The Shadow People - Lesson Plans

The Shadow People
Level O

About the Book

Text Type: Fiction/Science Fiction
Page Count: 16
Word Count: 874

Book Summary
Lila's class is on a field trip to the zoo. While busying herself making shadow puppets on the ground, Lila notices a group of students pass by that, strangely enough, don't cast any shadows! When one of the students accidentally drops a strange pendant, Lila is after him to solve the mystery. This text provides a good introduction to the genre of science fiction.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

Visualize

Objectives

Use the reading strategy of visualizing (creating mental pictures) to better understand text
Understand and identify the author's purpose
Understand and identify subject pronouns
Identify and understand the meaning of closed compound words

Materials

Book -- The Shadow People (copy for each student)
Chalkboard or dry erase board
Content vocabulary, visualize, subject pronouns worksheets

Indicates an opportunity for student to mark in the book. (All activities may be completed with paper and pencil if books are reusable.)

Vocabulary

Content words: being, dimensional, distracted, hypercube, imagined, invisible, pendant, properties, register, typically, whisked

Before Reading

Build Background

Use the overhead projector or a flashlight to create a shadow puppet on the wall. Ask volunteers to make others for the group. Lead a discussion on shadows and light. Ask questions such as: What creates a shadow? What things don't create a shadow? Why not?
Ask students if they have ever read a science fiction book before. If so, ask volunteers to tell the characteristics of a science fiction book. Discuss the elements of science fiction as a genre (usually involves another planet or world, or people from another planet or world; often set in the future or an "alternate history"; usually contains some element of real science).

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, illustrator's name).

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Visualize

Explain to students that good readers often visualize, or create pictures in their mind, while they read. Explain that visualizing is based on the words in the text and what a person already knows about a topic.
Read page 4 aloud to students. Model how to visualize.
Think-aloud: Whenever I read a book, I always pause after a few pages to create a picture in my mind of the information I've read. This helps me understand the ideas in the story. When I read about Lila making the shadow puppets, I pictured her sitting on the steps in a corner of the penguin area. I pictured her moving her hands in different positions to make shadow animals on the steps.
Reread page 4 to students. Invite students to share what they picture in their mind while hearing the words read aloud. Show them the illustration on page 4. Point out that even though the picture in their mind may not be the same as the one in the book, they were each able to create a picture in their mind.
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 Comprehension Skill: Author's purpose

Write the following terms on the board: inform, entertain, persuade. Invite students to define the terms in their own words. Encourage them to give examples of times when they might have said something to inform, to entertain, or to persuade. Point out that writers often have one of these three purposes for writing.
Model each purpose for writing by reading a brief passage that demonstrates each: a paragraph from a social studies or science book (to inform), a humorous fiction story (to entertain), and an advertisement from a magazine or newspaper (to persuade).
Think-aloud: Authors write for different reasons. Some write to provide facts about something. For example, the passage from the [social studies/science book] provided me with information about ________. However, the purpose of the advertisement was to make me think that I need to have this item. The purpose was not to teach me something. Advertisements like this use words and pictures to persuade me to buy something. In the story I just read, readers are entertained.
Ask students to predict what they think the author's purpose might be for writing The Shadow People. Ask them if they think there could be more than one purpose.

Introduce the Vocabulary

Write the words from the glossary on the chalkboard in a list. Point to each word, read it aloud, and ask students to give the thumbs-up signal if they know the word or have heard it before. Circle any words that most students are unfamiliar with.
Explain to students that most of the time, good readers use context clues to help figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word in the text. However, sometimes they will not find enough context clues to clearly define the unfamiliar word. Model how students can use the glossary or a dictionary to locate a word's meaning.
Distribute the content vocabulary worksheet. Instruct students to cut out the vocabulary words across the bottom of the page to make word cards. Have them sort the words on the chart according to how well they understand each word: I Know the Word, I Think I Know the Word, and I Do Not Know the Word. Have them set aside their charts. Explain to students that they will learn these words better after reading the book and using context clues. Tell them they will return to their chart after reading.
For tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

Have students think about the author's purpose while reading. Remind them to visualize as they read.

During Reading

Student Reading

Guide the reading: Have students read to the end of page 7. Encourage students who finish early to go back and reread.
Introduce and explain the visualize worksheet. Model visualizing parts of the book.
Think-aloud: When I finished reading "In the Reptile House," I paused to picture in my mind how the reptile house looks. I pictured how dark the rooms were. I pictured glass tanks full of slithering animals. Creating a picture in my mind helped me connect to the story and build my anticipation for might happen next.
Guide students to use their worksheet to draw a simple sketch of what they visualized while reading. Invite them to share what they visualized.
Review the events so far in the story. Discuss what might be the author's purpose for writing the story. Write the examples on the board as students share them. (For example: the story entertains readers by describing Lila's trip to the zoo and her encounter with the students that appear not to have any shadows; the story informs readers by explaining the meaning of a shadow.)
Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 11. Have them draw on their worksheet what they visualized. Invite volunteers to explain what they pictured in their mind when they read.
Review the events of pages 8 through 11. Discuss how the events support one or more of the three purposes for writing a story.
Ask students to read the rest of the book, stopping every few pages to draw a sketch of what they visualized while reading.

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 the word and figure out its meaning.

After Reading

Reflect on the Reading Strategy

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.
Ask students to explain or show how the strategy of visualizing helped them understand and remember the story.
Think-aloud: When I read about Lila pulling the hypercube out of her pocket and holding it up to the sunlight, I pictured how it shimmered and glowed in her hand. Visualizing the story while reading helped me to enjoy the story.
Independent practice: Have students share their completed visualize worksheet. Ask students to explain their drawings using the text to support their sketches.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

Discussion: Ask students to discuss what they think the author's purpose was for writing this book. If students only respond to entertain, prompt them to think about the other two categories. Ask: Were you persuaded to think or act a certain way after reading this book? (No); Did you learn anything from reading this book? (Yes, about the 4th dimension, the definition of a shadow, the meaning of a hypercube).
Enduring understanding: This book introduced you to some of the characteristics of science fiction. The next time you go to the library or bookstore, how will reading this story help you be able to tell if a book is considered science fiction?

Build Skills

Grammar and Mechanics: Subject pronouns

Write the following sentences on the board: Lila made a penguin shadow puppet. She made it dance on the steps. Underline the word Lila. Review with students that a noun is a person, place, or thing. Ask students to identify whether Lila names a person, place, or thing.
Explain or review that a pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. Underline the word She. Explain to students that the word She takes the place of the word Lila.
Ask a volunteer to erase the word Lila from the first sentence on the board and replace it with She. Have the group read the sentence aloud, and ask if it makes sense.
Discuss the reason why authors use pronouns in place of nouns (to make the writing flow better, to avoid repeating the same words, to make the paragraph sound better, and so on). Write the following list of pronouns on the board (she, he, we, they, it, you).
Ask students to turn to page 6. Read the second paragraph together. Point to the word It. Then ask students to identify the noun to which the word It refers (the reptile house).

Check for understanding: Have students work with a partner to find and circle all the subject pronouns in the book. Allow time for discussion among pairs. Remind students that subject pronouns come at the beginning of the sentence.

Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the subject pronouns worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Word Work: Closed compound words

Write the word mailbox on the board. Ask students which two words they see in the word mailbox (mail and box). Explain that mailbox is called a compound word. A compound word contains two words that make up one word meaning. Explain that the definitions of the two separate words can help students figure out the meaning of the bigger word (a box where mail is placed).
Have students turn to page 8 and read the third sentence aloud while students follow along: Lila quickly scribbled down a few lines and then leapt up to join her classmates. Have students identify the compound word in the sentence (classmates). Ask them which two words are joined together in the word classmates (class and mates).
Ask pairs of students to use the meaning of each separate word in classmates to identify the meaning of the whole word (people who are in the same class). Discuss their answers.

Check for understanding: Have students turn to page 15 and reread the page. Have them identify and underline the compound word (sunlight). Ask students to circle the two words contained in the compound word and write the meaning of the word on the page. Discuss the word's meaning with students.

Build Fluency

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 share with someone at home the author's purpose(s) for writing this story.

Extend the Reading

Narrative Writing and Art Connection
Discuss with students how the author ended the book leaving many questions in the reader's mind. Have students write a continuation of the story or a parallel story that explains who the shadow children are, where they came from, or perhaps a story about the character of Chad. Students may illustrate their story when finished.

Science Connection
Have students measure their shadows at different times throughout the day. Have them discuss their findings.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

use the reading strategy of visualizing to better understand and enjoy the text during reading; draw what they visualize on a worksheet
correctly understand and identify the author's purpose during discussion
accurately understand and identify subject pronouns during discussion and on a worksheet
correctly identify and understand the meaning of closed compound words during discussion and on a worksheet

Comprehension Checks

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