The Owl and the Pussycat

The Owl and the Pussycat
Level H

About the Book

Text Type: Fiction/Fantasy
Page Count: 14
Word Count: 231

Book Summary
The Owl and the Pussycat is a charming retelling of the classic story, told in rhyme. In this story, the owl and the pussycat decide to sail away to be together. When they arrive at their destination, they are married by the turkey who lives on the hill and live happily ever after.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

Retell

Objectives

Use the reading strategy of retelling to understand text
Identify the sequence of a story
Identify and produce rhyme
Read and write words with the diphthong /ou/ letter combinations ow and ou
Identify adjectives
Recognize and understand compound words

Materials

Book -- The Owl and the Pussycat (copy for each student)
Chalkboard or dry erase board
Sequence events, diphthong /ou/ 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: went, some, look, with
Content words: owl, pussycat, beautiful, guitar, fowl, wonderfully, Pong-tree

Before Reading

Build Background

Ask students if they have ever read the traditional rhyme The Owl and the Pussycat. Read the rhyme or have them tell about the version of the rhyme they know. Explain to students that different authors retell older rhymes and tales in different ways. Invite them to share other stories they know that have been retold (Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and so on).

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 Owl and the Pussycat. (Accept any answers students can justify.) Ask them where they think the owl and the pussycat are going and what they are going to do.
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 book.
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, event 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, that 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, 8, 12, and 14. Explain to them 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, reinforce new vocabulary by incorporating it into the discussion of the pictures. For example, on page 5, you might ask: What musical instrument is the Owl playing?
Model the strategies students can use to say difficult words. For example, point to the word fowl on page 7. Have students use a finger to cover the letter f and say: This word ends like a word you know -- owl. If you take your finger away and add the /f/ sound, you have a new word. What would the new word be? Discuss the meaning of the word fowl. Then read the sentence to students, and ask whether or not the word makes sense in the sentence.
For additional teaching tips on high-frequency words and word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

Have students read the book to find out what happens in the story. Remind them to stop reading at the end of each page with a sticky note to quickly retell in their mind the details of what has happened so far in the story.

During Reading

Student Reading

Guide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Ask them to place a finger on the page number at the bottom corner of the page. Have them read to the end of page 6, 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: I stopped after a few pages to retell in my mind what has happened so far in the story. First, I read that Owl and Pussycat went to sea. They took with them honey and money. Owl sang a song to Pussycat with a small guitar as he looked at the stars above.
Have students read to the end of page 8. Ask them to retell the events of the story to a partner. Discuss these events and details of the story as a group.
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 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 from pages 9 through 12 using the pictures in the book as a guide.
Think-aloud: After Kitty asked about the ring, Owl and Pussycat sailed away to the land where the Pong-tree grows. There they found a piggy-wig who had a ring in her nose. They traded a wig for the ring and got married the next day by the turkey who lived on the hill.
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, main characters.
Ask students how pausing to retell the story in their mind helped them 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 where they think Owl and Pussycat might travel to next and why.
Introduce and model the skill: Tell students that a story is a series of events that happens in a particular order. First one thing happens, then something else, and so on. Explain to students that the order in which events happen is called the sequence. Point out the sequence in this story.
Think-aloud: I don't include all the details of the story, as I would in a retelling. I only tell the most important events in order to tell the story correctly. First, Owl and Pussycat sailed away in a boat. Next, they decided they should get married, but they didn't have a ring.
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: Discuss with students the meaning of the words fantasy and reality. Have them tell whether The Owl and the Pussycat is fantasy or reality and why.

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Produce rhyme

Say the words boat and note to students. Ask them to tell what is the same about the words (they rhyme/have the same ending sound).
Discuss with students other words that rhyme with boat and note (coat, float, goat, tote, quote, and so on). Have them say each word.
Say the following words to students: sea, owl, star, sing, wed, day, pig, hill, moon. Pause after saying each word and have them say other words that rhyme with each word. Allow students to list as many words as they can for each word you say.

Phonics: Diphthong /ou/

Write the word owl on the board. Have students find the word on page 3 and read the sentence in which it is found.
Ask students what sound they hear at the beginning of the word. Circle the ow spelling pattern in the word, and explain that the /ou/ sound is most often represented by two spellings: ow as in owl or ou as in out. Write each spelling pattern on the board.
Have students look on page 7 to find two other words with the /ou/ sound (fowl, how).
Write the word house on the board. Say the word slowly with students, and invite one of the students to come to the board and circle the two letters that represent the /ou/ sound.
Make a two-column T-chart on the board with the headings ow and ou. As a group, brainstorm words that have the /ou/ sound. Write each word in the appropriate column. Examples may include: about, cloud, count, flour, ground, mouse, round, bow, brown, cow, down, howl, towel, wow.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the diphthong /ou/ worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Grammar and Mechanics: Adjectives

Have students turn to page 3 in their book and reread the sentence. Point to the word boat. Ask students to tell how the author described the word boat (beautiful, pea-green). Write these words on the board.
Review or explain to students that words that describe people, places, and things are called adjectives.
Have students turn to page 5 in their book. Ask them to point to the adjective that describes the guitar (small).
Ask each student to point to an object in the room. Have them identify the object using an adjective before the noun, such as the big window, the round rug, and so on.

Word Work: Compound words

Write the word football on the board. Ask students to identify the two smaller words in the word football (foot and ball). Review or explain to them that two words that are joined to make a new word with one meaning is called a compound word.
Have students turn to page 3. Ask them to find the compound word in the first line (Pussycat).
Have students share other examples of compound words they know. Write these words on the board. Discuss how the meaning of each smaller word helps readers understand the meaning of the larger word. Identify the meaning of one of the words on the board using the meaning of each of the smaller words.

Build Fluency

Independent Reading

Allow students to read their book independently. Additionally, partners can take turns reading parts of the book.

Home Connection

Give students their book to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.

Extend the Reading

Writing and Art Connection
As a group, brainstorm a new version of The Owl and the Pussycat. After the new version is discussed, students can work in pairs to write and illustrate one or two pages of the revision. Combine their pages into a class book.

Music Connection
Invite a musician who can play the guitar to visit the class and explain how the guitar works. Ask him or her to play the instrument. Discuss the musical notes on pages 5 and 6, and have the guitarist show some of the notes he or she reads while playing the song.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

consistently pause as they read to mentally retell the events of the story
correctly sequence story events during discussion and on a worksheet
tell that words rhyme because they have the same ending sounds, and suggest words that rhyme when they are presented with words orally
recognize the common spellings for the /ou/ sound and write accurately
correctly identify adjectives during discussion
recognize compound words and their meanings during discussion

Comprehension Checks

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