It's Earth Day! TG
It’s Earth Day!
Level M/28
xplorers
Teacher’s Guide For students reading at Literacy Level M/28, including: •• English-language learners •• Students reading below grade level •• Second grade readers •• First graders reading above grade level
Skills & Strategies
Anchor Comprehension Strategies
•• Draw conclusions •• Use text features to locate information
Metacognitive/Fix-Up Strategy •• Retell what you’ve read
Vocabulary
•• Recognize high-frequency words •• Develop academic content (Tier Three) vocabulary
Word Study
•• Use the suffixes -ion and -ation
THEME: The Environment
Language
•• R ecognize the sentence structure _____ wanted to _____ •• Use regular past tense verbs
•• It’s Earth Day! (Level M/28) •• Samantha Saves the Stream (Level M/28)
Phonics
•• Use word parts to problem-solve multisyllable words
•• R ecognize words with r-controlled “i,” “e,” and “u”
Fluency
•• Read question marks
Writing
SCIENCE BIG IDEA: Readers learn about the origins of Earth Day, the dangers of pollution, and steps they can take to care for our planet.
•• Write to a picture prompt •• Write to a text prompt
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e n c h m a r k
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d u c a t i o n
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o m p a n y
Before Reading Related Resources
The following Benchmark Education Company resources support the skills and strategies taught in this lesson. Early Explorers Partner • S amantha Saves the Stream (Fiction, Level M/28) Fluent Comprehension Strategy Poster • Draw Conclusions Fluency and Language Development • It’s Earth Day! Audio CD Text-Dependent Comprehension Resources • It’s Earth Day! Comprehension Question Card • Power Tool Flip Chart for Teachers • Student Bookmark Assessment •E arly Explorers Overview & Assessment Handbook •G rade 2 Comprehension Strategy Assessment Book
Make Connections and Build Background •U se Drama Say: We will read a book called It’s Earth Day! The book is about things that are good and bad for Earth. Walk around the room, crumpling sheets of paper and dropping them on the floor. Ask: What am I doing? Allow students time to respond. Then say: Yes, I am littering. Litter is bad for Earth. Litter pollutes Earth. What else is bad for Earth? Ask students to Think/Pair/Share. After each partnership shares, echo their idea using a complete sentence. •U se a Graphic Organizer Draw a T-chart on the board with the headings Problems and Solutions. Read the headings aloud. Ask students to help you list problems in Earth’s environment and ways people could help solve these problems. Then read each entry on the chart and ask students to echo-read. Problems
Solutions
• litter
• pick up
• garbage
• make less or recycle
• dirty water
• remove trash
• dirty air
• stop factory smoke
Introduce the Book •P review Cover and Table of Contents Give each student a copy of the book. Point to the front and read the title and author. Ask students to echo-read, and invite them to tell what they see in the photograph. Repeat the process with the chapter headings and page numbers on the table of contents. Then model how to make a prediction based on the cover and table of contents information: The title mentions Earth Day. The chapter headings mention people doing important projects and helping Earth. I think this book is about a special day when people try to help Earth. Allow time for students to share their own predictions about the book. •P review Vocabulary, Photographs, and Text and Graphic Features Ask students to turn to pages 2 and 3. Explain that these photographs and words are in the book. As you point to each photograph, say its matching label and invite students to echo-read. Then take students on a picture walk, reinforcing the meanings of the previewed words as you talk about the photographs. Also talk about the words celebrate, problems, protect, garbage, symbol, and awards, and make sure students can pronounce each one. In addition, point out the following text and graphic features: (Page 4) Say: The pictures in this book have captions. Captions give us more information. Captions can ask questions, too. The book has boldfaced words. Boldfaced words are defined in the glossary at the end of the book. (Page 5) Say: Look at the sidebar. A sidebar gives us more information about the topic. This sidebar lists two details about Earth Day. (Page 15) Say: Look at the chart. A chart shows information in an organized way. This chart shows what happened at Central Elementary School before and after a project. Point to and read the headings and entries and ask students to echo-read. (Glossary) Say: Look at the glossary. A glossary tells what words mean. Read the definition for each word and invite students to point to the accompanying pictures. (Index) Say: Look at the index. An index tells us where to find important words in the book. Help students use the index to locate one or two words in the book.
Copyright © 2007 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.
2
ISBN: 978-1-4108-6766-7
It’s Earth Day!
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
During Reading •P review Sentence Structure For students who need additional support, write _____ wanted to _____ on the board. Read the sentence structure aloud and ask students to repeat it several times. Say: The words wanted to are in the book. Page 9 has a sentence with the words wanted to. Can you find the sentence? Can you read it? Allow time for students to do so, assisting as needed. Then invite them to locate and read an additional example on page 15. •U se Graphophonic Cues Write the word birthday on the board. Say: Another word in this book is birthday. Look at the word birthday. Say the word birthday. What parts are in birthday? Allow time for students to respond, assisting as needed. Say: The word birthday has two parts, birth and day. Birth and day are words, too. We can put the words birth and day together to make birthday. Ask students to find the word birthday on page 4. Then repeat the process with the word newspapers on page 7. Say: Use word parts to help you when you read.
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 selfcorrect. 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.
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•S caffold Spanish-Language Speakers Say the word favorite. Ask: Does favorite sound similar to a word you know in Spanish? (Allow time for students to respond.) The English word favorite sounds similar to the Spanish word favorito. Favorite and favorito mean the same thing. The words look similar, too. Write the word favorite on the board and ask students to locate it on page 4 in the book. Repeat the process with in/en, pollution/polución, problem/problema, idea/idea, celebrate/celebrar, protect/ proteger, special/especial, plan/plan, project/ proyecto, honor/honrar, president/presidente, different/diferente, and use/usar. Then point out that the words to and too on page 4 sound like the Spanish word tu but do not mean the same thing. Finally, invite students with other first languages to share their cognates.
Set a Purpose for Reading •S ay: 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 to set a purpose for each chapter. Invite students to place self-stick notes on pages where they find information to add to the T-chart, and look for opportunities to add to the chart 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. © 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Pages
Purpose for Reading
4–9 Learn what Earth Day is and how it began. 10–13 Learn what people do on Earth Day. 14–15 Learn how kids do important Earth Day projects. 16–19 Learn what you can do to help the Earth on Earth Day.
It’s Earth Day!
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After Reading Use the Graphic Organizer to Summarize •A sk students to think about their reading. Say: Look at our T-chart. Does the book mention any of these problems or solutions? Put a ✟ next to any matching responses. Then ask students to name other problems and solutions from the book. Add these to the graphic organizer and put check marks beside them. Finally, choralread the checkmarked items and ask students to use the graphic organizer to tell a partner about the book.
Problems
Solutions
• litter ✟
• pick up ✟
• garbage ✟
• make less or recycle ✟
• dirty water ✟
• remove trash ✟
• dirty air ✟
• stop factory smoke
• all pollution ✟
• teach people about environment ✟
• trash ✟
• make artwork ✟
• not enough green
• plant trees ✟
• birds need nests ✟
• hang yarn on trees
Reading Strategy Mini-Lesson: Retell What You’ve Read •R eflect Ask students to think about the parts of the book that were hard for them to understand. Ask: What did you do to help yourself understand what you read?
•G uide Ask students to turn to page 8. Read the page aloud together. Ask the following questions, allowing time for students to respond after each one: What is this page about? What was a big problem? Why did people start Earth Day? How could you tell about this in your own words? If students have difficulty, model a retelling of your own, such as People started Earth Day to help get rid of pollution. •A pply 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 retell what you’ve read monitor-reading strategy. Then say: You can retell any time you read. Remember to retell to help you understand.
Answer Text-Dependent Questions •E xplain Remind students that they can answer questions about books they have read. Say: We answer different kinds of questions in different ways. I will help you learn how to answer each kind. Tell students today they will practice answering Look Closer! questions. Say: The answer to a Look Closer! question is in the book. You have to look in more than one place, though. You find the different parts of the answer. Then you put the parts together to answer the question.
•M odel Say: I want to make sure I understand what I read. One way to do that is to retell the important information. I will read page 5 again. (Read the page aloud.) Now I will say the important information in my own words: People around the world celebrate Earth Day in the spring.
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It’s Earth Day!
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
•M odel Use the first Look Closer! question on the Comprehension Question Card. Say: I will show you how I answer a Look Closer! question. I will read the question to figure out what to do. The question says: “What sentence tells the main idea for page 8?” The words main idea mean I need to look for the most important statement. What other information do you think will help me? (Allow student responses.) Yes, I need to look on page 8 to find clues and evidence about the main idea. The first sentence on page 8 says: “Pollution was a big problem.” The rest of the page is about solving the problem and starting Earth Day. These details support the idea stated in the first sentence on the page. The main idea of page 8 is stated in the first sentence. The answer makes sense. •G uide Ask students to answer the other questions on the Comprehension 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?
•G uide Say: Now let’s draw a conclusion about the second chapter. Pages 10 and 11 are about how people recycle to help Earth. Now turn to pages 12 and 13. What are some other things people do on Earth Day? (Allow time for students to respond, assisting if needed.) Yes, people teach about Earth Day. Kids pick up trash. Students plant trees. Let’s write these four clues on the graphic organizer. What can we figure out from these clues? (Again allow time for students to respond.) Yes, we can conclude that people find many ways to help Earth. We will add this conclusion as well. •A pply Ask students to work with a partner to draw conclusions from the third and fourth chapters. Remind them to use word and illustration clues to figure out things the author doesn’tsay. After the partnerships share, record their ideas on the graphic organizer. Finally, read the completed graphic organizer aloud and invite students to echo-read.
Build Comprehension: Draw Conclusions •E xplain Create an overhead transparency of the “It’s Earth Day!” graphic organizer on page 8, or draw it on the chalkboard. Say: An author can’t give us every bit of information in a book. We need to figure out some things on our own. We use the author’s words for clues. We use the photographs and other graphic features for clues, too. Figuring something out using three or more clues is called drawing a conclusion. Good readers draw conclusions as they read. Drawing conclusions helps us get more out of the story. •M odel Say: Let’s draw a conclusion in It’s Earth Day! On page 5, I read that people around the world celebrate Earth Day. On pages 6 and 7, I read how pollution was hurting Earth. Next, I look at all the people in the photograph on page 8. The people are celebrating the first Earth Day. Finally, I read on page 9 how people came together to protect Earth. I will write these clues in the first box on the graphic organizer. Now I need to use the clues to draw a conclusion. I can conclude that a healthy Earth is important to many people. The author doesn’t state this fact, but I can figure it out from the clues. I will write about a healthy earth in the Conclusion box on the graphic organizer. © 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Teacher Tip Use Benchmark Education Company’s K–2 Fluent Comprehension Strategy Poster Set to provide additional instruction in drawing conclusions. Use BEC’s Comprehension Strategy Assessment books to assess students’ ability to draw conclusions in other brief, gradelevel texts.
Home Connection •G ive students the take-home version of It’s Earth Day! to read to family members. Encourage students to work with a friend or family member to draw a picture of themselves doing something to help Earth. Invite students to bring their pictures to share with the group. It’s Earth Day!
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Writing Connections
Mini-Lessons
Reader Response
Phonics: r-controlled “i,” “e,” and “u”
Invite students to respond to the book in a way that is meaningful to them. Model and use thinkalouds as needed to scaffold students before they try the activities on their own. • Make a poster about Earth Day. • Tell about a place in your community that needs to be cleaned up. • Tell what else you would like to know about Earth Day. • Rate the book with a 1 (don’t like), 2 (okay), or 3 (like a lot). Write why you chose that rating. • Write what you think kids should do to take care of Earth. • Write what Earth would say to people if Earth could talk.
Write to a Picture Prompt • Describe a Place Tell students they will describe and write about a place they see in the book. Say: I like to see where different parts of the book take place. I can describe the places in my own words, too. I can describe the factory on page 6: Black smoke comes out of the chimneys. The sky is yellow, like a flame. What do you notice about the factory? How would you describe the place? Allow time for students to respond. Ask: Which picture do you like best? How would you describe the place in the picture? Allow time for students to respond, prompting further if needed. Say: You have described a place in the picture you chose. Now write your description. After you are finished, read your description to a partner.
Write to a Text Prompt • Write a Personal Narrative Say: We read about ways people keep Earth clean and healthy. Now write about someone you know who helps take care of Earth. When you are finished, read your narrative to a partner.
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It’s Earth Day!
for Differentiating Instruction
• Ask students to locate the word first on page 5. Write first on the board and circle “ir.” Say: The letters “ir” in the middle of the word first sound like /er/. Slowly draw your finger under the word as you blend the sounds. Then ask students to do the same in their books. Repeat the process with the words birthday on page 4, dirty on page 7, and birds on page 17. Then repeat the process with the letters “ur” in hurt (page 6) and “er” in person (page 7). • Ask students to brainstorm words with the /er/ sound. Acknowledge all correct responses, and record those with “ir,” “ur,” or “er” 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: Let’s sort the words. Put the words with “ir” in one group. Put the words with “ur” in another group. Put the words with “er” in a third group. Model the process using three of the word cards. Then invite students to take turns reading a word and placing it in the appropriate group.
Vocabulary • Academic Content Vocabulary Review the book with students and record the words Earth Day, environment, planet, pollution, projects, recycle, celebrate, problems, protect, garbage, symbol, and awards. Ask students to read the words with you. Then invite pairs of students to take turns using the words to ask each other questions, such as: What is Earth Day? or How can we keep the environment clean?
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Word Study: Suffixes “-ion” and “-ation” •M odel Say: Word parts can help me figure out what words mean. A word part added to the end of a word is called a suffix. Each suffix has a special meaning. The third sentence on page 7 says: “Pollution could hurt Earth.” I know to pollute means “to make something dirty.” The suffix -ion means “the act of or the result of.” Pollution means “the act of making something dirty or the result of making something dirty.” •G uide Ask students to read the caption on page 8 with you. Ask: What word has the suffix -ion? (celebration) What does celebrate mean? (to honor with activities) What does celebration mean? (the act of honoring with activities or the result of honoring with activities) Repeat the process with the suffix -ation in the word invitation on page 16. •A pply Write pollution, celebration, and invitation on the board. Invite student partners to describe and act out a situation using all three words.
Language Development: Regular Past Tense Verbs •M odel Say: Authors often write about events that have already happened. Sometimes we add -ed to the end of a word to show something happened in the past. Choral-read the sidebar on page 5 with students. Say: Today many people celebrate Earth Day. In 1990 many people celebrated Earth Day. The ending -ed is added to the word celebrate to make the word celebrated. I can use the words celebrate and celebrated, too. Use the classroom calendar to support the concept of past tense as you model sentences such as: I like to celebrate my birthday. Last July I celebrated my dad’s birthday. I like to celebrate when school starts. Our school celebrated with an Open House in September. I like to celebrate a good day by calling a friend. Yesterday I celebrated by calling my friend Chris.
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
• Guide Invite students to turn to page 15 with you. Ask: What words end in -ed? (wanted, recycled, collected, used) What do these words tell you about the project at Central Elementary School? (The project has already happened. The project happened in the past.) • Apply Ask pairs of students to read the four sentences on pages 12–13 marked with the recycling symbol. Invite partners to imagine that each project already happened. Ask them to write the words they would use to replace the phrases will visit, will start, will pick up, and will plant (visited, started, picked, planted).
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 something. Our voices move to a higher pitch at the end of a question. Good readers say the end of a question in a higher pitch, too. Saying the end of a question in a higher pitch shows that the author is asking something. It helps the listener understand that the author is asking something, too. • Ask students to turn to page 4. First, read the first two sentences 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 of each one 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 18. Choral-read the first three sentences, moving to a higher pitch at the end of each question. • Invite students to take turns rereading It’s Earth Day! with a partner. Remind them to move their voices to a higher pitch at the end of each question.
It’s Earth Day!
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NAME
DATE
It’s Earth Day! Draw Conclusions Clues
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It’s Earth Day!
Conclusion
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Level M/28
xplorers
Teacher’s Guide For students reading at Literacy Level M/28, including: •• English-language learners •• Students reading below grade level •• Second grade readers •• First graders reading above grade level
Skills & Strategies
Anchor Comprehension Strategies
•• Draw conclusions •• Use text features to locate information
Metacognitive/Fix-Up Strategy •• Retell what you’ve read
Vocabulary
•• Recognize high-frequency words •• Develop academic content (Tier Three) vocabulary
Word Study
•• Use the suffixes -ion and -ation
THEME: The Environment
Language
•• R ecognize the sentence structure _____ wanted to _____ •• Use regular past tense verbs
•• It’s Earth Day! (Level M/28) •• Samantha Saves the Stream (Level M/28)
Phonics
•• Use word parts to problem-solve multisyllable words
•• R ecognize words with r-controlled “i,” “e,” and “u”
Fluency
•• Read question marks
Writing
SCIENCE BIG IDEA: Readers learn about the origins of Earth Day, the dangers of pollution, and steps they can take to care for our planet.
•• Write to a picture prompt •• Write to a text prompt
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
Before Reading Related Resources
The following Benchmark Education Company resources support the skills and strategies taught in this lesson. Early Explorers Partner • S amantha Saves the Stream (Fiction, Level M/28) Fluent Comprehension Strategy Poster • Draw Conclusions Fluency and Language Development • It’s Earth Day! Audio CD Text-Dependent Comprehension Resources • It’s Earth Day! Comprehension Question Card • Power Tool Flip Chart for Teachers • Student Bookmark Assessment •E arly Explorers Overview & Assessment Handbook •G rade 2 Comprehension Strategy Assessment Book
Make Connections and Build Background •U se Drama Say: We will read a book called It’s Earth Day! The book is about things that are good and bad for Earth. Walk around the room, crumpling sheets of paper and dropping them on the floor. Ask: What am I doing? Allow students time to respond. Then say: Yes, I am littering. Litter is bad for Earth. Litter pollutes Earth. What else is bad for Earth? Ask students to Think/Pair/Share. After each partnership shares, echo their idea using a complete sentence. •U se a Graphic Organizer Draw a T-chart on the board with the headings Problems and Solutions. Read the headings aloud. Ask students to help you list problems in Earth’s environment and ways people could help solve these problems. Then read each entry on the chart and ask students to echo-read. Problems
Solutions
• litter
• pick up
• garbage
• make less or recycle
• dirty water
• remove trash
• dirty air
• stop factory smoke
Introduce the Book •P review Cover and Table of Contents Give each student a copy of the book. Point to the front and read the title and author. Ask students to echo-read, and invite them to tell what they see in the photograph. Repeat the process with the chapter headings and page numbers on the table of contents. Then model how to make a prediction based on the cover and table of contents information: The title mentions Earth Day. The chapter headings mention people doing important projects and helping Earth. I think this book is about a special day when people try to help Earth. Allow time for students to share their own predictions about the book. •P review Vocabulary, Photographs, and Text and Graphic Features Ask students to turn to pages 2 and 3. Explain that these photographs and words are in the book. As you point to each photograph, say its matching label and invite students to echo-read. Then take students on a picture walk, reinforcing the meanings of the previewed words as you talk about the photographs. Also talk about the words celebrate, problems, protect, garbage, symbol, and awards, and make sure students can pronounce each one. In addition, point out the following text and graphic features: (Page 4) Say: The pictures in this book have captions. Captions give us more information. Captions can ask questions, too. The book has boldfaced words. Boldfaced words are defined in the glossary at the end of the book. (Page 5) Say: Look at the sidebar. A sidebar gives us more information about the topic. This sidebar lists two details about Earth Day. (Page 15) Say: Look at the chart. A chart shows information in an organized way. This chart shows what happened at Central Elementary School before and after a project. Point to and read the headings and entries and ask students to echo-read. (Glossary) Say: Look at the glossary. A glossary tells what words mean. Read the definition for each word and invite students to point to the accompanying pictures. (Index) Say: Look at the index. An index tells us where to find important words in the book. Help students use the index to locate one or two words in the book.
Copyright © 2007 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.
2
ISBN: 978-1-4108-6766-7
It’s Earth Day!
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
During Reading •P review Sentence Structure For students who need additional support, write _____ wanted to _____ on the board. Read the sentence structure aloud and ask students to repeat it several times. Say: The words wanted to are in the book. Page 9 has a sentence with the words wanted to. Can you find the sentence? Can you read it? Allow time for students to do so, assisting as needed. Then invite them to locate and read an additional example on page 15. •U se Graphophonic Cues Write the word birthday on the board. Say: Another word in this book is birthday. Look at the word birthday. Say the word birthday. What parts are in birthday? Allow time for students to respond, assisting as needed. Say: The word birthday has two parts, birth and day. Birth and day are words, too. We can put the words birth and day together to make birthday. Ask students to find the word birthday on page 4. Then repeat the process with the word newspapers on page 7. Say: Use word parts to help you when you read.
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 selfcorrect. 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.
A
•S caffold Spanish-Language Speakers Say the word favorite. Ask: Does favorite sound similar to a word you know in Spanish? (Allow time for students to respond.) The English word favorite sounds similar to the Spanish word favorito. Favorite and favorito mean the same thing. The words look similar, too. Write the word favorite on the board and ask students to locate it on page 4 in the book. Repeat the process with in/en, pollution/polución, problem/problema, idea/idea, celebrate/celebrar, protect/ proteger, special/especial, plan/plan, project/ proyecto, honor/honrar, president/presidente, different/diferente, and use/usar. Then point out that the words to and too on page 4 sound like the Spanish word tu but do not mean the same thing. Finally, invite students with other first languages to share their cognates.
Set a Purpose for Reading •S ay: 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 to set a purpose for each chapter. Invite students to place self-stick notes on pages where they find information to add to the T-chart, and look for opportunities to add to the chart 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. © 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Pages
Purpose for Reading
4–9 Learn what Earth Day is and how it began. 10–13 Learn what people do on Earth Day. 14–15 Learn how kids do important Earth Day projects. 16–19 Learn what you can do to help the Earth on Earth Day.
It’s Earth Day!
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After Reading Use the Graphic Organizer to Summarize •A sk students to think about their reading. Say: Look at our T-chart. Does the book mention any of these problems or solutions? Put a ✟ next to any matching responses. Then ask students to name other problems and solutions from the book. Add these to the graphic organizer and put check marks beside them. Finally, choralread the checkmarked items and ask students to use the graphic organizer to tell a partner about the book.
Problems
Solutions
• litter ✟
• pick up ✟
• garbage ✟
• make less or recycle ✟
• dirty water ✟
• remove trash ✟
• dirty air ✟
• stop factory smoke
• all pollution ✟
• teach people about environment ✟
• trash ✟
• make artwork ✟
• not enough green
• plant trees ✟
• birds need nests ✟
• hang yarn on trees
Reading Strategy Mini-Lesson: Retell What You’ve Read •R eflect Ask students to think about the parts of the book that were hard for them to understand. Ask: What did you do to help yourself understand what you read?
•G uide Ask students to turn to page 8. Read the page aloud together. Ask the following questions, allowing time for students to respond after each one: What is this page about? What was a big problem? Why did people start Earth Day? How could you tell about this in your own words? If students have difficulty, model a retelling of your own, such as People started Earth Day to help get rid of pollution. •A pply 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 retell what you’ve read monitor-reading strategy. Then say: You can retell any time you read. Remember to retell to help you understand.
Answer Text-Dependent Questions •E xplain Remind students that they can answer questions about books they have read. Say: We answer different kinds of questions in different ways. I will help you learn how to answer each kind. Tell students today they will practice answering Look Closer! questions. Say: The answer to a Look Closer! question is in the book. You have to look in more than one place, though. You find the different parts of the answer. Then you put the parts together to answer the question.
•M odel Say: I want to make sure I understand what I read. One way to do that is to retell the important information. I will read page 5 again. (Read the page aloud.) Now I will say the important information in my own words: People around the world celebrate Earth Day in the spring.
4
It’s Earth Day!
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
•M odel Use the first Look Closer! question on the Comprehension Question Card. Say: I will show you how I answer a Look Closer! question. I will read the question to figure out what to do. The question says: “What sentence tells the main idea for page 8?” The words main idea mean I need to look for the most important statement. What other information do you think will help me? (Allow student responses.) Yes, I need to look on page 8 to find clues and evidence about the main idea. The first sentence on page 8 says: “Pollution was a big problem.” The rest of the page is about solving the problem and starting Earth Day. These details support the idea stated in the first sentence on the page. The main idea of page 8 is stated in the first sentence. The answer makes sense. •G uide Ask students to answer the other questions on the Comprehension 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?
•G uide Say: Now let’s draw a conclusion about the second chapter. Pages 10 and 11 are about how people recycle to help Earth. Now turn to pages 12 and 13. What are some other things people do on Earth Day? (Allow time for students to respond, assisting if needed.) Yes, people teach about Earth Day. Kids pick up trash. Students plant trees. Let’s write these four clues on the graphic organizer. What can we figure out from these clues? (Again allow time for students to respond.) Yes, we can conclude that people find many ways to help Earth. We will add this conclusion as well. •A pply Ask students to work with a partner to draw conclusions from the third and fourth chapters. Remind them to use word and illustration clues to figure out things the author doesn’tsay. After the partnerships share, record their ideas on the graphic organizer. Finally, read the completed graphic organizer aloud and invite students to echo-read.
Build Comprehension: Draw Conclusions •E xplain Create an overhead transparency of the “It’s Earth Day!” graphic organizer on page 8, or draw it on the chalkboard. Say: An author can’t give us every bit of information in a book. We need to figure out some things on our own. We use the author’s words for clues. We use the photographs and other graphic features for clues, too. Figuring something out using three or more clues is called drawing a conclusion. Good readers draw conclusions as they read. Drawing conclusions helps us get more out of the story. •M odel Say: Let’s draw a conclusion in It’s Earth Day! On page 5, I read that people around the world celebrate Earth Day. On pages 6 and 7, I read how pollution was hurting Earth. Next, I look at all the people in the photograph on page 8. The people are celebrating the first Earth Day. Finally, I read on page 9 how people came together to protect Earth. I will write these clues in the first box on the graphic organizer. Now I need to use the clues to draw a conclusion. I can conclude that a healthy Earth is important to many people. The author doesn’t state this fact, but I can figure it out from the clues. I will write about a healthy earth in the Conclusion box on the graphic organizer. © 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Teacher Tip Use Benchmark Education Company’s K–2 Fluent Comprehension Strategy Poster Set to provide additional instruction in drawing conclusions. Use BEC’s Comprehension Strategy Assessment books to assess students’ ability to draw conclusions in other brief, gradelevel texts.
Home Connection •G ive students the take-home version of It’s Earth Day! to read to family members. Encourage students to work with a friend or family member to draw a picture of themselves doing something to help Earth. Invite students to bring their pictures to share with the group. It’s Earth Day!
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Writing Connections
Mini-Lessons
Reader Response
Phonics: r-controlled “i,” “e,” and “u”
Invite students to respond to the book in a way that is meaningful to them. Model and use thinkalouds as needed to scaffold students before they try the activities on their own. • Make a poster about Earth Day. • Tell about a place in your community that needs to be cleaned up. • Tell what else you would like to know about Earth Day. • Rate the book with a 1 (don’t like), 2 (okay), or 3 (like a lot). Write why you chose that rating. • Write what you think kids should do to take care of Earth. • Write what Earth would say to people if Earth could talk.
Write to a Picture Prompt • Describe a Place Tell students they will describe and write about a place they see in the book. Say: I like to see where different parts of the book take place. I can describe the places in my own words, too. I can describe the factory on page 6: Black smoke comes out of the chimneys. The sky is yellow, like a flame. What do you notice about the factory? How would you describe the place? Allow time for students to respond. Ask: Which picture do you like best? How would you describe the place in the picture? Allow time for students to respond, prompting further if needed. Say: You have described a place in the picture you chose. Now write your description. After you are finished, read your description to a partner.
Write to a Text Prompt • Write a Personal Narrative Say: We read about ways people keep Earth clean and healthy. Now write about someone you know who helps take care of Earth. When you are finished, read your narrative to a partner.
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It’s Earth Day!
for Differentiating Instruction
• Ask students to locate the word first on page 5. Write first on the board and circle “ir.” Say: The letters “ir” in the middle of the word first sound like /er/. Slowly draw your finger under the word as you blend the sounds. Then ask students to do the same in their books. Repeat the process with the words birthday on page 4, dirty on page 7, and birds on page 17. Then repeat the process with the letters “ur” in hurt (page 6) and “er” in person (page 7). • Ask students to brainstorm words with the /er/ sound. Acknowledge all correct responses, and record those with “ir,” “ur,” or “er” 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: Let’s sort the words. Put the words with “ir” in one group. Put the words with “ur” in another group. Put the words with “er” in a third group. Model the process using three of the word cards. Then invite students to take turns reading a word and placing it in the appropriate group.
Vocabulary • Academic Content Vocabulary Review the book with students and record the words Earth Day, environment, planet, pollution, projects, recycle, celebrate, problems, protect, garbage, symbol, and awards. Ask students to read the words with you. Then invite pairs of students to take turns using the words to ask each other questions, such as: What is Earth Day? or How can we keep the environment clean?
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Word Study: Suffixes “-ion” and “-ation” •M odel Say: Word parts can help me figure out what words mean. A word part added to the end of a word is called a suffix. Each suffix has a special meaning. The third sentence on page 7 says: “Pollution could hurt Earth.” I know to pollute means “to make something dirty.” The suffix -ion means “the act of or the result of.” Pollution means “the act of making something dirty or the result of making something dirty.” •G uide Ask students to read the caption on page 8 with you. Ask: What word has the suffix -ion? (celebration) What does celebrate mean? (to honor with activities) What does celebration mean? (the act of honoring with activities or the result of honoring with activities) Repeat the process with the suffix -ation in the word invitation on page 16. •A pply Write pollution, celebration, and invitation on the board. Invite student partners to describe and act out a situation using all three words.
Language Development: Regular Past Tense Verbs •M odel Say: Authors often write about events that have already happened. Sometimes we add -ed to the end of a word to show something happened in the past. Choral-read the sidebar on page 5 with students. Say: Today many people celebrate Earth Day. In 1990 many people celebrated Earth Day. The ending -ed is added to the word celebrate to make the word celebrated. I can use the words celebrate and celebrated, too. Use the classroom calendar to support the concept of past tense as you model sentences such as: I like to celebrate my birthday. Last July I celebrated my dad’s birthday. I like to celebrate when school starts. Our school celebrated with an Open House in September. I like to celebrate a good day by calling a friend. Yesterday I celebrated by calling my friend Chris.
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
• Guide Invite students to turn to page 15 with you. Ask: What words end in -ed? (wanted, recycled, collected, used) What do these words tell you about the project at Central Elementary School? (The project has already happened. The project happened in the past.) • Apply Ask pairs of students to read the four sentences on pages 12–13 marked with the recycling symbol. Invite partners to imagine that each project already happened. Ask them to write the words they would use to replace the phrases will visit, will start, will pick up, and will plant (visited, started, picked, planted).
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 something. Our voices move to a higher pitch at the end of a question. Good readers say the end of a question in a higher pitch, too. Saying the end of a question in a higher pitch shows that the author is asking something. It helps the listener understand that the author is asking something, too. • Ask students to turn to page 4. First, read the first two sentences 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 of each one 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 18. Choral-read the first three sentences, moving to a higher pitch at the end of each question. • Invite students to take turns rereading It’s Earth Day! with a partner. Remind them to move their voices to a higher pitch at the end of each question.
It’s Earth Day!
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It’s Earth Day! Draw Conclusions Clues
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It’s Earth Day!
Conclusion
© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
