Build Background

• Involve students in a discussion about places they like to play outdoors and the kinds of things they like to do. Have students talk about what they wear or things they do to stay safe while playing outdoors.

Book Walk

Introduce the Strategy: Make connections to prior experience and knowledge

• Show students the front and back covers of the book and read the title. Ask them what they think the book is about based on the cover information. Model how to make connections and use prior knowledge.
• Think aloud: I see some kids in a boat on the front of the book. I was on a boat like this when I visited Lake Powell in Arizona. I even wore a life jacket like the kids have on. On the back cover, I see a girl in some water. Maybe she's in a swimming pool. That's one of my favorite places to be. I learned to swim when I was 5 years old. I still love to go swimming every chance I get. (Tailor comments to personal situation.)
• Show students 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 and ask students what kinds of things they think they will read about in the book. Ask students if they have had experience with any of the topics listed or have read about any of the topics before.
• Explain the purpose of an index. For example, say: If I want to find out about how to be safe around cars, I can look up "cars" in the index. When I turn to page 8, I read that riding a bicycle near cars is dangerous.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Go through each page of the book with the students, using the vocabulary they will encounter in the text. Ask the students to talk about what they see in the photographs. Model how to use their knowledge and experience as they preview the photographs.
• Reinforce new vocabulary by incorporating it into the discussion of the pictures. For example, on pages 6 and 7 you might ask: What are both boys wearing on their heads? Point out the captioned photograph.
• Model strategies students can use to work out words they don't know. Have students find the word wrists on page 7. Ask students how they could read this word if they didn't know it. Suggest that they look at how it starts and recognize that the w in wr is silent. They might know that the letter i in the middle of the word has the short /i/ sound. They might know the sound of the letters st at the end of the word. Then they can read the other words in the sentence to see if the word wrists makes sense.
• For additional teaching tips on word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have the students think about what they know about playing safely outdoors as they read the book. Tell them to pause after reading each chapter and ask themselves if they do the same kinds of things to keep themselves safe while playing.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Give students their books and have them put a sticky note on page 9. Direct them to read to the end of this page. Tell students to reread the pages if they finish before everyone else.
• When they have finished, ask students if they like to do any of the activities they've seen in the pictures, and if they follow any of the "Rules for Wheels." Ask what connections they were able to make with their personal knowledge and experience. Model making connections and using prior knowledge.
• Think aloud: One time I went to buy a new bike. It was my first bike with different speeds. I was trying out the bike in the parking lot and I wanted to stop, but I forgot that I had to use the hand brakes. I crashed into a pole. I had to go to the hospital and get stitches on my head. If I'd been wearing a helmet, I wouldn't have hurt my head. (Tailor comments to fit personal situation.)
• Tell students to read the remainder of the book and to think about what they know about staying safe while playing.

    Tell 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 Reading Strategies

• Ask students what words they marked in their books. Use this opportunity to model how they could read these words using word-attack strategies and context clues.
• Ask students how making personal connections to the topic of the book helped them become more involved with the text and helped them better understand what they read.

Comprehension: Identify the author's purpose

• Introduce and model: Explain that writers usually write for one of three reasons. Write the following words on the board and read each word to students: teach, entertain, convince. Ask students what they think each word means. Add to students' definitions, if necessary, and provide examples of each. Have them suggest books or stories they have read that taught them something (math book, science book). Have them suggest books that were entertaining (humorous stories, poems). Have them suggest things they have read that were meant to convince them of something (magazine ads, newspaper editorials).
• Check for understanding: Show students reading materials such as an encyclopedia, a fiction book, and an editorial. Ask students to tell what they think each author's purpose might be for writing the book or story. Open each selection to a page that contains words or sentences that reveal or support the author's purpose and explain how each does so.
• Discussion: Have students suggest what they think the author's purpose was for writing this book. Have them turn to the introduction and find phrases or sentences that give them clues. (Words such as "you" and "should" are words that give instructions, so this author is probably trying to teach.)
• Independent practice: Tell students to complete the Author's Purpose worksheet. Have them circle the phrase at the top of the page that tells the author's purpose. Then have them circle the sentences that gave them clues. Discuss their responses.
• Extend the discussion:

    Instruct students to use the last page of their book to draw a picture of themselves playing safely on wheels, in the water, or on a playground. Have students share their pictures with the group.

Phonics: Spellings for long /a/

• Write the words play and train on the board. Read them with students. Ask students to repeat the words. Ask what vowel sound they hear in play and train (long /a/). Circle the letters ay and ai in the words and write them on the board above the words. Tell students that when these pairs of letters are written together, they make the long /a/ sound.
• Have students brainstorm other words that have long /a/, and write them on the board. Make sure that students list a variety of spellings, such as: face, braid, clay, weigh, break, they.
• Ask volunteers to come up and circle the letters that stand for the long /a/ sound in each word. When all the letters have been circled, discuss which spellings of long /a/ seem to be the most common.
• Give students the Long /a/ worksheet and explain what they are to do.

Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage: Adverbs

• Review or explain that there are special words that tell action. Write the following sentence on the board: The boy rides his bike. Ask students which word in the sentence tells what the boy does. Underline the verb. Circle the word boy and remind students that this is the person doing the action. Ask students if they can tell anything about how the boy is riding his bike.
• Rewrite the sentence as follows: The boy happily rides his bike. Ask students to name the word that tells how the boy rode his bike (happily). Tell them that this is an adverb that tells how an action takes place. Most adverbs that tell how an action takes place end in -ly.
• Direct students to the last sentence on page 5. Read the sentence and ask students to find the adverb that tells how someone should play (safely).
• Write the following words on the board: glad, neat, tight. Have students use a sheet of scrap paper write each word as an adverb. Then ask students to choose one adverb, think of a verb to use it with, and write a sentence. Have students share their sentences with the group.
• Extend the activity:

    Instruct students to circle the -ly adverbs in the book and underline the verb each describes.

Vocabulary: Compound words

• Write the word playground on the board. Tell students that this is a word made by putting two words together. The new word has a new meaning. Ask students to tell the meaning of each word, play and ground. Then have them tell the meaning of the new word playground. Point out that the new meaning uses something from the meaning of each word that makes it.
• Have students find the word sidewalk on page 8. Ask them what 2 smaller words were used to make the new word.
• Remind students that recognizing smaller words in compound words can help them read the compound words and understand their meanings.
• Give students the Compound Words worksheet and explain the example.

Independent Reading

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

Home Connection

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

Writing

• Have students work in groups to make murals using the rules on pages 9, 11, and 14. Encourage students to illustrate the rules and share their murals with the group. Display in the room.

Science Connection

• Provide resources for students to research the brain and bones. Discuss what happens when a brain is injured or a bone is broken. If possible, ask a nurse or physician to talk to the group about the importance of wearing helmets while biking, skating, skiing, and participating in other activities.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• connect life experience and use prior knowledge as a strategy for understanding and remembering text.
• identify author's purpose and sentences that support it.
• identify spellings for long /a/.
• recognize adverbs and the words they describe.
• understand and form compound words.