The Snowstorm
Level F 

About the Book 

Text Type: Fiction/Realistic
Page Count: 10
Word Count: 90 

Book Summary
Jamal and Isha are playing outside when the wind suddenly begins to blow and the air becomes colder. As the children run inside to get their coats, white flakes begin to fall. It's a snowstorm! Supportive pictures and high-frequency words support early readers in this fun winter story.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

  • Visualize

Objectives

  • Use the reading strategy of visualizing to understand text
  • Identify sequence of events
  • Discriminate final sound /s/
  • Identify final consonant Ss
  • Recognize and use proper nouns
  • Recognize and use the high-frequency words their and there

Materials

  • Book -- The Snowstorm (copy for each student)
  • Chalkboard or dry erase board
  • Visualize/Sequence events, final consonant Ss, proper 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: get, into, their, there, they
  • Content words: deeper, fall, faster, flakes, house, mouths, outside, snow, tongues

Before Reading 

Build Background

  • Write the word snow 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 whether they have ever played in snow. Encourage them to share what they did when they played in snow and how it felt outside when it snowed.

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 The Snowstorm. (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).

Introduce the Comprehension Skill: Sequence events

  • Review or explain that stories are told in order from beginning to end.
  • Model sequencing the main events of a familiar story, such as The Little Red Hen. Write key words about each event in order on the board as you describe them to students.
    Think-aloud: If I want someone to be able to tell the story of The Little Red Hen, certain events need to be included in the order in which they happen to tell the story correctly. In The Little Red Hen, the first event that happens is that Little Red Hen plants a grain of wheat. Next, the wheat grows and she cuts the wheat to take it to the mill. Then she uses the flour to make bread. Last, she eats the hot bread.
  • Explain to students that certain words are often used to explain a sequence of events. Use the key words on the board to tell the story in order to students, including words such as first, next, and last. Ask students to identify these sequencing words from the example.
  • Have a volunteer use the key words on the board to sequence the events of the story out of order. Ask students to explain why the order of the events is important (the sequence does not make sense out of order), Discuss with students the fact that a story does not make sense when the events are out of order.
  • Point out to students the difference between the sequence of events listed on the board and a retelling of The Little Red Hen (the retelling contains more detail and description; the list shows only the events that are most important for someone to understand the story). Ask students to provide details for each event from the story.

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Visualize

  • Explain to students 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 page 3 aloud to students. Model how to visualize.
    Think-aloud: When I read a book, I pause after a few pages or after reading a description of something to create a picture in my mind of the information I've just read. This helps me understand and enjoy the book. For example, when I read that the wind was blowing, I pictured the few remaining leaves falling from the trees and the branches of the trees swaying back and forth.
  • Invite students to share what they visualized when they heard the sentence There is a nip in the air. Write their descriptions on the board. Point out to students that even though their mental pictures may not be the same, they were each able to create a picture in their mind.
  • 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

  • While previewing the book, reinforce the vocabulary words students will encounter in the story. For example, while looking at the picture on page 6, you might say: It looks as though Jamal and Isha have their mouths open to catch snow on their tongues.
  • 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 coats 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 Jamal and Isha going in the house to get their jackets. When I look at the first part of the word, it begins with the /k/ sound. I know the word jackets starts with the /j/ sound, so this cannot be the word. I know that another word for jacket is coat. The word coat begins with the /k/ sound. I see the letter t at the end of this word, and I hear the /t/ sound at the end of the word coat. The sentence makes sense with this word. The word must be coat.
  • For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words and word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

  • Have students read to find out what happens after it begins to get cold outside. Remind them to visualize as they read. Have them think about the events that happened first, next, and so on.

During Reading 

Student Reading

  • Guide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Have them read to the end of page 5 and then stop to think about what they visualized and the events that have happened so far in the story. Encourage students who finish before others to reread the text.
  • Cut out the pages from an extra copy of the book. Place the pictures from pages 3, 4, and 5 in order in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge.
  • Model sequencing events.
    Think-aloud: If I want someone to be able to tell this story to someone else, certain events need to be included in order to tell the story correctly. As I look at the first picture, the first event that happened is that the wind started blowing and it got colder. Next, Jamal and Isha went inside to get their coats. Then white flakes began to fall. I placed these pictures in the pocket chart in the order in which they happened. When I read about the first event in the story, I visualized the branches of the trees and a few leaves blowing back and forth. I will draw what I visualized on the board to represent the first event of the story. When I read about the next events in the story, I visualized Jamal and Isha with their warm coats on jumping up and down with excitement as the first snowflakes began to fall. I will draw them next to the tree blowing in the wind.
  • Introduce and explain to students the visualize/sequence events worksheet. Have them draw what they visualized for the first three events of the story on their worksheet.
  • Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 8. Remind them to visualize the events of the story as they read.
  • Place the pictures from pages 6 through 8 out of order in the pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge. Invite students to tell the correct order of the pictures. Have students draw on their worksheet what they visualized for each event. Invite them to share what they drew.
  • Have students read the remainder of the book. Encourage them to continue to visualize and remember the sequence of events as they read the rest of the story.

    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.
  • Have students explain one of the visualizations they drew on their worksheet. Have them share how visualizing helped them better understand and enjoy what they read.
  • Think-aloud: As I read, I continued to create pictures in my mind about the snowstorm. When I read page 9, I pictured the snow blowing sideways, causing the children to squint as snowflakes hit their face. I pictured the children starting to shiver. Picturing the events in my mind helped me to enjoy and remember the sequence of events in the book.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

  • Discussion: Discuss the sequence of events through the end of the book. Place the pictures in order in the pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge.
  • Have students cut apart each visualization card on their worksheet. Have them use the cards to practice telling the sequence of events in the story to a partner.
  • Enduring understanding: In this story, you learned that a snowstorm can happen quickly. The snow piled up and it got very cold. Now that you know this information, what are some things you might do to be prepared for a quick change in the weather?

Build Skills 

Phonological Awareness: Discriminate final /s/ sound

  • Say the word coats aloud to students, emphasizing the final /s/ sound. Have students say the word aloud and then say the /s/ sound.
  • Read pages 7 and 8 aloud to students. Have them raise their hand when they hear a word that ends with the /s/ sound.
  • Check for understanding: Say the following words one at a time and have students give the thumbs-up sign if the word ends with the /s/ sound: snow, flakes, back, gets, winds.

Phonics: Final consonant Ss

  • Write the word coats on the board and say it aloud with students.
  • Have students say the /s/ sound aloud. Then run your finger under the letters in the word as students say the whole word aloud. Ask students what letter stands for the /s/ sound in the word coats.
  • Check for understanding: Write the following words that end with the /s/ sound on the board, leaving off the final consonant: sips, pants, caps. Say each word, one at a time, and have volunteers come to the board and add the final consonant s in each word. Have students practice blending the sounds together to say each word.
  • Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the final consonant Ss worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Grammar and Mechanics: Proper nouns

  • Invite a volunteer to write his or her name on the board. Point out the capital letter at the beginning of the name. Explain that writers use a capital letter at the beginning of a name, and that these names are called proper nouns.
  • Have students turn to page 4. Read the sentences aloud with students. Explain that the first sentence names the two characters in the story. Their names begin with capital letters, so they are proper nouns.

    Have students circle the two proper nouns on page 4.

  • Check for understanding: Have each student name a proper noun. Have them explain why it is a proper noun and tell what kind of letter would appear at the beginning of the word. Write the word on the board.
  • Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the proper nouns worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Word Work: High-frequency words their and there

  • Tell students they are going to learn two words that they will see often in books they read. Write the words their and there on the board and read the words aloud. Have students read the words with you.
  • Write the following sentence on the board: It was cold there. Read the sentence together with students. Point to the word there. Ask students to tell what the word means. Explain that the word there refers to a place or location. Have students use the word there in oral sentences.
  • Have students turn to page 4. Read the last sentence together. Point to the word their. Ask students to tell what the word means. Explain that the word their means something that a person owns something. Ask students to tell what belongs to the children in the sentence. Have students use the word their in oral sentences.
  • Check for understanding: Have students discuss with a partner the meaning of each word. Then have them use each word in an oral sentence.

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 use their cards from the Visualize/Sequence events worksheet to sequence the story to someone at home.

Extend the Reading 

Personal Narrative Writing and Art Connection
Have students draw a picture of themselves playing in snow. Have them write a personal narrative about an experience in snow.

Science Connection
Demonstrate and discuss temperature by using room temperature, ice, and warm water. Have students touch each type of water and then describe the difference between how each one feels. Discuss the terms warm, freezing, and room temperature, as well as the temperature at which water freezes.

Assessment 

Monitor students to determine if they can:

  • accurately and consistently share examples of visualizing while reading
  • accurately sequence events during discussion and on a worksheet
  • accurately discriminate the final consonant sound /s/ during discussion
  • identify and write the letter symbol that stands for the consonant /s/ during discussion and on a worksheet
  • understand and use proper nouns during discussion and on a worksheet
  • read, write, and understand the use of the high-frequency words their and there

Comprehension Checks



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