Building Skills
Phonological Awareness
Have children listen for and identify the r sounds in words.
Read a section of the book that contains words with the letter r in them. Instruct children to raise their hand any time they hear a word that has the letter r in it.
Phonics
er says /r/
Explain to children that when an -er comes at the end of a word it sounds like plain /r/. You can use the following words from the story to help teach this concept. (page 3 — rivers, over, page 4 — water, page 7 — stronger, longer, page 10 — hammer, page 12 — worker(s), page 13 — girder(s), pier.) Think of other words you might use, and list them with your class.
Word Work
Time and order words
Using the explanation of how a bridge is built, explain that there are certain words used to convey a time or order in which things happen. Have children go through pages 10–14, and have them identify the words that show an order in which things were done to build a bridge.
For example: First, next, and finally.
There are a few other words used in the book that would apply to this section. Can children find them? (today, for thousands of years, and later) Can children brainstorm any other words that would fit into this category of words?
Mechanics
Punctuation—Commas used to establish a time frame, or to list and separate sentence elements
Throughout this book, commas are used to list and separate sentence elements. This concept may be new to children. By showing and discussing how the author used commas to list and separate, you can introduce or reinforce this use of commas to children.
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