Build Background

• Have students share how they can tell spring is here (warmer temperatures, emerging plants, animals being born, etc.).
• Ask students about other nonfiction books they have read that contained a table of contents and glossary.

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 Spring Is Here will be about. Ask students what seasons the pictures represent and how students can tell. Ask whether they think the book is going to be a story about spring or a book of facts and to tell why they think this.
• Show students the title page. Talk about the information on the page (title of book, author's name).

Introduce the Strategy: Summarize

• Explain that one way readers can understand and remember new information in a nonfiction book is to review in their minds, or summarize, what they have just read. Good readers often summarize by commenting to themselves about the information or restating the information in their own words.
• Point out the table of contents at the beginning of the book and tell students that in one section of the book ("The Mountains"), they will read about spring in the mountains. Use this chapter to model summarizing.
• Think-aloud: As I read the section on mountains, I am going to summarize, or review in my mind, the important information. For example, if I read that snow on the mountains begins to melt in the spring, I might think to myself: When snow on the mountains melts in spring, the water begins to fill rivers and streams.
• Explain that by summarizing in their mind as they read, students help themselves stay actively involved in the book and connect with new information.
• As students read, they should 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, ask students to talk about what they see in the pictures and use the vocabulary they will encounter in the text.
• Reinforce new vocabulary by incorporating it into the discussion of the pictures. For example, on page 6 you might say: The shoots on these flowers remind me of tulips in the spring. One fall I planted tulip bulbs, and in the spring the flowers shot up! (If possible, bring bulbs to class for students who have not had experience with gardening or planting.)
• Model the strategies students can use to work out words they don't know. For example, point to the word Remember on page 4. Model masking chunks of the word from left to right to read the word (Re/mem/ber). Then read the sentence to students and ask if the word Remember makes sense.
• For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words or word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read the book to learn more about the signs of spring. Remind them to stop after reading new information to summarize in their own words what they have learned.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Give students their books and have them put a sticky note on page 9. Tell them to read to the end of that page. They can reread the pages if they finish before everyone else.
• When they have finished reading, ask students what words were difficult for them. Have students review in their minds the information they learned about spring in the text.
• Think-aloud: As I read, I paused to summarize in my mind what I learned about spring. I read that as the days get longer and warmer, robins return and prepare nests for new babies. New growth can be seen, such as flower shoots and buds on trees. I’ll keep reading to learn more interesting information about spring. While I read, I’ll summarize in my own words to help me remember new information.
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Encourage them to summarize as they read.

    Tell students to make a small question mark in their books beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. These can be addressed in the discussion that follows.

Reflect on the Reading Strategies

• Ask students what words they marked in their books. Use this opportunity to model how they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
• Have students tell how summarizing helped them understand the book. (It encourages students to pay close attention and promotes active participation, which aids in retention.)
• Think-aloud: Stopping to think about signs of spring helped me to remember as I read. I didn’t know that gophers like to nibble on dandelion leaves! Summarizing helped me to be more involved with what I was reading.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Classify information

• Discussion: Ask students to describe some of the changes or behaviors they read about that signaled the arrival of spring (new plant growth, animal babies, etc.)
• Introduce and model the skill: Ask students to think about two or three main areas of change that can be classified (plants, animals, other). Write the categories on the board. If necessary, revisit pictures in the book to direct students’ attention. Explain that one way to remember new information is to group together, or classify, similar information. For example, deer babies, gophers, frogs, robins, and bear cubs can all be classified under animals.
• Check for understanding: Have students look at the picture on page 3 and discuss in what category the information would best be classified (animals).
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the classify information worksheet. Discuss their responses when they have finished.
• Extend the discussion: Invite students to share other signs of spring not included in the book that can be classified under the categories on the board.

Phonemic Awareness: Blend phonemes

• Say the words sun and fat, and ask students to listen carefully as you say the word parts. Have them listen to the word parts and then say each whole word. Say: /s/ /u/ /n/. Then say the whole word (sun). Repeat with /f/ /a/ /t/.
• Use the following words for students to orally demonstrate blending: /sh/ /oo/ /t/, /b/ /u/ /l/ /b/, /b/ /u/ /d/, /p/ /o/ /n/ /d/.
• Use the following examples to connect with the phonics section below.
  /g/ /r/ /ou/ /n/ /d/, /n/ /ou/, /m/ /ou/ /n/ /t/ /e/ /n/, /d/ /ou/ /n/, /b/ /r/ /ou/ /n/, /s/ /ou/ /n/ /d/.

Phonics: /ou/ diphthongs

• Write the words brown and sound on the board. Have students find the words on page 7 and 9, and read the sentences in which they are found.
• Ask students what vowel sounds they hear in the words (/ou/). Circle ow in brown and ou in sound, and explain that the /ou/ sound can be represented by either spelling pattern.
• Have students look through the book for other examples of the /ou/ sound (page 4: how; page 6: flowers, round; page 9: underground, sound; page 10: mountains; page 11: out, underground; page 13: brown; page 15: round, sound).
• Introduce and explain the diphthongs worksheet. Discuss their responses when students are finished.

Grammar and Mechanics: Quotation marks

• Review or explain that writers use marks called quotation marks to indicate when someone or something is speaking or making a sound.
• Have students turn to page 9 and read the last sentence. Ask students to tell why quotation marks are used in the sentence--as punctuation used to indicate speech or to indicate a sound (to indicate a sound).
• Have students find another example of quotation marks in the book and explain why they are used (to indicate the sound an animal makes).

Vocabulary: Content vocabulary

• Review with students that many of the words they read in the book are names of animals and some of their characteristics. Provide opportunities for students to say the new vocabulary words, discuss their meanings, and use the words in sentences.
• For additional practice, have students complete the vocabulary worksheet. Discuss their responses when they have finished.

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their books independently or with a partner. Encourage repeated timed readings of a specific section in the book.

Home Connection

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

Writing and Art Connection

• Have students choose one sign of spring (from the areas classified in the comprehension section) to illustrate and write about. Display their work on a "Spring Is Here" bulletin board.

Science Connection

• As seasonally appropriate, arrange a spring visit to a nearby nature center to observe signs of spring. Have students record observations in a journal or notebook.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• summarize information while reading a nonfiction text
• accurately classify signs of spring on a graphic organizer
• blend phonemes
• read words with /ou/ diphthongs; accurately identify spelling patterns in text and on a worksheet
• recognize and understand various uses of quotation marks
• identify content vocabulary words in text and to complete a worksheet