Text Type: Fantasy
Page Count: 12
Word Count: 656

Book Summary
The Great Ice Beast Egdirf is in pain--something has made it sick. Join the hero of the story as he tries to determine what is wrong with the beast and then heroically removes the cause of the illness. Readers will enjoy the surprise ending to this story and the analogy that is cleverly woven throughout.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

• Visualize

Objectives

• Use the reading strategy of visualizing to better understand text
• Understand and identify cause-and-effect relationships
• Identify r-controlled /o/ vowel
• Identify and use adjectives
• Recognize and understand the use of similes

Materials

• Book -- Inside the Beast (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Cause and effect, content vocabulary, visualize, adjectives worksheets
• Dictionaries
• Discussion cards

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

Vocabulary

• Content words: deserve, hangdog, leftovers, mold, oozed, protector, remove, rotted, stench

Build Background

• Write the title of the story on the board. Do not show students the book. Ask them what picture comes to mind as you read the title aloud. Ask volunteers to come to the board and draw a quick sketch, or have them verbally share their mental picture. Discuss students' definition of a beast.
• Ask what keyword in the title of the story indicates that this is a fantasy book.

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 (genre, text type, fiction or nonfiction, and so on) 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 3 aloud to students, but do not show them the illustration. 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 the great beast, I pictured a big, hairy being with its mouth opened wide as it roared in pain.
• Reread page 3 to students. Invite them to share what they pictured in their mind while hearing the words read aloud. Show them the illustration on page 3. 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.

Introduce the Comprehension Skill: Cause and effect

• Explain to students that ideas and events are often connected to each other. Review or discuss that a cause is an event that makes something happen, and the effect is what happens because of, or as a result of, the cause.
• Create a two-column chart on the board, similar to the cause and effect worksheet. Label the left column Cause and the right column Effects. Write the following sentence on the board under Cause: I hit a baseball through a window.
• Model identifying cause-and-effect relationships.
  Think-aloud: If I hit the baseball through a window, certain effects of that cause are likely to happen. I might have to pay for the window. I also might have to apologize for breaking the window. Sometimes there is more than one effect, or event, that happens as a result of a cause.
• Ask students to identify from the discussion the two effects of the cause (paying for the window, apologizing for breaking the window). Write these under the heading Effects.
• Invite students to share other possible effects that might happen as a result of hitting a baseball through a window. Write these in the Effects section of the chart.
• 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: hangdog, oozed, protector, stench.
• Review or explain that the glossary and a dictionary contain 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 hangdog in the glossary. Then have students follow along on page 10 as you read the sentence in which the word hangdog appears to confirm the meaning of the word. Repeat the exercise with the remaining vocabulary words.
• Introduce and explain the content vocabulary worksheet. Assign pairs of students two content words. Have them use the glossary, a dictionary, and their prior knowledge to complete the worksheet.
• For additional tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

     Have students read the book to learn more about the beast. Remind them to create mental pictures as they read.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Have students read to the end of page 5. Encourage those who finish early to go back and reread.
• Introduce and explain the visualize worksheet. Model visualizing.
  Think-aloud: When I read the words the skin of the creature lit up like silver moonlight, I pictured a giant beast with skin that shimmered and glistened in the moonlight. I pictured how its skin reflected the light of the moon like sparkling diamonds. Creating pictures in my mind helped me connect to the story and build my anticipation for what 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.
• Return to the cause-and-effect chart on the board. Write the beast is sick under the Cause heading. Ask students to identify what effects are the result of the beast being sick (it is roaring in pain, there is a stench coming from it, someone has to remove the illness).
• Introduce and explain the cause and effect worksheet. Have students write the information from the discussion on their worksheet. Point out that there is more than one effect for the cause.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 8. Have them draw on their visualize worksheet what they visualized as they read. Invite volunteers to share what they pictured in their mind as they read.
• Ask students to identify an additional effect of the beast's illness and write it on their cause and effect worksheet (the beast would infect others). When they have finished, discuss their responses.
• Ask students to read the remainder of the book. Remind them to create mental pictures as they read and to reflect on the cause-and-effect relationships occurring throughout the story.

      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.

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.
• Think-aloud: As I read page 9, I pictured the horrible mess inside the beast. I pictured wilted brown lettuce. I pictured the steak covered in fuzzy white mold as big as cotton balls. Creating pictures in my mind while reading kept me interested and helped me to enjoy the story.
• Ask students to explain or show how the strategy of visualizing helped them understand and remember the story, and to share how this increased their surprise and enjoyment at the end of the story.
• Independent practice: Have students complete their visualize worksheet. Ask them to explain their drawings using the text to support their sketches.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Review with students the cause-and-effect relationships listed on their worksheet. Ask them to explain or show how the strategy of identifying cause-and-effect relationships helped them better understand the story.
• Independent practice: Have students identify at least two additional effects of the beast getting sick and write them on their cause and effect worksheet (the people will take better care of the beast, they will only put in what they can take out, those who don't follow the rules will not be allowed to get food from the beast).
• Discuss the surprise ending of the story based on the last illustration. Discuss how the story was an analogy for a messy refrigerator. Have students reread the story. Ask them to reflect on how the words and phrases provided subtle clues about the analogy. (For example, Egdirf is Fridge spelled backward.)
• Have students work with a partner to identify a cause-and-effect relationship based on the analogy of the refrigerator (leaving leftovers and rotten food in the refrigerator causes a mess and a stench). Have them write it on the back of their worksheet.
• Enduring understanding: After reading the final page, you learned that the story is really about one boy in a family creating an entire fantasy out of the chore of cleaning a messy, smelly refrigerator. Now that you know this information, what can you do to help keep the refrigerator in your home clean?

Phonics: R-controlled /o/

• Write the word roar on the board and say it aloud with students. Point to the letters oar in the word and explain that these three letters are one of the combinations that represent a group of sounds called r-controlled vowels. These vowel sounds are neither long nor short, and are sometimes difficult to hear. Tell students that the other r-controlled /o/ letter combinations are or (as in corn) and our (as in four).

      Have students turn to page 3 in their book and locate the word roared. Ask them to circle or highlight the oar letter combination in the word. Then have them scan the rest of the page for any other words with an r-controlled /o/ (north).

• Create a T-chart on the board with roar written on one side and north on the other side. Write the following words with the r-controlled /o/ letter combination on the board: board, for, more, soar, storm. Have volunteers write each word in the correct column of the T-chart and underline the r-controlled letter combination in each word.
• Check for understanding: On a separate piece of paper, have students create their own T-chart with roar and north as headings. Have student pairs scan the rest of the text for r-controlled /o/ words. Ask them to write the words in the appropriate column of their T-chart.

Grammar and Mechanics: Adjectives

• Choose an object in the room. Ask students to suggest words to describe it. (For example: The table is long, wooden, flat, and so on.) Write these words on the board.
• Review or explain that adjectives are words that describe nouns or pronouns. An adjective describes which one, how many, and what kind. Adjectives play an important role in helping the reader to visualize and better experience the story because they describe people, places, objects, and settings, making them more vivid.
• Write the following sentence on the board: The great beast roared from the pit. Point out the noun beast in the sentence and underline it. Ask students to identify a word that describes the beast (great). Invite them to share how the adjective helps them to better visualize the beast.
• Check for understanding: Have students write the following sentence on a separate piece of paper: It was goopy chicken soup, a dried quesadilla, and many fruit cups. Have students circle the adjectives in the sentence. Then have them underline the noun each adjective describes. When they have finished, discuss their answers.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the adjectives worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Word Work: Similes

• Have students turn to page 4. Read aloud the following sentence from the first paragraph: Below, the skin of the creature lit up like silver moonlight dancing on black water.
• Write the phrase like silver moonlight on the board. Explain to students that the phrase is an example of a simile. Point out that authors use similes to make their writing more vivid and enjoyable by comparing one thing with another using the word like or as.
• Have students read the rest of page 4 and identify another example of a simile. (We then feed from it like fleas from a dog.) Ask students to identify the two things the author is comparing (people feeding from the beast and fleas feeding on a dog).
• Check for understanding: Write the following sentence on the board: The beast roared. Have pairs of students use the sentence to create a simile and write it on a separate piece of paper. Invite them to share their responses and explain the two things compared.

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 them compare with someone at home what they visualized while reading.

Fantasy Writing and Art Connection
Review with students that through the boy's imagination, the refrigerator became the center of his fantasy story about the Great Ice Beast Egdirf. Have students choose a common household or classroom object and reverse the letters in the name of the object (such as Nevo for oven), and then turn it into a "beast." Ask them to write a story about a problem with the beast and how they heroically overcome it.

Science Connection
Provide students with petri dishes, hand lenses, small pieces of bread, and orange peels. Set the petri dishes with bread and orange peels in a warm, sunny spot in the classroom. Allow students to use the hand lenses to observe changes in appearance (and odor) over the next few days. Have them write their observations in a journal. Invite them to share their findings, and discuss the process of decomposition with the class.

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 card 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.