Text Type: Fiction/Humorous
Page Count: 12
Word Count: 181

Book Summary
Day after day, grasshopper grazed on green grass and leaves. Then he decided to try some new foods. Will the new foods taste great or gross? Grasshopper's Gross Lunch provides the opportunity to discuss the difference between reality and fantasy with emergent readers. Illustrations support the text.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

• Retell

Objectives

• Use the reading strategy of retelling to understand and remember story events
• Identify reality and fantasy
• Discriminate initial consonant blend /gr/
• Identify initial consonant blend gr
• Identify and use past-tense verbs
• Alphabetize words

Materials

• Book -- Grasshopper's Gross Lunch (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Reality and fantasy, consonant blend /gr/, past-tense verbs worksheets
• Discussion cards

     Indicates an opportunity for students to mark in the book. (All activities may be demonstrated by projecting book on interactive whiteboard or completed with paper and pencil if books are reused.)

Vocabulary

• High-frequency words: are, eat, said, these, they, will
• Content words: grasshopper, grazed, greeted, grinned, groaned, gross, grumpy

Build Background

• Ask students to name some foods they eat for lunch. Discuss the types of foods they usually eat for lunch.
• Ask students whether they have ever gotten tired of eating the same foods for lunch each day. Discuss the types of foods they think are great to eat and gross to eat.

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 Grasshopper's Gross Lunch. (Accept any 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 Reading Strategy: Retell

• Explain that good readers stop now and then during reading to retell in their mind what is happening in the story. Stopping to retell the events of the story helps readers remember and understand what they are reading.
• Explain that when people retell a story or event, they explain the details in order. Point out that people retell stories as part of their daily lives, such as sharing what happened at school or the events on a television show.
• Model retelling a familiar story in detail, such as The Three Little Pigs.
  Think-aloud: In The Three Little Pigs, the pigs decide to build their own houses. The first little pig builds his house out of straw. The big bad wolf comes along and asks the little pig to let him in. The little pig refuses, so the wolf huffs and puffs and blows down the house of straw. The little pig runs away. The second little pig builds his house out of sticks. The big bad wolf comes along and asks to be let in. When the second little pig refuses, the wolf huffs and puffs and blows down the house of sticks. The second little pig runs away.
• 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 5, 8, 10, and 12. Explain that as they read, they should stop on these pages to think about what has happened so far 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 Comprehension Skill: Reality and fantasy

• Review or explain that some books are about reality or real things, and some books are fantasy, or make-believe. Remind students that sometimes a book is a little of each.
• Model how to identify reality and fantasy using a familiar story.
  Think-aloud: In the story The Three Little Pigs, I know that the pigs and the wolf in the story are animals that really exist. This part of the story is reality. I also know that these animals do not talk or build houses made of bricks. This part of the story is fantasy, or make-believe.
• Have students think of familiar stories to share. Discuss the elements of reality and fantasy in other familiar stories.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• While previewing the book, reinforce the vocabulary words students will encounter in the story. For example, while looking at the pictures on page 3 and 4, you might say: It looks as though the green grasshopper grazed on green leaves and grass.
• Remind students to look at the pictures and the letters with which a word begins or ends to figure out a difficult word. For example, point to the word grinned on page 6 and say: I am going to check the picture and think about what would make sense to figure out this word. The picture shows that Grasshopper smiled when he saw all of the new food to eat. When I look at the first part of the word, it starts like /gr/. However, the word smiled starts with the /sm/ sound, so this can't be the word. There are two n's in the word and the letter n makes the /n/ sound. I know that grinned is another word for smiled. The word grinned starts with the /gr/ sound and has the /n/ sound in the middle of the word. The sentence makes sense with this word. The word must be grinned.
• For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words and word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read to find out what happened when Grasshopper tried the new foods from the forest. Remind them to stop reading at the end of each page with a sticky note to quickly retell in their mind the details of the story so far.

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 has happened so far in the story. Encourage students who finish before others to reread the text.
• Model retelling and identifying reality and fantasy.
  Think-aloud: I stopped after a few pages to retell in my mind what I had read so far. I learned that Grasshopper grazed on green leaves and grass every day. He was tired of eating the same foods each day. So he decided to try some new foods. He hopped off into the forest to look for something new to eat. I know that grasshoppers really can hop and eat grass and leaves. This part of the story is real. I know that grasshoppers cannot talk, so this part of the story is fantasy.
• Introduce the reality and fantasy worksheet. Have students write information they know so far about what is real and what is fantasy.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 8. Have them retell what they have read and record any additional reality and fantasy information on their worksheet.
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to retell what they have read so far and think about reality and fantasy to help them understand 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.

• 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.

Reflect on the Reading Strategy

• Retell in detail the events of the story after Grasshopper tried the sweet honey.
  Think-aloud: Grasshopper tried the sweet honey and thought it was gross. Grumpily, he hopped home to eat some green grass and leaves. When Grasshopper arrived home, he greeted his friends and told them about the berries, nuts, and honey he ate in the forest. He told them that those foods were gross and not good for grasshoppers like him. His friends told him to be glad he was a grasshopper. So Grasshopper decided to be happy grazing on green grass and leaves.
• Have students retell the story from the beginning to a partner. Listen for whether they include the following: correct events in detail, events in order, main characters, problem, and solution.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Discuss with students the elements of reality and fantasy. Have students think about the foods Grasshopper tasted and found gross and if a real grasshopper would do what was done in the book.
• Independent practice: Have students complete the reality and fantasy worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.
• Enduring understanding: In the story, Grasshopper is tired of eating the same foods every day. He tries other foods from the forest, such as berries, nuts, and honey. These foods taste gross to Grasshopper, and he decides to eat green grass and leaves again. Now that you know this information, why is it important for animals to eat the kinds of foods that are right for them? Do you think it is a good idea to try new foods?

Phonological Awareness: Initial consonant blend /gr/

• Say the word gross aloud to students, emphasizing the initial /gr/ sound. Have students say the word aloud and then say the /gr/ sound.
• Read page 3 aloud to students. Have them give the thumbs-up signal when they hear a word that begins with the /gr/ sound.
• Check for understanding: Say the following words one at a time and have students give the thumbs-up signal if the word begins with the /gr/ sound: grass, groan, food, green, grinned, hopped.

Phonics: Initial consonant blend gr

• Write the word gross on the board and say it aloud with students.
• Have students say the /gr/ sound aloud. Then run your finger under the letters in the word as students say the whole word aloud. Ask students which two letters together stand for the /gr/ sound in the word gross.
• Check for understanding: Write the following words that begin with the /gr/ sound on the board, leaving off the initial blend: grip, grin, grab, grant. Say each word, one at a time, and have volunteers come to the board and add the initial gr blend each word. Have students practice blending the sounds together to say each word.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the consonant blend /gr/ worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Grammar and Mechanics: Past-tense verbs

• Have students turn to page 5. Read the sentences aloud with students. Point to the word hopped. Explain that the word hopped is a verb and that it refers to an action that happened in the past.
• Invite students to tell the present-tense form of the word (hop). Point out the -ed ending on the word hop. Explain that the -ed letter combination on the end of a verb tells readers that the action happened in the past. Point out the double p letter combination in the word hopped. Explain that if a word's last two letters are a vowel followed by a consonant, the consonant must be doubled before adding the -ed ending.
• Have students reread page 6. Point to the word grinned. Invite students to tell the present-tense form of the word (grin).
• Check for understanding: Write the words stop, skip, trip, and snap on the board. Have students write each word in its past tense on a separate piece of paper.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the past-tense verbs worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Word Work: Alphabetize

• Review or explain to students that words are sometimes placed in a list by alphabetical order. Words are placed in alphabetical order by first looking at the beginning letter in each word and then deciding which letter comes first in the alphabet.
• Write the words grasshopper and leaves on the board. Underline the first letter in each word. Ask students which letter comes first in the alphabet, g or l. Explain that the word grasshopper would come first in an alphabetical list because the letter g comes before the letter l in the alphabet.
• Write the words nuts and honey on the board. Have students identify the initial letter in each word (n and h). Ask students to identify which letter comes first in the alphabet (h). Explain that the word honey would come first in an alphabetical list.
• Check for understanding: List these words in the following order on the board: hopping, berries, foods, grass, day, eat. Have students write the words in alphabetical order on a separate piece of paper. When they have finished, discuss their answers.

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. Have students retell the story to someone at home. Remind them to identify the elements of fantasy and reality in the retelling.

Humorous Fiction Writing Connection
Have students draw a picture of an animal and a food it usually eats on one-half of the paper. Then have them draw a picture of a new food for the animal to try. Have them write sentences to tell about the pictures.

Science Connection
Discuss different animals and the types of foods they eat (herbivores, omnivores, carnivores). Provide Internet and other resources about animals and the foods they eat. Have students pick an animal to research. Have each student design a habitat that includes the type of food the animal needs to survive. Have each student write an informational card that provides the following: name of animal, places the animal lives, what type of animal it is according to the type of food it eats, and one interesting fact about the animal. Allow time for students to share their habitats.

Skill Review
Discussion cards covering comprehension skills and strategies not explicitly taught with the book are provided as an extension activity. The following is a list of some ways these cards can be used with students:

• Use as discussion starters for literature circles.
• Have students choose one or more cards and write a response, either as an essay or a journal entry.
• Distribute before reading the book and have students use one of the questions as a purpose for reading.
• Cut apart and use the cards as game cards with a board game.
• Conduct a class discussion as a review before the book quiz.