Tag-Along Goat - Lesson Plans

Tag-Along Goat
Level H

About the Book

Text Type: Fiction/Humorous
Page Count: 16
Word Count: 211

Book Summary
The monsters visit a petting zoo and feed the animals. Everything appears to be going well until a goat escapes and follows them home. Now they are faced with the problem of getting a stubborn goat back to the zoo. Tag-along Goat is the perfect book to introduce story elements. Humorous pictures support the text.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

Retell

Objectives

Use the strategy of retelling to understand and remember story events
Identify story elements
Discriminate initial consonant digraph /th/
Identify initial consonant digraph th
Identify and use contractions
Understand and use high-frequency words there and their

Materials

Book -- Tag-Along Goat (copy for each student)
Chalkboard or dry erase board
Story elements, contractions, high-frequency words worksheets

Indicates an opportunity for student to mark in the book. (All activities may be completed with paper and pencil if books are reusable.)

Vocabulary

High-frequency words: back, doesn't, says, their, there, they
Content words: animals, carrots, chicken, corn, donkey, empty, escapes, feed, gently, goats, notice, pocket, sprinkles, trail

Before Reading

Build Background

Ask students whether they have ever been to a petting zoo. Discuss what they know about petting zoos and the animals they might see there.
Discuss with students reasons why people might go to a petting zoo.

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 Tag-Along Goat. (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 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 the events of the story.
Explain to students that when someone retells something, they explain the details that happened in the order in which they happened. Point out that people retell stories as part of their daily lives, such as explaining a favorite story or the events on a television show. 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 6, 11, 13, and 16. 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: Story elements

Explain to students that certain elements are included in a fictional story. Write the following words on the board: characters, setting, problem, and solution. Explain that the characters are the people or other animals in the story, and the setting is where and when the story takes place. The characters usually are faced with a problem that needs to be solved.
Model identifying story elements in a familiar story.
Think-aloud: In the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Goldilocks is the main character. Mother Bear, Father Bear, and Baby Bear are also characters in the story. The setting is the bears' house in the forest. The problem is that Goldilocks messes up the bears' house and gets caught by the bears. The solution is that the bears come home and frighten Goldilocks away.

Introduce the Vocabulary

While previewing the book, reinforce the vocabulary words students will encounter in the story. For example, while looking at the picture on page 4, you might say: It looks as though the monsters are buying carrots to feed the animals at the petting zoo.
Remind students to look at the pictures and the letter a word begins or ends with to figure out a difficult word. For example, point to the word trail on page 9 and say: I am going to check the picture and think about what would make sense to figure out this word. The picture shows the corn dropping on the road. When I look at the first part of the word, it starts like /tr/. However, the word road starts with the /r/ sound, so this can't be the word. I know that the word for a smaller road might be trail. The word trail starts with the /tr/ sound. The sentence makes sense with this word. The word must be trail.
For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words and word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

Have students read to find out what happens to the monsters at the petting zoo. 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 characters, setting, and events so far in the story.

During Reading

Student Reading

Guide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Have them read to the end of page 6 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 story elements.
Think-aloud: I stopped after a few pages to retell in my mind what I had read so far. First, the monsters decided to go to the petting zoo. Next, Lurk got carrots, Uzzle got chicken feed, and Bonk got corn to feed the animals at the petting zoo. The characters I have read about so far are the monsters: Lurk, Uzzle, and Bonk. I wonder if the goat will be a character because the title is Tag-Along Goat. The setting is the petting zoo. I do not know what the problem is yet. I will keep reading to find out the problem of the story and how it is solved.
Introduce the story elements worksheet. Have students record information they know about characters on their worksheet.
Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 11. Have them retell the details about the events after Bonk gets the corn for the goats. Allows students to use the pictures as a guide. Listen to their retellings for correct order and description of the story events. Review the definitions for setting and problem. Discuss the setting (petting zoo, trail) and the problem (a goat follows the monsters home and they don't know how to get him back). Have students write this information on their story elements worksheet.
Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to retell what they have read so far and think about the solution to the monsters' problem 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.

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.
Retell in detail with students the events of the story after the monsters noticed the goat followed them home.
Think-aloud: After the monsters noticed that the goat followed them home, they tried to get him back to the zoo. They tried to gently push the goat back to the zoo, but he didn't move. Lurk tried telling the goat to go back to the zoo, but he didn't move.
Have volunteers retell the events to the end of the book, using the pictures in the book as a guide if necessary. Then have them retell the story to a partner from the beginning. Listen for whether students include the following: correct events in detail, events in order, main characters, problem, and solution.
Ask students how retelling the events of the story in their mind as they read helped them understand the story.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

Discussion: Discuss with students the characters of the story, the setting, and the problem. Review the meaning of a solution.
Independent practice: Have students complete the story elements worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.
Enduring understanding: In the story, the monsters have a problem--they can't get the goat to go back to the petting zoo. They try several things before they can get him to go back to the zoo. Now that you know this information, why is it important to keep trying, even when things don't work out at first?

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Discriminate initial consonant digraph /th/

Say the word they aloud to students, emphasizing the initial voiced /th/ sound. Have students say the work aloud and then say the voiced /th/ sound.
Read page 3 aloud to students. Have them raise their hand when they hear a word that begins with the voiced /th/ 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 voiced /th/ sound: there, teacher, child, that, those, zoo.

Phonics: Initial consonant digraph th

Write the word they on the board and say it aloud with students.
Have students say the voiced /th/ 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 /th/ sound in the word they.
Have students practice writing the th letter combination on a separate piece of paper while saying the voiced /th/ sound.
Check for understanding: Write the following words that begin with the voiced /th/ sound on the board, leaving off the initial digraph: the, this, there. Say each word, one at a time, and have volunteers come to the board and add the initial th digraph in each word. Have students practice blending the sounds together to say each word.

Grammar and Mechanics: Contractions

Write the following words on the board: it's and it is. Read the words aloud with students. Explain that the word it's is a contraction.
Point out to students that in a contraction, some letters are left out when two words are combined together to make one word. An apostrophe is used in the place where letters are left out. Ask students to tell which letter was left out to form the contraction it's (the letter i in the word is).
Have students turn to page 4 and read the last sentence aloud. Have a volunteer point to the contraction on the page (I'll). Ask students which two words were joined together to form the contraction I'll (I, will).

Check for understanding: Have students reread the story and locate other contractions. Have them underline the contractions. Make a list on the board of all the contractions students found. Then list the words that were joined together to form each contraction.

Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the contractions worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Word Work: High-frequency words there and their

Tell students they are going to learn two words that they will often see in books they read. Write the words their and there on the board and read the words aloud. Have students read the words with you.
Have students turn to page 3. Read the first sentence together. Point to the word their. Ask students to tell what the word means. Explain that the word their means something that belongs to someone. Have students use the word their in oral sentences.
Have students turn to page 4. Read the first sentence together. Point to the word there. Ask students to tell what the word means. Explain that the word there means a place or location. Have students use the word there in oral sentences.

Check for understanding: Have students locate the words there and their in the book and highlight them. Then have them discuss with a partner the meaning of each word.

Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the high-frequency words 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. Have students retell the story to someone at home. Remind them to use all of the story elements in the retelling.

Extend the Reading

Narrative Writing and Art Connection
Have students draw a picture of an animal they would like to feed at a petting zoo. Have them write a story about feeding the animal.

Science Connection
Discuss the foods that the animals in the story eat. Explain to students that these animals are called herbivores because they eat plants. Point out that other animals eat meat, and these animals are called carnivores. Tell students that other animals, such as humans, eat both plants and meat, and these animals are called omnivores.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

accurately and consistently retell the story during discussion to understand text
accurately identify story elements during discussion and on a worksheet
accurately discriminate voiced consonant digraph /th/ during discussion
correctly identify and write the letter symbols that stand for voiced consonant digraph /th/ during discussion
accurately identify and understand the use of contractions during discussion and on a worksheet
understand the meaning of the high-frequency words their and there; demonstrate understanding of the words during discussion and on a worksheet.

Comprehension Checks

Retelling Rubric

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