Build Background

• Have students tell what they know about the First Lady. Create a KWL on the board and fill in the first column with things students know about First Ladies in general.

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. Model how to ask questions as you preview the book.
• Have students preview the rest of the book. Show students the title page, photos, sidebar text, and glossary.
• Show students the index. Explain that the alphabetized list and page numbers tell where they can find information about topics in the book.

Introduce the Strategy: Ask and answer questions

• Direct students to the table of contents. Remind students that the table of contents provides an overview of what the book is about. After reviewing the chapter titles, model using it as a way to think of questions. Then ask students to share questions they have about First Ladies based on the covers and table of contents. Record both your and the students' questions in the second column of the KWL chart. Model asking questions.
• Think-aloud: I can use the chapter titles to think of questions I'd like to have answered about First Ladies. For example, the first chapter is titled "What Does a First Lady Do?" I think this is a great question. I'll write it on the chart. I’d also like to know if First Ladies are paid for the work they do. I’ll write that question on the chart, too.
• Encourage students to use the photos, glossary, and everything else that has been previewed to help think of questions to add the KWL chart on the board.
• Tell students that they might use the index to find the answers to some of their questions. For example, tell them if one of their questions is about William Clinton, the husband of Hillary Rodham Clinton, they can find information about him in the index. Have students tell the page numbers where they would find the information.
• 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 Vocabulary

• 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, and prefixes and suffixes. They can use the context to work out meanings of unfamiliar words.
• Model how to apply word-attack strategies. Have students find the bold word discrimination on page 7. Tell students that they can look at the letter the word begins with, and what they know about syllables and vowels (one vowel sound per syllable) to sound out the rest of the word. Tell students to first look for a clue to the word's meaning in the sentence. Explain that in this book they will not find a context clue in the sentence that explains the unfamiliar word, but that other information in the paragraph explains it. Also, model how they can use the glossary, or a dictionary, to find the word's meaning. Have students follow along as you read the sentence in which it is found to confirm the meaning of the word.
• Preview other vocabulary such as humanitarian, immunizations, and influential in a similar fashion before students begin reading.
• For additional teaching tips on word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read the book to find factual answers to their questions about First Ladies.

Student Reading

•     Guide the reading: Have students read to the end of page 8. Tell them to look for facts about First Ladies that will answer their questions. Have them underline important words or phrases in the book. If they finish before everyone else, they should go back and reread.
  
• When they have finished reading, have students tell what each chapter is about and the interesting facts they found. Circle any questions on the KWL chart that have been answered and add any new questions students have. Model answering a question on the KWL.
  Think-aloud: I wanted to know what a First Lady does. I found out that they do lots of things. Some First Ladies talk about things they believe in, and many work to help people in need. Some First Ladies work to improve schools and libraries. It sounds like First Ladies are important. I also found out that First Ladies are not paid for what they do. What questions did you find answers to?
• Have students tell questions they found the answers to while reading. Record their responses on the KWL written on the board.
•     Tell students to read the remainder of the story. Remind them to look for answers to the other questions written on the KWL, or to think of other questions to add to it as they read. Tell them to write down any questions they have in the page margins of their books and to underline any information that answers a question on the KWL.
  
•     Tell the students to 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 Reading Strategies

• Ask students what other questions they came up with for the KWL as they finished reading, and ask them what questions they answered. Discuss how keeping in mind the questions they wanted to answer keeps them actively involved in the reading process and helps them understand and remember what they read.
• Think-aloud: I wanted to know what Hillary Clinton did when she was First Lady. I read in the book that she did a lot of work on health care. I can mark down the answer on my chart. There are other questions I have that the book didn’t answer. I’m going to have to look other places, such as the Internet or an encyclopedia, to find those answers.
• Ask students what words they marked in their books. Use this opportunity to model how they could read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Main ideas and details

• Discussion: Ask students what they thought of the First Ladies in the book. What detail about each one did they think was the most interesting? Ask students which of the First Ladies in the book they admire most.
• Introduce and model the skill: Review or explain that many books are about one thing. Tell students that it is easy to tell what a book like this one 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 details about Famous First Ladies. Have students look at the last chapter title. Explain that the main idea of this chapter is Hillary Rodham Clinton. It tells details about the only living First Lady in the book, and about what her life is like today. Explain that finding details and checking to see if they've been able to answer a question they've asked, or ask a new question about what they've read, helps them understand and remember what the book is about.
• Check for understanding: Have students look at the third chapter title. Ask who the chapter is about. Have students look at the KWL to find questions that might be answered by the details in the chapter.
• Independent practice: Tell students that they will now be able to complete an organizer using the details they learned about famous First Ladies. Give students the detail comparison worksheet. Discuss their responses.
• Extend the discussion: Ask students what they thought of the book. Ask if they can name other First Ladies and what they’ve done. Have students make a list of the traits they think a First Lady should have based on what they now know about First Ladies.

Grammar and Mechanics: Plural nouns

• Review or explain that a singular noun names one person, place, or thing. Write each of the following words on the board and ask students to provide the plural forms: school, American, brush, class. Have volunteers explain why the plural forms of the first two words are formed by adding –-s, and the plural forms of the second two words are formed by adding -es. (Add -es to nouns that end in s, ch, sh, x, or z.)
• Write the noun below on the board. Tell students that the plural of this noun is formed by changing the y to an i and adding –-es.

lady     ladi + es = ladies

• Write the following nouns on the board: baby, fly, puppy. Have a volunteer come to the board and show how each word is changed to a plural using the format written above. Remind students that if they are unsure about how to form the plural of a noun, they can look in the dictionary.
• Direct students to page 4 and have them identify the plural nouns. Tell them to circle the plurals formed by adding -s (States, Americans, causes, projects, years, schools, lives, thousands) and to underline the plurals formed by adding -es (Ladies, libraries).
•     Have students go through a page or chapter in the book to find the plural nouns. Tell them to circle the plurals formed by adding -s and to underline the plurals formed by adding -es. Monitor students' understanding. Check their responses.

Word Work: Content words

• Tell students that many of the words in the book are used to tell about things First Ladies have been interested in or have helped to improve. Provide opportunities for students to talk about difficult words such as discrimination and immunizations. Provide opportunities for students to say the new vocabulary words and to use the words in sentences.
• Give students the cloze worksheet.

Independent Reading

• Allow the students to read their books independently or aloud with a partner. Partners can take turns reading parts of the book. Have students reread if time allows.

Home Connection

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

Writing Connection

• Have students research other First Ladies and select one to write a brief biography about. Tell them to present the information in the same format as the book. Bind in a book titled “First Ladies of the United States” and display on the classroom bookshelf for all to read.

Social Studies Connection

• Discuss influential women in politics. Divide students into two groups and have them debate whether a woman will become president during their lifetime.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• use the strategy of asking and answering questions to understand informational text
• identify main ideas and details about First Ladies and complete an organizational chart
• understand and recognize plural nouns formed by adding –-s and -es by identifying them in the book
• understand and use content vocabulary to complete a cloze passage