Build Background

• Write the word truck on the board. Invite students to share what they know about the meaning of the word. Explain that a truck is a large vehicle used to move goods from one place to another.
• Invite students to discuss what they know about different types of trucks. Discuss the types of things each truck carries.

Book Walk

Introduce the Book

• Show students the front cover of the book and read the title. Ask them what they might read about in a book called Trucking. (Accept any answers students can justify.)
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name).

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Connect to prior knowledge

• Explain that good readers make connections between what they already know and new information they read. Remind students that thinking about what they already know about the topic of the book will help them to understand what they read.
• Model how to connect to prior knowledge using the information on the covers.
  Think-aloud: When I look at the front cover of Trucking, I see three very large trucks. These trucks are called semis. I see lots of these trucks when I drive on the highway. They are very long, so I think they must be able to carry lots of things inside. I wonder if the book is going to be about semis and the things they carry.
• Show students the title page. Encourage them to use their prior knowledge about trucks to discuss what they see. Ask open-ended questions to facilitate discussion: What objects do you see on this page? What types of things do you think these trucks carry?
• 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: Classify information

• Cut out the pictures from the picture cards worksheet and place them in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge. Explain that sorting information into groups helps readers understand and remember information.
• Model how to classify information.
  Think-aloud: As I thought about how to group these objects, I started by asking myself what they have in common. I noticed that an airplane, a bike, and a boat are all kinds of transportation. I will group these words under the heading Transportation. I noticed that a dog and a cat are both animals. I will group them under the heading Animals.
• Ask students to identify in which group the remaining picture cards belong. Have them explain why each object belongs in that group.
• Invite volunteers to sort the pictures into different groups and explain how they sorted them (for example: number of wheels or number of legs).

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Cut pages 5 through 11 from an extra copy of the book. Write the word Trucks in large letters on the board or chart paper. Have students say the word aloud. Place the cards around the word Trucks.
• Show students the pictures of the trucks, one at a time. Say the name of each truck aloud to students and write its name on a large index card (pickup, tow, truck, delivery truck, flatbed truck, firetruck, garbage truck, and dump truck). Encourage volunteers to write the initial sound of the word on the card. Then have volunteers place each card on the corresponding truck.
• Have students share what they know about each type of truck. Facilitate the discussion with prompts: What does this truck look like? What does it carry? Where would you find this type of truck? When finished, have the class read the words aloud as you point to each word and truck.
• Remind students to use the first letter and the pictures to figure out words when they read. For example, show the picture on page 5 and model pointing under the p in pickup. Say: I am going to look at the picture and think about a truck that begins with /p/ (say the /p/ sound). Does pickup make sense? Yes. The word is pickup.
• If time allows, have students use the cards to match the pictures with the words.
• For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words or word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students use what they already know about trucks to help them read the book. Remind them to think about how they would sort the information they read into groups.

During Reading 

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Show students the book. Point out the words on the pages. Review that the words on the pages are read from left to right. Ask a student to point to where students should start reading and show in which direction they should go as they read.
• Give students their copy of the book. Point out the numbers at the bottom of the pages. Have students 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.
• Model connecting to prior knowledge.
  Think-aloud: On page 5 I read about a pickup truck. I have seen many things carried in a pickup truck, such as wood and rocks. I know that pickup trucks have an open area in the back for carrying many different things. Since I already knew this about pickup trucks, it was easier for me to read and understand that part of the book.
• Invite students to share how they connected with what they already knew as they read.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 7. Encourage them to share how they connected to prior knowledge as they read. (Accept all answers that show students understand how to connect to prior knowledge.)
• Place pages 5 through 7 of the book used in the vocabulary lesson in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge. Invite students to share how these pictures might be sorted into two or more different groups (for example: types of things carried, whether or not they carry something, and so on).
• Ask students to read the remainder of the book. Remind them to continue to use what they already know about trucks and their jobs to help them understand the information 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 they marked in their book. Model how they can read these words.
• Think-aloud: When I read page 12, I thought about the job of an ambulance. I know that an ambulance is used to take people who are sick or hurt to the hospital. It has flashing lights and a siren to signal people to let it go by.
• Have students draw a picture showing how they connected to prior knowledge when reading about one of the trucks in the book. Invite students to share and explain their picture with the rest of the class.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Place pages 5 through 9 of the book from the vocabulary lesson in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge. Ask students to share how these pictures might be sorted into two or more different groups (for example: size, whether or not they've seen the truck, types of things carried, whether or not they carry something, and so on).
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the classify information worksheet.
• Enduring understanding: Different kinds of trucks do different kinds of jobs. Now that you know this information, how do trucks help people meet their needs?

Build Skills 

Phonemic Awareness: Discriminate final /s/

• Explain to students that they are going to say a word from the book. Say trucks and emphasize the final /s/ sound. Have students say the word aloud and emphasize the final /s/ sound.
• Choose a mix of singular and plural names of vehicles, such as boats, bike, cars, motorcycle, tricycles, and vans. Say each word one at time and have students repeat it. Have students clap their hands if the word ends with the final /s/ sound.
• Check for understanding: Say the following words one at a time: jobs, thing, vehicles, car, trucks, people, houses, rocks, and ways. Have students show a thumbs-up signal for each word that ends with the /s/ sound.

Phonics: Consonant blend tr

• Write the word trucks on the board. Have students locate the same word on page 3. Read the word together.
• Circle the tr blend in the word trucks and explain to students that the letters t and r are blended together to make the /tr/ sound. Have students say the /tr/ sound aloud.
• Ask students to generate words that start with the /tr/ sound, Write each word on the board, leaving off the initial tr blend. Have volunteers write the initial tr blend in each word.
• Check for understanding: Say the words track, rocks, taller, types, tray, tow, and try aloud to students. Have students clap their hands together when they hear the /tr/ sound. Have them practice writing the tr blend and say aloud the sound that the blend makes.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the initial blend tr worksheet.

Grammar and Mechanics: Plural nouns

• Show students an object, such as a book. Write the word book on the board next to the object. Then show students two books. Write the word books next to the objects.
• Ask students what they notice about the two words. Explain that nouns that end with the letter s usually name more than one person, place, or thing. Ask students to identify whether the words book and books name a person, place, or thing.
• Write the following sentence on the board: One of the trucks is a pickup truck. Read the sentence aloud with students. Ask them to find the naming words (nouns) in the sentence (trucks, truck). Have a volunteer explain which word names more than one thing (trucks).

    Check for understanding: Have students locate other nouns that name more than one person, place, or thing in the book. Have them underline each noun that names more than one person, place, or thing and circle each noun that names just one person, place, or thing. When students have finished, sort the words they found into the categories One and More Than One on the board.

• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the plural nouns worksheet.

Word Work: Alphabetical order

• Write the words have and are on the board. Underline the first letter in both words. Ask students what letter comes first in the alphabet: h or a.
• Explain that words are sometimes placed in a list by ABC, or alphabetical, order. Words are placed in alphabetical order by looking at the first letter in each word and deciding which letter comes first in the alphabet.
• Write the words from and back on the board. Ask students how they will decide which word comes first in alphabetical order. Underline the first letter in both words. Ask students to identify which word comes first (back).
• Check for understanding: List the high-frequency vocabulary words out of order on the board. 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 discuss with someone at home the types of trucks they have seen and the kinds of jobs each truck does.

Extend the Reading 

Writing and Art Connection
Have students draw a picture of a truck from the book doing a job. Have them write a sentence about the truck and the person who is doing the work with it. For example, a student might draw a fire truck and a firefighter. They might write: A firefighter uses a truck to put out fires. Invite students to share their picture and sentence with the rest of the class.

Social Studies Connection
Invite people who drive vehicles for a living to visit the classroom as guest speakers (for example: a garbage truck driver, an ambulance driver, a bus driver, or a taxi driver). Have students prepare questions before the visitors arrive about the job the workers do with the help of their vehicle. Use the information gathered from the speakers to create a class book about the work that people and vehicles can do together.

Assessment 

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• consistently demonstrate connecting to prior knowledge while reading
• accurately classify information during discussion and on a worksheet
• accurately discriminate the final /s/ sound during discussion
• recognize and understand that the letters t and r are blended together to make the /tr/ sound during discussion and on a worksheet
• accurately identify and classify plural nouns as more than one person, place, or thing during discussion and on a worksheet
• understand and accurately place words in alphabetical order during discussion and on a worksheet

Comprehension Checks

• Book Quiz
• Retelling Rubric

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