Build Background

• Write the word dinner 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 to explain the meaning of the word dinner. Invite them to share what they like to eat for dinner. Ask students what they think animals eat for dinner. Discuss the similarities and differences between the kinds of food that different animals eat. Have students explain why some animals might eat certain foods.

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's for Dinner? (Accept all 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: Giraffe tried eating ____ just like _____ and Giraffe tried to eat _____ just like _____. Read the phrases aloud, pointing to the words as you read them to students. Have students read them aloud. Explain that these words repeat in the book.

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 that when people retell a story or event, they explain the details of what happened in order. Point out that people retell stories as part of their daily lives, such as explaining a favorite story or the events on a television show. Ask students to share other examples of times when people might give a retelling.
• Model retelling a familiar story in detail, such as Little Red Riding Hood.
  Think-aloud: In Little Red Riding Hood, Little Red finds out that her grandmother is not feeling well, so she decides to go visit her. First, she packs a basket full of food and begins her trip down the path through the woods. Next, she stops to pick some flowers for her grandmother. A wolf sees her and stops to talk with her. When Little Red says that she is on her way to visit her grandmother, the wolf leaves her to go to the grandmother's house. Then, the wolf swallows the grandmother and waits to swallow Little Red.
• 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 5, 7, and 9. Explain that as they read, they should stop on these pages to think about what has happened so far 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 Comprehension Skill: Problem and solution

• Explain that most stories have a problem that the main character needs to fix. The solution is how the problem is fixed.
• Model how to identify the problem and solution using a familiar story.
  Think-aloud: In the story Little Red Riding Hood, Little Red could not escape the wolf at her grandmother's house. This was a problem for her because the wolf was able to swallow her up. However, when a woodsman saw the wolf in the grandmother's house, he knew something was wrong. He rescued Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother from the wolf.
• Have students think of familiar stories to share. Discuss the problems and solutions in each story.

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 5, you might say: It looks as if Giraffe tried to eat grass just like a deer. But I think bending down hurt his neck.
• Remind students to look at the pictures and the letters a word begins or ends with to figure out a difficult word. For example, point to the word tongue on page 6, and say: I am going to check the picture and think about what would make sense to figure out this word. The picture shows Giraffe trying to eat ants that are near his mouth. When I look at the first part of the word, it starts like /t/. However, the word mouth starts with the /m/ sound, so this cannot be the word. I know that Giraffe has a tongue in his mouth. The word tongue starts with the /t/ sound. The sentence makes sense with this word. The word must be tongue.
• For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words or word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read to find out what Giraffe will eat for dinner. Remind them to stop reading at the end of each page with a sticky note to quickly retell in their mind what has happened so far in the story. Have them think about the problem and solution as they read.

During Reading 

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Have them read to the end of page 5 and think about Giraffe's problem and how he will try to solve it. Encourage students who finish before others to reread the text.
• Model how to retell and locate the problem and possible solutions.
  Think-aloud: After I read the first three pages, I thought about what had happened so far in the story. Giraffe was hungry, but he didn't want to eat leaves. I think this might be the problem in the story. Next, Giraffe tried eating grass like a deer, but bending down hurt his neck. Eating grass was the first solution Giraffe tried, but it didn't work. I wonder what Giraffe will try next.
• Introduce and explain the problem and solution worksheet. Model drawing the problem and the first possible solution on the board. Have students draw this problem and solution on their worksheet. Have students predict what Giraffe might try next and whether it will solve his problem.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 7. Ask volunteers to retell the events after Giraffe tried eating grass and to tell whether or not Giraffe has solved his problem yet. Have students draw one of Giraffe's possible solutions on their problem and solution worksheet.
• Ask students to share predictions about what Giraffe might try next and how he might solve his problem. Have them read the remainder of the story. Remind them to continue stopping on pages with sticky notes to retell in their mind what they have 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.
• Retell in detail with students the events of the story after Giraffe tried eating honey.
  Think-aloud: After Giraffe tried to eat honey and got stung by bees, he tried to eat fish like an otter. But he fell in the water and got wet. Next, he tried to eat bugs like a frog, but his tongue wasn't fast enough.
• Have volunteers retell the events to the end of the book. Show students the pictures from these pages to use 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, problem, and solution.
• Ask students how retelling the events of the story in their mind as they read helped them understand the story.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Discuss with students the problem and possible solutions Giraffe tried that they drew on their worksheet. Point out that he tried many things before he found a solution.
• Independent practice: Have students complete their problem and solution worksheet. When they have finished, discuss their answers.
• Enduring understanding: Giraffe tried many things before finding a solution to his problem. Now that you know this information, what will you do next time you are faced with a problem?

Build Skills 

Phonemic Awareness: Discriminate initial consonant blend /tr/

• Say the word tree aloud to students, emphasizing the initial /tr/ sound. Have students say the word aloud and then say the initial /tr/ sound.
• Read the first sentence on page 5 aloud to students. Have them raise their hand when they hear a word that begins with the /tr/ 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 /tr/ sound: trap, tray, take, roll, trip.

Phonics: Initial consonant blend tr

• Write the word tree on the board and say the word aloud with students.
• Have students say the /tr/ sound aloud. Then run your finger under the letters in the word as students say the whole word aloud. Ask students which letters together stand for the /tr/ sound in the word tree.
• Have students practice writing the tr consonant blend on a separate piece of paper while saying the sound the letters stand for together.
• Check for understanding: Write the following words that begin with the tr consonant blend on the board, leaving off the initial blend: tray, trap, trip. Say each word one at a time, and have volunteers come to the board and add the initial consonant blend in each word. Have the remaining students practice blending the sounds together to say the word aloud.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the initial consonant blend tr worksheet.

Grammar and Mechanics: Quotation marks

• Have students turn to page 4 and locate the first sentence. Read this sentence aloud to students. Point to the quotation marks. Explain that these marks are called quotation marks. These marks go around the words that characters say in a story.
• Point out the phrase he said after the quotation marks. Explain that these words explain who is speaking in the sentence. Ask students to whom the word he refers (Giraffe). Tell students that in this sentence, Giraffe is speaking.
• Have students turn to page 5. Read the first sentence aloud to students. Explain that a character is not speaking on this page, so quotation marks are not used.
• Check for understanding: Have students locate and circle other places where quotation marks are used in the story. Discuss who is speaking in the sentence.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the quotation marks worksheet.

Word Work: Alphabetical order

• Write the words bear and frog on the board. Underline the first letter in each word. Ask students which letter comes first in the alphabet, b or f.
• Review or explain 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 bear and grass on the board. Have students identify the initial letter in each word (b and g).
• Ask students to identify which letter comes first in the alphabet (b). Explain that the word bear would come first in a list of words in alphabetical order.
• Check for understanding: List the content vocabulary words in the following order on the board: bird, giraffe, otter, leaves, frog. 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 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 retell the story to someone at home and locate the problem and solution together.

Extend the Reading 

Writing and Art Connection
Have students draw a picture of something else Giraffe could try to eat. Under the drawing, help them write a sentence to describe their picture using the following prompt: Giraffe tried eating _________ just like ___________.

Science Connection
Discuss foods that animals eat and why they might eat the foods they do. For example, Giraffes eat leaves because they have a long neck and tongue to reach them in the trees.

Assessment 

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• accurately and consistently retell the story using pictures
• accurately and consistently locate problem and solution during discussion and on a worksheet
• accurately discriminate the initial consonant blend /tr/ sound during discussion
• identify and write the letter combination that stands for the /tr/ sound during discussion and on a worksheet
• understand, locate, and use quotation marks correctly during discussion and on a worksheet
• correctly place words in alphabetical order during discussion and on a separate piece of paper

Comprehension Checks

• Book Quiz
• Retelling Rubric

Go to "What's for Dinner?" main page