Text Type: Fiction / Serial
Page Count: 14
Word Count: 701 

Text Summary
It’s the first day of school, and so far, things aren’t going well for Snubby Nose. He burns his mouth on his oatmeal, he looses his lunch box, and he stops to feel sorry for himself, which makes him late for school. But Grandpa Grizzly comes along and helps Snubby Nose learn a lesson about feeling better when things are down.

About the Lesson 

Objectives

• Analyze character
• Identify words with diphthong /ou/
• Identify meanings of compound words
• Use quotations marks in dialogue 

Targeted Reading Strategy

• Make text-to-text and text-to-self connections 

Materials

• Book - The Hoppers Start School (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry-erase board
• Character Analysis, Diphthong /ou/, Compound Words, Quotation Marks worksheets
• Word journal (optional)

    Indicates an opportunity to use the book interactively (all activities may be completed with paper and pencil if books are not consumable) 

Vocabulary

• oatmeal, lunchbox, goldenrod 

Build Background

• Have students take a minute to close their eyes and visualize going back to school after summer vacation. Prompt them to think about the sights, smells, and sounds of going back to school.
• Have students open their eyes and brainstorm words associated with going back to school. Create a word web for the topic of school and record their words on the web. 

Preview the Book

Introduce the Strategy: Make text-to-text and text-to-self connections

• Give students their copies of the book and have them look at the front and back covers and read the title. Ask students what they think the book is about.
• Have students refer to the word web they created about returning to school. Ask them which things from their own school experiences might be in this Hoppers book.
• Think aloud: The title of this book makes me think about the time when I was starting high school and we had just moved to a new neighborhood. I felt really nervous because I didn’t know anyone. I didn’t want to go to school. But when I got there, it turned out to be fun and I met lots of kids. Good readers make connections to what they read. If you can think of a time when something happened to you that is like what happened to the character, it can help you understand how that character might be feeling. When you think of events that are similar, you can better understand what’s happening in the story.
• If students have read other stories about the Hoppers, have them make connections to these stories and tell you what they know about the characters. Ask them what they think might happen as the Hoppers start school. Ask who they think might get into trouble and who they think will solve the problem.
• Click here for more reading and word-attack strategies. 

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Review with students how to use other reading strategies (for example, what they know about word structures) to read unfamiliar words.
• Point out the word oatmeal on page 4 and read the sentence. Ask students how they might figure out the meaning of this word if they don’t know it. Point out that it is a compound word and that students can find the two smaller words that make up the compound word. They can use the smaller words as clues to the meaning. They might also use the context; the word means something that you eat for breakfast. 

Introduce the Comprehension    Skill: Analyze character

• Model character analysis: Remind students that all stories have characters, setting, and plot. Remind them that they can learn about characters by what they say, what they do, what they think, and what others say about them.
• Think-aloud: I know that the main characters in this story are the four Hoppers and Grandpa Grizzly. I can tell this from the pictures in the book and from other stories I have read about them. I remember a story about the Hoppers where Snubby Nose cried because it was raining and they couldn’t go camping. Snubby Nose always seems to cry about something. This tells me he is the baby in the family. He gets upset easily. But he also cheers up quickly.
• Check for understanding: Have students read the first paragraph of the story. Then ask them what they learned about the Hoppers from reading that paragraph. What does it tell them about Fluffy Tail? Tell students they will learn other things about the Hoppers when they read the book. 

Set the Purpose

• Tell students that as they read, they should think about what they can learn about the characters from what those characters do and say.
• Introduce the Character Analysis worksheet. Explain that after they finish reading, students will reread sentences from the book in which characters do and say certain things. In the second column of the worksheet, they will write down what they learned about the character from that sentence.

Guide the Reading

• Have students read to the end of page 7 and then pause. If some students finish before others, they can reread the book up to that point. Ask students what Snubby Nose does on page 7. Why is he crying? Is it good to cry over something like a lunch box? Why might Snubby Nose be so upset? What else has happened to Snubby Nose that would make him get upset so easily? Would Speedy Legs get so upset in this situation?

    Have students write why Snubby Nose is so upset in the margin next to the paragraph on page 7. Tell them that they can make notes like this throughout the book and reference them when they are completing the worksheet.

• As students read, monitor their reading and intervene to help students work out words they are having difficulty with.

    Tell students to make a question mark in their books beside any word or phrase they do not understand. These can be addressed in the discussion that follows. 

Reflect on Reading Strategies

• Ask students what strategies they used to work out unfamiliar words. Have them tell you any places in the text that they have marked with a question mark, and suggest strategies they might use to work out the words.
• Talk about how making connections to personal experiences helps them understand character actions and motives. Ask how having read other stories about the same characters helps them better understand the story. 

Apply the Comprehension    Skill: Analyze characters

• Discussion: Ask students to name all the characters in the book and give a brief retelling of what each character did. Talk about how the characters' actions, both in this story and in previous Hoppers stories, establishes what kind of personalities the characters have.
• Independent practice: Have students complete the Character Analysis worksheet.
• Extend the discussion: Have students share their worksheets when they are finished. Have them explain why they chose those words for each character. 

Phonics: Diphthong /ou/

• Write the word mouth on the board and have students read it. Ask what sound the letters ou stand for in this word.

    Challenge students to find as many words as they can in the book that have the /ou/ vowel sound. You might want to have students work in pairs to complete this activity. They will find the words ow, downstairs, loudly, out, now, down, about, around, flowers.

• Review the spellings for the /ou/ sound. Ask students to brainstorm other /ou/ words, and have them tell you whether the words are spelled with ow or ou.
• Write the words yellow, couldn’t and shoulder on the board. Remind students that the letters ou and ow don’t always stand for the /ou/ sound.
• Give students the Diphthong /ou/ worksheet and explain how to complete it. 

Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage: Quotation marks

• Have students find what Mother Hopper says on page 3. Point out the quotation marks that indicate the dialogue.
• Have students look for other examples of dialogue in the story. Discuss the placement of the quotation marks and point out the end punctuation.
• Give students the Quotation Marks worksheet and have them add quotation marks to the sentences. 

Vocabulary: Compound words

• Have students look for two compound words on page 3. When they find the words downstairs and breakfast, write them on the board.
• Ask a volunteer to come up and circle the two smaller words in each word. Remind students that compound words are made up of two smaller words. Explain that knowing the meanings of the two smaller words can help them understand the compound word. Discuss the meanings of the two smaller words in each of the examples (and provide them, if necessary). How does knowing the meanings of down and stairs help them understand the word downstairs? (Sometimes, students can even learn unfamiliar words from familiar compound words, such as the word fast to refer to a period without eating.)
• Hand out the Compound Words worksheet and explain that students will use the map to write the parts of the compound word, the definition of each part, and the definition of the whole word. 

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their books independently or with a partner. Have partners take turns reading alternate pages. 

Home Connection

• Have students take their books home to share with family members.  

Writing

• Have students write about what they like and don’t like about starting school after summer vacation.

Monitor students as they interact during group activities, and review their completed worksheets to determine if they can:

• make connections to what they read by referring to personal experiences and previous stories they have read.
• understand how to use the text to understand the characters. Note whether their analysis of the characters is logical and based on text information.
• locate and read words with diphthong /ou/.
• recognize compound words and understand how the meanings of the two words can provide clues to the meaning of the compound word.