Reading Level:
O

Word Count:
1,107

Pages:
22 

Text Summary
Tari the Spider Monkey was born asking questions about everything. One day he asks a question only the Namer can answer. Tari and his friend Balam Iguana travel to the other world beyond the forest to ask the Namer how she thought of their names. The illustrations accompanying the text are sure to delight.

Lesson Objectives

Reading Strategies
Students should use a variety of strategies to determine word meaning and comprehend text. The target strategy for this lesson is: asking questions before and during reading. 

Word and Print Skills

Phonics
Vowel long e
Word Work
Mechanics:
Question marks
Word structure:
Suffix -ion 

Targeted Vocabulary Words
canopy, rainforest, fronds, landscape, generation, mystery, iguana, jaguar, macaw, puma, permission, curiosity, creature

These are difficult words that students will encounter in the text. You may want to review and discuss these words and have students add them to the classroom word wall or dictionary. 

Comprehension
You will likely address a number of comprehension skills as students work to understand the text. The target comprehension strategy for this lesson is: understanding the structure of a narrative. 

Before Reading

Build Background
Involve students in a discussion about folktales and draw on their experiences with similar stories.
Say and ask: This story is called a folktale. Folktales often tell of the origins of things in the world around us. What are some folktales you have read? What do you know about monkeys? What kind of character in a folktale do you think a monkey might be? 

Introduce the Book
Show students the cover of the book and read the title with them. Ask them to predict what the book might be about based on the title and cover illustration.
Ask and say: What do you see on the cover? What do you think this story is about? What does the illustration tell you about the kind of text this is? Who do you think Tari is? What do you think Tari’s question might be? 

Preview the Book
Give students their copy of the book. Go through the book with them, discussing their ideas about Tari and the kind of character he is. Encourage students to ask questions.
Say and ask: This book is about Tari’s question. Sometimes asking questions about what you are going to read will help you better understand the text. It helps you think about the topic and what you might expect to read. Asking questions gives you a purpose. What are some questions you have about this text?  

Record students’ questions on a chart on the board. Then read page 3 together. Encourage students to ask questions about the text after reading that page. Record their questions on the chart. Tell students that when they read the rest of the book, they will try to answer the questions on the chart. 

Reading Strategies
Remind students to use any or all of the following strategies to help them read:

• Students can check if the text it makes sense, sounds right, and looks right.
• Students can connect what they read with what they already know.
• Students can confirm their reading by looking at the illustrations.
• Students can sound out words by dividing them into smaller parts and using what they know about sounds and letters to sound out each part.

You might want to model one or more of the strategies for students. 

During Reading

Student Reading
Have students read the rest of the book silently at their own pace. You may suggest they read through the book once, and then read it again, stopping to mark places that answer questions they have, or places that prompt additional questions for their chart. If the book is used as a consumable, you may ask students to mark or highlight words they have trouble with, or places in the text where they are confused. 

Using the Worksheet
Introduce and explain Worksheet 2. 

After Reading

Comprehending the Text
Draw the group together again and check whether any of the students’ questions were answered.
Say: Did you find answers to any of your questions? Did you ask other questions as you read the story? Tell me some of your questions. How did asking questions help you read? What were you thinking about as you read?  

Discuss the structure of a narrative and have students compare this story with other stories they have read. Prompt them to recognize features of a story such as characters, setting, and plot. Then ask questions that help them explore these features.
Ask: What did this story have that other stories you’ve read also have? Who were the characters? What was the most important thing Tari did? Can you find the part of the story that best describes Tari? What was the problem in the story? Let’s find the part where we first find out what the problem was. How was the problem solved? 

Building Skills

Phonics
long e
Write the word tree on the board, and ask students to tell you the vowel sound in the word. Ask what letters spell the long e sound. Have students search the text to find other examples of words with vowel digraph ee. (see, seem, sleep, feet) 

Ask students to brainstorm words with long e. Record their words on the board. Then have students categorize the list of words according to the spellings for long e. Talk about which spelling patterns seem to be most common. Students may suggest the following long e spellings: open vowel as in he, y as in baby, digraph ea as in please, digraph ie as in field. 

Word Work
Mechanics:
question marks
Say: This story was about asking questions. What punctuation do we use to show we are asking a question? I am going to write a sentence, and I want you tell me if it needs a question mark.
Write the following sentences and have students add punctuation:
My favorite animal is a sloth
Who bumped me
Why do we move when we sleep
Tari’s curiosity was truly endless
Why is corn yellow
Say: Do you notice any patterns? How do you know when to use question marks? 

Word Study
suffix -ion
Write the word question on the board and circle the suffix -ion. Explain that when we add the suffix -ion to a root word, like the word quest, we change the meaning of the word by making the verb a noun. Write the word operate and show students how to add the suffix to make operation. Explain that when a word ends with the letter e, we drop the e before adding -ion. Write the following words on the board and have students make new words by adding -ion to the root word: elevate, educate, motivate, adopt, attract.

Expand the Reading

Writing Connection
Students can write the story of how they were named. Students may need to talk to their parents before they can write the story. 

Social Studies Connection
Have students research the meaning or origin of their first and last names and the names of their school, town, county, or state. Encourage them to share their findings.

Math Connection
Have students create a class graph showing the number of letters in first and last names. Students can write their name on graph paper strips, one letter per square, and cut off any extra squares. Then they can group the names by how many squares they fill. On a piece of chart paper, write the numbers one through ten across the bottom. Ask students to add their name strip to the corresponding number.

Reading Independently
Invite students to reread the book independently or with a partner. Have them share their own stories from the Writing Connection with each other.

Home Connection
Invite students to take the book home to read with their families. Have them share their Writing Connection stories with a family member. 

Assessment

• Monitor children’s responses in the Comprehending the Text section to assess how well they understand the story. Note whether they can make comparisons between this story and others they have read. Use their completed narrative structure worksheet to assess how well they understand the features of a narrative.
• Note whether students ask questions about their reading. Note whether they can tell you how they found the answers.
• Assess students’ completed phonics worksheet to see if they can list words with long e.