Before Reading

Lesson Plans for TO THE CIRCUS Level K

Before Reading

Build Background
Involve students in a discussion about the circus to elicit prior knowledge and build background. If students have read other books in the Hoppers series, help them make connections between what they have read and what they are about to read.
Ask: Have you ever been to a circus? What are some of the things that you would expect to see at a circus?
Write students’ ideas on chart paper and refer to the list after reading. Talk about the Hoppers and previous books.
Ask: What can you tell me about the Hoppers family? Do you think the Hoppers would want to go to a circus? What happened in some of the other Hoppers stories? Who had a problem in the story about the umbrellas? Who solved the problem? Who had a problem in the story about the kites? Who solved that problem?

Introduce the Book
Show students the cover illustration and have them read the title to make initial predictions about the main idea or topic. Have students draw on past experience with the Hoppers stories to make predictions about this one.
Ask: What do you see on the cover? What do you think might be happening? Do you think Snubby Nose might have a problem or get into some kind of trouble in this story? What might happen to him?

Reading Strategies
Ask students what strategies they will use to read the text. Ensure that they suggest the following strategies:

Ask the questions: Does it make sense? Does it sound right? Does it look right?
Reread any sentence or page that was difficult, to make sure that they understand the text
Use what they know about letters and sounds to read new words
Connect the text with what they already know

Discuss how connecting information in the text to what they already know can help them understand the text.
Say and ask: You know something about the Hoppers from reading other books about them. How do you think knowing this might help you when you read this book?

Go to During Reading

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Introduce the Book
Show students the cover illustration and have them read the title to make initial predictions about the main idea or topic. Have students draw on past experience with the Hoppers stories to make predictions about this one.
Ask: What do you see on the cover? What do you think might be happening? Do you think Snubby Nose might have a problem or get into some kind of trouble in this story? What might happen to him?

Reading Strategies
Ask students what strategies they will use to read the text. Ensure that they suggest the following strategies:

Ask the questions: Does it make sense? Does it sound right? Does it look right?
Reread any sentence or page that was difficult, to make sure that they understand the text
Use what they know about letters and sounds to read new words
Connect the text with what they already know

Discuss how connecting information in the text to what they already know can help them understand the text.
Say and ask: You know something about the Hoppers from reading other books about them. How do you think knowing this might help you when you read this book?