Text Type: Nonfiction/Informational
Page Count: 16
Word Count: 264 

Book Summary
People often ask, “How do we know dinosaurs lived on Earth?” This informational book answers this question. Students learn that scientists have found the fossilized remains of dinosaur bones, footprints, teeth, nests, and eggs. They also learn how scientists dig up, wrap, transport, and study dinosaur remains. The text is supported by fascinating photos and illustrations.

About the Lesson   

Targeted Reading Strategy

• Ask and answer questions

Objectives

• Ask and answer questions to understand nonfiction text
• Identify the main idea and supporting details in informational text
• Blend phonemes into words
• Identify and read words with ou and ow diphthongs
• Identify and read the plural form of words
• Categorize content vocabulary

  Materials

• Book -- Discovering Dinosaurs (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Comprehension, plural forms, word cards worksheets
• Fossil(s) or pictures of fossil(s)
• Word journal (optional)

   Indicates an opportunity for student to mark in the book. (All activities may be completed with paper and pencil if you choose not to have students consume the books.) 

Vocabulary

• High-frequency words: are, about, have, know, of, other, some, will
• Content words:  fossil, dinosaurs, skeleton, animals, humans, Earth, world, scientist, bones, footprints, teeth, nests, eggs, museums

Build Background

• Asks students how we know that dinosaurs once lived on Earth. Record their answers on a KWL chart on the board. (Know, Wonder, Learned)
• Show the students a fossil or a picture of a fossil with the imprint of a plant or animal embedded in the rock. Extend the discussion by asking students to share what they know about fossils.

Book Walk

Introduce the Book

• Read students the title of the book. Show them the photos on the front and back covers and title page. Have them turn to a partner and discuss what the photos have to do with finding dinosaurs.

Introduce the Strategy: Ask and answer questions

• Explain that good readers read the title and look at the photographs on the covers before they read a book. Then they ask themselves questions based on what they see. When reading the book they try to find the answers to the questions they asked.
• Think-aloud: The title of this book is Discovering Dinosaurs. When I read the title and I look at the photographs I have a lot of questions about the topic. I wonder what scientists do when they discover dinosaur bones. I wonder how they get the bones out of the ground without breaking them. I wonder what they do with the bones after they find them? I’m going to write these questions on the KWL chart in the Wonder column.
• Invite students to turn to a partner and share their questions about finding dinosaurs. Give students sticky notes to record their questions. Have them put their sticky notes on the KWL chart under the Wonder column.
• 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

• Use the table of contents, chapter headings, photographs, and captions to preview the book with students. Reinforce new vocabulary by incorporating it into the discussion. For example on page 6, say: Look closely at the picture and read the caption. What do you think the scientists are doing to keep the fossils safe when they get them out of the ground?
• Draw the students’ attention to the bolded words in the text. Explain that these words are in bold print to help the reader know that the words are important. Have students locate and read each bolded word. Have them turn to the glossary on page 16 and read the definitions.
• Reinforce word-attack strategies by modeling how to read unfamiliar words. Read students the last sentence on page 10. Point out the word humans. Explain that when readers come to a word they are not sure of, they look inside the word for smaller words they know. Then they use what they know about sounds and letters to figure out the word. Point to the small word man inside the word humans. Then run your finger under the letters and demonstrate how to blend the sounds and attach the word man. Reread the sentence with the word humans and point out that good readers always reread to make sure the new word makes sense.
• Encourage students to add the new vocabulary word to their word journals.
• As students read, they will use a variety of word-attack strategies. For a review of additional word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read the book to answer questions on the KWL chart.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Have them turn to the table of contents on page 3. Direct students to read the first two chapters in the book. Tell them they can reread the pages if they finish before everyone else.
• Listen to individual students read the text orally. Monitor their use of reading strategies and intervene when necessary to prompt for strategy use.
• When they have finished, ask students if any of their questions on the KWL chart were answered.
• Think-aloud: Before I read the book, I thought of questions I had about discovering dinosaurs. I wondered how scientists got the bones out of the rocks and what they did with the bones after that. I learned the answer to these questions by reading the first chapter. I learned that scientists dig the individual bones up, wrap them in plaster, and take them to the museum. At the museum they put the bones back together. (Add this information to the Learned column of the KWL chart.) I still have many questions about dinosaurs. For instance, I wonder how scientists know what dinosaurs did and ate. I am going to add this question to the KWL chart in the Wonder column.
• Ask students to share other questions they have about finding dinosaurs. Record their questions on the KWL chart.
• Have students read chapters 2 and 3 independently to see if the text contains answers to their questions.

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

Reflect on Reading Strategies

• Ask students if there were any words they had difficulty reading and use the opportunity to model word-attack strategies.
• Discuss how reading to answer questions about the book can help the reader get meaning from the book and how it can give the reader a reason to read.

Comprehension: Main idea and details

• Discussion: Ask students to share what they learned by reading this book.
• Introduce and model the skill: Review or explain that many books are about one thing. Tell students that it is easy to tell what this book is about because the topic is the title of the book (Discovering Dinosaurs). Direct students to the table of contents. Explain that each chapter in this informational book contains a main idea and details about the main idea. Also explain that, in addition to reading the title, a reader can often find out more about a main idea by reading the first two sentences in the chapter. As an example, have students turn to page 4. Read the name of the chapter, “Finding Fossils.” Reinforce that this is the main idea of the chapter by having readers read the first two sentences. Review or explain how the information in the chapter provides details that tell more about the main idea.
• Check for understanding: Have students turn to the second chapter on page 8, read the title, and read the first two sentences in the chapter. Have students tell the main idea of the chapter (learning from fossils). Have them skim the rest of the chapter to find interesting details that tell more about learning from fossils.
• Independent practice: Give students the main idea and details worksheet and explain the instructions. Have students complete the worksheet. Provide time for students to discuss their responses.
• Extend the reading: Ask students to tell one interesting detail they learned by reading the book. Ask them to share why they think the detail was fascinating.

    Instruct students to use the last page of their book to draw a picture of the most interesting fact they read about in the story. Have them write a caption below their illustration.

Phonemic Awareness: Orally blend phonemes

• Say the word teeth by segmenting the sounds: /t/ /ee/ /th/. Tell students that if you blend the sounds together, you can make a word: teeth.
• Provide another example by segmenting the word bone: /b/ /o/ /n/.
• Tell students that you are going to say some words by splitting them up and saying them sound by sound. Tell students they need to listen very carefully so that they can blend the sounds together to say the word. Use the following words, saying them one at a time by segmenting the sounds: nest, fish, rock, egg, keep.

Phonics: diphthongs ou, ow

• Say the two words out and now. Ask students to identify how the two words are alike. (They both contain the same vowel sounds.) Write the words on the board. Circle the vowel diphthongs in each word, and read the letters that make the vowel sound. Point out that the two words are spelled differently, however, they have the same sound.
• Read the sentence on page 5 to find another word that has this vowel sound (found). Write the word on the board underneath the word out.
• Read the text on pages 8 and 10 to locate other words that have the same vowel sounds (about, how). Write these words on the board.
• Ask students to locate the word know on page 4. Explain to students that not all words that contain ow have the same vowel sound as in now.

Grammar and Mechanics: Plurals

• Write the word dinosaurs on the board and circle the s ending. Explain to students that putting an s on the end of the word dinosaur means that the author is writing about more than one dinosaur.
• Have students look through the book to locate other plural words (rocks, skeletons, humans, insects, fossils, eggs, animals, footprints, nests, plants, scientists, and bones). Ask students to use a crayon to highlight these words.
• For additional practice, have students complete the plural forms worksheet.

Vocabulary: Categorize content vocabulary

• Give pairs of students the following word cards: dinosaurs, Earth, fossil, teeth, museums, eggs, nest, skeleton, footprints and humans. Ask students to sort the word cards into categories. Provide an opportunity for students to share how they sorted the words.
• Click here for the word cards worksheet.

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their books independently or with a partner. Partners can take turns reading parts of the book.

Home Connection

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

Writing Connection

• Ask students if they think being a scientist would be an interesting profession. Invite them to share what they think would be interesting about the job. Have students write and complete the following sentence: Being a scientist would be an interesting job because _____________________.

Science Connection

• Have students use the KWL chart on the board to create a list of questions they still have about fossils and dinosaurs. Provide resources for students to research their questions. Add what they learned to the KWL chart on the board in the Learned column.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• consistently ask and answer questions using a KWL chart
• correctly say a word when given the word as segmented sounds
• identify and read words that contain the vowel diphthong ou and ow
• identify and read the plural form of words when s is added to the word
• sort words into categories and explain the way they categorized them

Comprehension Checks

• Book Quiz
• Retelling Rubric