During Reading

Lesson Plans for A VISIT TO THE ZOO level I

During Reading

Model Reading
Provide a copy of the book to each child. Direct them to read silently or quietly to themselves. Tell those that finish before others to reread the book or to think about what they have read in order to respond to the purpose you set before the reading. Ask questions to remind children of strategies that will help them as they are reading.

How will the pictures help you read the words? (They give you hints as to what the words may be.)
What can you do when you come to a word you cannot read? (Look at the beginning and ending sounds, break up the word.)
What can you do if you don't understand a part you have just read? (Reread the sentence or page.)

You can also model this think aloud strategy:
Say: If I had a word that I didn’t know, I think the first thing I would do is look at the picture for help. If I still didn’t get it, then I would look at the word to see if I recognize the first letter to help me. I would try to sound out each letter in the word to help me figure out what the word might be and then look at the picture again. I will have to listen to myself as I say each letter and try to put them all together so I can try to hear what the word might be. Finally, I would go back and reread to make sure the sentence makes sense.
Before reading, explain that they should put post-its on any words they have trouble with or don’t understand. When everyone is done reading, you will go over those words as a group.

Setting the Purpose
At this point, remind students that they need to pay close attention to the order in which the girls see the animals. They will be using the information on the comprehension worksheet.

Using the Worksheet
Pass out the comprehension worksheet. Children will need to write a number next to the animal’s name according to the order in which they are shown in the book. For example, on page 4 is the lioness, page 5 is the lion. On the worksheet they would put one next to lioness, two next to lion, three next to elephant, four next to flamingo, five next to rhinoceroses, six next to ferret, seven next to mandrill baboon, eight next to giraffe, nine next to zebra, and ten next to tortoise. These numbers will help children later when it comes time for them to cut out the names and put them in order.

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