Text Type:
Fact / Informational Text
Reading Level:
K
Word Count:
431
Pages:
16
Text Summary
Strange Plants is an informative look at unusual plants around the world. This book includes photographs of these strange plants and descriptions of their unusual qualities. Readers will be fascinated as they learn about carnivorous plants and other amazing members of the plant kingdom.
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: Reading ahead.
Decoding words by reading ahead is a strategy children can use to progress through a text that is difficult for them.
The strategy for comprehension is: Summarizing after each section. After reading each section, children can discuss the characteristics that make each plant unusual.
Word and Print Skills
Phonics
long e sound
Long e lesson is addressed later in the Building Skills section of this lesson.
Word Work
Punctuation
Hyphenated words
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.
Having children reread the text once they have decoded all the words will help them with comprehension and fluency.
Visual Learning
Help children develop an understanding of the relationship between picture details and the text for increased word recognition (for example, the one-to-one correspondence between words and pictures in Strange Plants.)
Targeted Vocabulary Words
Content Words
imagine, moisture, critter, spikes, digests, parasite, colonies
These content words are used to describe what is strange about these plants.
Before Reading
Introducing the Book
Direct children’s attention to the cover of the book. (Do not pass out the books until you have discussed the cover and title pages.) Point to the title of the book and say the name: Strange Plants.
Ask: What can you tell about the book by the cover? Show the picture on the back cover, and ask: What do you think this is a picture of? If the title of the book is Strange Plants, do you think this is a plant book?
Direct children to the index in the back of the book. Ask: What would you use this page for?
Building Background
Ask: Did you know that a cactus is considered a strange plant? Its leaves are very different from the leaves that grow on more common plants. Have you ever heard of a Venus’ flytrap? What makes it a strange plant? Have you ever seen plants or trees growing in rocks? Most plants have green leaves, and roots that grow in the ground. This book talks about some plants that don’t have green leaves or normal roots.
Book Walk
Walk children through the book. As you point out the pictures, ask children to tell you what they see. For example, on page 7, what does the word critter mean? Call attention to how the pictures connect to the words on the page. Discuss how the pictures help to visually enhance the descriptions of the plants. Ask: Why are quotation marks used on pages 11 and 12?
Reading Strategies
Discuss any reading strategies children can use to help them read.
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During Reading
Student Reading
Hand out the books to children and instruct them to read quietly and aloud at their own pace. Children should use Post-it notes to write down any words they are unfamiliar with. They can then check on these words after the reading. Children might also use Post-it notes to write down the plant names and what is strange about each plant.
After Reading
Comprehending the Text
Ask children questions that will cause them to reflect on the book and give meaning to what they have read.
Ask:
Which three plants are meat eaters?
Which plant is a parasite?
Which plant grows underground?
Ask: When answering these questions did you use the index to help you find answers?
Visual Learning
Ask children the following questions to get them to think about the visual aspects of the text.
What do you think the bamboo on page 15 sounds like as it is growing?
What did you think was in the picture on page 11? Did you think it was a plant or something else?
Building Skills
Phonics
Explain hyphens to children. Hyphens sometimes connect two words in order to make one describing word. Show children the hyphenated words on page 6 and page 9. Explain that hyphens are important because they tell the reader that the two words are combining to make one idea. Write the term meat-eating plant on the board. Ask: Could you get the same meaning for this term if one of the words were missing? Is meat plant the same as meat-eating plant? How about eating plant? Do you need both words to complete the idea? The hyphen creates a two-word adjective, and we have to think of the two words as one idea to understand the meaning.
Have children complete the worksheet on using hyphens.
Word Work
Word structure
Have children look at the compound words into, sundew, daytime, nighttime, underground. Have children think of some compound words, and write them on a chart paper. Also have children make up compound words and invent definitions for their new words.
Grammar
Have children think about the sentences that were in the book. Ask: Were the sentences questions? Explain that the sentences were declarative. This means that they are factual statements. Have children read four different sentences of their choosing and turn each sentence into a question. Ask: How does this change the information in the book?
Expand the Reading
Writing Connection
Write a fictional story about a plant. What does your plant eat, and what kind of leaves does it have? Write your story as if you were writing about a real plant. Give facts about your plant. Where and how does it grow? Illustrate your data with a picture that looks similar to a photograph.
Science Connection
Ask: How do plants defend themselves against animals that want to eat them? In what part of the world do they grow? What kind of climate do they like?
Have children choose one of the plants that they would like to find out more about.
Reading Independently
Have children read the book independently or with a partner. You can also encourage them to read other books of their choice at the appropriate level.
Home Connection
Have children take the book Strange Plants home to read with a family member. Encourage them to share their thoughts on learning new words. Also, have them share their thoughts on the strange plants they would like to see in real life.
Assessment
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