Level F/9
Laura Ingalls Wilder Biography
Teacher’s Guide Skills & Strategies
Anchor Comprehension Strategy •• Summarize Information Phonemic Awareness
•• Manipulating initial sounds
Phonics
•• CVCe pattern •• Long vowel sounds •• y as a vowel
High-Frequency Words •• that, very
Content Vocabulary
•• dugout,log home, oxen, wagon,
Grammar/Word Study
•• Past-tense verbs, -ed endings
Biography Big Idea
•• L aura Ingalls Wilder is a beloved American author.
• Small Group Reading Lesson • Skills Bank • Reproducible Activity
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Small Group Reading Lesson life on the Plains word
sentence
(before reading)
sentence
Before Reading
(after reading)
wagon
dugout
log home
oxen
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 “Life on the Plains” (left) or draw the organizer on the board. Write the words wagon, dugout, log home, and oxen in the first column and read them aloud. Tell students that these words appear in the book. Ask them to predict the meaning of each word and how the word might describe what life was like on the plains more than 100 years ago. Have students think of a sentence that uses each word and record it in the second column. Tell students they will come back to the graphic organizer when they have finished reading the book.
Preview the Book Visual Cues • Look at the initial consonants (wr in wrote; l in like). • Break the word into syllables and sound out each part. • L ook for familiar chunks within the word (ill in still). • Think about what sound the vowel makes in the word. Structure Cues • Think about whether the sentence sounds right. Meaning Cues • Think about what makes sense in the sentence. • Look at the pictures to confirm the meaning of the word.
Read the title and name of the authors to students. Ask: • What do you see in the photograph on the cover? •W ho do you think the older woman in the middle of the picture might be? What is she doing? Point out the “biography” icon at the top right of the cover. Explain that a biography tells us about a person’s life. Tell students that this book is a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Preview the photographs with students, reinforcing the language used in the text and highlighting important concepts. Call attention to the use of captions, maps, and time lines.
Set a Purpose for Reading Have students turn to page 2 and read the book silently. Say: I want you to find out what Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life was like as she was growing up. 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.
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Laura Ingalls Wilder
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During Reading Observe and Prompt Reading Strategies Observe students as they read the book. 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 Once students have completed their reading, encourage them to discuss the reading strategies they used. Reinforce the good reading behaviors you noticed by saying: • I noticed, [student’s name], that when you came to a word you didn’t know, you went back and reread the sentence. Did this help you figure out the word? • [student’s name], I saw you try to sound out the word lived. I heard you try the /i / sound first. You knew this didn’t make sense, so you tried the /i / sound. 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 did Laura Ingalls Wilder write about? (She wrote about what it was like to live long ago. pp. 2, 16) (Locate facts) • What did you learn about what life was like more than 100 years ago? Show me what part of the text helps you draw this conclusion. (Answers should reflect information found throughout the book. Students should be able to support their answers.) (Draw conclusions) • How is this book like other books you have read? (Answers will vary.) (Make connections/Compare and contrast/Identify text structure) • If you could talk to Laura Ingalls Wilder, what would you ask her? (Answers will vary.) (Use creative thinking)
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.
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Small Group Reading Lesson
(continued)
Build Comprehension Summarize information
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 make inferences and 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 summarize information by condensing the words from the text? If students are having difficulty, provide more modeling in summarizing information.
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Model Distribute copies of the graphic organizer “Summarize Information” and have students fill in the chart. You may wish to copy the chart on the board or make an overhead transparency so you can model for students how to record the information. Use the following think-aloud. When I read a nonfiction book, I can use a graphic organizer such as this to help me determine what questions to ask and to help me summarize the key information in the book. The first question I want to ask is, “When did Laura Ingalls Wilder live?” I know I have to skim through the book in order to find answers to my question. Page 2 tells me she lived a long time ago, but I want to find more specific information. On page 4 the caption says that she was born on February 7, 1867. I will write this on the chart. On page 16 I read in the caption that she died in 1957. I now have all the information I need to answer the question. I can’t fit all the information from the book on the chart, so I need to summarize it. I will write only the most important details. Practice and Apply Take one question at a time and guide students as they skim the text to find the answers. Encourage them to paraphrase the information. You may need to model how to paraphrase information. name _______________________________________________________ date ___________________ When you are confident that students understand what to do, have them complete the chart independently. time for students to share their SummarizeAllow information recorded information. is she who ____________ ? Writer of children’s books
when ___________ ? did she live 1867-1957
Laura Ingalls Wilder
did she live where ___________ ?
Walnut Grove, MN Pepin, WI De Smet, SD
dugout • built into hill • grass roof • logs
did she do as what ___________ a child _______________? Helped her dad Helped her mom Lived in different types of homes Moved often with her family Had fun with her family did she do as what ___________ an adult _______________? Teacher Taught in one-room school Got married Had a little girl Wrote books
two-story house log home • in woods • in Wisconsin
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Small Group Writing Use the information from the graphic organizer completed during the Build Comprehension segment of the lesson to help students write a paragraph about the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Use the following writing steps. • Have students refer to the graphic organizer to summarize aloud the details of Wilder’s life. • Help them use these details to create sentences that you record on the board. • Read through the sentences with students, inviting them to suggest ways in which the sentences can be improved. Ask: Does the order of the sentences make sense? Do we need to add more details? • Remind students that the visual information in a book is important. Have them suggest a visual feature that they could add to the group paragraph.
Write Independently Remind students that authors carefully plan their writing before putting pen to paper. Explain that students are going to plan their own writing. Use the following writing steps. • Distribute copies of the blank graphic organizer. • Help students decide on a subject: for example, a family member, friend, sports star, or family pet. • Have students fill in the labels on the organizer: for example, “When did we get Buster?” “What did he do as a puppy?” and “What does he do now?” • Have students write details about their subjects in the appropriate boxes. • Instruct students to expand on the details and create sentences about their subjects for their written paragraphs. • Advise students to work with a partner to edit their paragraphs.
Reread for Fluency You may wish to read sections of the book aloud to students to model fluent reading of the text. Model using appropriate phrasing, intonation, expression, volume, and rate as you read. Some students may benefit from listening to you read a portion of the text and then reading it back to you. Have students reread Laura Ingalls Wilder with a partner. Have them read the text together and then take turns reading it to each other.
Connect to Home Have students read the take-home version of Laura Ingalls Wilder to family members. Encourage students to share the information on their graphic organizers.
• Encourage students to add a visual feature to their completed paragraphs.
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Skills Bank wro te o life
i
like
i
home o f ire
i
nine
i
–
/ e/
/i/
very
by
many
try
family
only
6
my
Phonemic Awareness: Manipulating initial sounds Say the word tell. Tell students that you are going to change the /t/ sound at the beginning of tell to /b/. Ask them what word you now have. Now tell them that you are going to change the /b/ at the beginning of bell to /f/. Ask them what word you now have. Continue manipulating initial sounds to create new words: sell, dwell, smell, shell, swell.
Phonics: CVCe pattern; long vowel sounds Write the following words from the book on the board: wrote, life, like, home, fire, and nine. Ask students what is the same about all the words. Circle the final e on each word. Have students identify the vowel sound in each word. Discuss how words with this pattern often have a long vowel sound. Write the words lived, one, and moved on the board. Have students find the words in the book and read the sentences in which they were found. Erase the final d at the end of lived and moved and read the present tense of the word. Explain that although these words end with a final e, they don’t have a long vowel sound. Explain that some words don’t fit the pattern. Talk about ways in which students can figure out these words: for example, looking at the initial sounds and thinking about what makes sense in the sentence. Stress the importance of making sure the words they read make sense in the sentence. Suggest that students review familiar books to find words with silent e at the end and tally how many of these words have a long vowel sound. Then they should talk about their findings.
Phonics: y as a vowel Write these words from the book on the board: very, many, family, only, by. Read the words with students and have them tell you the sound the letter y makes in each _ word. Discuss how the words in which the letter y makes an /e / sound are two syllables, whereas the word in which y makes an / i / sound is one syllable. Have students test the generalization by looking for other words that end with the letter y in familiar books.
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High-Frequency Word Vocabulary Write the high-frequency words on the board. Have students find them in the book and read aloud the sentences in which they occur. Have students use the words in oral sentences. Then have them write a sentence using both.
Concept Vocabulary: wagon, dugout, log home, oxen
that very
Have students refer to the graphic organizer “Life on the Plains.” Have them explain what each word means now that they have read the book. Discuss why these words are important in this book. Have students write another sentence now that they have read the book. Assign words to pairs of students and have them illustrate their word and write a caption for the illustration. Put their illustrations together to make a reference book about life on the plains. The book could be added to the independent library for other students to read.
Grammar/Word Study: Past-tense verbs, -ed endings Beginning with page 4, assign several pages to pairs of students and have them record all the words they can find that end in -ed, including the verbs in the captions. When students have finished, make a chart of these words on the board. Discuss the use of the past tense, making sure students understand that the biography is describing events that happened a long time ago. Then help students decide what the present tense of each verb is and record it in a column to the left. Finally, talk about how the past tense is formed from the present tense. Record this on the chart. Highlight the words that already end in e so that students can see they need to add only d to make the past tense. How verb is formed Present tense Past tense live
lived
add d to make past tense
look
looked
add ed to make past tense
like
liked
add d to make past tense
move
moved
add d to make past tense
pull
pulled
add ed to make past tense
© 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# 978-1-59000-930-7
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Name _______________________________________________________ Date ___________________
Summarize Information Who ____________ ? What ___________ _______________?
When ___________ ? What ___________ _______________?
Where ___________ ?
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