Arthur's Bad News Day Level M
Text Type: Fiction • Word Count: 711

MORE LEVEL M
LEVELED READERS
Story of the Sun
Keb Needs a Home
Arthur's Bad News Day
Art Around Us
Dogs at Work
Inside Your Body
The Sleeping Dog
Aesop's Fables
The Story of Jeans
Mighty Glaciers
Endangered Birds
A Prairie Dog's Life
The Best Guess
Marcus Loses Patches
Sound All Around
Snow Camping
A Man of Vision
Frogs and Toads
The Three Little Pigs
You Stink!

WORKSHEETS FOR
ARTHUR'S BAD NEWS DAY
Worksheets

LEVEL M
BENCHMARK BOOKS
Spiders
Go Away, Sun!

COMPREHENSION QUIZ FOR
ARTHUR'S BAD NEWS DAY
Comprehension Quiz
Level M Answer Sheet

Tommy Tales Books for Level M

Book Summary
Arthur has been an only child for eight years and has just found out that he is going to have a little sister soon. At first, Arthur is unhappy about the many ways in which her arrival will disrupt his life. Eventually he decides that he will grow to love his new sister.

Lesson Objectives

Reading Strategies
Children should use a variety of strategies to determine word meaning and comprehend text. The targeted strategy for this lesson is: Asking does it make sense, does it sound right.

Children can use a variety of strategies for decoding words in this book. However, because it is told from a child’s perspective, asking does it make sense or does it sound right may be enough for children to realize they need to go back to reread and try again.

By making connections between what they are reading and what they already know, and through visualizing the story as they read, children will have a greater sense of comprehension.

Word and Print Skills
Phonics
Vowel Digraphs vs. Vowel Diphthongs
Before children begin reading, talk to them about words that have two different vowels in them that are next to each other. Explain to them that these vowels are special and are called either vowel digraphs or vowel diphthongs. Explain the difference between the two. Digraphs are vowels that are next to each other but make up only one sound. Diphthongs are vowels that are together and make two sounds. Here are some examples from the story.

• Digraphs (have a 2 to 1 sound): nearly, laugh, eat, mouth, friend, because.
  
• Diphthongs (have a 2 to 2 sound): giant, going, our, ruin, beautiful (this is unique)
  

As children are reading the book, they should look for words that have two vowels together. If the book is consumable, you can have them underline, circle, or highlight the word. If they are not consumable, you can have them put post-it notes under the words or on the lines where the words are found.

Word Work
Contractions
Throughout this book, contractions are used often. Although the title has an apostrophe s that is used in the form of a possessive, the majority of the others in the book are contractions. For more information and follow-up activities regarding contractions, see the Building Skills—Word Work section.

Synonyms
There are many words in this book that can be replaced with other words and the meaning would remain the same. Talk to the children about what a synonym is and have them look in the book for a sentence that they can place another word in and the sentence would still have the same idea or meaning. For example:
But then my parents told me some pretty disturbing news.
But then my parents told me some pretty upsetting news.

Comprehension
You will likely address a number of comprehension skills as children work to understand the text. The targeted comprehension strategy for this lesson is: Summarizing.

After reading the story, children will have to summarize what the story was about. Even if you choose to have children read portions of the story rather than the whole thing at one time, which is recommended, you can have them summarize the portions they have read so far.

Visual Learning
As children are reading, looking at the illustrations will help them interpret what the author is saying as well as what Arthur is doing and feeling. The pictures do a great job of showing what the text is saying and will help readers interact with the story.

Targeted Vocabulary Words
Content Words
It is suggested that the following words should be gone over with children to increase their chance of a successful reading experience. By introducing these words, you may help children feel more comfortable with the text and any potentially difficult words they come to during their reading. These are only a few. You should look over the text to see if there are any other words that should be added to the list.
nearly, disturbing, tickling, syrup, usually, horrible, ugh, ruin, attention, crowded, diapers, peace, bundle, poking, decided