Text Type:
Fiction / Tale
Reading Level:
O
Word Count:
1,096
Pages:
22
Text Summary
Makusani's Lesson is a Venezuelan folktale about a very curious young boy on an adventure in the forest. Makusani is a good boy, but his curiosity always seems to get him in trouble.
Suggested Lesson Focus
The following skills are suggested for the lesson focus and strategies will be provided for these skills throughout the lesson. Most likely, other skills will be addressed in the course of reading and discussing the book.
Literary Element Strategies
How settings and feelings change over time
Phonics
Short Vowels
Word Work
Contractions
Mechanics/Word Structure
Quotation Marks
Visual Learning
Visual learning is a very important comprehension strategy. Model this strategy through teacher think aloud, sharing with children what you see in your mind and on the page as you read through the text. If children can see illustrations that go with the story, they will be able to use the images to help them decipher the text.
Targeted Vocabulary Words
Content Words
Makusani, Huenna, Nanudi (These are names of various characters in the story.)
Before Reading
Building Background
Make text-to-text connections with other tales that you have read to the class or that children have read during guided reading. Have them talk about how a tale is different from other narrative stories.
Introducing the Book
Show children the book and ask: What do you notice about the front of the book (title, author, illustrator, picture)? What do you think this story will be about? Why do you think that?
Book Walk
While doing your Book Walk, go through as much of the book as you feel is necessary, pointing out anything you think will challenge children as they are reading. This is a time when you are reminding them of the various reading strategies discussed in class as well as familiarizing them with the format of the book. This step is to help reduce the anxiety that some children feel when they are faced with a book that has text with unfamiliar vocabulary.
During Reading
Provide a copy of the book to each child. Direct them to read silently or quietly to themselves. Tell those that finish before others to reread the book or to think about what they have read in order to respond to the purpose you set before the reading.
Have children pay attention to the pictures and context. This will help them become more fluent in their reading since these clues will help them understand unfamiliar words and help them grasp the whole of the story, rather than spending all of their time decoding.
Setting the Purpose
Say: Today as you read with your partner, try to find out how the setting is changing throughout the story. Try to find out how Makusani’s feelings change as he journeys through the countryside. Look at the other characters in the story. How do their expressions tell us how they feel about Makusani.
Giving children a focus as they read increases comprehension and retention. If they are looking for something specific, they will be paying attention to the content rather than simply reading the words. This will be followed up in the After Reading section of this lesson.
After Reading
Have children work in groups to complete the comprehension worksheet. Record some of their findings on a chart. Talk about how the setting changed several times in the story. Talk about how Makusani’s feelings kept changing in the story.
Building Skills
Phonics
Have children look through the text and find short vowel words and add them to a class chart. Explain to children that every vowel makes a short or a long vowel sound, depending on the word they are in. Write pat, pet, pit, pot, and putt as samples on the board that they can use to say aloud. Then have children find short vowels in the book.
Word Work
List these contractions on the board: won’t, doesn’t, she’ll. Talk about what each one means. Have children volunteer to come to the board and write the words that make up each contraction.
Mechanics/Grammar
Quotation Marks
Have children look through the story to find the various conversations that Makusani had. Have children take turns reading the various parts.
Expand the Reading
Writing Connection
Have children look through the text and find all the words the author used instead of said. Make a class chart and encourage children to use these words when writing conversations in their own stories. Have children write a story that they will illustrate in the Art Connection section of this lesson. The stories should include a main character, a setting, and a plot.
Art Connection
Have children illustrate their stories. Have them draw a background if they are drawing a character. Explain that there is always a background in real life, and that it helps readers know what the setting of the story is, and helps the reader imagine what is going on in the story.
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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