The Monster Pumpkins - Lesson Plans

The Monster Pumpkins
Level I

About the Book

Text Type: Fiction/Humorous
Page Count: 16
Word Count: 206

Book Summary
Monsters Lurk and Bonk decide to have a contest to see who can grow the biggest pumpkin. The loser has to make the winner a pumpkin pie. This book is great for introducing emergent readers to story elements. Humorous pictures support the text.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

Make, revise, and confirm predictions

Objectives

Use the reading strategy of making, revising, and confirming predictions to understand text
Identify story elements
Discriminate r-controlled sound /er/
Identify r-controlled er
Recognize and understand the use of quotation marks
List words in alphabetical order

Materials

Book -- The Monster Pumpkins (copy for each student)
Chalkboard or dry erase board
Story elements, r-controlled er, quotation marks worksheets

Indicates an opportunity for student to mark in the book. (All activities may be completed with paper and pencil if books are reusable.)

Vocabulary

High-frequency words: here, his, says, soon, their, there, they, what, will, with
Content words: contest, harvest, loser, measures, plant, pumpkin, seeds, sprout, weigh, winner

Before Reading

Build Background

Ask students whether they have ever been to a pumpkin patch. Discuss how pumpkins that started as seeds grow on vines, and that they grow into different shapes.
Discuss with students reasons why people might grow and pick pumpkins.

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 they might read about in a book called The Monster Pumpkins. (Accept all answers that students can justify.)
Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Make, revise, and confirm predictions

Explain to students that good readers make predictions, or guesses, about what will happen in a story. Explain that making predictions can help readers to make decisions, solve problems, and learn new information. Emphasize that knowing how to make predictions is more important than whether the prediction is correct, or confirmed. Readers continue to make new predictions based on clues they read in a story.
Model using the picture on the front cover of the book to make a prediction.
Think-aloud: When I look at the front cover of the book, I see two monsters with their pumpkins. It looks as though they are thinking about their pumpkins. I know that people use pumpkins in different ways. Pumpkins can be used to make pumpkin pie. Some people toast pumpkins seeds to eat. Since the title of the book is The Monster Pumpkins, I wonder if they will make jack-o'-lanterns that look like monsters out of their pumpkins, or if the pumpkins will grow to be very, very big. I will have to read the story to find out which prediction is correct.
Invite students to make a prediction based on the cover pictures and title. Share and discuss their predictions as a group.
As students read, encourage them to use other reading strategies in addition to the targeted strategy presented in this section. For tips on additional reading strategies, click here.

Introduce the Comprehension Skill: Story elements

Explain to students that certain elements are included in a fictional story. Write the following words on the board: characters, setting, problem, and solution. Explain that the characters are the people or other animals in the story, and the setting is where and when the story takes place. The characters usually are faced with a problem that needs to be solved.
Model identifying story elements in a familiar story.
Think-aloud: In the story The Three Little Pigs, the characters are the three pigs and the wolf. The setting is near the three pigs' houses. The problem is that the wolf is hungry and wants to eat the pigs. The pigs solve their problem by hiding in the third pig's brick house, which the wolf is not able to blow down.

Introduce the Vocabulary

Remind students to look at the picture and the letters with which a word begins or ends to figure out a difficult word. For example, point to the word blanket on page 8 and say: I am going to check the picture and think about what would make sense to figure out this word. The picture shows some kind of covering over one of the pumpkins. When I look at the first part of the word, it starts like /bl/. However, the word cover starts with the /k/ sound, so this can't be the word. I know that another word for cover might be blanket. The word blanket starts with the /bl/ sound. The sentence makes sense with this word. The word must be blanket.
For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words and word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

Have students read to find out about the monster pumpkins. Remind them to make, revise, and confirm predictions as they read.

During Reading

Student Reading

Guide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Have them read to the end of page 8 and then stop to think about what has happened so far in the story. Encourage students who finish before others to reread the text.
Model revising a prediction.
Think-aloud: Before reading, I predicted that the book would be about the monsters making jack-o'-lanterns or the pumpkins growing to be very large in size. Based on what I've read so far, the story is going to be about a pumpkin-growing contest. The monsters are having a contest to see who can grow the bigger pumpkin. I predict that Lurk will grow the bigger pumpkin because he seems to be giving his pumpkin a lot of extra care and attention--he sings songs and reads stories to his pumpkin at night.
Review the definition of characters and setting with students. Discuss the characters so far in the story (Lurk, Bonk). Write these names on the board. Model identifying a setting in the story using picture and context clues. Say: The monsters are planting their pumpkin seeds. I know that planting takes place outside. Ask students to use additional picture and context clues to identify where outside the monsters are planting their pumpkins (in a garden, in their backyard, and so on).
Have students review the prediction they made before reading. Have them share a new or revised prediction.
Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 10. Remind them to use the pictures, what they've read, and what they already know to make predictions as they read. When they have finished reading, discuss the outcome of their prediction. Invite them to share any new or revised predictions they made while reading.
Have students read the remainder of the book. Encourage them to continue to make, revise, and/or confirm predictions and to determine the problem and solution as they read the rest of the book.

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

After Reading

Reflect on the Reading Strategy

Ask students what words, if any, they marked in their book. Use this opportunity to model how they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
Ask students to explain additional predictions they made while reading. Invite them to discuss whether their predictions turned out to be true or whether they needed to be revised.
Think-aloud: I predicted that Lurk's pumpkin would be bigger. This prediction was incorrect. Lurk's pumpkin was taller, but Bonk's pumpkin was wider. Both pumpkins weighed the same amount.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

Discussion: Review the story elements already identified in the previous discussions (characters, settings). Discuss how Lurk decides to make his pie.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the story elements worksheet. If time allows discuss their answers.
Enduring understanding: In this story, the monsters' had a contest, and it ended in a tie. Now that you know this information, do you think a contest always has to have a winner and a loser to make it worthwhile?

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Discriminate r-controlled sound /er/

Say the word winner aloud to students, emphasizing the final r-controlled /er/ sound. Have students say the word aloud and then say the /er/ sound.
Read page 4 aloud to students. Have them raise their hand when they hear a word that ends with the r-controlled /er/ sound.
Say the word tall aloud with students. Have students add the r-controlled /er/ sound to the end of the word tall. Ask them to say the new word aloud (taller). Repeat the process with the word short.
Check for understanding: Say the following words one at a time and have students give the thumbs-up signal if the word ends with the r-controlled /er/ sound: longer, fatter, pumpkin, monster, water, contest.

Phonics: Identify r-controlled er

Write the word winner on the board and say it aloud with students.
Have students say the r-controlled /er/ sound aloud. Then run your finger under the letters in the word as students say the whole word aloud. Ask students what letters together stand for the r-controlled /er/ sound in the word winner.
Have students practice writing the er letter combination on a separate piece of paper while saying the r-controlled /er/ sound aloud.
Check for understanding: Write the following words on the board: small, sing, work. Say each word, one at a time, and have volunteers come to the board and add the er letter combination to the end of each word. Have students say each new word aloud.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the r-controlled er worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Grammar and Mechanics: Quotation marks

Have students turn to page 4 and locate the first sentence. Read the first sentence to them aloud. Point to the quotation marks. Explain to students that these marks are called quotation marks--they go around the words that characters say in a story.
Point out the word asks after the quotation marks. Explain to students that this word signals who is speaking. Tell them that Lurk is asking Bonk a question in this sentence.
Have students point to the second sentence on page 4. Point out the word says. Ask students to tell who is speaking (Bonk).
Read the last two sentences aloud to students. Ask them to identify who is speaking in the last sentence (Lurk). Point out to students that they needed to look at the previous sentence to identify the speaker since a clue word does not appear in the last sentence.
Turn to page 5. Read the first sentence aloud and explain that quotation marks are not used because a character is not speaking in this sentence.
Have a volunteer describe a pumpkin. Write the sentence in dialogue form on the board, leaving off the quotation marks. Have a volunteer come to the board and add the quotation marks in the correct locations.

Check for understanding: Have students find and highlight other sentences in the story that contain quotation marks. Discuss who is speaking in each sentence.

Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the quotation marks worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Word Work: Alphabetical order

Review or explain to students that words are sometimes placed in a list by alphabetical order. Words are placed in alphabetical order by first looking at the beginning letter in each word and then deciding which letter comes first in the alphabet.
Write the words grocery and contest on the board. Underline the first letter in each word. Ask students which letter comes first in the alphabet, g or c. Explain that the word contest would come first in an alphabetical list.
Write the words grocery and measure on the board. Have students identify the initial letter in each word (g and m).
Ask students to identify which letter comes first in the alphabet (g). Explain that the word grocery would come first in an alphabetical list.
Write the words seeds and sprout on the board. Underline the first two letters in each word. Explain to students that when two words begin with the same initial letter, the second letter is used to decide which word comes first in an alphabetical list.
Ask students to identify which letter comes first in the alphabet, e or p. Explain that the word seeds would come first in an alphabetical list.
Check for understanding: List the content vocabulary words in the following order on the board: weigh, harvest, pumpkin, measures, winner, seeds, loser, sprout, contest, plant. Have students write the words in alphabetical order on a separate piece of paper. When they have finished, discuss their answers.

Build Fluency

Independent Reading

Allow students to read their book independently. Additionally, partners can take turns reading parts of the book to each other.

Home Connection

Give students their book to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends. Have them identify the characters, setting, problem, and solution in the story to someone at home.

Extend the Reading

Descriptive Writing and Art Connection
Have students draw a picture of a pumpkin. Have them use sensory details and descriptive words to describe the pumpkin.

Math Connection
Bring in pumpkins of various sizes. Have students predict which pumpkins weigh more. Measure and weigh the pumpkins. Discuss the predictions students made about the weight of the pumpkins. Have students predict the number of seeds inside each pumpkin. Cut the pumpkins open and have students count the number of seeds.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

accurately make, revise, and confirm predictions during discussion to understand text
accurately identify story elements during discussion and on a worksheet
accurately discriminate the final /er/ sound during discussion
correctly identify and write the letter symbols that stand for the final /er/ sound during discussion and on a worksheet
identify and understand the use of quotation marks during discussion and on a worksheet
correctly place words in alphabetical order during discussion and on a separate piece of paper

Comprehension Checks

Retelling Rubric

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