Text Type:
Fact / Informational Text
Reading Level:
L
Word Count:
528
Pages:
16
Text Summary
Have you ever wondered how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly or how many insects there are in the world? If so, then you must read Insect Life Cycle. This introductory text is appropriate for children who want to do research on insects. You can also introduce children to the concepts of chapters, main ideas, supporting details, a table of contents, and an index.
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: Context Clues.
Insects tend to be something that many children are interested in and know something about. Using this to your advantage, context clues will be helpful in decoding words and establishing meaning for children. By making connections between what they are reading and what they already know about insects, children will be exhibiting their comprehension of the subject matter being presented in the text.
Word and Print Skills
Phonics
ee, ea, final e, and sometimes ies have the same long e sound
Word Work
Punctuation—Commas to list and separate ideas
Throughout this book, commas are used to list and separate ideas. This is a concept that may be new to children. By going through the book and showing and discussing how the author used commas to list and separate, you can introduce or reinforce this use of commas to children.
Compound words
After reading the text, have children go back through the text, looking specifically for compound words. There are several throughout the book. Again, if the books are consumable, you can have children highlight, circle, or box in the word on the page in one color, and use a different color to identify a different aspect of the word. If books are not consumable, post-its would work. Using different colored post-its or pencils will make the various words you are focusing on easier to distinguish between.
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: Sequencing.
ß Because this book discusses two different types of insect life cycles, you can teach children about both the three- and four-stage insect life cycle. After reading the book, children can summarize and explain, in sequence, the two different types of insect life cycles. This can be done verbally or in a written format.
Visual Learning
Illustrations and photos in books are important to help children gain a full understanding of what they are reading. The photos in this book provide a first hand look at many of the concepts being introduced. If the concept being introduced or any part of it is new to children, the pictures will help in the comprehension of the topic at hand. Be sure to look at and point out the different pictures, and to help children incorporate the photos into the reading.
Targeted Vocabulary Words
Content Words
The following content words fall into the category of Insect Life Cycles and come directly from the book.
Antennae, announce, cocoon, fossil, larva(e), mosquitoes, nymph, poisonous, pupa
These are only some of the words you may wish to go over with children. Any words you feel may be difficult for children should be introduced prior to reading to help children when it comes time for them to read independently. You may want to go over some of the captions from the pictures during this time.
Using the Worksheet
Using a KWL chart for this book would be useful and appropriate. By using a KWL chart, you will be able to see what children Know or think they Know, what they Want to know, and what they have Learned throughout these lessons. To make a KWL chart, use a large piece of paper or tag board and divide it into three columns. Have the letters K on the top of the first column on the left, W on the top in the middle, and L on the top in the right hand column. Talk to children about what they Know or think they Know about the life cycles of insects. Write everything they say down in the K column. Accept everything they say; if they say things that you know are wrong, you can talk to them about why they think what they do, and see if any of the other children agree or disagree with the statement. You do not want to say too much during this time. This is a time for children to brainstorm and for you to accept everything they are saying. Always remember that when you fill in the "what they Learned" column you will see that children have found out what they thought was correct was not. After you fill in the K section, you can talk to children about any questions they have regarding the life cycle of insects and write in their questions. Questions can always be added to the W column. This is a good place to look for questions that can be used later for research, etc. After reading the book and learning more, you can begin filling in the L column. As children learn more, they can add what they have Learned to this column.
If you feel that this is giving away too much information, you can do this after introducing the book. This is appropriate to do during the Building Background phase.
Before Reading
Introducing the Book
Before handing out the book, introduce it by showing the front and back covers, the title page, the table of contents, and the index.
Ask: What do you see on the covers? What does this tell you about the book’s contents? What do you think the book will be about? There should be a lot of prediction going on at this stage. Using the table of contents, you might give examples about where to find specific information. You can also use think-aloud strategies in this section. Come up with a question regarding some aspect of the subject at hand. For example, you can say you want to know what larva is. Show children how to look up the word larva in the index, find the page, and learn about larvae.
Building Background
See Using the Worksheet section above.
Book Walk
The Book Walk for this book, is simply a way to help children become familiar with the format of an informational book that is broken into sections. This may be a new concept for children. Go through the book and show children how each new section begins with bolded text that introduces the upcoming topic. If you are going to be reading the book in sections, this will be an important thing to show children. Also, go over and look at some of the pictures. This will help children become familiar with the topic they are about to learn more about. This will also show them that you recognize the importance of the photos in this book. Point out some of the content words that were discussed earlier so children have an idea where they are and won’t be worrying about them. This is just a way to help children feel more comfortable with the text they are about to read.
Reading Strategies
Discuss any reading strategies children can use to help them read. Discuss the strategies that have been used by children during their prior reading experiences. Remind them that they should be listening to themselves as they read, to make sure that things make sense. Talk to them about context clues and how to be aware of whether or not what they are reading makes sense in the context of the subject of the book.
Ask:
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It may be appropriate for you to role-play reading the book and coming to a word you do not know. Explain that this is normal, and show children how to overcome this problem without losing their place or becoming overwhelmed. Remind children to reread a section and/or page if they had more than one trouble area while reading it the first time. This will help to ensure their level of understanding.
During Reading
Student Reading
Because this book is divided into many sections and has a lot of information, it is suggested that you have children read only one or two sections at a time, rather than completing the reading in one session. You may have them read each section twice, to help ensure comprehension of the text. Using the questions in the After Reading section will help show what children have learned in each section. Hand out the books and instruct children what section to read quietly, aloud, or silently at their own pace.
During the second reading of each section, children should be looking for and highlighting, underlining, circling, boxing in, or writing on post-it notes different compound words, and long e sounds. Prior to beginning reading, remind children what the purpose is of reading this book. While reading this book children should be able to identify main ideas and supporting details. They can, once again, underline or highlight the appropriate areas, box them in, use post-it notes, or take notes on a separate piece of paper. (Taking notes will be more time consuming and may take away from some of the comprehension, so the other strategies would be much more effective, if possible.) Children can use highlighters or colored pencils to mark main ideas in one color and details in another. You can then use what children highlight to assess their ability to identify things such as main ideas and supporting details.
Using the Worksheet
After reading the first section, you can talk to children about what they Learned, and add to the KWL chart. This may be new information, or you may be correcting something from the K section of the chart. If you have answered any of the questions in the W section, you can check them off as well.
After Reading
Comprehending the Text
Discuss with children what they learned in each section of the book. This will help you to see the level of understanding they have. Ask for summaries, as well as predictions regarding what they may learn in the upcoming sections.
Ask: (These questions can be split up or asked after each section, where appropriate.)
What was the section you just read about? Did you learn anything in this section that you didn’t know before? What did you think was the most interesting part of this section? Do you have any questions after reading this section that you didn’t have before? (Add to W section of KWL chart.) Was there any part of the text or reading that was particularly difficult for you? What was the author trying to teach us? Is there anything you would like to know more about that the author didn’t discuss? (Add to W section of KWL chart.)
Visual Learning
Much can be gained from photos in nonfiction books. By asking questions, you will be able to see what children learn from the visuals in the book.
Ask: Which picture was the most interesting to you? Why? How does the author’s description of the insect match the photo on the page? Would you have done anything differently with the photos if it had been your job?
Building Skills
Phonics
There are several words throughout this book that share the same sound. Have children go through the text a second time, being aware of the words containing the letter e. Explain to them that there is more than one way to spell the long e sound. It can be written with an ea as in each, an ee as in seem, a final e as in me, and an ies as in parties.
As children are reading the words in the book, have them say each word aloud, listening for the long e sound. If the books are to be consumable, have children underline all the words containing the long e sound. If the books are not consumable, you can use post-it notes, and have children write the word(s) on the post-it and put it on the appropriate page.
Word Work
Commas to list and separate ideas
Have children point out a sentence in the story that uses commas. Have them tell you whether the author was using the comma(s) to list different things or to separate ideas.
Compound Words
Have children name some of the compound words they found in the book.
OR
Write three of the compound words found in the book on the board or a piece of paper. For example; maybe, dragonfly, wingspans.
Ask: What do these words have in common? (They are all compound words.) Discuss what a compound word is (two words that are put together to form one word). Take time to look at and analyze each word. Ask children to explain what each word means and if it seems like an appropriate word for the context in which it was used. Can they come up with any other word that would fit? Then, as a separate lesson, choose a word, like sun, and ask children to come up with as many compound words with the word sun in it as possible (sunset, sunrise, sunshine, sunburn, sunspot, suntan, sunscreen, etc.).
Expand the Reading
Writing Connection
Have children write a summary or key points about what they learned from the book. This summary should include four things they learned. One of them has to describe the process for an insect that goes through the four-stage life cycle, and another has to be the process for an insect that goes through the three-stage life cycle.
Science Connection
Insect Life Cycles briefly explains that insects, as adults, have three body parts. You can do a lesson in which you teach the three different parts of an insect: head, thorax, and abdomen. You can do this through more research with children or simply by introducing this idea to children and showing them large pictures of insects and pointing out the different body parts. You can then have a follow up worksheet that has them labeling the body parts on the insect on the worksheet.
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
Send the book home to be read to or with family members. Have children look around their homes and see if they can come up with a list of three compound words for different objects in their home.
For example:
Bathroom
Bedroom
Daybed
Assessment
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