Students become engaged in reading through a variety of familiar stories with predictable patterns and illustrations that allow them to anticipate words, phrases, and events on their own.
In this unit, students are exposed to familiar stories with predictable patterns and illustrations. Exposure to predictable texts is incredibly important for beginning readers as they begin to explore the world of reading independently. Predictable texts are incredibly engaging for students, allowing them to anticipate words, phrases, and events on their own and better follow the storyline sequence of a story. The story patterns also allow students to try and read the stories on their own, using the repetitive texts and pictures as a guide for either reading or pretending to read the story. Predictable texts are also incredibly important for exposing students to phonological awareness concepts in context, particularly rhyme, rhythm, and fluency. In order for students to reap these benefits, however, they need to deeply engage with the stories. This means that the stories need to be read, reread, retold, and reread some more so that students are able to build the confidence they need to pretend to read or read the text on their own. Within the context of this unit, students are only exposed to the text once; therefore, it is the responsibility of the teacher to find ways to bring the stories to life in other parts of the day so that students are able to reap the rewards of engaging with predictable texts or, if necessary, to slow down the pacing of the unit in order to include multiple readings of a text.
In reading, students will continue to be challenged to ask and answer questions about the texts they read daily. Students will begin to work on retelling what happens to the characters in the story, using key details from the text and illustrations. Because the stories are repetitive in nature, this unit provides a strong foundation for teaching how to retell a story. Another focus of this unit is on understanding how authors and illustrators use illustrations and repetition to help a reader understand the main events in a story. Students will learn how to closely “read” illustrations for subtle clues about character feeling or foreshadowing clues for what is going to happen next in a story. In order to engage deeply in the content, students will continue to develop active participation and discussion habits, allowing them to learn from and with one another.
In writing, students will continue to write daily in response to the text. In Unit 1, the focus was on establishing the routines and procedures necessary for daily writing about reading. In this unit, students will continue to write daily in response to the text with a focus on using words and pictures to correctly answer the question.
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Book: The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle (Philomel Books, 1985) — 330L
Book: Jump, Frog, Jump! by Robert Kalan (Greenwillow Books, 1989) — NPL
Book: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Helen Oxenbury and Michael Rosen (Alladin Paperbacks, 2003) — BR280L
Book: We’re Going on a Lion Hunt by David Axtell (Square Fish, 2007) — BR260L
Book: Sitting Down to Eat by Bill Harley (August House, 2005)
Book: The Napping House by Audrey Wood (HMH Books for Young Readers, 2009)
Book: Rap a Tap Tap: Here’s Bojangles – Think of That! by Leo Dillon (Blue Sky Press, 2002) — AD360L
Book: Hush! A Thai Lullaby by Minfong Ho (Scholastic Inc, 2000) — AD600L
Book: Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys, and Their Monkey Business, by Esphyr Slobodkina (Harper Collins, 1987) — AD480L
See Text Selection Rationale
This assessment accompanies this unit and should be given on the suggested assessment day or after completing the unit.
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In Unit 1, students learned the routines and procedures for daily writing about reading. In this unit, students will continue to write daily in response to the text with a focus on using a combination of drawings and words to correctly answer the question. Short mini-lessons should be included before students go to write on their own to model how to take ideas from a class discussion and turn them into pictures and words that correctly answer a question. Some students will only be able to use pictures, others will begin to use words, and some may be ready to include more advanced ideas such as inferences, critical thinking, or facts to support their answers. Due to the varying ranges in ability, individualized feedback is incredibly important to ensure that students are progressing toward the target of using a combination of drawings and words to correctly answer a question.
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busy enough fame focused hunt pleasure
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The Very...
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
Explain why the spider has a very busy day by retelling key details in a text.
Jump, Frog...
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
Retell what happens in Jump, Frog, Jump! using the illustrations and key details.
We're Going...
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
Explain what happened when they saw the bear at the end of the bear hunt and why.
We're Going...
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
Explain how the characters feel at the end of the story and why.
Sitting Down...
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
Retell what happened in the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
The Napping...
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
L.K.5.d
Retell what happens in the beginning, middle, and end of The Napping House.
Hush!
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
L.K.5.d
Explain what happened in the beginning, middle, and end of Hush! A Thai Lullaby.
Rap a Tap Tap
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
Explain what happens in the beginning, middle, and end of Rap a Tap Tap: Here’s Bojangles – Think of That!
Caps for Sale
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
Retell what happens in the beginning, middle, and end of Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys, and Their Monkey Business.
Caps for Sale
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
Explain how the peddler feels in the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
Writing
Sitting Down...
The Napping...
Rap a Tap Tap
Hush!
Caps for Sale
We're Going...
The Very...
Jump, Frog...
We're Going...
W.K.1
Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to state an opinion about which book was their favorite.
Assessment
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