Building Skills
Phonological Awareness
gr is grrrr
Focusing on the words great and grandma discuss with children that gr blends together to sound like grrrr. Have children come up with other words that begin with gr and notice that they have a blended sound.
Phonics
S plural vs. ’s possessive
Have children look for words that end in s. This is a good story to discuss the difference between plural and apostrophe s used as a possessive.
Some examples of plural s are relatives: grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles. Families can be used; however, the –ies- makes the plural form more complicated.
Some examples of apostrophe s are mother’s, father’s and people’s.
Review the difference between s plural and apostrophe s. As a group, come up with sentences using examples of both. Have children pair up or get in groups of three, and come up with two sentences, one using s plural and one using an apostrophe s.
Word Work
High Utility Words
your, many, know, before, their — These words can be included in a weekly spelling test to help children recognize them, as well as being incorporated into their regular writing. The words can also be added to the class word wall or into the class dictionary, if applicable. You can also try playing "hangman" or a "password"-like game where children have to give clues to help others guess what the word is, without actually saying what the word is.
Apostrophes and hyphens
The use of apostrophes and hyphens make this book a good introduction to these punctuation marks. Discuss the way to use both of these punctuation marks, and have children go through, notice, and count up the number of times each is used.
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