Shapes in Tide Pools - Lesson Plans

Shapes in Tide Pools
Level E

About the Book

Text Type: Nonfiction/Informational
Page Count: 12
Word Count: 108

Book Summary
This book teaches students about the animals that live in the pools of water on rocky shores called tide pools. The engaging puzzle format encourages readers to use clues to guess the tide pool animal described. Repetitive phrases and high-frequency words support early readers.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

Make, revise, and confirm predictions

Objectives

Make, revise, and confirm predictions to understand text
Identify main idea and details
Discriminate initial consonant digraph /sh/
Identify initial consonant digraph sh
Recognize and identify different types of sentences
List words in alphabetical order

Materials

Book -- Shapes in Tide Pools (copy for each student)
Chalkboard or dry erase board
Main idea and details, consonant digraph sh, sentence type 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: are, can, has, its, like, many, there, they, this
Content words: animal, claws, crab, mussel, oval, pools, rocky, shaped, shores, snail, starfish, tide, triangle

Before Reading

Build Background

Write the words tide pool on the board and point to the words as you read them aloud to students. Repeat the process and have students say the words aloud.
Ask students to tell what they know about the meaning of tide pool. Explain that a tide pool is a pool of water that gets trapped among the rocks, and that small animals live in tide pools.
Encourage students to tell the types of animals they think might live in a tide pool.

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 Shapes in Tide Pools. (Accept any answers that students can justify.)
Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name).
Write the following sentence and repetitive phrases on the board: Can you name this animal? This animal has ______. It is a ______. Read the sentence and 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: Make, revise, and confirm predictions

Explain to students that good readers use what they know to make predictions, or guesses, about what will happen in a story. Explain that making predictions can help readers to make decisions, solve problems, and learn new information. Emphasize that knowing how to make predictions is more important than whether the prediction is correct, or confirmed. Readers continue to make new predictions based on clues they read in a story.
Model using the picture on the front cover of the book to make a prediction.
Think-aloud: When I look at the front cover of the book, I see a person in the water. It looks as though the person is swimming. Since the title of the book is Shapes in Tide Pools, I wonder if the person is swimming in a tide pool. I think the book might be about different shapes of tide pools. I will have to read to find out if this prediction is correct.
Invite students to make a prediction based on the cover pictures and title. Have them share and discuss their predictions as group.
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: Main idea and details

Explain to students that every book has a big, or main, idea, which is what the book is mostly about. Read the title to students. Explain that the title often provides clues about the book's main idea. Invite students to share predictions about the main idea of this book.
Explain to students that the main idea of this book is: Many animals live in tide pools. Write the following sentence on the board: Many animals live in tide pools. Point to each word as you read the sentence aloud with students.
Model how to identify details.
Think-aloud: I know that every book has details that help explain the big idea. I know that this book is about animals that live in tide pools. I see a picture on the back cover of many animals. One of them is shaped like a star. I know that an animal called a starfish lives in water. A starfish might also live in the water of a tide pool. Since this animal helps to explain the big idea, a starfish might be a detail in the story.
Review the kinds of animals the class discussed during the Build Background section. List these ideas on the board. Discuss whether any of these animals might be details in the book.

Introduce the Vocabulary

While previewing the book, reinforce the vocabulary words students will encounter in the story. (Do not show students pages 6, 8, 10, and 12.) For example, while looking at the pictures on page 3 and 4, you might say: Pools of water on rocky shores are called tide pools. Many animals live there.
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 claws on page 7 and say: I am going to check the picture and think about what would make sense to figure out this word. The picture shows an animal with two pincers and eight legs. When I look at the first part of the word, it starts like /cl/. I know the word pincers starts with the /p/ sound, so this cannot be the word. I know that another word for pincers is claws. The word claws begins with the /cl/ sound. The sentence makes sense with this word. The word must be claws.
For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words and word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

Have students read to find out what types of animals live in tide pools. Remind them to visualize and think about the details that support the main idea as they read.

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 (There). 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 7, using their finger to point to each word as they read. Encourage students who finish before others to reread the text.
Model revising a prediction.
Think-aloud: Before reading, I predicted that the book would be about different shapes of tide pools. Based on what I've read so far and the main idea, the book tells more about the animals that live in tide pools. Since the word Shapes is in the title, the book might tell about tide pool animals that are different shapes. The animal shape on page 7 has eight legs and two claws. Spiders have eight legs, but they don't have claws. I predict that the animal is a crab. I will continue reading to find out if my prediction is correct.
Have students review the prediction they made before reading. Have them share a new or revised prediction.
Review the main idea of the book: Many animals live in tide pools. Review the animal listed on page 6 (starfish). Ask students to explain whether a starfish is a detail that supports the main idea of the story and why (yes; a starfish is an animal that lives in tide pools).
Introduce and explain the main idea and details worksheet. Write the word starfish on the board. Have students write the word and draw a picture of a starfish in one of the spaces on their worksheet.
Check for understanding: Have students read to page 9. Remind them to use pictures, sentences, and what they already know to make predictions as they read. When they have finished reading, discuss the outcome of their prediction. Have them make, revise, and/or confirm a prediction.
Ask students to think about other details they read that support the main idea Many animals live in tide pools. Have them draw a detail on their worksheet. Ask them to label their drawing using the word from the book. Have students share the detail they drew and wrote about.
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 book.

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.
Ask students to explain other predictions they made while reading. Invite them to discuss whether their predictions turned out to be true or whether they needed to be revised.
Think-aloud: I predicted that the book might tell about tide pool animals that are different shapes. I also predicted that the animal shape on page 7 was a crab. Both predictions were correct.
Ask students to explain how making, revising, and confirming predictions helped them to enjoy the book.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

Discussion: Read the main idea on the board with students. Review the details students drew on their worksheet. Invite them to explain why each of the details on their worksheet matches the main idea of the story.
Independent practice: Have students complete the main idea and details worksheet.
Enduring understanding: In this book, you used information you knew and clues in the words to make predictions about animals in this book. Now that you know this information, how can you use what you already know to learn about new things?

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Discriminate initial consonant digraph /sh/

Say the word shape aloud to students, emphasizing the initial /sh/ sound. Have them say the word aloud and then say the initial /sh/ sound.
Read page 9 aloud to students. Have them raise their hand when they hear a word that begins with the /sh/ sound.
Check for understanding: Say the following words one at a time and have students give the thumbs-up signal if the word begins with the /sh/ sound: shore, water, pools, shell, animal, shark.

Phonics: Initial consonant digraph sh

Write the word shape on the board and say the word aloud with students.
Have students say the /sh/ sound aloud. Then run your finger under the letters in the word as students say the word aloud. Ask students which two letters together stand for the /sh/ sound in the word shape.
Have students practice writing the sh letter combination on a separate piece of paper while saying the sound the letter combination stands for.
Check for understanding: Write the following words that begin with the /sh/ sound on the board, leaving off the initial digraph: ship, shin, shot. Say each word, one at a time, and have volunteers come to the board and add the initial digraph sh in each word. Have students practice blending the sounds together to say each word.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the consonant digraph sh worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Grammar and Mechanics: Sentence types

Explain to students that there are several types of sentences used in books and all sentences have a signal at the end so readers know when to stop reading. Point out that the signal helps us know which type of sentence is being used.
Have students turn to page 4. Read the sentence aloud with students. Explain that this sentence tells the reader something. It is a telling sentence, and telling sentences end with a period.
Have students turn to page 5. Read the first sentence aloud with students. Explain that this sentence asks the reader something. It is a question sentence, and questions end with a question mark.
Have students turn to page 6. Read the sentence aloud with students. Explain that this sentence ends with an exclamation mark. Point out that the exclamation mark tells readers to read the sentence with an excited voice.
Check for understanding: Have students reread the book and find examples of the different types of sentences and underline them. Have them practice reading the sentences to a partner using the correct voice expression for each sentence.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the sentence type worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Word Work: Alphabetical order

Review or explain to students that words are sometimes placed in a list by alphabetical order. Words are placed in alphabetical order by first looking at the beginning letter in each word and then deciding which letter comes first in the alphabet.
Write the words claws and arms on the board. Underline the first letter in each word. Ask students which letter comes first in the alphabet, c or a. Explain that the word arms would come first in an alphabetical list.
Write the words claws and tide on the board. Have students identify the initial letter in each word (c and t).
Ask students to identify which letter comes first in the alphabet (c). Explain that the word claws would come first in an alphabetical list.
Check for understanding: List the content vocabulary words in the following order on the board: mussel, animal, pool, claws, snail. Have students write the words in alphabetical order on a separate piece of paper. When they have finished, discuss their answers.

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 them identify the main idea and details of the book to someone at home.

Extend the Reading

Expository Writing and Art Connection
Provide students with books on ocean animals. Have them choose one ocean animal. Then have students horizontally divide a piece of paper in half. On one half, have them draw an outline of the animal. Under that picture, have students write a question sentence and two telling sentences about the animal. On the other side, have them draw a picture of the animal and write an exclamation sentence that names the animal.

Science Connection
Work with students to create a list of animals found in tide pools. Make a list of each animal's attributes. Discuss how the animals are alike and different.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

consistently make, revise, and/or confirm predictions based on information in the text
accurately identify the details that support the main idea of the book during discussion and on a worksheet
accurately discriminate initial consonant digraph /sh/ during discussion
identify and write the letter symbols that stand for consonant digraph /sh/ during discussion and on a worksheet
understand and identify telling, question, and exclamatory sentences within text during discussion; correctly identify and punctuate sentences on a worksheet
correctly place words in alphabetical order during discussion and on a separate piece of paper

Comprehension Checks

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