary from the book in your discussion. Words students may have difficulty with are: favorite, terrible, miserable, enormous, and horrible.
  • Model reading strategies students can use to work out unfamiliar words. Point to the word favorite on page 4 as you read the first and second sentences, skipping the word favorite. Say: I know that Jamal is unhappy because he lost his book. It must be a book he really likes. I need a word describing his book. The word begins with the /f/ sound. I see the word or in the middle of the word. I think about what would make sense here. I think the word is favorite. When I reread the sentence, this word makes sense.
  • 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 pause as they read to retell in their mind what is happening in the story.

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 (Maggie). 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.
  • Have them read to the end of page 4, using their finger to point to each word as they read. Encourage students who finish before others to reread the text.
  • Ask students what has happened so far in the story. Model how you stopped to mentally retell the story.
    Think-aloud: I stopped after a few pages to retell in my mind what I had read so far. First, I learned that a girl named Maggie had a bad day. She needs a hug because she lost her favorite hat. Jamal also had a bad day. He needs a hug because he lost his favorite book.
  • Have students read to the end of page 6. Ask them to retell the events of the story to a partner.
  • Have students read the remainder of the story. Remind them to pause after a few pages to think about what has happened in the story and to make sure they understand it.

  Have students make a small question mark in their book beside any word or words 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 as an opportunity to model how to read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
  • Retell in detail with students the events of the story from pages 7 and 8, using the pictures in the book as a guide.
    Think-aloud: Rollo had a bad day because his friend moved away. He needs a hug. Rosie needs a lot of hugs. She is very sad because her goldfish died.
  • Have volunteers retell the events to the end of the book, using the pictures in the book as a guide. Then have them retell the story to a partner, starting at the beginning. Listen for whether students include the following: correct events in detail, events in order, main characters.
  • Ask students how pausing to retell the story in their minds helped them remember what was happening in the story.
  • Discuss additional strategies students used to gain meaning from the book.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Cause and effect

  • Discussion: Ask students to explain why receiving hugs would make each character in the story feel better.
  • Introduce and model the skill: Tell students that most of the children in the book had a bad day. Write bad day on the board. Explain that something happened to each child that caused them to have a bad day. Model identifying causes for an effect.
  • Think-aloud: On page 3, I read that Maggie had a bad day. She lost her favorite hat. Losing her favorite hat caused Maggie to have a bad day. Maggie had a bad day because she lost her favorite hat. Write lost hat on the board next to the words bad day.
  • Check for understanding: Direct students to page 4. Ask them what caused Jamal to have a bad day. Have them use the word because in their answer. Prompt them with the sentence: Jamal had a very bad day because _______.
  • Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the cause and effect worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Instruct students to use the last page of their book to draw a picture showing something that made them feel happy or unhappy.

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Blend phonemes

  • Say the word hug by segmenting each of the sounds: /h/ /u/ /g/. Tell students that you can blend the sounds together to say the word: hug. Repeat the word and have students blend the sounds with you.
  • Say the following words to students, by segmenting the sounds in each word: knee, book, game, friend, team. Pause after saying each word and have students orally blend the sounds together to say each word.

Phonics: Final blend -st

  • Have students turn to page 6 in their book. Point to the word lost and read it aloud with students. Ask students what sound they hear at the end of the word lost. Tell them that the sounds of the letters s and t together stand for the /st/ sound they hear at the end of the word lost. Repeat with the word best on page 7.
  • Write the following words on the board, leaving off the st letter combination: most, fast, list, pest. Say each word one at a time. Have volunteers come to the board and write the st letter combination at the end of the words. Then have students read the words aloud as you run your finger under the letters in each word.

Grammar and Mechanics: Adjectives

  • Write the following sentence on the board: Billy had a good day. Explain that some words are used to describe something. Circle the words day and good. Explain that the word good tells what kind of day it was. Tell students that words like these help the reader get a clearer picture of what the author wants to say.
  • Reread page 3 with students. Write the words day, hat, and hug on the board. Ask students to tell which words in the book describe each of the words on the board (bad, favorite, big).
  • Have students circle the words in the book that describe the kind of day the children had. Have them share the words they find. Then have students circle the words that describe the kind of hug the children needed. Have them share the words they find.
  • Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the adjectives worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Word Work: Synonyms

  • Direct students to page 3 of the book and read the first sentence. Have them put their finger on the word bad. Remind students that all of the children except Billy had a bad day. Explain that the author used other words that mean the same thing as bad. These words are synonyms for the word bad.
  • Write the word bad on the board. Have students identify the synonyms from the book for the word bad. Write these words on the board: terrible, rotten, miserable, horrible.
  • Write the word big on the board. Have students identify the synonyms from the book for the word big. Write these words on the board: huge, giant, enormous.

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 and Connection
Write the following sentence on the board: I had a _____ day because _____. Model to students how to fill in the blanks. (For example: I had a wonderful day because I got a new hat.) Have students use the sentence pattern on the board to write their own sentence. Invite them to illustrate a picture about their sentence.

Social Studies Connection
Discuss with students nice gestures they could do for another person, such as giving someone a compliment, inviting someone to play a game with you, and so on. Write students' ideas on the board. Have each student choose and perform a nice gesture for someone they know.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

  • pause to retell what has happened in the story; discuss how retelling helps them remember the story
  • correctly identify cause-and-effect relationships in the book and record them on the graphic organizer
  • orally blend sounds to say words
  • correctly read words with the final blend -st
  • correctly identify adjectives used in the book
  • accurately locate synonyms for the words bad and big in the book

Comprehension Checks



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