Build Background

• Ask students if they have ever been camping or seen a movie or TV show about someone who is camping. Have them tell the kinds of camping equipment used on a camping trip.
• Extend the discussion by having students tell why they think people like to go camping.

Book Walk

Introduce the Strategy: Retell

• Direct students' attention to the front cover again. Ask students who they think the people are and where they think the people are having the picnic. Ask what they think they might read about in a book called Our Camping Trip.
• Show students the title page. Talk about the information that is written on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).
• Have students look at the table of contents on page 3. Read the chapter titles. Ask students in which chapter they think they will read about going to sleep under the stars. Have students tell which chapter will probably tell about someone going fishing.
• Explain to students that one way to understand what they are reading is to stop occasionally and retell in their heads what is happening in the book.
• Show students the front and back covers of the book and read the title with them. Ask students what they think the book will be about. Ask where they think the people are and how they can tell.
• Model retelling. As I read this book, I am going to stop every now and then to remind myself about who the characters are in the story and what has happened so far. This helps me remember what I’m reading and makes me think about what might happen next. When I finish reading the book, I should be able to tell someone what happened and in what order.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• As you preview the book, ask students to talk about what they see in the illustrations and use the vocabulary they will encounter in the text. Model how to use what they know about camping and camping gear as they preview the illustrations.
• Reinforce new vocabulary by incorporating it into the discussion of the pictures. For example, on page 4 you might ask: What is the little boy carrying?
• Model for students the strategies they can use to work out words they don't know. Have students find the word stars on page 7. Ask students how they could read this word if they didn't know it. Suggest that they might look at how it starts and read /st/. They might recognize the sound the letters ar in the middle of the word stand for. They might know the sound the letter s at the end of the word stands for. Read the sentence to them and ask if the word stars makes sense in the sentence.
• For additional teaching tips on word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read the book to find out what happens on the camping trip. Remind them to stop after every couple of pages to review in their heads what has happened so far. This will help them retell the story when they have finished reading.

Student Reading

• Guide the Reading: Give students their books and have them put a sticky note on page 7. Tell them to read to the end of this page. Tell students to reread the pages if they finish before everyone else.
• When they have finished reading, ask students what words in the text match the pictures. Have students point out camping gear they have seen that is like the camping gear in the book. Have them tell how this helped them understand what they read. Have students tell who the characters are in the story. Have them tell what has happened so far.
• Model retelling. As I have been reading, I have been pausing to retell in my head what has happened to help me remember and understand the story. I read that a family is going camping. They packed their tent, sleeping bags, cooking gear, and camera. Then they drove to a lake and set up their camp. When it was nighttime, the dad built a fire and cooked hamburgers and hot dogs. After dinner, the mom said it was time to go to sleep. They looked at the stars. The little boy in the story has been taking pictures of all of the things they are doing. I wonder what else they will do. I’ll have to keep reading to find out. Then I’ll be able to tell the whole story.
• Tell students to read the remainder of the story. 

    Tell the students to make a small question mark in their books beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. These can be addressed in the discussion that follows.

Reflect on the Reading Strategies

• Ask students what words they marked in their books. Use this opportunity to model how they could read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
• Reinforce that stopping to retell in their heads what they are reading helps them better understand the story. (It encourages students to pay close attention to the story elements and promotes active participation, which aids in retention.)
• Think aloud: Stopping to think about what was happening helped me remember the events in the story better. It helped me be more involved with what I was reading. Now that I have finished reading the story, I can give a good retelling of it. Can you?

Apply the Comprehension Skill: Sequence Story Events

• Introduce and model: Ask students who have heard the story of Cinderella to raise their hands. Ask students to tell the events that happen. Ask students if the story would be the same if the prince had come to Cinderella’s house looking for the person who lost the slipper before Cinderella went to the ball. Tell students that unless a story is told in the order in which it happened, it usually does not make sense. Explain that that is why it is good to think about the things that happen at the beginning, the middle, and the end of the story.
• Check for understanding: Discuss the sequence of the story. Ask students to tell what happened first. Have students tell what the family did once they arrived at the lake. Have students complete the events that occurred on the camping trip. Have them tell what happened at the end of the book.
• Discussion: Ask students why they think the little boy took pictures of the camping trip.
• Independent Practice: Introduce and explain how to complete the story events worksheet. Have them try setting the cut-out pictures in the boxes without pasting them in. Then have them check the book for the order before they paste in the pictures.
• Extend the Discussion:

    Instruct students to use the last page of their book to draw a picture of something they would do on a camping trip. Have students share their pictures with the group.

Phonemic Awareness: Identify and produce rhyme

• Say the words trip and sip and ask students what is the same about the words. (They rhyme/have the same ending.) Tell students you can think of other words that rhyme with trip and sip and say: dip, nip, flip, hip.
• Tell students that you are going to say some words one at a time. You want them to say some words that rhyme with each word. Allow students to list as many words as they can for each word you say. Use the following words: lake, cook, bag, star, bear, fish.

Phonics: VCe long i

• Write the word drive on the board. Have students find the word on page 5 and read the sentence in which it is found.
• Ask students what vowel sound they hear in the middle of the word. Circle the ive in the word and point out that the vowel is followed by a consonant and a final e. Write the letters VCe over the corresponding letters in the word. Explain that words with this pattern often have a long vowel sound.
• Have students look on page 6 to find 2 other words with this long i pattern (time, fire).
• Write the word time on the board and circle the ime. Sound out the word with students and then and erase the letter t. Write the letter d in its place, and have students read the new word. Repeat with the letter l.
• Write the word pine on the board and have a volunteer come up and circle the VCe pattern in the word. Have students sound out the word. Then erase the letter p and replace it with the letter d. Have students read the new word. Repeat with the letters f, l, m, v.
• Write the word bike on the board and have students read it. Replace the letter b with the letter h and have students read the new word. Repeat with the letters l, p, d.
• Give students phonics worksheet and explain what they are to do. When they have finished, discuss their answers.

Grammar and Usage: Verbs

• Review or explain that there are special words that tell action. Explain that these words tell things people or animals do, like pack, drive, or build.
• Have students turn to page 4. Ask students to tell an action word they read on this page (pack, say). Discuss the meaning of the verb pack. Ask students what kinds of things someone can pack other than camping equipment. Ask students to use the word in a sentence.
• Have students look at page 5. Ask students to find the action word that tells the first thing the family did (drive). Explain that the second thing they did was set up camp. Tell students that this is a special action word made of 2 words.
• Have students circle the action words in the book. Remind them to ask themselves if the word tells something a person or thing does. Check their responses.

Vocabulary: Contractions

• Have students turn to page 4 in the book. Ask them to find the sentence that tells who is going camping. Tell them to point to the word. Write the words we are on the board. Explain that these 2 words can be made into the smaller word we’re. Write we’re on the board. Ask if the students know why the mark (the apostrophe) is in the word. Explain that the word is made with 2 words, and that the mark, or apostrophe, takes the place of the missing letters. Tell the students that this is called a contraction. Ask the students to clap the syllables as they repeat the word contraction. Ask the students to tell what letter the mark, or apostrophe, is taking the place of (a). Point to the apostrophe in the word we’re and ask the students to tell what it is. Help the students clap the syllables as they say the word apostrophe.
• Check for understanding by having students identify the contraction in the words the boy says. Ask them to tell the two words that have been joined to make the contraction. Have them tell what letter the apostrophe is replacing.
• Click here for a contraction worksheet.
• Extend the activity:

Have students circle the contractions in the book.

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their books independently or with a partner. Partners can take turns reading parts of the book.

Home Connection

• Give students their books to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.

Writing and Art Connection

• Have students think about what they would take on a camping trip. Provide the following sentence: I would pack _____ because_______. Have students write and illustrate the sentence. Have students share their sentences and pictures with the group.

Science Connection

• Have students reread page 6. Discuss building campfires and fire safety. If possible, have a forest ranger or firefighter talk to the group. Have students draw a picture of one thing they learned about fire safety when camping.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• pause as they read to mentally retell the events of the story
• place pictures of story events in correct order on the graphic organizer
• tell that the words rhyme because they have the same ending sounds and suggest words that rhyme when they are presented with words orally
• recognize the VCe pattern in words and identify those words in a group of words that have a long i sound
• find action words in the book
• match words with their contractions

Comprehension Checks