Book Summary
Desert People is an informational text about various peoples who live in deserts. It focuses mostly on the Tohono O'odham (a Native American tribe) and the Bedouins but also briefly mentions other cultures. Desert People tells about many aspects of desert life, from diet and shelter to daily routines, traditions, and customs. Photographs, tables, and a map support the text.

Book and lesson also available at levels P and T.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

• Summarize

Objectives

• Use the reading strategy of summarizing to understand nonfiction text
• Identify details to compare and contrast people
• Understand and use prepositions in sentences
• Read and understand number words

Materials

• Book -- Desert People (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Sticky notes
• Compare and contrast, prepositions, number words worksheets
• Discussion cards

      Indicates an opportunity for students to mark in the book. (All activities may be demonstrated by projecting book on interactive whiteboard or completed with paper and pencil if books are reused.)

Vocabulary

• Content words: adapt, ancestors, arid, bountiful, caravans, climate, desolate, dung, extract, fertile, inhospitable, lush, jinn, millennia, monsoons, nomadic, oases, plateaus, precipitation, resources, stalking, sturdy, vast, vegetation