Build Background

• Have students tell what they know about the heart and the circulatory system.

Preview the Book

Introduce the Strategy: Make connections to prior knowledge

• Give students the prior knowledge survey worksheet. Have them read the sentences and write "Yes" or "No" to complete the column on the left.
• Tell students that when they are able to make a connection with something they already know about the topic of the book before they begin to read, they will be better able to understand and remember what they read.
• 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.
• Direct students to the table of contents. Explain that some of the chapter titles have been written in such as way to peak their interests. Have them find a chapter title that is interesting but does not provide a clear idea of what the chapter is about. Have students find a chapter title that does provide an idea of what they will read about in the chapter. After reviewing the table of contents, model making a connection with prior knowledge.
• Think aloud: Some of the chapter titles are interesting, but I don't know what they are about. I'll have to read them to find out. I think I have a good idea of what might be in a couple of the chapters, though. For example, the one titled "What Is Your Pulse?" is about a person's pulse. That's the heartbeat that you can feel in your wrist or your neck. I know that when I'm race walking, my pulse rate is much higher than when I am reading a book because my heart is working harder. (Tailor comments to fit personal experience.)
• Have students share prior knowledge of any of the topics listed in the table of contents.
• Have students preview the rest of the book, including the title page, photographs and captions, diagram, and boxes titled "Blood Bonus." Show students the box on page 11 titled "Try This!" and explain that they can try this activity when they've finished reading. Point out the glossary and index and have students explain the purpose of each.

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 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 circulation on page 5. Tell students to use what they know about syllables and vowels (one vowel sound per syllable) to sound out the word. Tell students that they can figure out the meaning of this word by thinking about its base word, circle, and the suffix -ation. Have students explain what the word circle means. Tell them that when the suffix is added it to the base word, the new word means the act of moving in a circle. Tell students that they can confirm the word's meaning by reading the sentence, which contains a definition context clue. Tell them that they can also use a dictionary to confirm the meaning if a context clue is unavailable.
• Remind students that they should check whether words make sense by rereading the sentence.
• Preview other vocabulary words such as oxygenated, depleted, and transfusions before students begin reading.
• For additional teaching tips on word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students think about what they know about the heart, blood, and the circulatory system as they read the book.

Student Reading

• Guide the Reading: Have students read to the end of page 11. Tell them to underline any important information about the heart or circulatory system. Tell them they should go back and reread the pages if they finish before everyone else.
• When they have finished reading, ask students to tell what they underlined. Reinforce unfamiliar vocabulary by using words such as ventricle, atrium, and aorta in the discussion. Model making connections using prior knowledge.
• Think aloud: While I'm reading I think to myself, "Do I know anything about this?" If I do, I am able to make a connection that makes what I'm reading more meaningful. For example, when I read about types of blood vessels, I thought about when my brother had a heart attack. His doctors said it was because he had a clogged artery. They cleared out the artery and put a small, special tube in it so the blood could pass through easily. Making connections helps me understand and remember what I read. (Tailor comments to fit personal experience.)
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to think about what they know about the circulatory system as they read.

    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 the Reading Strategies

• 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.
• Have students complete the prior knowledge survey and compare what they knew before they read the book with what they know after reading it. Briefly discuss each item.
• Discuss how making connections with things in the text that they know something about keeps them actively involved in the reading process and helps them understand and remember what they have read.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Main idea and Details

• Introduce and Model: Remind students that all books have a main idea, which is the main topic of the book. Point out that the title of the book often gives them an idea of the book topic. Ask students whether they can tell the main idea of this book from the title.
• Tell students that each chapter also has a main idea. Often, but not always, the chapter headings give a clue to the main idea. Sometimes the chapter starts out with a topic sentence that explicitly identifies the main idea. Other times the main idea must be inferred after reading the whole chapter. Use the table of contents to demonstrate how you would guess the main idea of each chapter.
• Think aloud: The title gives me the idea that the book is about our circulatory system. The first chapter head, “Special Delivery,” doesn’t really give me much information. But, since I have a pretty good idea of what the book is about, I can guess that the main idea of this section is going to tell me something about how this system works. I can guess from the second heading that the pumping station is probably talking about the what pumps the blood through our bodies. Who has an idea of the main ideas for the rest of the sections?
• Check for Understanding: Write your ideas for the first and second chapters on the board. Then have students turn to the first chapter head to confirm or revise the main idea. Work with them to help them determine the main idea and point out clues in the text that help them decide on the main idea. For example, the last sentence on page 5 suggests what the main idea of the chapter is.
• Remind students that each chapter is written with a main idea in mind, and the writer uses facts or details to support the main idea. Guide students to locate important details that support the main idea and record these on the board. Model how to differentiate between important and unimportant information. For example, the analogy to the post office is interesting but the real details of the chapter are that the heart is the center of the system, and blood travels through blood vessels. Write the details under the main idea on the board. Have students work with a partner to find the main idea and details of the next chapter and share their ideas with the group.
• Discussion: Read the second paragraph on page 6 with students. Explain that this paragraph is comparing voluntary and involuntary muscles. Tell students that muscles over which they have control are called voluntary muscles. Explain that muscles over which they have no control, like their hearts, are called involuntary muscles. Have students look at the diagram on page 7. Tell them to use their fingers to trace the flow of blood from the vena cava to where it is pumped out to the lungs. Have them explain what happens to the blood that goes into the blood and how it is different when it is pumped back into the heart. Have students look at the illustration on page 9. Have them compare how an artery and vein are alike and different. Have them identify one detail about each. Have students reread the box titled "Try This!" on page 11. Show students how to take a pulse and have them experiment with a partner. Have students tell one main idea and one detail about red cells and the 3 types of white cells. Ask students to explain how the intestines, kidneys, and liver affect the flow of blood in the body. Have students explain why blood is red, and provide one detail about hemoglobin. Have students identify the 4 blood types and explain the importance of matching blood when giving a transfusion.
• Independent Practice: Give students the main idea worksheet and have them determine the main idea of the next four chapters. Then have them search for important details that support each main idea. When students have finished, have them share their work, and have them evaluate the appropriateness of the details listed on the worksheet.

Grammar and Mechanics: Subject and Verb Agreement

• Review or explain that subjects and verbs must agree in number. Tell students that a singular subject must have a singular verb, and a plural subject must have a plural verb.
• Have students find the last sentence in the first paragraph on page 13. Have them identify the subject (cells) and verb (flow). Ask them to tell if the subject and verb are singular or plural.
• Review or explain that a linking verb does not show action. Explain that it links the subject to a word that either describes the subject or gives the subject another name. Review the verbs of being: am, is, are, was, were.
• Have students find the box titled "Blood Bonus" at the bottom of page 9. Have them identify the subject (blood vessel) and the verb (is). Write the sentence on the board and circle the words blood vessel. Explain that blood vessel is a singular subject that must have singular verb in order for the sentence to be written correctly. Underline the linking verb is. Ask students if the verb shows action (no). Have them tell what word it is linking to the subject (aorta).
• Check for understanding by having students read the first sentence on page 9. Have them identify the subject (body), the linking verb (has), and the word it links to the subject (types). Have them tell if this is a singular or plural subject and linking verb.

   Have students underline subjects and regular verbs, as well as subjects, linking verbs, and words that are linked to the subject on page 21. Have students compare their answers with one another. Discuss their responses.

Vocabulary: Content Words

• Tell students that many of the words in the book are used to tell about the blood, heart, and circulatory system. Provide opportunities for students to talk about difficult words such as antigens, ventricles, and plasma. Have pairs of students practice using the words in sentences as they explain the circulatory system to one another.
• Give students the content vocabulary worksheet. Explain that after cutting up the cards, they should turn the cards face down and play a card matching game with a partner. To have a matching set, they should have a word card and a card describing what the word is or what its main function is.

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their books independently or with a partner. Partners can take turns reading parts of the book.

Home Connection

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

Writing Connection

• Have students use facts and details from the text to write and illustrate acrostic poems using the words "Healthy Heart," "Book of Blood," or words of their choosing. For example, an acrostic for "Heart" might be as follows:

Hardworking
Exercise
Aorta
Red blood cell
Type of blood

Science Connection

• Provide print and Internet resources for students to further research heart health, or invite a local cardiologist to talk to the group. Have them make "Heart Healthy" posters that suggest tips for having a healthy heart. Display the posters in the classroom, lunchroom, or library.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• use what they already know to make connections with what they read (before, during, and after reading)
• correctly state the main idea of each chapter and determine the relevant supporting details from the irrelevant details
• recognize singular and plural subjects and how the regular and linking verbs that follow them must agree with the subjects
• identify a linking verb in a sentence and what it links to the subject
• recognize and use content vocabulary to describe how the circulatory system works

Comprehension Checks