Build Background

• Write the words birthday party on the board. Read them aloud. Invite students to share with the class a memorable birthday celebration they have had.
• Ask students to think about what makes their birthday special. Write their responses on the board. Point out that everyone has a birthday, and people celebrate these in similar and different ways.

Book Walk

Introduce the Book

• Show students the front cover and read the title aloud with them. Ask what they might read about in a book called Happy Birthday, Snag! (Accept any answer students can justify.)
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).  
• Review the terms real and make-believe. Ask students to identify elements from the cover picture to determine if the book will be real or fantasy.
• Review the names of the characters in the story. Point to and read aloud the names Snag (p. 3), Bonk (p. 4), Uzzle (p. 4), Lurk (p. 5), and Jupe (p. 6). Have students repeat the names aloud.

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Connect to prior knowledge

• Explain that good readers make connections between what they already know and new information they read. Remind students that thinking about what they already know about the topic of the book will help them understand what they read.
• Model connecting to prior knowledge using the pictures and title on the cover.
  Think-aloud: When I look at the front cover of Happy Birthday, Snag! I think that the story will be about a birthday party for a make-believe character named Snag. It makes me think about a time when I had a birthday party. I had presents to open, just like on the cover of this story. I had a cake with candles. I had many friends over, too. We played games outside. I wonder if Snag will have a good time at the party. I wonder what his favorite part of the party will be.
• Ask students to identify one element about a birthday on the front or back cover and connect it to a birthday celebration they remember.
• 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 that sorting things that are alike into groups helps readers make sense of information. Show students various school-related items, such as a pencil, book, notebook, and crayon. Model classifying information.
  Think-aloud: As I thought about how to group these objects, I started by asking myself what they have in common. When I looked at them, I noticed that they are all things I use at school.
• Ask students to identify other objects that would belong in this group (for example, scissors, tape, glue, and so on).
• Have volunteers suggest ways to sort the objects into two groups (items used/not used for writing, items with/without pages, and so on).

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Place the picture from page 10 on the board. Write the words birthday party under the picture. Ask students to describe what they see in the picture. Have them explain why many people celebrate birthdays (to celebrate getting one year older, to celebrate the day someone is born, to have a party).
• Cut out the pictures on pages 4, 5, and 6 from an extra copy of the book. Circle the following items on the pictures: balloons, cake, candles, and presents. Show the objects in the pictures to students, one at a time. Have them identify each object and explain why they think it is part of a birthday celebration.
• Label each object and place it on the board around the words birthday party.
• Ask students to suggest additional items someone might find at a birthday party. Have students illustrate an item on an index card. Provide assistance as needed with the spelling of the labels for the items. Place the cards on the board around the words birthday party.
• For tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students think about their own experiences with birthday celebrations while reading the story about Snag's birthday. Remind them to think about how the items in the story are alike and different, and how they would sort these items into groups.

During Reading 

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Give students their book. Point out the words on the page in the book. Explain that the words on the pages are read from left to right. Ask a student to come up and point to where students should start reading and in which direction they go as they read.
• Point to the numbers at the bottom of the pages. Have students read to the end of page 5, using their finger to point to each word as they read.
• Model connecting to prior knowledge.
  Think-aloud: On page 5, Bonk and Lurk are putting candles on the cake. People like to put candles on a cake to show someone's age. How old do you think Snag is this year? (6) How do you know that? (count the number of candles).
• Check for understanding: Have students read to page 7. Encourage them to share how they connected to prior knowledge as they read. Ask open-ended questions to facilitate the discussion: Why does Uzzle tie the balloons to the chairs? What types of presents do you think Snag will get for his birthday? Why do you think the characters are giving Snag a birthday party?
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to use what they already know about birthdays to help them understand new information 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.
• Have students share examples of how they connected their own experiences with birthdays on pages 8, 9, and 10.
  Think-aloud: When I read page 10, I thought about how Snag's friends seemed to like giving Snag a party as much as he enjoyed having a party. What clues helped me to draw that conclusion? (Everyone was smiling, the friends had everything ready for the party, and so on.)
• Ask students to share reasons why friends do nice things for each other. Discuss qualities of a good friend. Ask students what they can do to continue to be a good friend.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

    Discussion: Have students circle three items in the story that share common characteristics. Have them identify the items and explain how they belong in the same group (for example, all round items, all birthday items, and so on).

• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the classify information worksheet.
• Extend the discussion: Encourage students to discuss the familiar items they would bring to another event, such as a picnic, a beach outing, and so on.

Build Skills 

Phonemic Awareness: Discriminate medial long vowel sounds

• Say the words rake and bike aloud, one at a time, emphasizing the medial vowel sound. Point out the long vowel sound in each word. Say the words aloud with students, emphasizing the long vowel sound in each word.
• Say the words rake and bike again. Ask students to identify the difference between the vowel sounds (rake makes the long /a/ sound and bike makes the long /i/ sound).
• Show students the pictures on the picture cards worksheet. Say the name of each picture aloud with students. Have volunteers take turns sorting the cards into two groups: long /a/ vowel words and long /i/ vowel words.
• Check for understanding: Say the following words aloud, one at a time: cane, bite, pine, and tape. Have students show a thumbs-up sign when they hear a long /a/ sound and the thumbs-down sign when they hear the long /i/ sound.

Phonics: VCe words

• Write the following words on the board: cane, bite, pine, and tape. Read the words aloud together. Ask students to look carefully at all the words to find a common letter pattern. Guide students to identify that all the words end with the letter e.
• Have volunteers circle the letter e at the end of each word. Point out that each word also has another vowel. Have volunteers circle the other vowel in each word.
• Say the word cane aloud. Then cover the -e at the end of the word. Have students say the word aloud (can). Repeat the process with the words bite, pine, and tape. Point out that the -e at the end of the word is one way to make the other vowel say its name. Read the word cane together, emphasizing the long /a/ sound.
• Check for understanding: Write the words cape, line, take, mane, and side on the board, leaving a blank for the vowels. Say each word aloud. Have volunteers come to the board to add the vowels to complete each word. Have students say each word aloud.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the VCe words worksheet.

Grammar and Mechanics: Quotation marks

• Write the following sentence on the board: "Do you have the balloons?" asks Bonk. Read the sentence aloud. Explain that Bonk is speaking. Circle the quotation marks. Discuss the use of quotation marks at the beginning and end of someone speaking in a story.
• Have students suggest sentences that include speaking. Write their dialogue on the board, leaving off the quotation marks. Have volunteers come to the board and add the missing quotation marks.
• Check for understanding: Ask students to turn to page 4 and find another example of a character speaking. Have them place their finger on the beginning and ending quotation marks. Read the statement aloud. Have students take turns with a partner to find additional examples of dialogue/quotation marks throughout the book. Ask them to read their examples aloud.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the quotation marks worksheet.

Vocabulary: High-frequency word put

• Explain that some words are used more than other words in books. Tell students that it is important to be able to recognize these words and that you are going to teach them one of the words.
• Write the word put on the board. Read the word together.
• Model fluent writing on the board or chart paper. Have students practice tracing the spelling of the word with their pointer finger on their desk.
• Show students a classroom object such as a pencil or book. Pick up the object and place it on a student's desk or table. Say: I put the pencil on the desk. Then choose another object and place it somewhere else in the classroom. Say: I put the book on the shelf. Point to the word put on the board. Have students explain what it means to put something somewhere (to move an object somewhere).
• Check for understanding: Have students share sentences aloud that use the word put. Allow them to use objects in the classroom to physically illustrate how to put something somewhere in the classroom.

Build Fluency 

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their book independently or with a partner. Encourage repeated timed readings of a specific section in the book. 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. Encourage students to share what they know about birthday celebrations with someone at home.

Extend the Reading 

Writing and Art Connection
Choose a familiar activity that requires students to bring something along, such as going on a picnic, going on a trip, and so on. On large construction paper, have students draw a picture of an item they would bring. Provide the prompt I will bring the ___________. Below their picture, have students write a sentence using the prompt. Combine the pages into a class book. Invite students to share their illustration and sentence with the class.

Science Connection
Have students identify a variety of objects. Draw and label each object on the board. Explain that in science, objects can be sorted into groups by properties. Explain that a property is a characteristic of an object that describes it, such as hard, soft, light, and heavy. Write these words as headings on the board and say each word aloud with students. Then have volunteers sort the list of objects into groups under these headings.

Assessment 

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• accurately and consistently connect to prior knowledge to understand text during discussion
• accurately classify information during discussion and on a worksheet
• orally identify and discriminate long /a/ and long /i/ medial vowel sounds during discussion
• understand that most words with the VCe pattern have a long medial vowel sound; demonstrate understanding during discussion and on a worksheet
• identify quotation marks in text and explain their use during discussion and on a worksheet
• correctly read, write, and understand the use of high-frequency word put

Comprehension Checks

• Retelling Rubric

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