Before Reading
Introducing the Book
Direct children’s attention to the front cover of the book. Ask them to read along as you point to the words and read the title. Ask: What do you see in the pictures? What are the rats doing? Where do you think they might be? Do the title and the picture help you to predict what the book is going to be about? Point to the author and illustrator names. Turn to the title page. Ask children to read the title as you point to the words. Ask: What does the picture on this page tell you? What is the rat doing? If children are unfamiliar with the trap on the page, explain that a trap is a device used for catching animals. Ask children if they can predict what the story will be about, using the knowledge they have gained from the cover and the title page. Write down their predictions and explain that you will check their Before Reading predictions as they read the book aloud.
Have children turn to the back cover of the book. Point out that the picture on the back cover is from the book. Ask: Does this help you to predict what is going to happen?
Building Background
Display pictures of sailboats and sailing ships for children to see. Help children understand the difference between the size of a sailboat and a sailing ship, using a simple definition: a boat can fit into a ship, but a ship cannot fit into a boat. Ask: Have any of you seen a sailboat or a sailing ship? Have you been on a sailboat or a large ship with sails? If some children are familiar with sailing, encourage them to share their knowledge and experiences with the rest of the class. If children are unfamiliar with sailboats and ships, point out specific equipment like the sails, the anchor, the ropes (needed to drop the anchor and tie the ship to the dock), the gangway, the cargo bay, and the lifeboats. Help children to understand why each piece of equipment on a sailboat is important, e.g., the sails catch the wind and cause the boat or ship to move across the water. To increase understanding, post a large picture of a sailing ship on the bulletin board and label the parts of the ship and the equipment you have discussed. You can follow up with a discussion of where sailboats and sailing ships journey (for example, across oceans and seas to different countries).
Book Walk
As you walk through the book, ask children to look at the illustrations for meaning. For example, on page 3, ask: What time of day do you think it is? How can you tell? Where is the ship? Where is the dock? On page 4, ask children to point to the anchor and the ropes that tie the ship to the dock. Continue the book walk to page 8. Ask: What are the rats doing? Can you read the name on the sack? Help children to say the word rice. On page 9, ask: What has happened? What do you think the rats have done? Does the man look worried? What is he holding? Point to the word evidence. Explain that the word means "facts that prove something." Then ask children to tell you what evidence the man found, and evidence of what.
Continue to page 11. Ask: Who is this man? Does he look unhappy? What does he have in his hand? What do you think he is going to do? Do you think he can trap the ratty rats? Continue through the book, pointing out target content words and asking children to respond to the pictures and to make predictions. Call attention to the different sentence patterns and length of sentences. On pages 16 and 17, note the structure—there are two paragraphs on these two pages.
Reading Strategies
Before reading the book, talk to children about strategies they can use to help them in the reading process. Ask them to brainstorm strategies and discuss how and when it would be appropriate to use the various strategies. You can also ask them questions to help them remember different strategies that will help them as they read. Ask:
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Go to During Reading
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