Fishing with Grandpa - Lesson Plans

Fishing with Grandpa
Level F

About the Book

Text Type: Fiction/Realistic
Page Count: 12
Word Count: 176

Book Summary
Fishing with Grandpa tells the story of a grandfather and grandchild who go on a fishing trip together. The day's events are described from beginning to end, including baiting the hook and eating the fish. Young readers who have not been fishing just might get "hooked."

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

Visualize

Objectives

Use the strategy of visualization to better understand text
Sequence story events
Orally segment phonemes
Read VCe long /o/ words
Recognize pronouns and words they represent
Identify and use position words

Materials

Book -- Fishing with Grandpa (copy for each student)
Chalkboard or dry erase board
Sequence events, position words worksheets
Word journal (optional)

Indicates an opportunity for student to mark in the book. (All activities may be completed with paper and pencil if you choose not to have students mark the books.)

Vocabulary

High-frequency words: my, love, get, go, out, our, put
Content words: fish, pole, lake, worms, boat, hook

Before Reading

Build Background

Ask students to share things they have done with grandparents or other family members, such as camping, hiking, sewing, or cooking. Ask them to describe how spending time with these people made them feel.
Ask students to share what they know about fishing. Ask them to tell the kinds of equipment needed for a fishing trip.
Tell them to close their eyes and picture in their mind what it's like to go fishing. Say: We're in a little wooden boat in the middle of the lake. There are small bushes and plants around the lake. Someone in the boat has caught a fish. The fish is leaping high out of the water. Ask students to tell the things they see in their mental picture.

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 Fishing with Grandpa. (Accept any answers students can justify.) Ask if the picture on the back cover looks anything like the picture they made in their mind during the Build Background discussion.
Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Visualize

Explain that good readers often visualize, or make pictures in their mind, as they read. Readers often use what they already know about a topic to make the pictures in their mind.
Read the last sentence on page 7 aloud to students. Model how to visualize.
Think-aloud: As I read these words, I pictured the grandpa picking up a slimy, slippery worm. I pictured how the worm wiggled as Grandpa tried to put it on his hook. Making pictures about what I read helps me understand and remember the story.
Reread the last sentence on page 7 to students. Have students share what they visualized as you read the words aloud.
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

Introduce any words that you feel may be difficult for students into the picture discussion. For example, on page 6, you might say: What are the girl and her grandfather doing here? Yes, they are getting their fishing poles ready.
Point to the word ready on page 6. Model how to apply word-attack strategies.
Think-aloud: I see this word has ea together in the middle of the word. I know that ea sometimes stands for the long /e/ sound so I'll try that first: reedy. Hmmm, that doesn't sound right, so I'll try the short sound: ready. That's better. Now I'll read the sentence aloud so I can check whether 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 read to find out what happens in the story. Remind them to make pictures in their mind 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. Read the word together (My). 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.
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 5, using their finger to point to each word as they read. Encourage students who finish before others to reread the text.
Ask students to share the pictures they made in their mind as they read. Model how to visualize.
Think-aloud: As I read page 5, I pictured the boat rocking back and forth as two people got into the boat on the water. I pictured how far out the water stretched on the big lake.
Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to visualize 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.
Think-aloud: When I read page 10, pictured the worm on the end of the hook floating just below the surface of the water. I pictured a big, hungry fish swimming up to the hook and closing its mouth around it.
Discuss with students how making pictures in their mind makes the book more interesting and more fun to read. Ask them to share additional examples of how they visualized as they read the book.
Discuss additional strategies students used to gain meaning from the book.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Sequence events

Discussion: Ask students how they think the grandfather and grandchild felt when they caught the fish. Ask them how they think the family felt that night at dinner.
Introduce and model the skill: Tell students that a story is a series of events that happen in a particular order. First one thing happens, then something else, and so on. Explain to students that the order in which the events happen is called the sequence. Point out the sequence in this story.
Think-aloud: This story told what happened during a fishing trip. The first thing that happened in the story is Grandpa and his grandchild got the things they needed for fishing. Next, they got in a boat and went out on the lake. I didn't include all the details of the story, as I would in a retelling. I only told the most important events in order to tell the story correctly.
Check for understanding: Have students share the sequence of events through the end of the story. If necessary, use the pictures in the book as a guide.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the sequence events worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Have students use the inside back cover to tell why they would or would not like to go fishing.

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Segment phonemes

Say the word fish and tell students that you can say the word by segmenting it into each of its sounds: /f/ /i/ /sh/. Tell them that you can hear three sounds in the word fish. Repeat the word and have them listen for the sounds.
Say the word pole aloud with students, stretching the sounds in the word. Have students tell how many sounds they hear in the word (3).
Say the following words one at a time: lake (3), out (2), boat (3), go (2), bite (3). Have students say the word aloud and count the number of sounds they hear in each word. Have them hold up fingers to show the number of sounds in each word.

Phonics: VCe Long /o/

Write the word not on the board. Read the word aloud with students. Identify the consonants and the vowel in the word. Label the consonants and vowel in the word (CVC).
Write the letter e at the end of the word not. Read the word aloud with students. Ask them to tell how the word changed.
Explain to students that when the letter e is added to the end of a CVC word, the vowel often becomes long and says its name. Repeat the process with the word hop.
Have students turn to page 4 and read the first sentence aloud. Ask them which word in the sentence has the long /o/ sound in the middle of the word (poles). Write the word pole on the board. Circle the -ole letter combination and remind students that this is the CVCe pattern (a vowel between two consonants followed by a silent final -e).
Write the following words under the word pole, leaving off the final e in each word: rob and cop. Read each word aloud with students. Have volunteers come to the board, add the final -e in a word, and then read the word aloud.

Grammar and Mechanics: Pronouns

Have students reread page 5. Have them put their finger on the word we. Ask them to whom the word we refers (grandpa and grandchild).
Have students reread page 11 and put their finger on the word it when they have finished reading. Ask them who or what the word it refers to (the fish). Tell students that the words we and it are called pronouns, and they take the place of nouns.
Write the following phrases on the board: the girls, my mom and I, the boy, Sally, the boat. Ask students to think of a pronoun to take the place of each group of words. Write the pronouns under the corresponding group of words (they, we, he, she, it).
Have students use the pronouns in oral sentences.

Word Work: Position words

Have students turn to page 7. Read the second sentence aloud. Ask students which words tell them exactly where grandpa put the worm (on the hook). Write the word on on the board and have students say the word aloud.
Have students turn to page 11. Read the first sentence aloud. Ask students which word tells exactly where they pulled the fish (in). Have students explain the difference between on and in.
Explain that some words help readers understand exactly where things are. These words are called position words.
Have students hold a small object, such as a pencil, in their hand. Instruct them to move the pencil using the position words on and in. Observe how students move their object.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the position words worksheet. If time allows, 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.

Extend the Reading

Writing Connection
Ask students to think about the items the grandpa and grandchild needed to take with them on their fishing trip. Model making a list by writing down the items needed for a familiar activity, such as going swimming. Ask students to think of their favorite thing to do and write a list of items they would need to bring. Ask students to share their list with the group.

Science Connection
Discuss with students information about fish, such as how they breathe, what they eat, and where they live. Have them create a class Venn diagram about the similarities and differences between fish and themselves.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

visualize the events in the story and tell what they see
correctly sequence the events in the story on the graphic organizer
tell how many sounds they hear in oral words
recognize and read VCe long /o/ words
locate the pronouns in the book and correctly point to their references; name other pronouns to use in place of noun groups
identify position words; correctly use them in sentences during discussion and on a worksheet

Comprehension Checks

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