Text Type: Nonfiction/Informational
Page Count: 16
Word Count: 634

Book Summary
Readers are asked to imagine that they are skunks in this informational read. They are told why nobody likes them, why they stink, and who their enemies are. It is explained that skunks are born in groups of five or six, drink their mother's milk, and live at home for nearly a year before venturing into the world. The mammal's greatest enemy is disclosed, and the connection between skunks and people is touched upon. Photographs and captions support the text.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

• Summarize

Objectives

• Identify the main idea and supporting details
• Use the reading strategy of summarizing to understand the text
• Fluently read the r-controlled /u/ vowel
• Identify and understand the use of adjectives
• Recognize and use antonyms
• Use a thesaurus

Materials

• Book -- You Stink! (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• World map
• Thesauruses with antonyms listed
• Main idea and details/summary, adjectives, antonyms worksheets
• Discussion cards

      Indicates an opportunity for students to mark in the book. (All activities may be demonstrated by projecting the book on interactive whiteboard or completed with paper and pencil if books are reused.)

Vocabulary

• Content words: arch, burrows, den, enemies, mammal, musk, relatives, rabies, rodents, warnings

Build Background

• Write the word skunk on the board. Ask students to tell what they already know about the animal. Show students the cover of the book and ask them what they see. Ask students to guess why the author chose the title You Stink! for a book about skunks.
• Show students the world map and ask students where they think skunks live.

Preview the Book

Introduce the Book

• Give students their copy of the book. Guide them to the front and back covers and read the title. Have students discuss what they see on the covers. Encourage them to offer ideas as to what type of book it is and what it might be about.
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name).

Introduce the Comprehension Skill: Main idea and details

• Write the following list of words on the board: gorillas, whales, skunks, cats. Ask students to describe what these words refer to (mammals). Point out that the definitions of these words help to identify the main idea. (Many different animals are mammals.) The words gorillas, whales, skunks, and cats are the details that support this main idea.
• Explain that sometimes the amount of information about a topic is so large that it is grouped into section, and each section has its own main idea.
• Read pages 4 and 5 aloud to students. Model identifying the main idea and details of the first section.
  Think-aloud: As I read the first section, most of the sentences mention something about skunks. This section gives information about why nobody likes skunks--that their spray is very stinky. I will underline this information. The sentences also mention that striped skunks are four-legged animals about the size of a cat; have short legs and long, bushy tails; and their soft black fur has long, white stripes. The sentences tell readers that skunks live in North and South America and are classified as striped skunks, hooded skunks, hog-nosed skunks, or spotted skunks. Based on what I've read, I think the main idea of the section is: Attributes of skunks.
• Write the main idea on the board. Ask students to identify the details from the book that support this main idea (page 4: about the size of a cat; short legs and a long, bushy tail; nobody forgets the smell of the spray; page 5: live in North and South America; striped, hooded, hog-nosed, and spotted skunks). Write these details on the board.

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Summarize

• Explain to students that one way to understand and remember information in a book is to write a summary, or a brief overview of the most important information in the text. Point out that a summary includes the main idea and one or two supporting details. It often answers the questions who, what, when, where, why, and how.
• Model summarizing the main idea and details from the first section on the board.
  Think-aloud: To summarize, I decide which information is most important to the meaning of a section. To do this, I can identify the main idea and important details, and then organize that information into a few sentences. When I look at the main idea and details on the board, a summary of this section might be: Skunks are small, four-legged, furry animals that have very stinky spray. They are about the size of a cat, with short legs and a long, bushy tail. Skunks live in North and South America and are grouped as striped, hooded, hog-nosed, or spotted.
• Write the summary on the board. Have students identify the main idea and details within the summary. Discuss how you used your own words to create the summary.
• As students read, encourage them to 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

• Write the following words from the content vocabulary on the board: burrows, enemies, mammal, and warnings.
• Give groups of students four pieces of blank paper. For each word, have them write or draw what they know about the word. Create a definition for each word using students' prior knowledge.
• Review or explain that the glossary contains a list of vocabulary words and their definitions.
• Model how students can use the glossary or a dictionary to find a word's meaning. Have students locate the glossary at the back of the book. Invite a volunteer to read the definition for burrows in the glossary. Have students compare the definition with their prior knowledge of the word. Then have them follow along on page 11 as you read the sentence in which the word burrows is found to confirm the meaning of the word. Repeat the exercise with the remaining vocabulary words.
• Invite students to review the photograph on the cover. Have them create a short paragraph about skunks, utilizing all four vocabulary words. Repeat the activity after reading the book to check for student understanding of the vocabulary.
• For tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

      Have students read the book to find out more about skunks. As they read, encourage them to underline or write on a separate piece of paper the important details in each section.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Have students read from page 6 to the end of page 10. Encourage those who finish before others to reread the text. When students are ready, discuss the important information they identified.
• Model identifying the main idea and details.
  Think-aloud: As I read the second section, most of the sentences mentioned something about the type of animal a skunk is. I read that skunks are mammals, which means they have a backbone and hair, and their babies are born live. I will underline this information in the book. I will also underline that they eat both animals and plants. Based on what I've read and underlined, I think the main idea of the section is: Skunks are mammals.
• Write the main idea on the board. Ask students to identify details that support this main idea (have a backbone and hair; babies are born live; closest relatives are bears, raccoons, and ferrets; more than half of their food is insects; eat worms, frogs, birds, and snakes; eat leaves, nuts, and berries). Write these details on the board.
• Review how to create a summary from the main idea and details. Refer back to the summary created during the Introduce the Reading Strategy section. Discuss and create the summary as a class, and write it on the board. (Skunks are mammals: they have a backbone and hair, and their babies are born live. Their closest relatives include raccoons and ferrets. Skunks eat insects and animals such as frogs, birds, and snakes. They also like eating leaves, nuts, and berries.)

      Check for understanding: Have students read pages 11 and 12. Invite them to share the important details they underlined in the section titled "Skunk Homes." Write these details on the board. Divide students into groups and have them work with their group to identify the main idea from the details of the section. (Skunks live in a den.) Discuss their responses as a class, and write a main idea on the board.

• Ask each group to use the main idea and details of the section to write a brief summary on a separate piece of paper. Have them share what they wrote.

      Ask students to read the remainder of the book. Remind them to underline important details in the book as they read.

      Have students make a question mark in their book beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. Encourage them to use the strategies they have learned to read each word and figure out its meaning.

• Ask students what words, if any, they marked in their book. Use this opportunity to model how they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Discuss how stopping to review the important details as they read helped students to remember the facts and better understand the information in the book.
• Invite students to share the important details they underlined on pages 13 and 14. Write these details on the board. Divide students into small groups. Have each group work together to identify the main idea from the details and write this information on a separate piece of paper. (Female skunks care for their babies for nearly a year.) Discuss their responses as a class.
• Independent practice: Introduce and explain the main idea and details/summary worksheet to students. Have them write a main idea and supporting details for the section titled "Skunks and People." Remind them to also include information in the caption. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Reflect on the Reading Strategy

• Review with students how the main idea and details of each section can be used to develop a summary. Discuss with them the benefits of summarizing information they read (to understand the main point of a larger piece of writing). Invite students to share instances in which summarizing might be helpful.
• Independent practice: Have students complete their main idea and details/summary worksheet by writing a summary for the section titled "Skunks and People." If time allows, discuss their responses.
• Enduring understanding: In this book, you learned that skunks only spray their enemies after they've tried everything else. First they try to scare off the enemy by stamping their feet, hissing and growling, raising their tail, and arching their back to look bigger. Only when all of these warnings don't work do they spray their musk. Now that you know this information, do you think it is important for people and other animals to respect a skunk and its warnings? Why or why not?

Phonics: R-controlled /u/ vowel

• Have students look at the cover of the book. Ask them to name the black-and-white covering that a skunk has (fur). Write the word fur on the board and point to the ur. Tell students that the letters u and r together stand for the vowel sound they hear in the word fur.
• Explain that the ur letter combination is one of the letter combinations that stand for a group of sounds called r-controlled vowels. These vowel sounds are neither long nor short, and are sometimes difficult to hear. The other r-controlled /ur/ letter combinations are ir and er.
• Write the words skirt and skit on the board and say them aloud. Ask students which word contains the same vowel sound as in fur. Make sure students can differentiate between the two vowel sounds. Give other examples if necessary.
• Ask students to name other words with the same r-controlled vowel sound as in fur. Write each example on the board and invite volunteers to circle the r-controlled vowel spelling in each word.

      Have students turn to page 7. Instruct them to find and circle the word birds. Write the word bird on the board. Point out the letter combination that stands for the r-controlled vowel sound and ask students to blend the letters i and r together to make the same vowel sound as in fur. Point out that the r-controlled vowel sound comes in the middle in this word. Next, run your finger under the letters as you blend the three sounds in bird: b/ir/d. Point out that even though there are four letters, there are three sounds blended together to form the word. Then have students blend the word aloud with you as you run your finger under the letters.

      Have students turn to page 12 and read the first sentence: You spend the winter in your den, but you don't sleep all winter as bears do. Have them circle the word winter. Point out the letter combination that stands for the r-controlled vowel sound at the end of the word. Ask students to blend the letters e and r together to make the same vowel sound as in fur and bird. Run your finger under the letters as you blend the sounds in winter.

Grammar and Mechanics: Adjectives

• Review or explain that adjectives are words that describe nouns or pronouns. An adjective tells which one, how many, or what kind.
• Write the following sentences on the board. Ask students to count the number of adjectives in each sentence.
  You have short legs and a long, bushy tail.
  Then you spray your enemy with a sticky, smelly liquid called musk.
  Your kits are born with skin that is black and white.
• Have individual students come to the board and circle the adjectives in each sentence (short, long, bushy, sticky, smelly, black, and white). Then have different volunteers underline the noun that each adjective describes (legs, tail, liquid, and skin). Discuss how sometimes writers use two or three adjectives to describe one noun (for instance, long and bushy both describe tail). Ask volunteers to find other examples (sticky, smelly liquid; black and white skin).
• Explain that the adjective doesn't always precede the noun or pronoun, as seen in the last sentence.
• Point to the circled adjectives in the second sentence (sticky and smelly). Ask students to determine whether the adjectives are telling which one, how many, or what kind (they describe what kind of liquid). Repeat the exercise with the other two sentences.

      Have students use the inside back cover of their book to write adjective along with the definition of the term (a word describing a noun or pronoun that tells which one, how many, or what kind) to help them remember the terminology.

      Check for understanding: Give students highlighters and have them work in pairs to reread the first section. Have them highlight all of the adjectives they find. Discuss the results as a group, identifying the noun that each adjective describes and whether the adjective is telling which one, how many, or what kind.

• Independent practice: Have students complete the adjectives worksheet. Discuss the answers as a group once everyone has finished.

Word Work: Antonyms

• Write the word beautiful on the board. Ask students to suggest a word that means the opposite of beautiful (ugly, hideous). Explain that a word that means the opposite of another word is called an antonym.
• Have students turn to page 10 and reread it. Write the following sentence on the board: They have a very poor sense of smell. Ask them to find the word that tells how their sense of smell is (poor). Ask students to suggest a word that means the opposite of poor (good, fine, and so on).
• Give pairs of students a thesaurus. Explain that although their thesaurus lists examples of antonyms, not all thesauruses include antonyms; some only list synonyms. Use the example above to explain how a thesaurus is used, writing the antonyms for poor on the board. Point out that after the entry for poor, first the synonyms (SYN) are listed and then the antonyms (ANT).
• Check for understanding: Ask pairs of students to find the word small and have them name the antonyms listed. If needed, provide additional practice using a thesaurus.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the antonyms worksheet. Discuss their answers as a group once everyone has finished.

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their book independently. Additionally, partners can take turns reading parts of the book to each other.

Home Connection

• Give students their book to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends. Have students discuss with someone at home how to summarize a section using the main idea and details of the section.

Informational Writing and Art Connection
Remind students that this book focused on striped skunks but also mentioned three other types: hooded skunks, hog-nosed skunks, and spotted skunks. Have students choose one to further research. Provide print and Internet sources for students to find out more about their chosen skunk. Citing information from their research and the book, have them write a report about the animal. Instruct students to include an introduction, a conclusion, and at least one other section with main idea and details. Encourage them to add illustrations or photographs to their report. Require an error-free final copy with a front and back cover. Either bind each report separately, or bind all of the reports together to make a class book with its own front and back cover.

Visit Writing A-Z for a lesson and leveled materials on expository report writing.

Science Connection
Take a class trip to the school or city library. Instruct students to search for books or Internet sites about skunk musk. Have them find information about the smelly substance, such as why it stinks, how long the odor lasts, and how people can get rid of the smell. Have small groups collectively prepare an oral report to share with the class. Encourage them to include a poster as a visual aid.

Skill Review
Discussion cards covering comprehension skills and strategies not explicitly taught with the book are provided as an extension activity. The following is a list of some ways these cards can be used with students:

• Use as discussion starters for literature circles.
• Have students choose one or more cards and write a response, either as an essay or a journal entry.
• Distribute before reading the book and have students use one of the questions as a purpose for reading.
• Cut apart and use the cards as game cards with a board game.
• Conduct a class discussion as a review before the book quiz.