Book Summary
Microbes: Friend or Foe? is an informational book that gives readers a close look at microbes--including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa. The book provides examples of how microbes are both helpful and harmful. It explains how they are spread and how bad microbes are fought using vaccines and antibiotics. Photographs, a map, and a chart support the text.

Book and lesson also available at Levels U and W.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

• Summarize

Objectives

• Use the reading strategy of summarizing to understand nonfiction text
• Identify details to compare and contrast various microbes
• Recognize comparative and superlative adjectives
• Identify compound words

Materials

• Book -- Microbes: Friend or Foe? (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Dictionaries
• Content vocabulary, summarize, compare and contrast, comparative and superlative adjectives 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: antibiotics, contaminated, cells, disease, epidemic, eradicate, immune system, infection, invade, microbe, microscope, mutate, organisms, outbreak, pandemic, resistance, symptoms, vaccines, viruses