Before Reading

Build Background

• Ask students what they had for breakfast. Make a list of some of the foods they name.
• Ask students if they have ever thought about where the food they eat comes from before they buy it at the grocery store. Have them tell about where they think each of the foods on the list originally came from and write their answers next to the food on the board. If students don't know where a type of food comes from, put a question mark next to the food.

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 The Food We Eat. (Accept any answers students can justify.) Ask what kind of food they see on the covers and whether they are familiar with these foods.
• 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 understand what they read.
• Model connecting to prior knowledge using the information on the covers.
  Think-aloud: When I look at the cover of this book, I see a picture of eggs and a chicken. I know that eggs come from chickens. People often eat eggs for breakfast. The eggs on the cover have been fried. Eggs can also be scrambled or used to make an omelet. Thinking about what I know might help me to read new words and better understand what I read.
• Have students preview the pictures on the covers and title page in the book. Have them share how they connected with prior knowledge.
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to think about what they already know about animals and how they move 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 Vocabulary

• As you preview the book, ask students to talk about what they see in the photographs. Ask them to tell whether they recognize the food in the pictures and what they know about it. Reinforce new vocabulary by incorporating it into the discussion of the pictures. For example, on page 6 you might ask: What comes from a wheat plant?
• Model strategies students can use to work out words they don't know. For example, point to the word wheat on page 6. Model using known words to help read a new word. Say: Does wheat start like another word you know? (where, what, when) Does wheat end like a word you know? (eat) Then read the sentence to students and ask if the word wheat makes sense.
• For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words or word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read the book to find out more about the food we eat. Remind them to stop after every couple of pages to think about what they already know about food and where it comes from.

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 (There). 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.
• Model using prior knowledge to make connections to the text.
  Think-aloud: When I read page 5, I saw a picture of a cow. I also saw a glass of something next to the cow. I know that milk comes from cows. People drink milk. Using what I already know helped me to read this page.
• Invite students to share how they connected with what they already know as they read. Have them tell how what they already knew about food helped them understand new information.
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to use that they already know about animals and how they move to help them understand new 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, 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: On page 9, I saw a picture of a hamburger. I've eaten hamburgers before, so I knew what it was. I also saw a picture of a cow. I know that the meat that comes from cows is called beef. Using what I knew helped me to read this page.
• Discuss with students how using what they already knew about animals and how they move helped them understand what they read. Invite students to share how they connected to prior knowledge as they read.
• Have students look at the list of foods on the board to see if any of the foods they listed were in the book. Check whether they have found out where the foods come from. If there are any question marks remaining, tell students they may have to look in other sources to find out where this food comes from.
• Discuss additional strategies students used to gain meaning from the book.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Classify information

• Discussion: Ask students which foods mentioned in the book they enjoy eating. Invite them to tell their favorite foods and why those foods are their favorite.
• Introduce and model the skill: Tell students that the book was about different foods and where they come from. Explain that sorting information into groups helps readers think about and remember what they read. Write the headings Plants and Animals on the board. Model how to classify information.
• Think-aloud: As I thought about how to group the foods in the book, I started by asking myself where they came from: a plant or an animal. I know that orange juice comes from oranges, which grow on trees. Trees are plants. I will write orange juice under the heading Plants. Milk comes from cows. Cows are animals. I will write milk under the heading Animals.
• Check for understanding: Ask students to identify other foods from the book and tell in which group they belong. Write the names on the board under the correct headings.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the classify information worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Extend the discussion: Have students use the last page of their book to illustrate and write about another kind of food and where it comes from.

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Manipulate initial sounds

• Say and recite the nursery rhyme, To market, to market:

To market, to market to buy a fat pig; home again, home again jiggity jig.
To market, to market to buy a fat hog; home again, home again jiggity jog.
To market, to market to buy a plum bun; home again, home again market is done.

• Say the rhyming pairs one at a time: pig, jig; hog, jog; bun, done. Ask students how the words sound the same and different (the onset, or initial part, has changed, while the rime, the rhyming part of the word, has remained the same).
• Using other foods from the book, manipulate initial sounds in a similar pattern to create their own innovation of To market, to market. Examples may be:

To market, to market to buy a plain bagel; home again, home again jiggity jagle.
To market, to market to buy a big chicken; home again, home again jiggity jicken.
To market, to market to buy a milk cow; home again, home again, to my home I go now.

Phonics: Long /e/ digraphs

• Write the word eat on the board. Have students find the word on the cover or title page.
• Ask students what vowel sound they hear in the word. Circle the ea letter combination in the word eat. Explain that the letters e and a together stand for the long /e/ vowel sound.
• Have students look on the bottom of page 4 to find another word with the long /e/ vowel sound (trees). Circle the ee letter combination in the word trees. Explain that the letters e and e together also stand for the long /e/ vowel sound.
• Write the word peach on the board. Run your finger under the letters in the word while you say the word with students. Have a volunteer come to the board and circle the letters in the word that stand for the long /e/ vowel sound.
• Have students reread pages 6 and 9. Have them circle the letter combinations that stand for the long /e/ vowel sound in the words wheat, seeds, meat, and beef.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the long /e/ digraphs worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Grammar and Mechanics: Question marks

• Review or explain that at the end of a sentence asking a question we always use a question mark. Model voice intonation when reading a question compared to reading a statement.
• Have students turn to page 3. Ask students to tell the question word on page 3. Have students identify the question mark at the end of the sentence.
• Have students suggest questions. Write each question on the board, leaving off the question mark. Have volunteers come to the board and add the question marks at the end of the sentences. Have students practice reading each question.

Have students circle or highlight the question words and question marks in the book. Review their work when they are finished.

Word Work: Alphabetical order

• Write the words food and plants on the board. Underline the first letter in each word. Ask students what letter comes first in the alphabet: f or p.
• Review or explain that words are sometimes paced in a list by ABC, or alphabetical, order. Words are placed in alphabetical order by looking first at the initial letter in each word and deciding which letter comes first in the alphabet. Explain that food would come first in an alphabetical list.
• Write the words food and cattle on the board. Underline the first letter in each word. Ask students what letter comes first in the alphabet: f or c. Explain that cattle would come first in an alphabetical list.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the alphabetical order 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 and Art Connection
Have students write and illustrate a final page in their book about a different kind of food. For example, a student may write: Where do raisins come from? Raisins come from grapes. Grapes grow on grapevines. Have students share their sentences and pictures with the group.

Science and Math Connection
Have students reread pages 5 and 11. Discuss other foods that are made from milk, such as butter, ice cream, and yogurt. Using small glass jars, such as baby food jars, have groups of students make coffee-can ice cream:

In a large bowl, stir together 1 cup of whole milk, 1 cup heavy cream, 1/2 cup sugar and a pinch of salt. 1/2 cup of fruit may also be added. Pour mixture into a clean, dry 12-oz. coffee can with a tight-fitting, leak proof lid. Snap the lid on the can closed. Set the can inside a larger 39-oz. size coffee can. Pack crushed ice around the smaller can. Sprinkle rock salt over the ice and snap the lid closed on the larger can. Have students in the group take turns rolling the can back and forth on a shaded sidewalk or path. After about 10 minutes, remove the lid of the larger can to drain any water. Carefully remove the lid on the smaller can and stir the thickening ice cream mixture. Replace the smaller lid and add more ice and salt to the larger can. Replace the lid on the large can and continue rolling for about 10 more minutes. Enjoy!

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• relate the foods in the book to what they already know about food and where it comes from
• correctly classify where the foods in the book come from
• manipulate initial sounds in words to create new rhyming poem
• correctly read and generate long /e/ digraph words
• identify and use question marks
• correctly alphabetize content vocabulary

Comprehension Checks

• Book Quiz
• Retelling Rubric

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