Build Background

• Ask students to tell what they already know about Mount Rushmore. Ask them if they have ever heard the term sculptor and, if so, to explain its meaning.
• Create a KWL chart on the board and pass out the KWL chart worksheet. Together with the class, fill in the first column (K) with things students know about Mount Rushmore. Brainstorm some things students would like to know about the topic and fill in the second column (W).

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 headings 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 than I do about a topic, I can use the chapter titles in the table of contents to think of questions I'd like to have answered. For example, the first chapter is titled "A Big Idea for America." This makes me wonder where in the United States this monument is located and whose big idea it was. (Write your questions in the (W) column of the KWL chart.)
• Have students share any questions they have, based on the table of contents or the covers of the book and add these to the second column (W). Remind students that as you record responses on the class chart, they should fill in their worksheet with the questions they would like to have answered and continue to add new ones as they think of them.
• Have students preview the rest of the book. Show students the title page, photos, map, and captions. Draw students' attention to the photos on pages 10 and 14. Encourage students to use all aspects of the book to think of questions to add to their KWL charts.
• Show students the index. Review or explain that the index is an alphabetized list of content words with page numbers that tell where the reader can find information about various topics in the book. Tell students that they can use the index to find the answers to some of their questions. For example, they can look in the index to find where in the book they can go to find out more about the Great Depression. Ask students to tell which pages mention the Great Depression (pages 10 and 11).
• 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

• As students preview the book, point out any vocabulary that you feel may be difficult for them.
• Remind students of the 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. They can use context clues within a sentence to work out meanings of unfamiliar words.
• Model how to apply word-attack strategies. Direct students to page 4. Point to the word sculptor. Model how to use context clues to figure out the meaning of the unfamiliar word. Explain that the sentences before it describe how a huge rock carving would bring visitors to the area. The sentence with the unfamiliar word in it says that he knew just the sculptor for the job. The words after the sentence tell about an artist named Gutzon Borglum. Tell students that these clues make you think that the word sculptor means an artist who shapes material into figures. Have students follow along as you reread the sentence on the page to confirm the meaning of the word.
• Remind students to check whether words make sense by rereading the sentence. They can also refer to photos or illustrations on the page to gain further understanding of the text.
• 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 Mount Rushmore.

Student Reading

    Guide the reading: Have students read to the end of page 9. Tell them to look for information about Mount Rushmore that will answer questions on their KWL chart. Have them underline important words or phrases in the book. 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 facts they learned. 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.
• Think-aloud: I wanted to know whose idea the monument was and where in in the United States it is located. I learned that Mount Rushmore is located in the Black Hills of South Dakota and that a member of the South Dakota Historical Society had the idea to create a monument. (Write what you learned (L) on the KWL chart.)
• Have students share questions they found the answers to while reading. Record their responses on the KWL chart.

    Tell students to read the remainder of the story. Remind them to look for answers to the other questions on their KWL chart and to think of other questions to add to it. Have them write down any new questions on their KWL chart and to underline in the book any information that answers a question already written on the chart.

    Have students 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: Main idea and details

• Discussion: Circle and discuss all of the questions on the KWL chart that were answered by reading the book. Add any additional questions to the KWL chart on the board. Explain that students may have to consult other references to find the answers to some of their questions.
• Introduce and model the skill: Review or explain that many books are about one thing. Tell students that it is easy to tell what this book is about because the topic, or main idea, is the title of the book. Direct students to the table of contents. Explain that each chapter in this informational book contains a main idea and details about the main idea. Have students turn to chapter 5 ("Mount Rushmore Today"). Explain that this chapter contains a main idea and details. Ask students what they think the main idea of the chapter is based on the title (what Mount Rushmore is like now). Ask students to read the chapter again. Then have them tell how many people visit Mount Rushmore every year (more than two and a half million). Ask them to name other details that tell about Mount Rushmore today. Explain how identifying the main idea and supporting details in a chapter can help them understand and remember what they’ve read.
• Check for understanding: Have students turn to page 11. Discuss the time line, and ask students to look at the KWL chart to find questions that might be answered by the details shown in the time line. Have students share their findings.
• Independent practice: Have students practice locating the main idea and details in a chapter by completing the main idea/detail worksheet. Discuss their answers when they’re done.

    Extend the discussion: Instruct students to use the inside front cover of their books to list one of the questions on the KWL chart that was not answered by the book. Have them tell what reference(s) they might consult to find the answer.

Grammar and Mechanics: Paragraph formation

• Review or explain that when writing, authors create many different paragraphs within a book. A new paragraph is created when the author begins writing about a new idea. The author begins on a different line, and the new paragraph is either indented or set aside with extra space.
• Have students turn to page 4. Ask them if this book separates paragraphs using indentation or extra spaces (extra space). Ask students how many paragraphs are on the page (2). Ask what the first two words are in the second paragraph (In 1924). Ask how students know where the second paragraph begins (there is extra space before it).
• Have students turn to page 10. Ask how many paragraphs are on this page (1). Remind them that the title is not included in or counted as a paragraph, nor are the photo captions. Paragraphs contain only the body of the text.

    Check for understanding: Have students turn to page 12 and tell how many paragraphs it contains (2). Ask students to underline the first word in the first paragraph (Mount). Ask them to underline the first word in the second paragraph (More than). Check individual student responses for accuracy.

Word Work: Alphabetical Order

• Review or explain the process of putting a list of words in alphabetical order. Remind students that if the first letter of two words is the same, they must compare the next two letters instead. (If the next two letters are still the same, they must go to the following two letters, and so on.)
• Explain that if the word being alphabetized is a two-part word, such as Great Depression or Black Hills, students should still refer to the first letters to determine alphabetical order.
• Write the words memorial and sculptor on the board. Have a volunteer tell which word would appear first in alphabetical order (memorial) and why (because m comes before s in the alphabet). Write the words granite and generations on the board. Point out that the words begin with the same letter (g). Ask a volunteer to tell which word would appear first in alphabetical order and to explain his or her thinking (generations, because the second letter, e, comes before the second letter, r, in granite).

    Check for understanding: Write the words Theodore and Thomas on the board. Using the inside front cover of their books, have students write which word would appear first in alphabetical order (Theodore). Check students’ individual answers. (Students must look at the third letter of each word to correctly alphabetize the words). Ask a volunteer to explain his or her answer.

• Independent practice: Have students complete the alphabetization worksheet. Discuss answers aloud after they are finished.

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their books independently or with a partner. Encourage repeated timed readings of a specific section in the book.

Home Connection

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

Writing Connection

• Provide Internet and text references for students to research the presidents whose faces are carved on Mount Rushmore. Have them choose one president to write a report on. Their report should include important dates and events in U.S. history during that president's term of office, as well as important dates and events in his personal life. Emphasize and require correct paragraph formatting in students' writing.

Art Connection

• Provide modeling clay and tools for students to recreate the sculpture of Mount Rushmore. Also provide multiple copies of the famous faces of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt as they looked when they were carved into the mountain. Students may create individual sculptures or work in small groups.

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 text
• correctly identify the main idea and the appropriate supporting details
• correctly identify new paragraphs in text
• understand the process of arranging words in alphabetical order