Growing a Plant
Level C/3
Growing a Plant How-To
Teacher’s Guide Skills & Strategies
Anchor Comprehension Strategy •• Sequence of Events Phonemic Awareness •• Final consonant sounds
Phonics
•• Initial consonant s
Concepts About Print •• Exclamation points
High-Frequency Words •• in, put, the
Content Vocabulary •• Plants in a pot
How-To Big Idea
•• We can grow plants by following step-bystep instructions.
B
• Small Group Reading Lesson • Skills Bank • Reproducible Activity
e n c h m a r k
E
d u c a t i o n
C
o m p a n y
Small Group Reading Lesson Before Reading Growing a Plant What we think we need to grow a plant
What the girl used to grow a plant
seeds
pot
dirt
soil
water
seeds water sun
Activate Prior Knowledge Encourage students to draw on prior knowledge and build background for reading the text. Create an overhead transparency of the graphic organizer “Growing a Plant” (left) or copy the organizer on chart paper, omitting possible answers. Begin a discussion of plants and how students might grow their own plant in a pot. Record their ideas in the first column. Tell students that they will come back to the chart when they have finished reading the book.
Preview the Book Read the title and name of the author to students. Ask: • Why do you think this girl is so happy? What has she done? Show students the title page. Ask: • What could you make with these things? Why do you think a butterfly is in a book about growing plants?
Visual Cues • Look at the beginning letter or letters. (g in get; pl in plant) • Look for familiar chunks within the word. (ot in pot) Structure Cues • Look for repeated language patterns. (“Put some . . .”) Meaning Cues • Think about what makes sense in the sentence. • Look at the pictures to confirm the meaning of the word.
2
Preview the photographs with students, reinforcing the language used in the text. For example, say: Is this girl inside or outside? How do you know? What things does the girl put in the pot? What happened to the seeds? Where does this girl put her plant?
Set a Purpose for Reading Have students turn to page 2 and whisper-read the book. Say: I want you to read the book to learn about growing a plant in a pot. Monitor students’ reading and provide support when necessary.
Review Reading Strategies Use the cues provided to remind students that they can apply different strategies to identify unfamiliar words.
Growing a Plant © 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
During Reading Observe and Prompt Reading Strategies Observe students as they read the text. Take note of how they are problem-solving on text. Guide, or prompt, individual students who cannot problem-solve independently.
After Reading Reflect on Reading Strategies After students have completed their reading, encourage them to discuss the reading strategies they used. Reinforce the good reading behaviors you observed by saying: • I noticed, [student’s name], that when you came to a word you didn’t know, you tried to sound it out. Did that help you figure out the word? • [Student’s name], I saw that you tried to sound out the word butterfly. You worked out the beginning sound, and then you checked the picture. That was good reading.
Build Comprehension Ask and Answer Questions Help students review text content and relate it to what they already know by asking some or all of the following questions. • What things do you need to grow a plant? Let’s write those things in our graphic organizer. (a pot, p. 4; soil, p. 6; seeds, p. 8; water, p. 10; sun, p. 12) (Locate facts/Make, confirm, and revise predictions) • What happened to the seeds that the girl put in the soil? (Answers will vary.) (Draw conclusions/Interpret graphic features) • Look at the pictures. What tools did the girl use to grow a plant? (trowel, p. 7; watering can, p. 11) (Interpret graphic features) • What kind of plant would you like to grow in a pot? Why? (Answers will vary.) (Use creative thinking)
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Teacher Tip Using the Skills Bank Based on your observations of students’ reading behaviors, you may wish to select activities from the Skills Bank (pp. 6–7) that will develop students’ reading strategies.
Question Types Students need to understand that they can use information from various places in the book, as well as background knowledge, to answer different types of questions. These lessons provide four types of questions, designed to give students practice in understanding the relationship between a question and the source of its answer. • Questions that require students to go to a specific place in the book. • Questions that require students to integrate information from several sentences, paragraphs, or chapters within the book. • Questions that require students to combine background knowledge with information from the book. • Questions that relate to the book topic but require students to use only background knowledge and experience, not information from the book.
Growing a Plant
3
Small Group Reading Lesson
(continued)
Build Comprehension SEQUENCE of events
Teacher Tip Monitoring Comprehension • Are students able to revisit the text to locate specific answers to text-dependent questions? If they are having difficulty, show them how to match the wording of the question to the wording in the text. • Are students able to find answers to questions that require a search of the text? If they are having difficulty, model how you would search for the answer. • Can students combine their background knowledge with information from the text to draw conclusions? If they are having difficulty, model how you would answer the question. • Are students’ answers to creative questions logical and relevant to the topic? • Do students’ completed graphic organizers reflect an ability to sequence information into logical steps? If students are having difficulty, provide more modeling.
4
Model Give students a copy of the graphic organizer “How to Grow a Plant.” Sit close to the students and show them how to cut the strips apart. Have them lay the strips on the floor in front of them next to the lined chart. Explain to students that the steps for growing a plant must be carried out in the right order. Use the following think-aloud. This book tells us how to do something. It tells us how to grow a plant. It’s important that I put the steps in the right order, and I need to practice how to put things in the right order. These strips are mixed up. I need to decide what to do first. I can check the book to make sure. Page 4 says to get a pot, so I’ll find the strip that says that. Can you find the strip, too? I’ll put that first on the chart. Now I need to think about what should come next. If I can’t remember, I can check the book. Practice and Apply Guide students as they identify the next step, cut it out, and tape it on their papers under the first step. If you think students can continue on their own, allow them to work independently and monitor their work. Allow time for students to share their recorded information.
How to Grow a Plant Directions: Cut out each strip at the bottom of the page and paste it in order at the top.
Get a pot. Put some soil in the pot. Put some seeds in the soil. Put some water on the seeds. Put the pot in the sun. Put the plant in the garden.
Growing a Plant © 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Interactive Writing Have students use the information from the graphic organizer to write a sentence about growing a plant. Say: The author told us the steps to take to grow a plant. Let’s write a sentence about growing a plant. (Possible sentences include “Get a pot.” and “Put seeds in the soil.”) Repeat the sentence aloud several times with students so they can internalize the language pattern. Collaborate with them to write the sentence on chart paper or on the board one word at a time. Start by saying the first word slowly. Ask: What sound do you hear at the beginning of this word? What other sounds do you hear? Let students write the known sounds in each word, and then fill in the remaining letters for them. Continue until the sentence is completed.
Write Independently Have students write their own sentences based on the text. Encourage them to articulate words slowly, use spaces between words, and write known words fluently. When students have completed their sentences, conference with them individually. Validate their knowledge of known words and letter/sound correspondences by placing a light check mark above the student’s contributions. Provide explicit praise as you write the message conventionally for students to see.
Reread for Fluency Ask students to reread Growing a Plant with a partner. Ask each partner to read a page while the other partner tells what’s happening in the photograph.
Connect to Home Have students read the take-home version of Growing a Plant to family members. Suggest that students try to follow the directions at home to grow a plant.
√
√ √√√ √
√ √√ √√ √√√
Pet the put in th sun. Put t he pot i n t he sun.
Teacher Tip Modeling Fluency • Read sections of the book aloud to students to model fluent reading of the text. • Model using appropriate phrasing, intonation, volume, expression, and rate. • Have students listen to you read a portion of the text and then read it back to you.
Growing a Plant © 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
5
Skills Bank Phonemic Awareness: Final consonant sounds Say the word can, emphasizing its final consonant sound. Ask students what sound they hear at the end of the word. (/n/) Have students say the word aloud together. Continue in similar fashion with the words pot (/t/), some (/m/), soil (/l/), and seed (/d/).
s ome s oil s eeds s un s afe s aid
Phonics: Initial consonant s Point to the word some on page 6 and ask students what sound the letter s makes in this word. (/s/) Write the word on the board. Then have students look through the book for other words that begin with the sound /s/ spelled with the letter s. (soil, p. 6; seeds, p. 8; sun, p. 12) Write each word on the board as students say it. Ask students if they can think of other words that begin like some and soil. (safe, said, sand, side, sing, socks) Write the words students suggest on the board. Have volunteers come to the board and circle the initial consonant s in each word. Then have students pick two words from the list and write them on their papers, giving an oral sentence that includes each word.
Concepts About Print: Exclamation points Have students turn to page 16. Have them locate the exclamation point. Tell students that when they see an exclamation point, they should read the word or sentence with excitement. Write Look! on the board, making the exclamation point very large. Model reading it aloud with expression. Then read it aloud again, this time with students.
Look!
6
Growing a Plant © 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
High-Frequency Word Vocabulary Write the words in, the, and put on the board. Have students chant the spelling of each word, clapping for each letter. Then have them use the words to complete these sentences: _____ some soil in the pot. Put some seeds _____ the pot. Put some water on _____ seeds.
Content Vocabulary: Plants in a pot
in the put
Tell students that many kinds of plants can be grown in pots. Invite them to name some of these plants. List the names on chart paper as students suggest them. The list may include bean, tomato, rose, cactus, violet, and geranium. Invite students to cut from old magazines pictures of plants they could grow in a pot. Have each student paste a picture on drawing paper and draw a pot under it. Help students label their pictures with the name of the plant in their pots.
bean tomato rose cactus violet geranium
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC. All rights reserved. Teachers may photocopy the reproducible pages for classroom use. No other part of the guide may be reproduced or transmitted in whole or
in part in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. ISBN: 978-1-59000-958-1
7
Name _______________________________________________________ Date __________________
How to Grow a Plant Directions: Cut out each strip at the bottom of the page and paste it in order at the top.
Put some water on the seeds. Put the plant in the garden. Put some soil in the pot. Put the pot in the sun. Get a pot. Put some seeds in the soil. © 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Growing a Plant How-To
Teacher’s Guide Skills & Strategies
Anchor Comprehension Strategy •• Sequence of Events Phonemic Awareness •• Final consonant sounds
Phonics
•• Initial consonant s
Concepts About Print •• Exclamation points
High-Frequency Words •• in, put, the
Content Vocabulary •• Plants in a pot
How-To Big Idea
•• We can grow plants by following step-bystep instructions.
B
• Small Group Reading Lesson • Skills Bank • Reproducible Activity
e n c h m a r k
E
d u c a t i o n
C
o m p a n y
Small Group Reading Lesson Before Reading Growing a Plant What we think we need to grow a plant
What the girl used to grow a plant
seeds
pot
dirt
soil
water
seeds water sun
Activate Prior Knowledge Encourage students to draw on prior knowledge and build background for reading the text. Create an overhead transparency of the graphic organizer “Growing a Plant” (left) or copy the organizer on chart paper, omitting possible answers. Begin a discussion of plants and how students might grow their own plant in a pot. Record their ideas in the first column. Tell students that they will come back to the chart when they have finished reading the book.
Preview the Book Read the title and name of the author to students. Ask: • Why do you think this girl is so happy? What has she done? Show students the title page. Ask: • What could you make with these things? Why do you think a butterfly is in a book about growing plants?
Visual Cues • Look at the beginning letter or letters. (g in get; pl in plant) • Look for familiar chunks within the word. (ot in pot) Structure Cues • Look for repeated language patterns. (“Put some . . .”) Meaning Cues • Think about what makes sense in the sentence. • Look at the pictures to confirm the meaning of the word.
2
Preview the photographs with students, reinforcing the language used in the text. For example, say: Is this girl inside or outside? How do you know? What things does the girl put in the pot? What happened to the seeds? Where does this girl put her plant?
Set a Purpose for Reading Have students turn to page 2 and whisper-read the book. Say: I want you to read the book to learn about growing a plant in a pot. Monitor students’ reading and provide support when necessary.
Review Reading Strategies Use the cues provided to remind students that they can apply different strategies to identify unfamiliar words.
Growing a Plant © 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
During Reading Observe and Prompt Reading Strategies Observe students as they read the text. Take note of how they are problem-solving on text. Guide, or prompt, individual students who cannot problem-solve independently.
After Reading Reflect on Reading Strategies After students have completed their reading, encourage them to discuss the reading strategies they used. Reinforce the good reading behaviors you observed by saying: • I noticed, [student’s name], that when you came to a word you didn’t know, you tried to sound it out. Did that help you figure out the word? • [Student’s name], I saw that you tried to sound out the word butterfly. You worked out the beginning sound, and then you checked the picture. That was good reading.
Build Comprehension Ask and Answer Questions Help students review text content and relate it to what they already know by asking some or all of the following questions. • What things do you need to grow a plant? Let’s write those things in our graphic organizer. (a pot, p. 4; soil, p. 6; seeds, p. 8; water, p. 10; sun, p. 12) (Locate facts/Make, confirm, and revise predictions) • What happened to the seeds that the girl put in the soil? (Answers will vary.) (Draw conclusions/Interpret graphic features) • Look at the pictures. What tools did the girl use to grow a plant? (trowel, p. 7; watering can, p. 11) (Interpret graphic features) • What kind of plant would you like to grow in a pot? Why? (Answers will vary.) (Use creative thinking)
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Teacher Tip Using the Skills Bank Based on your observations of students’ reading behaviors, you may wish to select activities from the Skills Bank (pp. 6–7) that will develop students’ reading strategies.
Question Types Students need to understand that they can use information from various places in the book, as well as background knowledge, to answer different types of questions. These lessons provide four types of questions, designed to give students practice in understanding the relationship between a question and the source of its answer. • Questions that require students to go to a specific place in the book. • Questions that require students to integrate information from several sentences, paragraphs, or chapters within the book. • Questions that require students to combine background knowledge with information from the book. • Questions that relate to the book topic but require students to use only background knowledge and experience, not information from the book.
Growing a Plant
3
Small Group Reading Lesson
(continued)
Build Comprehension SEQUENCE of events
Teacher Tip Monitoring Comprehension • Are students able to revisit the text to locate specific answers to text-dependent questions? If they are having difficulty, show them how to match the wording of the question to the wording in the text. • Are students able to find answers to questions that require a search of the text? If they are having difficulty, model how you would search for the answer. • Can students combine their background knowledge with information from the text to draw conclusions? If they are having difficulty, model how you would answer the question. • Are students’ answers to creative questions logical and relevant to the topic? • Do students’ completed graphic organizers reflect an ability to sequence information into logical steps? If students are having difficulty, provide more modeling.
4
Model Give students a copy of the graphic organizer “How to Grow a Plant.” Sit close to the students and show them how to cut the strips apart. Have them lay the strips on the floor in front of them next to the lined chart. Explain to students that the steps for growing a plant must be carried out in the right order. Use the following think-aloud. This book tells us how to do something. It tells us how to grow a plant. It’s important that I put the steps in the right order, and I need to practice how to put things in the right order. These strips are mixed up. I need to decide what to do first. I can check the book to make sure. Page 4 says to get a pot, so I’ll find the strip that says that. Can you find the strip, too? I’ll put that first on the chart. Now I need to think about what should come next. If I can’t remember, I can check the book. Practice and Apply Guide students as they identify the next step, cut it out, and tape it on their papers under the first step. If you think students can continue on their own, allow them to work independently and monitor their work. Allow time for students to share their recorded information.
How to Grow a Plant Directions: Cut out each strip at the bottom of the page and paste it in order at the top.
Get a pot. Put some soil in the pot. Put some seeds in the soil. Put some water on the seeds. Put the pot in the sun. Put the plant in the garden.
Growing a Plant © 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Interactive Writing Have students use the information from the graphic organizer to write a sentence about growing a plant. Say: The author told us the steps to take to grow a plant. Let’s write a sentence about growing a plant. (Possible sentences include “Get a pot.” and “Put seeds in the soil.”) Repeat the sentence aloud several times with students so they can internalize the language pattern. Collaborate with them to write the sentence on chart paper or on the board one word at a time. Start by saying the first word slowly. Ask: What sound do you hear at the beginning of this word? What other sounds do you hear? Let students write the known sounds in each word, and then fill in the remaining letters for them. Continue until the sentence is completed.
Write Independently Have students write their own sentences based on the text. Encourage them to articulate words slowly, use spaces between words, and write known words fluently. When students have completed their sentences, conference with them individually. Validate their knowledge of known words and letter/sound correspondences by placing a light check mark above the student’s contributions. Provide explicit praise as you write the message conventionally for students to see.
Reread for Fluency Ask students to reread Growing a Plant with a partner. Ask each partner to read a page while the other partner tells what’s happening in the photograph.
Connect to Home Have students read the take-home version of Growing a Plant to family members. Suggest that students try to follow the directions at home to grow a plant.
√
√ √√√ √
√ √√ √√ √√√
Pet the put in th sun. Put t he pot i n t he sun.
Teacher Tip Modeling Fluency • Read sections of the book aloud to students to model fluent reading of the text. • Model using appropriate phrasing, intonation, volume, expression, and rate. • Have students listen to you read a portion of the text and then read it back to you.
Growing a Plant © 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
5
Skills Bank Phonemic Awareness: Final consonant sounds Say the word can, emphasizing its final consonant sound. Ask students what sound they hear at the end of the word. (/n/) Have students say the word aloud together. Continue in similar fashion with the words pot (/t/), some (/m/), soil (/l/), and seed (/d/).
s ome s oil s eeds s un s afe s aid
Phonics: Initial consonant s Point to the word some on page 6 and ask students what sound the letter s makes in this word. (/s/) Write the word on the board. Then have students look through the book for other words that begin with the sound /s/ spelled with the letter s. (soil, p. 6; seeds, p. 8; sun, p. 12) Write each word on the board as students say it. Ask students if they can think of other words that begin like some and soil. (safe, said, sand, side, sing, socks) Write the words students suggest on the board. Have volunteers come to the board and circle the initial consonant s in each word. Then have students pick two words from the list and write them on their papers, giving an oral sentence that includes each word.
Concepts About Print: Exclamation points Have students turn to page 16. Have them locate the exclamation point. Tell students that when they see an exclamation point, they should read the word or sentence with excitement. Write Look! on the board, making the exclamation point very large. Model reading it aloud with expression. Then read it aloud again, this time with students.
Look!
6
Growing a Plant © 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
High-Frequency Word Vocabulary Write the words in, the, and put on the board. Have students chant the spelling of each word, clapping for each letter. Then have them use the words to complete these sentences: _____ some soil in the pot. Put some seeds _____ the pot. Put some water on _____ seeds.
Content Vocabulary: Plants in a pot
in the put
Tell students that many kinds of plants can be grown in pots. Invite them to name some of these plants. List the names on chart paper as students suggest them. The list may include bean, tomato, rose, cactus, violet, and geranium. Invite students to cut from old magazines pictures of plants they could grow in a pot. Have each student paste a picture on drawing paper and draw a pot under it. Help students label their pictures with the name of the plant in their pots.
bean tomato rose cactus violet geranium
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC. All rights reserved. Teachers may photocopy the reproducible pages for classroom use. No other part of the guide may be reproduced or transmitted in whole or
in part in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. ISBN: 978-1-59000-958-1
7
Name _______________________________________________________ Date __________________
How to Grow a Plant Directions: Cut out each strip at the bottom of the page and paste it in order at the top.
Put some water on the seeds. Put the plant in the garden. Put some soil in the pot. Put the pot in the sun. Get a pot. Put some seeds in the soil. © 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
