Phonological Awareness: Manipulating medial sounds

• Say the word mouse and ask students what sound they hear in the middle of the word. Ask students what word you would have if you changed the /ou/ sound in mouse to long /i/ (mice).
• Give students other words and ask them to manipulate the medial sounds to create new words: block - change /o/ to /a/ (black); black - change /a/ to long /e/ (bleak); rind - change long /i/ to /ou/ (round); bliss - change /i/ to /e/ (bless); bless - change /e/ to /ou/ (blouse). 

Phonics: Variant vowel ow

• Have students turn to page 3 and find words with the ow digraph. Students will find snow and grow. Ask students what sound the digraph makes (long /o/).
• Have students turn to page 7 and find words spelled with ow. Students will find flowers, brown, and crown. Ask students what sound ow makes in these words.
• The difference between the digraph and the diphthong is subtle. Demonstrate how the digraph in grow represents a single sound, long /o/. Write grow and go on the board. Have students read both. Check that students understand that the words rhyme. Long /o/ is a single sound.
• Write the word cow and now on the board. Have students read the words. Read the words slowly, over-enunciating the slip from /o/ to /w/. Explain that in this case, the two letters still have two separate sounds, only they are mushed together.

+    Have students circle all the words spelled with ow. If they represent one sound, such as in grow, have them write the number 1 above the word. If they represent two squashed sounds, such as in flowers, have them write the number 2 above the word. 

Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage: Verb tense

• Have students turn to page 3 and reread the page. Ask them when this story happens and how they know this.
• Have them underline the verbs on the page. Point out that sometimes we add -ed to a word to create past tense, as in the word covered. But other times, we form past tenses by using a different spelling of the word, as in the words grew, had, and could. Tell students these are called irregular verbs because they don’t follow the rule of adding -ed to make the past tense. Have students tell you the present tense of the three irregular verbs.
• Have students reread page 6. Ask students what tense is used when Tatler speaks. Point out that will find is future tense because Glooskap hasn’t found the woman yet.
• Have students find other examples of dialogue in the story, and ask them what tense is used there. Explain that dialogue most often uses present tense, because people usually speak to each other about what is going on now.
• Introduce and explain worksheet 2. Students are to put the verbs at left into past and future tense under the "Yesterday" and "Tomorrow" columns.

+    Have students underline all the regular past tense verbs in the book 

Building Fluency 

Reading Independently

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

Home Connection

• Have students take their books home. They can read it to parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.