What Is in the Box?
Level E 

About the Book 

Text Type: Fiction/Realistic
Page Count: 12
Word Count: 121

Book Summary
In What Is in the Box?, a boy takes a box to be mailed. Find out where the box goes and what happens to it along the way. Repetitive text, supportive pictures, and high-frequency words make this book perfect for emerging readers.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

  • Connect to prior knowledge

Objectives

  • Use the reading strategy of connecting to prior knowledge to understand the story
  • Make inferences
  • Discriminate final sound /n/
  • Identify final consonant Nn
  • Identify and classify nouns
  • Recognize alliteration with the /b/ sound

Materials

  • Book -- What Is in the Box? (copy for each student)
  • Chalkboard or dry erase board
  • Inference, final consonant Nn, nouns 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: and, big, box, brown, gets, goes, what
  • Content words: dropped, knocks, mail, placed, smashed, Special Delivery, stamped, torn, tossed

Before Reading 

Build Background

  • Write the word mail on the board and point to the word as you read it aloud to students. Repeat the process and have students say the word aloud.
  • Ask students if they have ever sent or received a letter or package by mail. Encourage them to explain what they sent or received. Discuss why people send mail to others.

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 What Is in the Box? (Accept any answers that students can justify.)
  • Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).
  • Write the following repetitive phrases on the board: The big brown box goes ___ and The box gets ____. Read the 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: Connect to prior knowledge

  • Explain to students that good readers make connections between what they already know and new information they read. Remind them 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 information on the covers.
    Think-aloud: When I look at the front cover of What Is in the Box?, I see a boy carrying a box on the back of his bike. I wonder where he might be taking the box. He could be delivering the box to someone. However, I can see a label on the outside of the box. I have sent boxes of things to people before, and I know you must put an address on the outside of the box. People take letters and boxes to the post office to mail to someone. Thinking about what I already know can help me read and understand the information in the book.
  • 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: Make inferences

  • Explain that authors don't always use details to explain everything that happens in a book. Sometimes they give readers clues to figure out what they didn't tell in the words. Readers have to use clues from the story and what they already know to make a guess. This is called making an inference.
  • Model how to make an inference using the front and back covers of the book.
    Think-aloud: When I look at the picture on the front of the book, I see lots of puddles and something splashing up from the tires of the bike. I know that puddles often form after it rains. I've seen cars drive through puddles, causing water to splash out from the sides of the car. Based on the clues from the book and what I know, I can infer, or guess, that it has just rained.
  • Invite students to make an inference about what might be happening to the items in the box. Remind them to use information from the pictures and what they already know to make the inference.

Introduce the Vocabulary

  • While previewing the book, reinforce the vocabulary words students will encounter in the story. For example, while looking at the picture on page 3, you might say: What is in the box? It looks as though the box is big and brown.
  • Remind students to look at the picture and the letters with which a word begins or ends to figure out a difficult word. For example, point to the word stamped on page 4, and say: I am going to check the picture and think about what would make sense to figure out this word. The picture shows the boy mailing the big brown box. When I look at the first part of the word, it starts like /st/. However, the word mailed starts with the /m/ sound, so this can't be the word. I know that when something is mailed, it gets stamped. The word stamped starts with the /st/ sound. The sentence makes sense with this word. The word must be stamped.
  • For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words and word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

  • Have students read to find out what is in the box. Remind them to think about the clues from the story and what they already know to help them make inferences to better understand the story.

During Reading 

Student Reading

  • Guide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Have them read to the end of page 4 and then stop to think about what they might say about what will happen to the box. Encourage students who finish before others to reread the text.
  • Model using prior knowledge to make an inference.
    Think-aloud: As I read the first two pages of the story, I thought about what might happen to the box. I think the boy is sending the box to someone he knows. I can make this guess because the story clues tell me that the box goes in the mail and gets stamped. I know that when I send a box in the mail, I send it to someone I know. I used the clues from the story and what I already knew about mailing boxes to help me infer what will happen to the box.
  • Introduce and explain the inference worksheet. Have students record the text clues and known information on their worksheet.
  • Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 8. Remind them to use the clues from the story and information they already know to make an inference as they read. When they have finished reading, have them make an inference about what has happened to the items inside the box (the items are broken or damaged). Discuss information from the book and their prior knowledge that supports their inference (the box got smashed, wet, torn; items are ruins when I tear or smash them). Have them write their inference and the supporting clues on their inference worksheet.
  • Invite students to share additional ways they connected to prior knowledge as they read.
  • Have students read the remainder of the book. Encourage them to continue to use what they know and the clues in the book to make inferences.

    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.
  • Think-aloud: When I read page 12, it reminded me of packages delivered to my house. Sometimes you have to sign your name on a sheet of paper before you can get the box. Sometimes the postal worker leaves a note on the door telling me to pick up the package at the post office. I used what I already knew to better understand the story. I also used what I knew to make inferences about what was happening in the story.
  • Ask students to explain how using what they already knew helped them to understand and enjoy the story. Invite them to share additional ways they connected to prior knowledge as they read.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

  • Discussion: Ask students who the man is at the end of the story (a delivery man or postal worker). Discuss the text clues and prior knowledge they used to help them make their inference (he brought the package to the door and said "Special Delivery"; special workers deliver packages and mail to people).
  • Have students write the information on their inference worksheet.
  • Enduring understanding: In this story, it took many steps to get the box from one place to another. Now that you know this information, what does this tell you about what you need to do in order to get your package successfully from one place to another?

Build Skills 

Phonological Awareness: Discriminate final /n/ sound

  • Say the word in aloud to students, emphasizing the final /n/ sound. Have students say the word aloud and then say the final /n/ sound.
  • Read pages 7 and 8 aloud to students. Have them clap their hands when they hear a word that ends with the /n/ sound.
  • Check for understanding: Say the following words one at a time and have students give the thumbs-up signal if the word ends with the /n/ sound: plan, truck, rain, box, sun, boat.

Phonics: Identify final consonant Nn

  • Write the word in on the board and say the word aloud with students.
  • Have students say the /n/ sound aloud. Then run your finger under the letters in the word as students say the word aloud. Ask students what letter stands for the /n/ sound in the word in.
  • Have students practice writing the letter Nn on a separate piece of paper as they say the sound of the letter.
  • Check for understanding: Write the following words that end with the letter Nn on the board, leaving off the final consonant Nn: van, man, hen. Say each word and have volunteers come to the board to add the final consonant Nn to the words.
  • Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the final consonant Nn worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Grammar and Mechanics: Nouns

  • Show students a picture of a person, a place, and a thing. Ask volunteers to identify the pictures. Explain that some words name a person, a place, or a thing. These naming words are called nouns.
  • Have students turn to page 3 in their book. Invite them to read the first sentence together, pointing to the words as you read them aloud. Ask students to point to the word that names a thing (box).
  • Have students turn to page 11. Read the first sentence aloud with students, pointing to the words as you read them aloud. Ask students to point to the word that names a person (man).
  • Check for understanding: Have students reread the story and underline the nouns. When they have finished, discuss whether the nouns they underlined name a person, a place, or a thing.
  • Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the nouns worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Word Work: Alliteration

  • Write the phrase big brown box on the board and ask students what they notice about the beginning of each word in the phrase (each word begins with the /b/ sound). Explain that sometimes authors use words together that begin with the same letter because it sounds good when it is read aloud. This is called alliteration.
  • Have students say the phrase aloud several times together.
  • Write the word boat on the board. Have students think of two words to describe the boat that begin with the /b/ sound (big, blue, and so on). Write the phrase on the board and underline the first letter of each word.
  • Check for understanding: Have students work with a partner to create an alliterative phrase about one of the objects in the book. Have them write the phrase on a separate piece of paper. Invite students to share their phrase aloud.

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. Have students explain to someone at home the text clues and prior knowledge they used to make inferences.

Extend the Reading 

Narrative Writing and Art Connection
Have students draw a package they might send to someone. Have them write sentences to tell the reader to whom they are sending the box, what is in the box, and why they are sending it. Combine the pages into a class book. Reinforce student understanding of alliteration, nouns, and high-frequency words.

Social Studies Connection
Review with students the types of transportation used in the story to take the box from one place to another. List these on the board. Discuss the items each type of transportation could carry and when each would likely be used.

Assessment 

Monitor students to determine if they can:

  • accurately and consistently use prior knowledge to understand text
  • accurately use text clues and prior knowledge to make inferences about text during discussion and on a worksheet
  • accurately discriminate the final /n/ sound during discussion
  • identify and write the letter symbol that stands for the /n/ sound during discussion and on a worksheet
  • correctly identify and classify nouns during a discussion and on a worksheet
  • understand and identify examples of alliteration

Comprehension Checks



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