Build Background

• Involve students in a discussion about riding bicycles. Have them tell where and when they like to ride, if they have ever raced another rider, and what kinds of bikes they have.
• Give pairs of students the prior knowledge worksheet. Have them write what they know about the words on the page, what the words make them think of, and how the words might be connected to each other. Tell students that they will encounter these words in the book they are about to read and they will be able to check their ideas as they read the book.

Preview the Book

Introduce the Book

• Give students their copies of the book and have them read the title. Ask them what they think the book is about based on the cover information. Have them look at the prereading worksheet to see what they wrote about Lance Armstrong. Have them tell how they would change or add to what they wrote now that they have seen the covers of the book.
• Have students preview the title page, table of contents, and index. Remind them that the table of contents tells them what they are going to read about in the book. Read the chapter titles and ask students what kinds of things they think they will read about in the book. Ask students to identify the chapter that has the name of another country in it. Read the title and ask if any of them have heard of this bicycle race. Explain the purpose of the index. For example, say: If I want to find out about Lance’s battle with cancer, I can look on pages 6, 7, and 15. When I turn to those pages, I read about the cancer that Lance had.

Introduce the Strategy: Make Connections to Prior Knowledge

• 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. I have read about Lance Armstrong before and I know that he is a famous bicycle rider. Knowing something about the topic will help me read the book.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• As you preview the book, use any vocabulary from the book you feel might be unfamiliar in a discussion about the pictures. If you feel it is necessary, preteach any words that you think might be difficult for your students, for example, the word challenge on page 6. Point out the word on the page and discuss its meaning. Ask students what they think Lance’s challenge might be.
• Model the strategies students can use to work out words they don't know. Remind them to look at the word parts and to think about what makes sense in the sentence.
• Explain that the word cycle is the root word for the word cyclist. Discuss its meaning.
• For additional teaching tips on word-attack and high-frequency words, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students think about what they know about bicycle racing 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 had to overcome a challenge to keep doing something they liked to do. Model making connections to prior knowledge.
• Think aloud: I’ve never been a bike racer, but I am a race walker. When I had back surgery, the doctor told me I couldn’t do it for a while. 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 bike racing.

    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.
• Reinforce how making personal connections and using what they know about bike racing and overcoming challenges helped them become more involved with the text and helped them better understand what they were reading.

Comprehension Skill: Sequence

• Discussion: Ask what the author's purpose was for writing the book, and what they learned about Lance Armstrong that they didn't already know. Ask students if they think Lance will race again to win another Tour de France.
• Introduce and model: Review or explain that many writers tell the events in a story in the order in which they happened. Ask students to think of a recent story they've read in which the events were written in order. If necessary, prompt with a familiar story such as The Three Little Pigs. Write the first event on the board (the pigs leave home) and have students tell the events in order.
• Tell students that the book they just read presented events in Lance Armstrong’s life in sequence. Ask them to tell you what was the first event in Lance’s life that was in the book.
• Check for understanding: Have students tell the remaining events in the book.
• Independent Practice: Give students the sequence worksheet. Tell them to cut out the sentence strips and put the events in order. Discuss their responses.

Word Analysis: Open and closed syllable patterns

• Review or explain that a syllable is a word part that contains 1 vowel sound. Tell students that being able to figure out the syllables in an unfamiliar word will help them pronounce it.
• Write the word races on the board and show students how to divide the word. Point out the consonant between 2 vowels in the middle of the word. Tell students that they should first try dividing the word after the vowel and before the consonant: ra/ces.
• Point out that the first syllable in the word ends in a vowel. Tell students that this is called an open syllable. Explain that most open syllables have long vowel sounds. Then point out that the second syllable has a vowel between 2 consonants which is a closed syllable. They should first try the short vowel sound in a closed syllable.
• Repeat with the words cyclist, secret, and label, dividing the words to produce 1 open and 1 closed syllable in each word: cy/clist; se/cret; la/bel.
• 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 Pronouns

• Review or explain that a pronoun takes the place of a noun. Tell students that writers use pronouns in books so they don’t have to keep using the name of a person, place, or thing repeatedly. Write the following pronouns on the board: he, she, it, we, they. Tell students that these are the most frequently used pronouns.
• Read the following sentences, and ask students to tell who or what the pronoun is telling about.

Jim ate lunch. He was hungry.
I like to sing “America the Beautiful.” It is a pretty song.
Juan and Maria are wearing hats. They look nice.

• Write the following sentences on the board. Have students number 1 – 5 on the inside front cover of their book. Tell them to rewrite each sentence with the correct pronoun for the underlined words.
  

1. Kim and Sue like cookies.
2. Jill is going to a party.
3. Bill and I are going too.
4. The party is today.
5. Al will be surprised.

Vocabulary: Content Vocabulary

• Tell students that many of the words in the book are used to talk about bicycle racing. Provide opportunities for students to talk about difficult words such as Tour de France and compete, and use them in oral sentences.
• Have them refer to the prereading worksheet and tell how they would change their notes about the words now that they have read the words in the book. Provide opportunities for students to say the new vocabulary words, and use the words in sentences.
• Have students go through the book and circle each word that has something to do with bicycle racing. When they are finished, have them compare the words they circled with another student’s. Go over the words with the group. Have them choose 2 words to write sentences for on the inside back cover of the book.

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 Connection

• Write the following questions on the board and have students copy: Who? What? When? Where? Provide print and Internet resources for students to research an athlete of their choice. Have them do research on the athlete to answer the questions; then share what they learned with the group.

Science Connection

• Use this book as an introduction to a unit on the skeleton, bones, and muscles. Discuss how the 3 work together to allow athletes like Lance Armstrong to compete in bike races. Provide print and Internet resources for students to research the number of large and small bones in the body. Discuss what bones need to be strong and healthy.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• Draw on what they know about cycling and racing to complete the prereading worksheet and use their prior knowledge in discussions about the text
• recall the sequence of events in order to retell the events in Lance Armstrong’s life
• use knowledge of open and closed syllable patterns to divide words into syllables and read them
• use the pronouns he, she, it, we, they correctly
• use content vocabulary in a meaningful way in the group discussion.