Build Background

• Ask students if they have ever been sick. Have them explain how they felt and what symptoms they had.
• Encourage students to share what they know about how their everyday actions can help stop the spread of diseases (washing hands, covering their mouth when they cough or sneeze, and so on).

Preview the Book

Introduce the Book

• Give students their book. Guide them to the front and back covers of the book and read the title. Have students discuss what they see on the covers. Encourage them to offer ideas as to what kind of book this is and what it might be about.
• Ask students if they think this book is fiction or nonfiction and to explain their reasoning.
• Show students the title page. Talk about the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).
• Ask students to turn to the table of contents. Remind them that the table of contents provides an overview of what the book is about. Ask students what they expect to read about in the book based on what they see in the table of contents. (Accept all answers that students can justify.)

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Summarize

• Explain that one way to understand and remember information in a book is to summarize paragraphs, sections, or chapters mentally or on paper. Explain that a summary is a brief overview of the most important information in the text.
• Read page 4 aloud to students and model summarizing.
  Think-aloud: To summarize, I need to decide which information is important from what I've read. Then, in my mind, I organize the information into a few words or sentences. For example, the text on page 4 describes how symptoms, such as a sore throat, are signs of being sick. I will underline this information. The page also describes how microbes, called germs, cause diseases. When I look at this important information, a summary of page 4 might be: Microbes, or germs, can cause someone to be sick. Symptoms let someone know he or she is sick.
• Have students read page 5. Discuss the important information, and use this information to create a summary of the chapter (for example: Microbes are very small organisms all around us. They can cause or cure sickness). 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: Compare and contrast

• Explain that one way an author helps readers understand information in a book is to tell how topics in the book are alike and different.
• Have students look at the chart on page 12: Do You Have the Common Cold or the Flu?
• Model how to compare and contrast using the information in the chart.
  Think-aloud: This chart compares the flu to the common cold. One way their symptoms are the same is that the common cold and flu both involve coughing. What information in the chart supports this conclusion? (The symptom of coughing on the chart says Yes for both the common cold and the flu.) The symptoms for the common cold and flu are also different in some ways. Someone with the flu experiences a headache, but this is not a symptom of a cold.
• Model how to compare and contrast information using a Venn diagram. Draw a Venn diagram on the board. Label the left circle Common Cold and the right circle Flu. Explain that information relating to the common cold is written in the left side of the left circle (no headaches). Information that relates to the flu is written in the right side of the right circle (headaches). Explain that in the middle where both circles overlap, information is written about what the common cold and the flu have in common (coughing).
• Have students identify other similarities and differences between the common cold and the flu. Record these on the Venn diagram.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Write the following words from the content vocabulary on the board: outbreak, disease, immune system, antibiotics.
• Give groups of students a large piece of blank paper. Have them divide the paper into four sections. For each word, have them write or draw what they know about the word. Have groups discuss and create a definition for each word using prior knowledge.
• Review or explain that the glossary and 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 read the definition for outbreak in the glossary. Have students compare the definition with their prior knowledge of the word. Then have students follow along on page 16 as you read the sentence in which the word outbreak is found to confirm the meaning of the word. Repeat the exercise with the remaining vocabulary words.
• Show students the picture of the different types of microbes on page 5. Have the groups use the vocabulary words on the board, in the order in which they are written, to create a story about the spread of microbes. Have each student use one vocabulary word to add on to the story. Repeat the activity after reading the book to check for student understanding of the vocabulary.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the content vocabulary worksheet. Each worksheet allows students to work on two vocabulary words; supply two copies for each student.
• For tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read the book to find out more about microbes, stopping after every few pages to summarize information to identify similarities and differences between topics. Encourage students to underline or record on a separate piece of paper the important information in each chapter.

During Reading 

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Have students read to the end of page 8. Encourage those who finish early to go back and reread the text. When students are ready, discuss important information they identified.
• Model summarizing the important information in Chapter 3: "The Immune System."
  Think-aloud: I made sure to stop after each chapter to summarize the information I'd read so far. First, I decided what information was important to remember. For example, this chapter describes how our bodies defend against microbes. I underlined this information. Why do our bodies defend against microbes? (Harmful microbes can get in our body and multiply.) I will also underline this information. How does our body defend itself? (the immune system, including white blood cells, skin, and mucus) Using this information, what might a summary be for this chapter? (The immune system recognizes and defends the body against harmful microbes. When the immune system cannot fight the harmful microbes, the person gets sick.)
• Check for understanding: Have students read to page 15. Invite them to share the important information from chapters 4 and 5. Ask students to write a brief summary of each chapter on a separate piece of paper. Have them share what they wrote.
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to think about the details in the book so they can summarize the information after they read.

    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 to explain how the strategy of summarizing helped them understand the book.
  Think-aloud: I know that summarizing keeps me actively involved in what I'm reading and helps me understand and remember what I've read. I know that I will remember more about microbes because I summarized the information in my own words as I read the book.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the summarize worksheet using one of the remaining chapters in the book. If time allows, invite students to read their completed summaries aloud.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Have volunteers provide examples of how bacteria and fungi are both alike and different (alike: single celled, can make people sick, used to make foods; different: fungi can be multi-celled, bacteria are only single celled). Record this information on the Venn diagram.
• Check for understanding: Have students draw a Venn diagram on a separate piece of paper or on the inside front cover of their book. Label the left circle Bacteria and the right circle Protozoa. Have them use the information in the book to compare and contrast these two topics. When finished, invite them to share their information.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the compare and contrast worksheet. If time allows, have them discuss their answers.

Build Skills 

Grammar and Mechanics: Comparative and superlative adjectives

• Have students explain what adjectives do (describe nouns or pronouns). Review that an adjective describes which one, how many, or what kind of something. Have students turn to page 10 and identify all of the adjectives in the first paragraph (harmful, painful, swollen, white, and so on).
• Review that when two or more things are compared, similarities and differences are identified. Hold up two pencils of different lengths and ask students to compare them. Ask students to identify words used to compare sizes of two things (long, short, tall, small, thick, thin, and so on). Ask a volunteer to use the word long to compare one pencil with the other. (The red pencil is longer than the yellow pencil.) Write this example on the board under the heading Comparative adjectives. Discuss that the -er added to long makes it the comparative form of long. Explain that comparative adjectives compare two things.
• Add a third pencil, longer or shorter than the others. Ask students for examples of how to compare all three pencils (for example, the blue pencil is the longest). Write this on the board under the heading Superlative adjectives. Discuss how adding -est to long makes it the superlative form of the word. Explain that superlative adjectives describe compare more than two things.

    Check for understanding: Have students identify the comparative adjective on page 14 (larger). Ask them what two things are being compared (protozoa and bacteria). Than have students identify the superlative adjective (simplest). Ask them what the adjective is comparing (the animals in the world).

• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the comparative and superlative adjectives worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Word Work: Pronunciations in parentheses

• Have students suggest a word they know. Look up the word in the dictionary. Show students the pronunciation guide for the word.
• Review or explain that pronunciation refers to how to articulate, or say, a word. Ask students why books provide pronunciation guides. (Some words are particularly difficult to pronounce, especially if they are words from another language or a scientific name.) Discuss the reason why an author may choose to write the pronunciation within parentheses directly after the word (so the reader may continue to read fluently through the text).
• Explain that when writing the pronunciation for a word, the word is broken into syllables. Review that words are broken into syllables by their sound, and each syllable must have only one vowel sound.
• Direct students to page 6. Ask them to find the pronunciation within parentheses (PASS-toor). Review or explain that when reading these broken syllables aloud, the syllable that is written in all capital letters is read with more emphasis. Ask students why the last syllable is spelled out toor when the name doesn't have an o in its spelling (because the vowels eu together sound like /oo/). Pronounce the name Louis Pasteur with students.
• Direct students to page 9. Ask them to find the pronunciation within parentheses (BACK-tear-ee-uh). Ask students which of the four syllables gets the emphasis (the first, BACK). Have students turn to a neighbor and practice pronouncing the word bacteria, with the emphasis on the first syllable.
• Check for understanding: Have students locate three other instances in the book where the author gives a pronunciation within parenthesis (VY-russ-es, FUN-guy, pro-toe-ZO-ah). Ask volunteers to identify the syllables with emphasis. Have students turn to a neighbor and practice pronouncing viruses, fungi, protozoa, bacteria, and Louis Pasteur. Listen to individual responses.

Build Fluency 

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their book independently or with a partner. Encourage repeated timed readings of a specific section of the book.

Home Connection

• Give students their book to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends. Have students create a Venn diagram and compare and contrast something at home (for example, two foods, two people, and so on).

Extend the Reading 

Writing and Art Connection
Have students write a persuasive paragraph explaining the importance of forming good personal habits to help stop the spread of disease. Have them use information from the text that might persuade readers to make an effort to help stop spreading germs.

Math Connection
Have students complete the "Math Minute" on pages 6 and 7. Invite them to share their answers.

Assessment 

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• consistently use the strategy of summarizing to better comprehend the text during discussion and on a worksheet
• compare and contrast nonfiction details within the text during discussion and on a worksheet
• identify comparative and superlative adjectives during discussion and on a worksheet
• understand and read pronunciations in parentheses

Comprehension Checks

• Book Quiz
• Retelling Rubric

Go to "Microbes: Friend or Foe?" main page