B e n c h m a r k e d u c a t i o n c o m p a n y TEACHER’S GUIDE xp l orers For students reading at Literacy Level L/24, including: English-language learners • Students reading below grade level • Second-grade readers • First graders reading above grade level • Metacognitive/Fix-Up Strategy Retell what you’ve read • Vocabulary Recognize high-frequency words • Develop Tier Two vocabulary • Develop Tier Three vocabulary • Grammar, Word Study, and Language Development Use prepositions with and without • Use homonyms • Recognize the sentence structure _ • ___ have _ ___ on their ____. Phonics Use word parts to problem-solve • multisyllable words Recognize words with variant vowel • /oo—/ Fluency Read question marks • Writing Write to a picture prompt • Write to a text prompt • Skills & Strategies Anchor Comprehension Strategies Compare and contrast • Use graphic features to interpret • information Theme: Animals How Animals Change and Grow (J/18) • Science Big Idea: Readers learn about different types of animals and how we group them according to their physical characteristics. How We Group Animals Level L/24
Transcript
B e n c h m a r k e d u c a t i o n c o m p a n y
Teacher’s Guidexplorers
For students reading at Literacy Level L/24, including:
Compare and contrast •Use graphic features to interpret •information
Theme: animalsHow Animals Change and Grow (J/18) •
science Big idea:Readers learn about different types of animals and how we group them according to their physical characteristics.
How We Group AnimalsLevel L/24
Introduce the Book• Give each student a copy of the book.
Remind students they will read about ways to group animals. Preview the book, encouraging students to interact with the pictures and text on each page as you emphasize the elements from the page 3 chart that will best support their understanding of the book’s language, concepts, and organization. (Items in bold print include sample “teacher talk.”)
• Pages 2–3 Words to Discuss Ask students to point to each photograph as you say its matching label. Repeat the process, inviting students to echo-read. After students Think/Pair/Share what they know about each word, fill in any missing details. Say: We will see these words in the book.
Next, ask students to think of other ways a dog and horse are alike. Finally, ask each student to draw another animal that belongs in the same group.
• Use a Graphic Organizer Draw a circle on the board and write Ways to Group Animals in the center. Read the phrase. Ask: What are some ways we can put animals into groups? As students respond, create a concept web about grouping animals. Then read each entry and ask students to echo-read.
Before Reading
Make Connections and Build Background• Use Art Place a large sheet of paper
on the table and give each student a pencil. Say: We will read a book about ways to group animals. I will draw two animals that belong in the same group. Draw simple pictures of a dog and horse. Say: We can put a dog and horse in the same group because they both have four legs.
Related ResourcesThe following Benchmark Education resources support this lesson.
Other Early Explorers Books• A Bear Cub Grows (A/1)• Fun at the Beach (A/1)• Life at the Beach (A/1)• Ducklings Grow Up (D/5)• What Is in a Forest? (D/5)• Fox in the Forest (D/5)• Watch a Frog Grow (F/9)• A Frog Someday (F/9)• Food in the Forest (F/9)• Caterpillar Can’t Wait! (H/13)• Food in the Ocean (H/13)• Watch a Butterfly Grow (H/13)
Fluency and Language Development• How We Group Animals Audio CD
Comprehension Resources• How We Group Animals question card• Power Tool Flip Chart for Teachers• Student Bookmark• Compare and Contrast poster
The second part is the suffix -ful. We put color and -ful together to make colorful. Ask students to find the word colorful on page 13. Say: Use word parts to help you when you read.
• Remind students to use other reading strategies they are learning as well, such as thinking about the meanings of prefixes and suffixes or reading on to the end of the sentence to figure out a word through context clues.
Set a Purpose for Reading• Say: Now it’s time to read the book.
You may whisper-read or read silently to yourself. Assign one or more chapters, depending on available time and the needs and abilities of students in the group. Use the chart below to set a purpose for each chapter. Invite students to place self-stick notes on pages where they find information for the web, and look for opportunities to add to the web at each stopping point. If students do not complete the book, orally summarize the previously read chapters and begin at this point in the teacher’s guide the next time you meet.
Before Reading (continued)
Pages Purpose for Reading
4–5 Read to find out what an animal is.
6–11 Read to find out what the types of animals are.
12–15 Read to find out how animals move.
16–19 Read to find out other ways we can group animals.
• Page 4 Spanish Cognate Ask: Does animal sound like a word you know in Spanish? (Allow time for stu dents to respond.) The English word animal sounds like the Spanish word el animal. Animal and el animal mean the same thing. What kind of animal do you like best? (Allow time for students to respond.) Write the word animal on the board and ask students to locate it on page 4 in the book.
• Page 7 Sentence Structure Write ____ have ____ on their ____ on the board. Read the sentence structure aloud and ask students to repeat it several times. Say: We can use this sentence structure to tell what animals look like. Model using the sentence structure, such as Dogs have hair on their bodies or Horses have manes on their necks. Then assist students in forming their own sentences using the structure. Say: This sentence structure is in the book. Can you find the structure on page 7? Frame the sentence. Let’s read the sentence together.
• Page 8 Graphic Feature Say: This page has a chart. A chart adds to the information on the page. What are the headings on the chart? (Frogs, Toads) What do we learn from the chart? (how frogs and toads are different)
Rehearse Reading Strategies• Write the word colorful on the
board. Say: One word in this book is colorful. Look at the word colorful. Say the word colorful. What parts are in colorful? Allow time for students to respond, assisting as needed. Say: The word colorful has two parts. The first part is the word color.
Observe and Prompt Reading Strategies• After the supportive introduction,
students should be able to read all or most of the book on their own. Observe students as they read. Take note of the graphophonic, syntactic, and semantic cues they use to make sense of the text and self-correct. Prompt individual students who have difficulty problem-solving independently, but be careful not to prompt English-language learners too quickly. They may need more time to process the text as they rely on their first language for comprehension.
Use the Graphic Organizer to Summarize• Ask students to think about their
reading. Say: Look at our web. Do we need to add any ways to group animals? Record new ways students suggest from the book. Choral-read the entire web. Then ask students to use the graphic organizer to tell a partner about the book.
Reading Strategy Mini-Lesson: Retell What You’ve Read• Reflect Ask: Did you understand
what you read? What parts were hard to understand? How did you help yourself?
• Model Say: I want to understand what I read. One way is to retell the important information. I will read page 4 again. (Read the page aloud.) Now I will say the important information in my own words: “Living things are either animals or plants. Animals find food and move. Plants make food and stay in one place.”
• Guide Invite students to read page 6 with you. Ask the following questions, allowing time for students to respond after each one: What do you see? What types of animals does the author talk about? How could you describe these animals in your own words? If students have difficulty, model a retelling of your own, such as Some animals have backbones and others do not. Animals without backbones may have soft or hard bodies.
• Apply Ask each student to turn to his or her favorite page. Then ask students to read the page to a partner and retell the important information in their own words. Observe students as they read and retell. If more support is needed, use the prompts in the “Guide” section. See the Early Explorers Overview & Assessment Handbook for an observation chart you can use to assess students’ understanding of the monitor-reading strategy. Then say: You can retell any time you read. Remember to retell to help you understand.
Answer Text-Dependent Questions• Explain Remind students they can
answer questions about books they have read. Say: We answer different types of questions in different ways. I will help you learn to answer each type. Tell students today they will practice answering Find It! questions. Say: The answer to a Find It! question is in the book. You can find the answer if you know what to look for. The answer is in one place. You put your finger right on the answer.
• Model Use the first Find It! question on the question card. Say: I will read the question: “Most amphibians ____ in water.” The important words in the question show me what to look for in the book. What words do you think will help me? (Allow student responses.) Yes, I’m looking for the words most amphibians and in water. Model looking through the book. Say: On page 8 I read Most amphibians hatch in water. This sentence has the words I’m looking for. Put your finger on this sentence. The sentence answers the question. The answer makes sense. I have found the answer in the book.
• Guide Ask students to answer the other questions on the question card. Use the Power Tool Flip Chart and Student Bookmark to provide additional modeling as needed. Remind students to ask themselves: What is the question asking? How can I find the answer? Does my answer make sense? How do I know?
• Apply Ask students to work with a partner to find similarities and differences for reptiles, birds, and mammals. If more support is needed, utilize all or part of the “Guide” process to compare and contrast the animals in each group. Finally, read the completed graphic organizer aloud and invite students to echo-read.
Build Comprehension: Compare and Contrast• Explain Create an overhead
transparency of the graphic organizer on page 12 or draw it on the board. Label the columns Types of Animals, Alike, and Different. Say: Nonfiction books sometimes tell how things are alike and different. We compare by telling how things are alike. We contrast by telling how things are different.
• Model Say: The second chapter is about five types of animals. Let’s figure out how the animals in each group are alike and different. First we will compare and contrast fish. Ask students to turn to page 7. Say: Fish have backbones. Fish use fins to swim. Fish have scales and gills. These are ways all fish are alike. Write these facts in the Alike column of the graphic organizer. Then say: Some fish live in fresh water. Other fish live in salt water. This is a way fish are different. Write these facts in the Different column.
• Guide Say: Now let’s compare amphibians. Look at page 8. How are all amphibians alike? (Allow time for students to respond, assisting if needed.) Yes, all amphibians have backbones. We can write about backbones in the Alike column. How are some amphibians different? (Again, allow time for students to respond, assisting if needed.) Yes, most amphibians hatch in water, but some move to land. Many amphibians have wet skin, but some have dry skin. We can write these facts in the Different column.
Home Connection• Give students the take-home version
of How We Group Animals to read to family members. Encourage students to work with a friend or family member to draw several animals that belong in the same group and label the group. Invite them to bring their pictures to share with their classmates.
Reader ResponseInvite students to respond to the book in a way that is meaningful to them. Model and use think-alouds as needed to scaffold students before they try the activities on their own.• Draw an animal that flies and label it
with the animal’s name and type.• Name your favorite animal in the
book. Tell why you like it.• Tell what you saw in your mind as you
read the book.• Tell about another book you have read
about animals.• Write a sentence about one animal in
each group.• Write what you thought was most
important in the book.
Write to a Picture Prompt• Write a Description Tell students
they will talk about a picture from the book. Then they will write about the picture. Ask them to turn to page 5. Say: I can describe the picture at the bottom of the page in my own words: The powerful lion chases the frightened zebra across a grassy field. Now I will write my idea. Model writing your sentences on the board. Ask students to choose a picture and describe it to a partner. Allow time for students to share their descriptions, providing assistance as needed. Then say: You described a picture in the book. Now write your idea. When you finish, read your writing to a partner.
Write to a Text Prompt• Analyze the Book Ask: What do
you like best about the book? What do you dislike? Write about your likes and dislikes. When you finish, read your writing to a partner.
Phonics: Variant Vowel /oo?? /
• Ask students to locate the word food on page 4. Write food on the board and circle the letters oo. Say: The letters “oo” in the middle of the word food stand for /oo—/. Slowly draw your finger under the word as you say the sounds. Then ask students to do the same in their books. Then help students locate and read other /oo—/ words on page 4 (mushroom, too), page 14 (smooth), and page 19 (zoos).
• Ask students to brainstorm words with /oo—/. Write the words on index cards. Then spread the cards out in a pocket chart or on a table. Read each word, inviting students to echo-read.
• Say: Find the word that completes my sentence. Then you may pick up the matching card. Model the process using one of the students’ words, such as I go swimming in the ____. (pool) Then invite each student to make up a sentence with one of the /oo—/ words.
Vocabulary• Tier Two Vocabulary Pronounce the
word tiny and ask students to repeat it. Say: On page 13 we read that the wings of butterflies and moths have tiny scales. Something that is tiny is very small. A baby has tiny fingers. An ant is a tiny insect. A star looks like a tiny dot in the sky. Discuss other familiar objects, such as tiny birds’ eggs or tiny grains of sand. Then model a sentence, such as I had a tiny pebble in my shoe. Invite students to share their own sentences, providing assistance as needed. Ask: What word have we been talking about? Yes—tiny. Let’s try to use the word tiny many times today. We can use the word at school and at home.
• Tier Three Vocabulary Review the book with students and write the words amphibians, cold-blooded, lizards, mammals, penguins, reptiles, snakes, turtles, warm-blooded, and whales on index cards. Place the cards for cold-blooded and warm-blooded side by side on a table. Then show the other word cards one at a time. Ask students to read the word aloud and decide if it should go below the cold-blooded or warm-blooded word card. Continue until all the words have been matched with the correct group. For additional practice, students may work as a group or in pairs to complete the vocabulary activity on page 11.
Grammar, Word Study, and Language DevelopmentPrepositions with and without
• Model Explain that authors some times use phrases that begin with the word with. Ask students to read page 12 with you: “List animals with four legs.” Say: The words with four legs tell what the animals have. I can use the word with, too. Point to items in the classroom as you make up sentences using the word with, such as: I brought a sweater with a hood. Here is a book with a blue cover. My desk is the one with a computer.
• Guide Explain that authors also some times use phrases that begin with the word without. Invite students to read the next-to-last sentence on page 6 with you. Ask: Do the animals have backbones? (no) How can you tell? (The author uses the word without.) Ask students to describe people or animals without something, such as a man without a coat or a cat without a collar.
• Apply Write I see some ____ with ____ and I see some ____ without ____ on the board. Pair students and ask them to make up sentences using the sentence frames. As each partnership shares, fill in the blanks on the board and invite the group to read the sentences with you.
• Model Explain that some words are spelled alike and sound alike but have different meanings. Tell students these words are homonyms. Ask them to turn to page 5. Say: The author says we can group animals by how they look. The word look is a homonym. Look can mean “appear.” Page 4 shows what deer look like, or how they appear. Look can also mean “see.” People go to Africa to look at, or see, the animals. I think the author is talking about grouping animals by how they appear. This meaning of the word makes sense in the book.
• Guide Invite students to read the first sentence on page 7 with you. Ask: Which word is a homonym? (types) What does five types of animals mean here? (five kinds or groups of animals) What else can the word types mean? (presses keys on a keyboard)
• Apply Pair students. Ask them to find more homonyms on page 4 (group, place), page 5 (spots), page 6 (hard), page 7 (scales), page 9 (land), page 10 (fly), and page 11 (bats). Then invite partners to offer two different meanings for one of the words. If more support is needed, utilize all or part of the “Guide” process.
Fluency: Read Question Marks• Say: Sometimes authors ask questions.
We recognize a question by the question mark at the end. Our voices sound different when we ask some thing. Our voices move to a higher pitch at the end of the question.
• Ask students to turn to page 4. First, read the author’s questions in a flat voice. Hold your hand level while you read them. Discuss how this makes the questions sound. Then read the questions again, moving your hand upward at the end as you move your voice to a higher pitch. Ask students to echo-read and move their hands along with yours.
• Ask students to turn to page 16. Choral-read the page with them, moving to a higher pitch at the end of the questions.
• Invite students to take turns rereading How We Group Animals with a partner. Remind them to move their voices to a higher pitch at the end of each question.
