Build Background

• Involve students in a discussion about types of clocks. Have them think about the number of times they have wondered what the time was so far today. Have them tell what types of time pieces they have used today.
• Ask them to tell how they think people were able to tell time before clocks were invented that are used today.

Book Walk

Introduce the Strategy: Make Connections to Prior Knowledge

• Give students the making connections worksheet. Have students work in pairs to read the sentences, discuss the answers, and write "Yes" or "No" in the column on the left. Explain to students that completing this worksheet helps them think about what they already know about the topic of telling time.
• Give students their copies of the book. Have them read the title and look at the cover illustrations. Ask them what they think the book is about. Model how to make connections and use prior knowledge.
• Think aloud: When I read a new book, I try to think about what I already know about the topic in the book. The picture on the front cover of this book reminds me of the watch my grandfather carried in his pocket. By looking at the title and the covers, I can predict that I may find out about other kinds of clocks.
• Have students preview the title page, table of contents, and index. Tell them that the table of contents tells them what they are going to read about in the book. Read the chapter titles with students and ask them to tell you what kinds of things they think they will read about in the book. Ask students to identify the chapter in which they will read about how the sun was used to tell time. Explain the purpose of an index. For example, say: If I want to find out about a famous clock called Big Ben, I can look on page 12. When I turn to page 12, I read that Big Ben is in London, England and that it is an analog clock.
• Continue to preview the book, having students look at photos, captions, and diagrams.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• As you preview the book with students, use any vocabulary you think they will have difficulty with in the discussion. If necessary, have them find the words on the page and tell how they know the word.
• Model the strategies students can use to work out words they don't know. Have students find the word grandfather on page 11. Ask students how they could read this word if they didn't know it. Suggest that they might look at how it starts and read /gr/, and look at how it ends and recognize the sound the letters er stand for. They might recognize that it is a word made from 2 smaller words, grand and father. Then they can read the other words in the sentence to see if the word grandfather makes sense.
• For additional teaching tips on word-attack strategies and high-frequency words, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students think about what they know about types of clocks as they read the book.

Student Reading

• Guide the Reading: Give students their books and have them put a sticky note on page 7. Tell them to read to the end of this page. Have students reread the pages if they finish before everyone else.
• When they have finished, ask students if they have ever used the sun to tell time. Point out the photographs on page 5 and ask students to tell what is different in each one.
• Model making connections to prior knowledge.
• Think aloud: I’ve seen a big sundial like the one on page 7. It’s in the park in the city where I lived growing up. It helps me understand what I am reading when I think about what I already know about the things I’m reading about.
• Tell students to read the remainder of the book and think about what they know about telling time.

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

Reflect on the Reading Strategies

• Ask students what words they marked in their books. Use this opportunity to model how they could read these words using decoding strategies and context clues. For example, point out the word clock on page 4 and ask how they knew it didn’t say cluck. Focus on the short o sound.
• Reinforce how making personal connections and using what they know about the topic of the book helped them become more involved with the text and helped them better understand what they read. Have students return to the worksheet started prior to reading and place the correct answer in the column on the right.

Comprehension Skill: Main idea and details

• Introduce and model: Review or explain that many books are about one thing. Ask students what the book they just read is about. Ask students if they think the title and covers of this book were good hints. Ask students to tell the best way to find out if the title and covers are good hints (read the book).
• Have students look at the table of contents. Explain that each chapter in this book tells about a way to tell time. Tell students that this is the main idea, or the “big idea” of the chapter. Explain that the other sentences in the chapter that tell more about the “big idea” are called details.
• Have students look at the second chapter title. Tell students that the main idea of this chapter is that the sun can be used to tell time. Have students turn to page 5. Tell them the detail on this page is that people got up when the sun came up and went to bed when the sun went down.
• Check for understanding: Have students turn to page 6 in the book. Ask them to find a detail that tells about how the sun can be used to tell time. Explain that figuring out the main idea and details in a book helps them understand what the book is about.
• Independent Practice: Explain the main idea worksheet. Have students complete the worksheet. Discuss their responses.

Word Analysis: Closed syllables

• Review or explain that a syllable is a word part that contains 1 vowel sound. Remind students that a single vowel sound can be represented by 1 letter or by 2 or more letters together. Tell students that being able to figure out the syllables in an unfamiliar word will help them pronounce it.
• Write the word candle on the board. Tell students that they can divide the word between the double consonants and demonstrate this on the board.
• Point out that the first syllable is a closed syllable because the vowel falls between 2 consonants. Explain that the vowel is often short in a closed syllable so they should try a short sound first. Have them read the syllable.
• Point out the consonant plus -le ending and remind them the sound this ending stands for. Then read the word by blending syllables together.
• Write the word bubble on the board and repeat the above lesson sequence.
• Then provide examples of words with 2 closed syllables, for example, dinner, mascot, culprit, and show students how to divide the words between the double consonants. They are then left with 2 syllables that are easy to sound out.
• Ask students to tell you in their own words how breaking a word into syllables can help them read the word.
• Give students the word analysis worksheet. Have them divide each word into syllables. As a group, have students read the words.

Grammar and Usage: Using Was and Were

• Explain that the words was and were are used to tell about things that happened in the past. Tell students that the word was is used to tell about one person, place, or thing. Explain that the word were is used to tell about more than one person, place, or thing.
• Write the following sentences on the board, and ask students to tell if one or more than one person, place, or thing is the subject of the sentence:

The books were lost.              He was late.

I was happy.                            Ann and Ed were hungry.

The children were laughing.   Al was singing.

• Write the words was and were and the following sentences on the board. Ask students to number 1 – 5 on the inside front cover of their book and write the word that fits in each sentence.

1. We _____ playing.
2. Sue, Bob, and Jill ____ reading.
3. I ____ reading, too.
4. The book ___ funny.
5. His car ___was red.

Vocabulary: Content Vocabulary

• Tell students that many of the words in the book are used to talk about ways to tell time. Provide opportunities for students to talk about difficult words such as analog and digital. Provide opportunities for students to say the new vocabulary words, and use the words in sentences.
• Have students cut pictures from magazines or draw pictures of each type of clock they read about in the book. Tell them to label each clock. Display the pictures on a bulletin board titled “Tick Tock.”

Independent Reading

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

Home Connection

• Give students their books to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.

Writing and Art Connection

• As a group, brainstorm ideas about what a magic clock might do. For example, a magic clock might let them sleep an hour longer, get out of school an hour earlier, or stay up an hour later at night. Have students use paper and markers to draw their own special clock. Have them write a description of all the things their clock will do. Display the clocks on a bulletin board titled “It’s Magic Time.”

Science Connection

• Refer to page 15 in the book. Have pairs of students create water clocks. Have them check the water clock against an analog clock with a second hand and tell if they keep the same time.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• connect life experience and use prior knowledge as a strategy for understanding and remembering text.
• complete a prior knowledge survey to show what they know about past and present instruments that tell time
• identify the main idea in each chapter and find details that support it
• divide closed-syllable words into syllables and use the syllable pattern to pronounce the words
• understand when to use the words was and were
• understand content vocabulary and use the words as labels.