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.).
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