Text Type: Fiction/Realistic
Page Count: 16
Word Count: 257

Book Summary
Hannah and Andy are building a town as a school project. They need people for the town, but they're trouble finding some they can use that are the right size. How will they solve their problem? Hannah's Townspeople provides picture and high-frequency support for early readers.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

• Retell

Objectives

• Use the reading strategy of retelling to understand and remember story events
• Identify problem and solution
• Discriminate variant vowel /oo/ sound
• Identify variant vowel combination oo
• Identify and use quotation marks
• Understand and identify synonyms

Materials

• Book -- Hannah's Townspeople (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Problem and solution, variant vowel oo, quotation marks worksheets
• Discussion cards

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

Vocabulary

• High-frequency words: asked, had, I'm, make, need, said, their, too
• Content words: building, firefighters, people, shoppers, town, workers

Build Background

• Ask students whether they have ever noticed the types of buildings and people in their town. Discuss what they know about the places in their town and the people who live and work there.

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 Hannah's Townspeople. (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: Retell

• Explain to students that one way to understand and remember what they are reading is to stop now and then during reading to retell in their mind the events of the story.
• Explain to students that when someone retells something, he or she explains the details that happened in the order in which they happened. Point out that people retell stories as part of their daily lives, such as explaining a favorite story or the events on a television show. Ask students to share other examples of when people might give a retelling.
• Model retelling a familiar story in detail, such as The Three Little Pigs.
  Think-aloud: In The Three Little Pigs, the pigs decide to build their own houses. The first little builds his house out of straw. The big bad wolf comes along and asks the little pig to let him in. The little pig refuses, so the wolf huffs and puffs and blows down the house of straw. The little pig runs away. The second Little Pig builds his house out of sticks. The big bad wolf comes along and asks to be let in. When the second little pig refuses, the wolf huffs and puffs and blows down the house of sticks. The second little pig runs away.
• Continue retelling in detail until the end of the story. Invite students to suggest information for the retelling of the story.
• Have students place sticky notes on pages 6, 10, 14, and 16. Explain that as they read, they should stop on these pages to think about what has happened so far in the story. Encourage students to retell in their mind what happens in the story as they read.
• 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: Problem and solution

• Explain to students that certain elements are included in a fictional story. Write the words problem and solution on the board. Explain that in most stories, the character is faced with a problem that needs to be solved, and the solution is how the problem is fixed.
• Model identifying problem and solution in a familiar story.
  Think-aloud: In the story The Three Little Pigs, the wolf was trying to eat the pigs. He blew down the houses of two pigs to try to get at them. This was a problem for the three pigs. However, the pigs solved their problem by hiding in the house of the third pig, which was made of bricks. The wolf could not blow down this house.
• Have students think of other familiar stories to share. Discuss the problems and solutions in these stories.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• While previewing the book, reinforce the vocabulary words students will encounter in the story. For example, while looking at the pictures on pages 3 and 4, you might say: It looks as though Hannah and Andy are almost finished building a town. Their school project is almost done.
• 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 store on page 4 and say: I am going to check the picture and think about what would make sense to figure out this word. The picture shows many different kinds of buildings, even an ice cream shop. When I look at the first part of the word, it starts like /st/. However, the word shop starts with the /sh/ sound, so this can't be the word. I know that another word that means the same thing as shop is store. The word store starts with the /st/ sound. The sentence makes sense with this word. The word must be store.
• For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words and word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read to find out how Hannah solves her problem. Remind them to stop reading at the end of each page with a sticky note to quickly retell in their mind the details of the story. Have them think about the problem and solution as they read.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Have them read to the end of page 6 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 retelling and identifying problem and solution.
  Think-aloud: I stopped after a few pages to retell in my mind what I had read so far. First, Hannah and Andy were working on finishing the town for their school project. They had a lot of buildings in their town, such as a fire station, pizza place, police station, and school. Next, they decided they needed people and asked Hannah's mom to take them to buy some. However, she couldn't take them because she was cooking dinner. Hannah got upset because she really thought her town needed people. This was her problem. I don't know what the solution is yet. I will keep reading to find out what Hannah does to get people for her town.
• Introduce the problem and solution worksheet. Have students write information they know about the problem on their worksheet.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 10. Have them retell the details about the events after Hannah goes into Kate's room. Allow students to use the pictures as a guide. Listen to their retellings for correct order, details, and description of the problem and solution.
• Discuss some of the possible solutions that were suggested for Hannah's problem (using Kate's dolls, using Lucy's baby dolls) and why these solutions didn't work. Have students write the information on their worksheet.
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to retell what they have read so far and think about the solution to Hannah's problem to help them understand information as they read.

      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.

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.
• Retell in detail with students the events of the story after Hannah decides to make the people for her town.
  Think-aloud: After Hannah had the idea to make the people, she and Andy made workers and shoppers. They colored, glued, taped, and cut. They used many supplies: glitter, yarn, paper, and cloth. They had so much fun making the people that they decided to make a zoo and animals the next day.
• Have students retell the events to the end of the book with a partner using the pictures in the book as a guide. Then have them retell the story to a partner from the beginning. Listen for whether students include the following: correct events in detail, events in order, main characters, problem and solution.
• Ask students how retelling the events of the story in their mind as they read helped them understand and enjoy the story.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Discuss with students the problem and possible solutions in the story. Point out that more than one solution is often tried or suggested before finding one that works.
• Independent practice: Have students complete the problem and solution worksheet by writing the solution to the story. If time allows, discuss their answers.
• Enduring understanding: In the story, Hannah has a problem--she needs to add people to her town to complete her school project but does not have any. In order to solve her problem, she has to think through more than one solution before finding one that works. Now that you know this information, why is it important to think through problems and consider several solutions?

Phonological Awareness: Discriminate variant vowel /oo/ sound

• Say the word school aloud to students, emphasizing the /oo/ sound. Have students say the word aloud and then say the /oo/ sound.
• Read page 16 aloud to students. Have them raise their hand when they hear a word that contains the /oo/ sound.
• Check for understanding: Say the following words one at a time and have students give the thumbs-up signal if the word contains the /oo/ sound: too, sister, cool, room, town.

Phonics: Identify variant vowel oo

• Write the word school on the board and say it aloud with students.
• Have students say the /oo/ sound aloud. Then run your finger under the letters in the word as students say the whole word aloud. Ask students to identify which letters represent the /oo/ sound in the word school.
• Circle the oo letter combination. Explain to students that the letter o doubled represents the /oo/ sound in the middle of the word school.
• Have students practice writing the oo letter combination on a separate piece of paper as they say the sound the letters represent together.
• Check for understanding: Write the following words that contain the /oo/ sound on the board, leaving out the oo letter combination: too, spoon, tooth. Say each word, one at a time, and have volunteers come to the board and add the letter combination in each word. Have students read the words aloud.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the variant vowel oo worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Grammar and Mechanics: Quotation marks

• Have students turn to page 3. Read the first sentence aloud to students. Ask students who said those words (Hannah).
• Point out the quotation marks in the first sentence. Explain that these marks show the words someone said. They are called quotation marks. Have students read the words in quotation marks.
• Point to the word said after the quotation marks. Explain that this word tells who is speaking.
• Point out that the last sentence on page 3 does not contain quotation marks. Explain that neither of the characters said these words.

      Check for understanding: Have students look through the story with a partner. Have them locate and circle the quotation marks. Have them write the name of the speaker next to each sentence that contains quotation marks.

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

Word Work: Synonyms

• Write the following sentence on the board: Hannah stood on a chair to reach the tiny dolls. Point to the word tiny. Ask students to suggest other words that have the same or similar meaning as the word tiny (small, little, and so on).
• Explain that a word that has the same or a very similar meaning as another word is called a synonym. Point out that writers use synonyms to add variety and avoid using the same word over and over.
• Check for understanding: Have students turn to page 10 and locate the following sentence: "Those dolls are too big for our town," pouted Hannah. Circle the word big. Have students write at least two synonyms for the word big on a separate piece of paper. When they have finished, discuss their responses.

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 students retell the story to someone at home. Remind them to include the problem and solution in the retelling.

Realistic Fiction Writing Connection
Have students write a story about a character who had to make something for school. Encourage them to include dialogue and use quotation marks in their story.

Visit Writing A–Z for a lesson and leveled materials on realistic fiction writing.

Social Studies Connection
Discuss the different people and places in the town where students live. Have students work together to create a model of the town and the people in it.

Skill Review
Discussion cards covering comprehension skills and strategies not explicitly taught with the book are provided as an extension activity. The following is a list of some ways these cards can be used with students:

• Use as discussion starters for literature circles.
• Have students choose one or more card and write a response, either as an essay or a journal entry.
• Distribute before reading the book and have students use one of the questions as a purpose for reading.
• Cut apart and use the cards as game cards with a board game.
• Conduct a class discussion as a review before the book quiz.