Text Type:
Fiction / Fantasy
Reading Level:
K
Word Count:
414
Pages:
18
Text Summary
Ratty Rats is a fictional tale about a group of rats that sneak onto a ship that is getting ready to sail. The rats run to the cargo bay and proceed to get settled for the journey. They eat the sailors' stored food, chew the ship's anchor rope, and eat through the ship's sails. The captain becomes very angry, but the crew refuses to acquiesce to his solution.
Lesson Objectives
Reading Strategies
Children should use a variety of strategies to determine word meaning and comprehend text. The targeted strategy for this lesson is: Predicting before and during reading.
Word and Print Skills
Phonics
r-controlled vowels
Word Work
Adjectives, verbs
Comprehension
You will likely address a number of comprehension skills as children work to understand the text. The targeted comprehension strategy for this lesson is: Rereading for details.
Visual Learning
Helping children develop an understanding of the importance of noticing picture details will increase their word recognition, fluency, and story comprehension.
Targeted Vocabulary Words
Content Words
crescent, sail, sailors, hoist, gangway, cargo bay, nibbling, evidence, captain, anchor, anchorman, lifeboat, first mate, mended
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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During Reading
Student Reading
Have children read to themselves or quietly with a partner. Have them use the Reading Strategies from this lesson plan to decipher unfamiliar words.
After Reading
Comprehending the Text
Ask children to share what they did when they came to difficult words or difficult sentences. Ask: What strategy did you use? Did you go back and reread? Did you pause and sound out the letters of a difficult word? Did you look at the pictures for clues? Encourage all children to participate in the discussion. Write their responses on the chalkboard or chart paper.
To check for story understanding, ask:
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Visual Learning
Have children look at page 1. Ask: What is in this illustration that tells us about the setting of the book? Explain how picture details can tell us a lot about the book. Have children look at page 10. Have them describe the events on the page without reading the text.
Building Skills
Phonics
Write the words (from the story) gathered, cargo, dark, entire, ordered, anchor, shore, and sailors on the chalkboard or chart paper.
The letter r affects the sound of the vowel that precedes it in many ways. For example, chair, fern, bird, hurt, dark, father. In addition to the letter r, the letters l and w have effects on the vowels that precede or follow them, for example, water, fall, talk. Instead of trying to explain to children the intricacies of how the vowel sound is affected by these consonants, it’s best to teach the sounds as spelling patterns such as ar, er, ir, or, ur, air, ear, are, all, alk, and wa. Sometimes, the same spelling pattern can represent different sounds. For example, the or in anchor sounds different from the or in shore.
Have children find the sounds/spelling patterns on the words written on the chalkboard or chart paper. Have them say the words and then circle the sounds/spelling patterns they have learned: gathered, cargo, dark, entire, ordered, anchor, shore, sailors.
Word Work
Adjectives
Write the word Adjective on the chalkboard or chart paper. Explain that an adjective is a word that describes a noun or pronoun. Adjectives can tell what kind (a quiet bay, ratty rats) or which one (those sailors, this rat). They can also tell how many (five rats), how much (less money), or whose (my family).
Find examples from the story and write them on the chalkboard. Have children volunteer to circle the adjectives:
They wanted to leave the busy, noisy city.
"Oh no," cried the cook. "It’s the ratty rats."
Next, a terrible storm blew up.
The ship was tossed around in the rough waves.
The captain sailed the ship into a quiet bay.
The rats got comfortable in the dark cargo bay.
Next, help children make up sentences using adjectives and have them write their sentences in a notebook.
Verbs
Write the word Verb on the chalkboard or chart paper. Explain to children that a verb is a word that shows physical or mental action, being, or state of being— for example, I am running to the store, we are jumping rope, the rats chewed the rope. Have children work with a partner to reread Ratty Rats and find examples of verbs. Ask them to write one or two sentences from the book and circle the verbs. Then ask them to make up a sentence with a verb and write it in their notebook.
Expand the Reading
Writing Connection
Have children research different kinds of sailboats and sailing ships, from small to very large. Have them use books in the library or use the Internet. Ask them to write the information they learned at the bottom of a large piece of paper. Have them illustrate what they wrote. Have children share their work with the group or class. If you live in a boating community or have access to a nautical company, have an employee come to the class and talk about sailing.
Social Studies Connection
Display a large map of the world prominently in the classroom. Label the seas, oceans, and bays. Gather travel brochures from a local travel agent that feature sailboats or ships. Have children pretend they are going to take a long trip on a sailing ship. They can sail on the ocean or sea. They can dock in bays or sail into a bay. Have them work in pairs to decide where they are starting from, where they are going, what they will need to take for food and drink, how long they think it will take them, and what they will find when they get to their destination. Ask them to look for bays along the way to anchor their ship and go ashore. Instruct them to write down the details of their journey. When they have finished, ask them to share what they did—where they started, where they went, what route they took (which ocean or sea they sailed), where they docked (which bay), what they did, how long it took, what the weather was like, what they ate, what problems they encountered and how they solved the problems, etc. Have them share their adventure with the class, using one of the maps to show where they sailed.
Reading Independently
Have children read the book independently or with a partner. You can also encourage them to read other books of their choice that at the appropriate reading level.
Home Connection
Send the book home to be read to or with a family member. Ask children to share their journeys from the Social Studies Connection with their family.
Assessment
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