The Tinosaur - Lesson Plans

Lesson Plans for THE TINOSAUR level L

Text Type:
Fiction / Fantasy

Reading Level:
L

Word Count:
558

Pages:
16

Text Summary
The Tinosaur is a fictional tale about dinosaurs. As the Ice Age approaches, tiny dinosaurs called tinosaurs are unable to escape the cold and need to think creatively in order to save their lives. The story follows these creatures, who solve their problem in a very clever way. Readers will enjoy the whimsical illustrations as well as the story.

Suggested Lesson Focus
Comprehension
Story structure: beginning, middle, end

Phonics
r controlled vowels

Word Work
Syllables

Mechanics/Word Structure
Phrases and complete sentences

Visual Learning
To help increase word recognition and reading fluency, help children develop an understanding of the relationship between picture details and the text.

Targeted Vocabulary Words
Content Words
Dinosaur names: Ultrasaurs, Brachioaurs, Brontosaurus, Supersaurs, Tinosaur

Before Reading

Introducing the Book
Write the title of the book on the board. Ask: What kind of story do you think we will be reading today? Why do you think that? Do you think the story is fiction or nonfiction? Why?

Building Background
Have the class tell what they know about dinosaurs. A class list could be made and used later on to help them during writing.

Book Walk
List these words on the board: lumbering, glacier. Have children predict the meaning and how the words might be used in the story. Have them skim the pages looking for the vocabulary words. Have a child read the sentence containing the word and discuss how it is used in the story.

During Reading

Model Reading
Have children read the story with a partner. Remind them that since they are partner reading, they are also word coaches. Quickly review any rules that you have posted for word coaches. Explain that when they finish reading, they will begin completing the worksheet that involves the beginning, middle, and end of the story.

You may consider having post-its available for children to place on pages that have words they had difficulty with. These can be reviewed and discussed after the group has finished reading. At this point, you can take suggestions from the other children as to how they knew what the word was or what they did to help them read that word, etc.

Setting the Purpose
The purpose for reading is to identify the beginning, middle, and ending of the story. Reading with a purpose helps children to focus and increases comprehension and recall. If given a purpose, children will be able to focus on content rather than simply listening to the words in the story.

After Reading

Comprehending the Text
Have children gather back together and ask some of them to share their organizers.
Ask: What did you think about the Tinosaurs’ plan to survive? How could the big dinosaurs have used this same plan?
Say: Look at page 8 and read the last sentence. Ask: What does that mean?
Have them pretend they are in the text and ask: What could you feel? What could you hear? What could you taste? What could you smell? What could you touch? How do you think is would feel?
Say: Look at page 11. Read the second paragraph. Ask: What picture does the author paint in your mind? What words did the author use to paint this picture?
Have them look at the illustrations on page 10 and ask: How does the dinosaur feel? How do you know that?

Building Skills

Phonics
Make a chart like the following:

Have children look in the text to find words to add to the chart. Discuss the sound of the various vowel spellings. Keep this chart up so children can add words they find during their independent reading.

Word Work
Say the following words and have children tell how many syllables they hear: lumbering, glaciers, walnut, escape, tinosaur, place.

Mechanics/Grammar
Working with Phrases and Complete Sentences
Write this sentence on the board: While they are, they would watch out for the Supersaurs. Have children underline the phrase and circle the sentence. Then have them look in the story for other sentences that follow the same sentence structure.

Expand the Reading

Writing Connection
As a class write a sequel to the story. Have children ask themselves how the world would be just after the Ice Age. Have them include some of the characters from the story and add some new ones as well. Encourage them to put themselves in the position of the main character and try to think of what they would do if they were in their character’s position.

Science Connection
Construct a science unit about dinosaurs. Bring in a documentary about dinosaurs or some dinosaur books and have children compile lists of interesting facts about dinosaurs.

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.

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