Build Background

• Discuss what students know about glaciers. Ask if they have ever heard of or seen the way glaciers change the face of the earth, and if so, to tell what they know about the topic.
• Create a KWL chart on the board and give students the KWL worksheet. Work together to fill in the first column (K) with things students know about glaciers. As a group, brainstorm some things students would like to know about the topic and have students fill in the second column (W) of their worksheets. Write some shared ideas on the class chart as an example.

Preview the Book

Introduce the Book

• Give students a copy of the book and have them preview the front and back covers and read the title. Have students discuss what they see on the covers and offer ideas as to what kind of book this is and what it might be about.
• Have students turn to the table of contents and review its purpose with them. Read through the chapter titles and ask whether they provide students with a better idea of what the book is about.

Introduce the Strategy: Ask and answer questions

• Model asking questions while looking at the table of contents.
• Think-aloud: When I'd like to know more about a topic, I can use the chapter titles in the table of contents to think of questions I'd like to have answered by reading. For example, the second chapter is titled "Types of Glaciers." This makes me wonder about the names of the types of glaciers. (Write your question in the (W) column of the KWL chart and invite students to add it to their KWL charts.)
• Have students share any questions they have based on the table of contents or the covers of the book. Add these to the second column (W).
• Have students preview the rest of the book. Show students the title page, photos, maps, and captions. Draw students' attention to the diagram on page 8. Encourage students to use all of aspects of the book to think of questions to add to their KWL chart.
• Show students the glossary. Review or explain that a glossary is an alphabetized list of words from the text with definitions. Some glossaries, such as this one, also contain page numbers that tell where the reader can find each word in the book. Tell students that they can use the glossary to find the answers to some of their questions. For example, they can look at the glossary to find where in the book to go to find out more about icebergs. Ask students to tell which page mentions icebergs (page 14).
• As students read, they should use other reading strategies in addition to the targeted strategy presented in this section. For tips on additional reading strategies, click here.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Model how to apply word-attack strategies. Have students find the word recede on page 15. Tell students that they can look at the letter the word begins with, and then use what they know about syllables and vowels (one vowel sound per syllable) to sound out the rest of the word. Remind students to look for clues to the word's meaning in the sentence that contains the unfamiliar word, as well as in the sentences before and after.
• Remind students of other strategies they can use to work out words they don't know. For example, they can use what they know about letter and sound correspondence to figure out the word. They can look for base words, prefixes and suffixes, or other word endings. They can use the context to work out meanings of unfamiliar words.
• Remind students that they should check whether an unfamiliar word makes sense by rereading the sentence.
• For additional tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read the book to find answers to their questions about glaciers.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Have students read to the end of page 10. Tell them to look for facts about glaciers that will answer their questions on the KWL chart. If they finish before everyone else, they can go back and reread.
• When they have finished reading, have students tell what each chapter is about and the interesting information they have read so far. Circle any questions on the KWL chart that were answered and add any new questions students developed. Model answering a question on the KWL chart on the board.
• Think-aloud: I wanted to know the names of the different types of glaciers. On page 5, I read that there are two common types of glaciers: continental glaciers and valley glaciers. (Write what you learned in the last column (L) of the KWL chart and tell students to fill in their own chart.)
• Have students share questions they found the answers to while reading. Record their responses on the KWL chart.

    Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to look for answers to the other questions written on the KWL chart, and to think of other questions to add to it. Have them write down any questions they have in the (W) column of their KWL chart, and to underline in their books any information that answers a question on the KWL.

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

Reflect on the Reading Strategies

• Ask students what words they marked in their books. Use this opportunity to model how they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
• Have students share any other questions they had while they were reading. Discuss how asking questions and looking for the answers as they read keeps them actively involved in the reading process and helps them understand and remember what they read.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Cause and effect

• Discussion: Discuss cause-and-effect relationships. Explain that a cause is an event that makes something happen, and the effect is what happens because of, or as the result of, the event. For example, if the temperature drops below 32 degrees, a puddle will freeze. The freezing temperature is the cause, and the frozen puddle is the effect (or the result) of the freezing temperature.
• Introduce and model the skill: To illustrate a cause-and-effect relationship from the text, have students turn to page 13. Ask what caused the deep U-shaped valleys (glaciers scraping the earth as they move down mountainsides). Ask what the effect of the glaciers scraping the mountainsides is (deep valleys are formed).

    Check for understanding: Have students review the text to find and circle the cause of a crevasse (the top layers of ice moving faster than the bottom layers). Allow time for students to share their findings. Ask what the effect is of the top layers moving faster than the bottom layers (the ice cracks).

• Independent practice: Have students practice identifying cause-and-effect relationships by completing the cause and effect worksheet. When they have finished, have students discuss their work and explain their answers with references to the text. 
• Extend the discussion: Ask students what they think will happen as the earth's temperature continues to get warmer. How might that affect the glaciers and the levels of the oceans and seas? Ask what they think might be done to stop global warming.

Grammar and Mechanics: Introductory phrases

• Write the following sentence from page 6 on the board: Even in the tropics, valley glaciers can form on the tallest peaks. Have students identify the subject (valley glaciers) and the predicate (can form). Point out the introductory phrase of the sentence (Even in the tropics).
• Tell students that some sentences need to provide more information than just the subject and predicate. An introductory phrase tells the reader something about the sentence, such as where, how, when, or why.
• Explain that introductory phrases come at the beginning of a sentence and are separated from the rest of the sentence with a comma.

    Have students turn to page 6 and read the last sentence: Like rivers of ice, valley glaciers move through long, narrow valleys. Have students identify and circle the introductory phrase (Like rivers of ice). Ask students what the introductory phrase tells readers about the sentence (how valley glaciers move).
    Check for understanding: Have students locate and circle all of the introductory phrases in the book (When glaciers melt, Above the snow line, In some places, Like giant bulldozers, etc.). Check individual answers.

Word Work: Adverbs

• Review or explain that adverbs are words that describe or modify verbs or adjectives. Adverbs express the time, manner, or degree in which the action of a verb occurs--how something happens. They may also tell how often, how many, or how much.
• Write the question How? on the board. Have students turn to page 4 and read the sentence aloud: Glaciers move slowly over the land. Ask students how glaciers move (slowly). Explain that slowly is an adverb that describes the verb move. Ask students what the root or base word of slowly is (slow). Explain that many adverbs are formed by adding -ly to the end of a word.
• Have students turn to page 7 and read the sentence aloud: Snow piles up much faster than it melts. Ask students how the snow piles up (faster). Tell students that faster is the adverb that describes the verb piles up. Remind students that most, but not all, adverbs end in -ly.
• Write the words sad, quick, and friend on the board. Have student volunteers come up to the board and add -ly to each root or base word, and then use the resulting adverb in an oral sentence.

    Check for understanding: Have students work in pairs to go through the book and underline all of the adverbs they find. Discuss their findings as a group, identifying the verb or adjective that each adverb describes.

• Independent practice: Have students complete the adverbs worksheet. Read and discuss the correct answers once all students have finished working independently.

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their books independently or with a partner. Partners can take turns reading parts of the book.

Home Connection

• Give students their books to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.

Writing Connection

• Have students write their own sequential explanation of how glaciers grow, or how glaciers move. (Allow them to choose one of these topics.) Have students identify the cause-and-effect relationships in each step of the developmental sequence.

Science Connection

• Provide print and Internet resources for students to research the glacial history of the world. Explain that previous ice ages have left many unmistakable glacial formations in areas that are now temperate. Ask students to find particular areas in which this has occurred. Have students mark their findings on a world map.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• consistently ask relevant questions about the topic prior to and during reading; locate answers to the questions in the text
• accurately recognize and explain cause-and-effect relationships
• identify and understand introductory phrases in sentences
• recognize and understand the use of adverbs in the text

Comprehension Checks

• Book Quiz
• Retelling Rubric