Word count:
250

Text Summary
The Monsters can't wait to go to the circus, but none of them have money. Their lemonade and pizza stands go bust. But then a mischievous monkey escapes from the circus and dashes up a tree. Bonk's clever solution brings the monkey back to the circus, and the Ringmonster rewards the friends. 

Lesson Objectives 

Students will:

• Understand cause and effect relationships
• Identify words with hard and soft c
• Recognize the ck digraph 

Reader Supports

• Simple sentence structure
• Familiar serial characters
• Picture support 

Reader Challenges

• Sentences change pattern from page to page
• Unfamiliar vocabulary 

Vocabulary

High-Frequency Words
says, has, go, have, some 

Materials

• Book - Let's Go to the Circus! (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Worksheets 1 and 2
• Highlighters or colored markers 

Before Reading

Build Background

• Ask students if they have ever had a lemonade stand or any other sort of sidewalk sale. What did they sell? Did anyone come to buy it? How much money did they make?
• Ask students if they have ever been to the circus. What did they see there? What did they do?
• If students have read other Monsters books, ask students to recall what they know about the characters. Recall experiences that the Monsters have had in previous books. 

Preview the Book

• Show students the cover and read the title to them.
• Ask students what they think this book might be about based on the title and the illustration
• Open the book to the title page. Discuss what students see in the picture. Point out the author biography on the copyright page. Tell them that if they like the Monsters books, they might be able to find other books by the same writer in the library or bookstore.
• Show students the illustrations through page 7 and have students make predictions about what might be happening. Reinforce any language you think might present difficulty. "What do the monsters need to make lemonade?" "Do you think people will be thirsty?"
• After previewing up to page 7, ask students how they think Bonk and his friends will get to the circus. 

Set the Purpose
Tell students that in stories, most events have a cause that came before them. As they read through the book, they should think about why an event happened. 

During Reading

Word-Attack Strategies
Remind students to use any or all of the following strategies when they come to unfamiliar words:

• Use picture clues. Look at the picture. See if you can find any objects or things going on that might fit the unknown word.
• Reread the sentence. Read the sentence more than once. Think about what word might make sense in the sentence and try the word in the sentence.
• Sound out the word. Starting with the first sound, make the sound of each letter in the word. Then blend the sounds together. Try to say the word aloud. Then, fit the word into the sentence to see if it makes sense.
• Look for parts of the word. Find parts you know, and then sound out the parts you don't know.
• Keep reading. Read past the unknown word. Think about what words might make sense. 

Student Reading
Give each student a book and have students whisper-read at their own paces. Monitor student reading and provide prompts or model word-attack strategies as necessary. 

After Reading

Reflect on Reading Strategies
Discuss with students:

• How using prior knowledge helped them understand what they read. How did having their own lemonade or food stand help them understand what was happening in the story?
• How making predictions about the first seven pages helped them comprehend the story and led them to anticipate what would happen in the final pages.
• Any other word-attack strategies used during reading. You may wish to have a volunteer point out a problematic word and recount how he or she was able to decode it or guess it from context clues. 

Comprehension
Understand Cause and Effect Relationships
Model
Have students turn to page 5. Explain that the Monsters need to have a lemonade stand because they have no money to go to the circus.

Guided Practice
Have students read on to page 6. Ask them why the Monsters switched from a lemonade stand to a pizza stand. If necessary, have them reread the paragraph to find that no one came to the lemonade stand, and that the Monsters concluded that no one was thirsty.

Independent Practice
Hand out Worksheet 1 and have students draw a picture in the first column of the cause of the scene depicted in the second column. If they get stuck, they can read the sentence under the picture. 

Building Skills 

Phonemic Awareness
Identify Words with Hard and Soft c

• Write the word circus on the board and have students read it aloud. Ask them what sound the first c stands for (/s/). Ask them what the second c stands for (/k/). What vowel comes after the soft c?
• Have students turn to page 3 and look for examples of hard c (comes, cotton, candy, clowns). What vowels follow the letter c in these words?
• Explain that c is usually soft when followed by i or e, and hard when followed by o or a. When they encounter a word with c, they can check the vowel to see which pronunciation they should try first.
• Hand out Worksheet 2. On it are pictures and words that have a hard or a soft c. Students are to write the sound that the c makes, either /s/ or /k/, on the line underneath the word and the picture. 

Phonics
ck Digraph

• Point out the word rock on page 4 and have students circle or highlight the word. Ask students what sound they hear at the end of the word (/k/). Point out that two letters, c and k, stand for the /k/ sound. Have students circle or underline the ck digraph.
• Have students find a word on page 11 that has the ck digraph and mark it.
• Encourage students to look through other books and find words with the ck digraph.

Expand the Reading

Writing
Have students brainstorm another stand the Monsters could have had to make money for the circus. Have students use the book as a model to write sentences about how the Monsters prepare the food or drink. They can draw an illustration of the Monsters at their stand. 

Social Studies
Give students a simple math-money problem based on the problem in the Monsters book. Tell them that they need a certain amount of money to buy tickets to the circus. Tell them that sugar and lemons cost a certain amount. Then have them set up a lemonade stand. How much lemonade do they need to sell to buy tickets to the circus?

Assessment 

• Monitor student responses during the pre-reading discussion to determine if they can make logical predictions based on available information. Note the word-attack strategies they used while reading.
• Review Worksheet 1 to assess students' abilities to understand cause and effect. Monitor their discussion to note if they understand how one event in a story makes another event happen.
• Monitor students as they complete Worksheet 2 and review their work to see how well they can distinguish between hard and soft c.
• Observe students to ensure that they recognize words with the ck digraph.
• Note whether students can perform the arithmetic needed to operate their "lemonade stand."