Before Reading

Build Background

• Ask students to share examples of actions they can do well. For example, a student might be good at running or jumping. Ask them whether they have ever tried to do something that was harder than they expected or if the outcome was different than expected. Have students share their examples.

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 expect to read about in a book called I Bet I Can. (Accept any answers students can justify.) Ask which character they think says "I bet I can" and how they can tell. Discuss with students whether the book is reality or fantasy.
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Retell

• Explain to students that one way to understand and remember what they are reading is to stop now and then during reading to retell in their mind what is happening in the story.
• Explain to students that when someone retells something, they explain the details of what happened in order. Point out that people retell stories as part of their daily lives, such as explaining what happened at a sports game. Ask students to share other examples of when people might give a retelling.
• Model retelling a familiar story in detail, such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
  Think-aloud: In Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Goldilocks comes to a house in the forest that belongs to three bears: a mama bear, a papa bear, and a baby bear. The bears leave the house for a walk in the forest while their porridge is cooling. Goldilocks goes inside the house, even though no one is home. First, Goldilocks sees three bowls of porridge on the table. She tries each one. The first bowl is too hot, the second bowl is too cold, and the third bowl is just right, so she eats it all up. Next, she sees three chairs and sits in each one. The first chair is too hard, the second chair is too soft, and the third chair is just right. However, the chair breaks and Goldilocks falls to the ground.
• Continue retelling in detail to the end of the story. Invite students to suggest information for the retelling of this story.
• Have students place sticky notes on pages 4, 6, 8, and 10. Explain that as they read, they should stop on these pages to think about what has happened in the story. Encourage students to retell in their mind what happens in the story 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, discuss with students what they see in the illustrations using the vocabulary they will encounter in the text. Explain that sometimes words sound like their meaning. Ask: What sound do you hear when something falls into water? (splash)
• Reinforce new vocabulary by incorporating it into the discussion of the pictures. For example, on page 6, you might ask: What sound would you hear when something, like Bear, hits a wall? (splat)
• Model the strategies students can use to say new words. For example, point to the word swing on page 7. Model using the familiar word part -ing to read the word. Cover the initial blend sw with your finger and ask students what this familiar part is. Then uncover the blend and ask whether they can recognize the blend. Have them put the two parts together to read the word swing. Finally, read the sentence with them and ask whether the word swing makes sense in the sentence.
• 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 what happens to Bear. Remind them to stop reading at the end of each page with a sticky note to quickly retell in their mind what has happened so far in the story.

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 (I). 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 4, using their finger to point to each word as they read. Encourage students who finish before others to reread the text.
• Model retelling the story.
  Think-aloud: As I read, I paused to retell in my mind what was happening to help me remember and understand what has happened in the story. First, Bear bet the kangaroo that he could jump over the river. But he fell with a splash into the river.
• Have students read to the end of page 6. Ask them to retell the events of the story to a partner.
• Have students read the remainder of the story. Remind them to pause after a few pages to think about what has happened in the story and to make sure they understand it.

 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 had difficulty reading. Use this opportunity to model how they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
• Retell in detail with students the events of the story from pages 7 and 8, using the pictures as a guide.
  Think-aloud: After the bear hit the wall, he bet the fox that he could swing on the rope. The bear ran and grabbed onto the rope, but the rope snapped, and the bear fell down.
• Have volunteers retell the events to the end of the book, using the pictures in the book as a guide. Then have them retell the story to a partner, starting at the beginning. Listen for whether students include the following: correct events in detail, events in order.
• Ask students how pausing to retell the story in their mind helped them to remember what was happening in the story.
• Discuss additional strategies students used to gain meaning from the book.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Sequence events

• Discussion: Ask students what kind of character they think Bear is. Ask them why they think he kept trying to do different things even when he failed at something.
• Introduce and model the skill: Tell students that a story is a series of events that happen in a certain order. First one thing happens, then something else, and so on. Explain that the order in which the events happen is called the sequence. We can remember the story if we make notes about the events in the order in which they happened on a graphic organizer. Then we can use our notes as a prompt when we retell the story to someone else.
• Think-aloud: I don't want to write all of the words about each event on the worksheet, so I need to cut it down to the main points. First, the bear bets Kangaroo that he can jump over the river, but he can't. Next, he bets the goat that he can jump over a wall, but he can't.
• 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.

Extend the discussion: Have students draw a picture of their favorite character in the story on the inside back cover. Have them write words or phrases under the picture to describe the character.

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Discriminate medial vowels

• Say the word goat and have students repeat the word. Then have them say the vowel sound they hear in the middle of the word (long /o/).
• Say the words goat and rope and have students repeat the words. Ask them to tell how the words are the same (both have the long /o/ vowel sound in the middle of the word). Make sure students can hear that the middle sounds are the same.
• Say the following pairs to students: bet/hen; ran/tap; bear/bean; chart/car; rug/fox; bell/bat; book/good; lake/train. Pause after saying each word and have students show a thumbs-up signal if the words have the same middle vowel sound. Have them show a thumbs-down signal if the words have different middle vowel sounds.

Phonics: Final blends

• Write the word jump on the board. Have students find the word on page 3 and read the sentence in which it is found.
• Circle the mp letter combination in the word and explain that the sounds of the letters m and p blend together to stand for the /mp/ sound. Have students repeat the blend: /mp/.
• Write the following final blends in a row on the board: ld, mp, nd, nk, nt. Say the sound for each blend with students. Write the following words under the blends: cold, camp, hand, thank, cent. Say each word with students. Have volunteers come to the board and circle the final blends in the words.
• Have students turn to page 4 and identify a word with a final blend (went). Write the word on the board and circle the final blend. Have students say the sound of the blend.
• Write the following words on the board, leaving off the final blend in each word: bank, dent, lamp, fold, land. Have volunteers come to the board and write the correct blends to complete the words.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the final blends worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Grammar and Mechanics: Suffix -ed

• Review or explain that some words are used to tell action, such as run or swing. Explain that these words tell things people or animals do.
• Have students turn to page 4. Reread the second sentence and have students identify the action word (jumped). Explain that the suffix -ed is added to the ends of words to show that the action already happened. Ask students to use the word jumped in a sentence. Ask students what sound they hear at the end of jumped even though -ed was added (/t/).
• Have students look at page 10. Ask students to identify the action word in the second sentence (curled).

Word Work: Onomatopoeia

• Have students turn to page 4 in the book. Ask them to find the sentence that tells what happened after bear ran to the river and jumped. Tell them to point to the word in capital letters.
• Write the word SPLASH on the board. Explain that this is one of several words in the story that sounds like its meaning. Explain that when a spoken word sounds like its meaning, we call it onomatopoeia.
• Model using another onomatopoeic word before asking them to identify further examples in the story. Write the following sentences on the board: I hear the school bell. RINGGGGG! Read the sentences together with students, inviting students to show a thumbs-up signal when they hear the onomatopoeic word (ring).

Have students highlight the onomatopoeic words in the book (splash, splat, snap). Have them brainstorm additional onomatopoeic words and use them in oral sentences.

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
Have students write about a time when they tried to do something and it didn't work as they had planned. Have them ask themselves as they write: What happened? How did I feel at the time? What could I have done differently? Could I do it now?

Science Connection
Have students reread page 10. Ask whether any students know the term used when animals sleep during the winter (hibernate). Discuss the meaning of hibernation and identify other animals that hibernate during the winter (turtles, groundhogs, snakes, and so on).

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• pause as they read to mentally retell the events of the story
• record the events from the story in the order in which they happened on the graphic organizer
• correctly tell when words said aloud contain the same medial vowel sound
• recognize and write words with final blends
• identify and understand the use of past tense verbs with the -ed suffix in the book
• identify and generate onomatopoeic words during discussion

Comprehension Checks

• Book Quiz
• Retelling Rubric

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