Lesson Plans for SPEED level R

Before Reading

Introducing the Book
Before handing out the book, introduce it by showing the front and back covers, the title page, and the contents page. Ask questions to find out what predictions children have regarding the book.
Ask: What do you see on the covers? What does this tell you about the book’s contents? What do you think the book will be about? There should be a lot of predicting going on at this stage.

Suggestion: You might want to give some examples about where to find specific information using the contents page. This may be appropriate during the Building Background section. It is possible that children may bring up some things that are discussed in the book. As this happens, you can take the opportunity to look them up in the table of contents to show that it is in fact in the book.

Building Background
Ask children to tell you what they know about speed. Ask the following questions to find out what prior knowledge they have regarding the subject.
Ask: What do you think of when you hear the word speed? What do you know about making things go faster? Do you know of anyone famous who did something involving speed? What animals do you think of, when you think of animals that are fast? How did people go place to place long ago? What types of things have been invented to help people get places faster?

By asking these types of questions, you are getting a better understanding about what children know about the concept of speed. See the suggestion above in the Introducing the Book section for an idea on how to incorporate use of the contents page in this section.

Book Walk
The Book Walk for this book is simply a way to help children become familiar with the format of an informational book that is broken into sections. This may be a new concept for some children. Go through the book and show children how each new section begins with the subject of the upcoming topic centered before the paragraph where the section begins. If you are going to be reading the book in sections, this will be an important thing to show children. Also, look over some of the pictures. This will help them become familiar with the topic they are about to learn. This will also show them that you recognize the importance of the photos in this book. Point out some of the content words that were discussed earlier, so they have an idea where they are and won’t be worrying about where to find them. This is just a way to help children feel more comfortable with the text they are about to read.


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