About the Book 

Text Type: Fiction/Realistic
Page Count: 16
Word Count: 309 

Book Summary
Maria's Family Celebration follows Maria and her brother, Luis, as they prepare to celebrate Mexican Independence Day with their family. They decorate the house, practice their dancing, and dress in their special party clothes. Illustrations support the text.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

• Retell

Objectives

• Use the reading strategy of retelling to understand and remember story events
• Sequence events
• Recognize proper nouns
• Identify and use order words

Materials

• Book – Maria's Family Celebration (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Dictionaries
• Sequence events, proper nouns, order words worksheets

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

Vocabulary

• Content words: independence, decorate, Mexican, piñata, blindfold, practice, celebrate

Before Reading 

Build Background

• Ask students if they've ever prepared for a special celebration. Invite them to share what they did and what materials they needed for the celebration. Ask what types of events they celebrate with their family (birthdays, Memorial Day, and so on).
• Ask students to share what they know about Independence Day. Explain that different independence days are celebrated by different cultures.

Preview the Book

Introduce the Book

• Give students their copy of the book. Guide them to the front and back covers and read the title. Have students discuss what they see on the covers. Encourage them to offer ideas as to what type of book it is and what it might be about.
• 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 what is happening in the story.
• Explain to students that when someone retells something, he or she explains the details of what happened in order. Point out that people retell stories as part of their daily lives, such as explaining what happened in school to a student who was absent. 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, three pigs each decide to build a house. The first pig decides to make his house out of straw. He gathers all of the materials and builds his house. The second pig decides to build his house out of sticks. He gathers all of the materials and builds his house. The third pig gathers the materials to build his house out of bricks. One day a big bad wolf comes to the house of the first little pig. He wants the little pig to let him inside and says I'll huff and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house down.
• Continue retelling in detail to the end of the story. Invite students to suggest information for the retelling of this story.
• Have students place sticky notes on pages 7, 9, 12, and 16. Explain that as they read, they should stop on these pages to think about what has happened 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: Sequence events

• Review or explain to students that stories are generally told in order from beginning to end.
• Model sequencing the main events of the story The Three Little Pigs. Write key words about each event in order on the board as you describe them to students.
  Think-aloud: If I want someone to be able to retell the story The Three Little Pigs, certain events need to be included in order to tell the story correctly. In this story, the first event that happens is that the first little pig builds a house out of straw. Next, the second little pig builds a house out of sticks. Then, the third pig builds a house out of bricks. After that, the wolf blows down the first pig's house. Then he blows down the second pig's house. Last, he tries to blow down the third pig's house, but he can't.
• Have a volunteer use the key words on the board to sequence the events of the story out of order. Ask students to explain why the order of the steps is important (the sequence does not make sense out of order). Discuss with students that a story does not make sense when the events are out of order.
• Point out the difference between the sequence of events listed on the board and a retelling of The Three Little Pigs (the retelling contains more detail and description; the list shows only the events that were most important for someone to understand the story). Ask students to provide examples of details from the story that are not included in the sequence of events.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Write the following words from the content vocabulary on large pieces of paper to be hung up around the room: independence, celebration, Mexican, and piñata. Read each word aloud with students.
• Place students in small groups and assign each group to a word poster. Have them discuss what they know about the meaning of their word and write a definition on the paper. Rotate the groups until each group has visited every word poster.
• Review each word and the information about the word that students wrote on the paper. Create a definition based on students' knowledge and write it on the board.
• Explain to students that sometimes they will not find any context clues that define an unfamiliar word. Point out that this book does not contain a glossary, and ask where else they might look to find the definition of a word. Review with them how to locate a word and its definition in the dictionary.
• Have a volunteer read the definition for each word from the dictionary. Compare students' definitions with the dictionary definition. Use the comparison to modify the definition for each word on the board.
• For tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read to find out about Maria's family celebration. 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 events so far in the story. Have them think about the events that happened first, next, and last.

During Reading 

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Have students read to the end of page 7. Encourage those who finish early to go back and reread.
• Cut out the pages from an extra copy of the book. Place pages 3 through 7 in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard ledge.
• Model retelling the events of the story using the illustrations as a guide.
  Think-aloud: I stopped after a few pages to retell in my mind what I had read so far. First, Maria and Luis were getting ready for a Mexican Independence Day party. They decided to decorate the house. They made a picture of their family that included Mama, Papa, Emily, Maria, and Luis.
• Remind students that a retelling includes detail and description about the events of a story, and a sequence of events lists the most important events that someone would need to know to tell the story correctly.
• Point to the illustration from page 3. Explain to students that the first important event in the story is that Maria and Luis get ready for a Mexican Independence Day party. Write this event under the illustration from page 3.
• Have students look at the illustrations from pages 4 through 7. Ask them to explain what all these illustrations show (painting pictures of the family). Write this event under these illustrations as a group. Explain that after Maria and Luis get ready for a Mexican Independence Day party, they paint a picture of their family. Point out that information such as who they painted first and last is a detail about this event.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 9. Place pages 8 and 9 next to the pages from the beginning of the story. Ask students to use the illustrations as a guide to retell the details to a partner about the events after Maria and Luis finished the family pictures. Listen to students' retellings for correct order and description of the story events. Discuss the retelling of these pages as a class.
• Ask students to identify the next important event in the story from these illustrations. (Maria and Luis blow up balloons.)
• Have students read the remainder of the story. Remind them to continue stopping on pages with sticky notes to retell in their mind the details of the story.

    Have students make a question mark in their book beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. Encourage them to use the strategies they have learned to read the word and figure out its meaning.

After Reading 

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 from pages 10 through the end of the book, using the illustrations from the book.
• Think-aloud: After Maria and Luis blow up the balloons, they decide to fill the piñata. The piñata is in the shape of a fish. They fill it with candy, and Luis sneaks a piece of candy for himself.
• Have volunteers retell the events to the end of the book, using the illustrations from pages 12 through 16 of the book. Then have them retell the story to a partner, starting at the beginning. Listen for whether students include the following: main characters, setting, correct events in order, and events in detail.
• Ask students how retelling the events of the story in their mind as they read helped them understand the story.

• Discussion: Review the events of the story listed in order on the board. Place pages 10 through 16 in order next to the rest of the pages from the story. Ask students to identify the sequence of events after Maria and Luis blow up balloons. (They fill a piñata with candy. They practice dancing. Everyone arrives at the party and they celebrate.)
• Independent practice: Cover the sequence of story events on the board. Introduce, explain, and have students complete the sequence events worksheet. Encourage them to use their book to complete the worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.
• Enduring understanding: In this story, you learned about one family's traditions for celebrating Independence Day. Now that you know this information, how is this family's celebration similar to and different from the way your family celebrates Independence Day?

Build Skills 

Grammar and Mechanics: Proper nouns

• Review or explain to students that a noun is a person, place, or thing. Ask students to turn to page 10 and give examples of nouns from the text (picture, balloons, piñata, and so on).
• Review or explain that a proper noun is the name of a specific person, place, or thing. A proper noun always begins with a capital letter. Write an example of a proper noun from page 10 on the board (Maria).

    Check for understanding: Have students turn to page 6 and underline examples of proper nouns. Remind them not to confuse a proper noun with the capital letter used at the beginning of a sentence. As students identify the proper nouns, write them on the board (Emily, Maria, Mama, Papa, Luis, I). Ask a volunteer to identify words that are capitalized but are not proper nouns (Next, She, After, That's).

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

Word Work: Order words

• Review that order words are often used in text to help readers identify a sequence of events. Provide students with a few examples of order words (today, first, next, then). Have students suggest order words they know (second, last, finally, after that, third, and so on).
• Model how to sequence events using order words.
  Think-aloud: I know that a process, like a story, also has a sequence of events. For example, when I brush my teeth, first I get my toothbrush and take the lid off the toothpaste. Next, I put the toothpaste on the toothbrush. Then, I put the toothbrush head in my mouth and begin wiggling the bristles against my teeth. After that, I spit out the foamy toothpaste. Last, I rinse my mouth with clean water.
• Have volunteers explain the order of a simple process, such as making a sandwich or getting ready for school. Use time and order words (first, next, and so on) to record the steps on the board.

    Check for understanding: Have students reread pages 5 through 7 in their book. Have them identify and circle the order words on the pages (first, second, next, after, and last). Ask students to write the birth order of Maria's family in the margin of page 6 (Mama, Papa, Emily, Maria, Luis).

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

Build Fluency 

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 them sequence the events of their day with someone at home.

Extend the Reading 

Narrative Writing and Art Connection
Have students think of a special event they have celebrated with family or friends. Have them write a personal narrative telling the kind of event, what happened, and why it was memorable to them.

Social Studies Connection
Provide print and Internet resources for students to research Mexican Independence Day. Have them answer questions such as: From whom did Mexico become independent? When did it become an independent country? What types of activities and food might someone find at a Mexican Independence Day celebration? Have students record their answers, along with any other interesting facts they find.

Assessment 

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• accurately and consistently demonstrate retelling the story during discussion
• accurately and consistently sequence the main events of the story during discussion and on a worksheet
• correctly identify proper nouns in text and on a worksheet
• correctly identify and use order words during discussion and on a worksheet

Comprehension Checks

• Book Quiz
• Retelling Rubric

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