Build Background

• Draw a web on the board with the word cactus in the center circle. Have students tell what they know about cacti. Attach smaller circles filled with the information students already know.

Preview the Book

Introduce the Book

• Give students a copy of the book and have them preview the front and back covers. Have students discuss what they see on the covers and offer ideas as to what kind of book The Mighty Saguaro Cactus might be. Have them predict what they might learn about cacti.
• Direct students to the box at the top of page 5. Explain that this box shows the readers how to pronounce the name of the cactus in the title of this book. Show students the title page and read the title. Talk about the information on the page (title, author's name).
• Direct students to the table of contents. Remind them that the table of contents provides an overview of what the book is about. Each section heading provides an idea of what they will read about in the book.

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Summarize

• Tell students that one way to understand and remember what they read is to summarize paragraphs, sections, or chapters of a book in their mind or on paper. Explain that summarizing means to organize the most important information they have read.
• Think-aloud: To summarize what I've read, I need to decide what's important and what isn't. Then, in my mind, I organize the important information into a few sentences and think about them. If I need to write a summary, I'll put the information in my own words. Since I haven't read the book yet, it's difficult to decide what's important and what isn't. I think all of the chapters will contain some important information about the saguaro cactus, but I'll have to read the book to find out.
• Have students preview the rest of the book, looking at photos and captions. Point out the diagram at the top of page 8 and the map on page 9.
• Show students page 19, titled "Digging Deeper." Explain that this page provides additional resources to learn more about saguaro cacti. Point out the glossary on page 20 and explain its purpose.
• 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 the Comprehension Skill: Main idea and details

• Explain that main ideas are the most important information the writer wants the readers to know. Details in the book support the main idea. Remind students that the headings of sections or chapters often give clues to the main ideas.
• Model identifying the main idea for the table of contents.
  Think-aloud: I know that the headings of sections sometimes identify the main idea. Each chapter contains details that support a main idea about the Sonoran Desert or the saguaro cactus. For example, the chapter titled "Sweet Desert Desserts" is likely to be about the desserts that are made from the saguaro cactus.
• Write the words crayons, pencils, markers, and pens on the board. Invite students to identify a main idea from these details (objects used for writing, school supplies, and so on).

Introduce the 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 a word. They can look for base words within words, prefixes, and suffixes. They can use the context to work out meanings of unfamiliar words.
• Model how to apply word-attack strategies. Point out a word in bold, such as the word evolve on page 6. Model how students can use context clues to figure out the meaning of the word. Read the first sentence in the paragraph and ask students which word might be a clue (old). Read the second sentence and tell students that the context clue comes from the way the sentence is worded. Explain that it could have been written as follows: First, people invented cars, then they invented televisions, and now they have invented computers. Point out that the author is showing how things used to be and how they are now. Explain that in the third sentence the readers learn that the oldest saguaros may have been around to see the owners of the land on which they grow change ownership from one country to another (Mexico to the U.S.). Tell students that when you put all of the clues together, you think that the word evolve must mean to change or move forward. Have students follow along as you read the sentence to confirm the word's meaning.
• Remind students that they should check whether a word makes sense by rereading the sentence in which the word appears.
• Have students turn to the glossary on page 20. Have them read the glossary words and their definitions aloud. Next, have students turn to the pages indicated and read each glossary word in the sentence in which it appears. Use context clues in the surrounding sentences to work out unfamiliar vocabulary words as necessary.
• For additional tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students pause at the end of each section to quickly summarize the important details about what they have read. (Students can summarize mentally or use a pencil and scrap paper.) Remind them that these details often support a main idea.

Student Reading

    Guide the reading: Have students read to the end of page 6. Then have them underline the most important information, or the supporting details, in the chapter. Ask students to go back and reread the chapter if they finish before everyone else.

• Invite students to discuss the important details they underlined in the chapter "One Cool Cactus." Write these on the board.
• Model summarizing the supporting details in the chapter.
  Think-aloud: As I read, I underlined the words, phrases, and sentences I thought were most important. (Add any information that was not generated by students to the list on the board. Review the list and explain which details are important and which are not, crossing out the unimportant details as you go.) After sorting through the information and deciding what was important and what wasn't, I put the information in my own words to crreate a summary. (Sample summary: The saguaro is a giant green cactus with a round trunk and curved arms. This cactus lives in the desert for a very long time.)
• Remind students that the important details in their summary support the main idea of the chapter. Discuss with students the main idea of the chapter (the saguaro is a desert cactus that lives for a long time).
• Have students read the chapter titled "Up Close and Personal" and underline the important details. Invite students to summarize the chapter using the important details they underlined. Ask a volunteer to identify the main idea.
• Have students read the remainder of the book, underlining the most important information about saguaro cacti in each section.

    Tell 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 the Reading Strategy

• Ask students what words they marked in their books. Use this opportunity to model how they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
• Reinforce that summarizing the important information in each section as they read keeps them involved in the reading and helps them understand and remember what they have read.
• Ask students to share the important details they underlined in the chapter titled "Surviving the Sonoran Desert." (The Sonoran desert is very hot and dry, rain falls for only two months during the monsoons, the saguaro collects water, and so on.) Invite volunteers to share their summaries of the chapter. (Sample summary: The saguaro has adapted to life in the hot, dry desert by collecting and using water efficiently. When the desert receives rain during the monsoons, the saguaro soaks it up and stores it. The saguaro's tough, waxy skin prevents it from losing the water it has stored.)

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Have students use the important details they underlined to identify a main idea for the chapter "Surviving the Sonoran Desert." Invite volunteers to share the main idea (the saguaro cactus has adapted to survive life in the desert).
• Check for understanding: Have students look at page 14. Ask them to identify the main idea and one detail. (Main idea: The Tohono O'odham people make foods from the saguaro cactus; details: women and children harvest the fruit; they use long wooden "ribs" of dead saguaros to knock the fruit to the ground.)
• Independent practice: Have students reread "The Cactus Hotel." Introduce, explain, and have students complete the main idea and details worksheet.

    Extend the activity: Instruct students to use the inside cover of their book to write why they would or would not want to visit the Sonoran Desert to see a saguaro cactus.

Grammar and Mechanics: Subject and verb agreement

• Explain that writers choose their words very carefully when writing a story or an informational book like The Mighty Saguaro Cactus. Tell students that writers have learned the rules about how to make the subject and verb in a sentence work together. Explain that if the subject of a sentence is singular, the verb must be singular, and if the subject of the sentence is plural, the verb must be plural.
• Write the following sentence on the board: The saguaro looks as if it is waving. Ask students to identify the subject and verb in the sentence (saguaro, looks). Ask if the subject is singular or plural. Explain that once they decide if the subject is singular or plural, they will know what verb to use. In this sentence, the singular noun takes the singular verb looks.
• Write the following sentence on the board: Many saguaros look as if they are waving. Ask students to identify the subject and verb in the sentence (saguaros, look). Ask students if the subject is singular or plural. Reinforce that a plural noun needs a plural verb.
• Ask students how a singular noun is made plural (by adding an ending such as -s). Review or explain that the singular form of a verb usually ends in -s or -es. Verbs that end in -s, -x, -z, -sh, and -ch always have ­-es added.
• Ask students to tell which of the two endings is added to each of the following words: bird (s), fox (es), flower (s), bush (es).
• Have students turn to page 5 and read the sentence People often think that saguaros look like humans. Ask students to identify the subject and verb (People, think) and explain the subject-verb agreement (plural subject and verb). Have a volunteer change the sentence to a singular subject and verb. (For example: She thinks that saguaros look like humans.)

    Check for understanding: Have students turn to page 7 and read the sentence The saguaro grows only in the Sonoran Desert. Have them underline the subject and verb (The saguaro, grows) and explain the subject-verb agreement (singular subject and verb). Ask students to change the sentence to a plural subject and verb, and write their new sentence at the bottom of the page.

• Have students choose a sentence in the book. Ask them to underline the sentence and circle the subject and verb. Then have them change the sentence to a singular or plural subject and verb, and write the new sentence at the bottom of the page.
• Independent practice: Introduce and explain the subject and verb agreement worksheet. Do the first sentence together. Then have students complete the worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Word Work: Homophones

• Write the following sentences on the board: There are two saguaros. Their arms are huge. They're living in the Sonoran Desert. Circle the words there, their, and they're on the board. Ask students to explain what is similar and different about these words. Explain that these words are homophones, or words that sound the same but have different spellings and different meanings.
• Have students turn to page 6. Point out the sentence Many old saguaros have even watched the ownership of their very land change from one country to another. Circle the word their and discuss its meaning with students.
• Ask students to use the information in the sentence and the words they're and there to create two new sentences. (They're very old cacti that live in the desert. They have lived through a lot of history there.)

    Check for understanding: Have students highlight the word their on pages 10, 12, and 14. Have them use the information on each page to create two new sentences using the words they're and there. Ask students to write their sentences at the bottom of each page. Invite students to share their sentences and explain the how each word was used.

• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the homophones worksheet. Discuss their responses.

Independent Reading

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

Home Connection

• Give students their books to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends. Have students summarize their favorite part of the book with someone at home.

Writing and Art Connection
Have students write a story from the perspective of a saguaro cactus. Brainstorm plot lines, such as a bird that won't go away, the cactus thief who wants to cut it down and steal it, the snake that lives under the nearby rock, or the smelly javelina that won't take a bath. Have students illustrate their stories and share them with the group.

Science Connection
Have students select an animal that lives near or in a saguaro cactus and write a report about it. Have students share what they learned with the group.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• summarize important information in text as they read
• identify main idea and supporting details in the book
• understand subject and verb agreement in text and apply understanding to complete a worksheet
• understand homophones and use them in writing

Comprehension Checks

• Book Quiz
• Retelling Rubric