Our Sun
Level I/16
Science
TEACHER’S GUIDE Skills & Strategies
Anchor Comprehension Strategies •• Identify Cause and Effect •• Identify Main Idea and Supporting Details Phonemic Awareness •• Segmenting and blending phonemes
Phonics
•• r-controlled ar •• Syllabication with double consonants
High-Frequency Words •• cold, without, would
Content Vocabulary
•• Words that describe the sun
Grammar/Word Study •• Antonyms
Science Big Idea
•• Our sun is a star that allows life to survive.
• Small Group Reading Lesson • Skills Bank • Reproducible Activity
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Small Group Reading Lesson Before Reading
What Do You Think?
he sun is T a star. he sun helps T make our weather. he sun goes T around and around.
Before After Reading Reading
Activate Prior Knowledge
Yes
Encourage students to draw on prior knowledge and build background for reading the text. Create an overhead transparency of the graphic organizer “What Do You Think?” (left) or copy the organizer on chart paper, leaving the columns blank. Discuss each statement on the chart. Ask students to predict whether the statement is correct by saying “yes” or “no.” Mark their predictions on the chart with a check mark. Inform students that they will come back to the graphic organizer when they have finished reading the book.
No
Yes
No
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
✓
VISUAL CUES • Look for familiar consonant digraphs. (th in weather) • Look for familiar chunks within the word. (out in outside; round in around) • Break the word into syllables and sound out each part. (ox/y/gen; sum/mer) STRUCTURE CUES • Think about whether the sentence sounds right. • Look for repeated language patterns. (“The sun is . . .”) MEANING CUES • Think about what makes sense in the sentence. • Look at the pictures to confirm the meaning of the word.
Preview the Book Read the title and names of the authors to students. Ask: • What do you see in the photograph on the cover? • How can you tell it is the sun, and not Earth or the moon? Show students the table of contents. Ask: •W hat can you tell from the table of contents about what you will learn from this book? • To which page would you turn to learn why we need the sun? Preview the graphic features in the book with students, reinforcing the language used in the text. For example, say: Look at the diagram on page 11. What does this diagram show? What role do you think the sun plays in making weather?
Set a Purpose for Reading Have students turn to page 2 and read the book silently. Say: I want you to see if our predictions are correct. 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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©2012 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
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 After students have completed their reading, encourage them to share 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 oxygen. You broke it into syllables and used what you know about vowel sounds in syllables to figure it out. That is what good readers do.
Build Comprehension ASK AND ANSWER QUESTIONS Help students review the text content and relate it to what they already know by asking some or all of the following questions. • Why do we need the sun? (We would be very cold without the sun, p. 6; plants cannot live without the sun, p. 8; the sun helps make our weather, p. 10) (Locate facts) • Let’s look at our chart. Were our predictions correct? (Answers will reflect information throughout the book. Students should find evidence for their answers in the text.) (Compare and contrast) • How is the sun different from a planet or the moon? (Answers will vary. One possible answer: The sun is a star that makes its own light and heat; planets do not make their own light or heat.) (Compare and contrast) • What season is it in the part of Earth that is tilted away from the sun? Use your own ideas and what you learned from the book. (winter) (Make inferences/Use graphic features) • What would happen on Earth if the sun stopped shining on it? (Answers will vary. One possible answer: Earth would get very cold, and everything would die.) (Use creative thinking) ©2012 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. 6–8 of this guide) 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 Our Sun
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Small Group Reading Lesson
(continued)
Build Comprehension IDENTIFY CAUSE AND EFFECT
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 of the text to find the answer. • 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? 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 identify causeand-effect relationships? If students are having difficulty, provide more modeling.
Model Create an overhead transparency of the cause-and-effect chart on page 10 of this guide, or copy it on the board. Discuss the various effects of the sun on Earth. Model for students how to record the causes and effects discussed in the book on the chart. Use the following think-aloud. When I read a nonfiction book that describes a relationship between two or more things, I can use a graphic organizer such as this causeand-effect chart to help me record and organize the causes and effects described in the text. This organizer asks me to identify the effects the sun has on Earth. First I read that the sun gives off light and heat. I will write this in the “Cause” column of the chart. The sun’s heat and light cause Earth to stay warm. I will write this fact in the “Effect” column. The light and heat also cause plants to grow. This is another effect I can write on the chart. Now let’s identify other things that affect the conditions on Earth. Practice and Apply Help students identify the other effects caused by the sun’s light and heat. Guide students in identifying the tilting of Earth as the cause of the seasons and the rotation of Earth as the cause of night and day. When you think students can complete the chart independently, distribute copies and monitor their work. Allow time for them to share their recorded information.
Cause and Effect Topic: The Sun and Earth Cause The sun gives off light and heat.
Effect
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Earth stays warm and has light. We have different kinds of weather on Earth. Plants are able to grow.
Earth is tilted as it travels around the sun.
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We have changing seasons on Earth.
Earth turns around about once every 24 hours.
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We have night and day on Earth.
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©2012 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Small Group Writing Use the information from the graphic organizer completed during the Build Comprehension segment of the lesson to help students review how texts can describe cause-and-effect relationships. Have them use the information to create oral sentences that describe the varying effects the sun has on Earth. Explain that students are going to use the same graphic organizer to plan the writing of a group paragraph describing another cause-and-effect relationship. Use the following writing steps. • Work with students to decide on a cause-and-effect relationship, such as how climate affects the foods people grow. • Draw a blank cause-and-effect chart on the board. • Have students identify the cause-and-effect relationships in their topic. • Encourage students to use the information to create sentences about the topic. Remind them to use such signal words as because, since, and so to help the reader understand the causeand-effect relationship. Record students’ suggested sentences on the board. • Read through the sentences, encouraging students to suggest ways to make the writing clearer or more detailed.
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 Our Sun with a partner, alternating two-page spreads throughout the book.
Write Independently Tell students that they will now use the cause-and-effect chart to plan their own writing. Use the following writing steps. • Distribute copies of the blank graphic organizer.
Connect to Home
• Help students decide on a topic that has a cause-and-effect relationship, such as the effects of having too many people living on the planet.
Have students read the take-home version of Our Sun to family members. Challenge students to work with family members to develop a list of the sun.
• Have them write details about their topics on the cause-andeffect chart. • Ask students to expand on the details and create sentences about their subjects for their written paragraphs. • Tell students that they can work with a partner to edit their paragraphs.
Our Sun ©2012 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
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Skills Bank Phonemic Awareness: Segmenting and blending phonemes Slowly say the word sun, segmenting the phonemes: /s/ /u/ /n/. Have one volunteer identify the first sound, another volunteer identify the middle sound, and a third volunteer identify the final sound. Then have the entire group blend the sounds and tell you the word. Then say the word moon. Ask students to say the word, – / /n/. Continue by having segmenting it into phonemes: /m/ /oo students blend or segment the sounds for the following words: make, cloud, rain, tilt, light, space, hot.
star far car jar bark
Phonics: r-controlled ar Write the word star on the board and point out the –ar at the end. Tell students that the letter r changes the sound the vowel makes in a word. The a in star is neither long nor short. Write the word far on the board and have students read it aloud. Show students other examples of –ar words. Write the words car, jar, are, chart, bark, farm, dart on the board. Invite volunteers to select a word, read it aloud, and circle the ar.
Phonics: Syllabication with double consonants
can/not let/ter hot/ter run/ner
Write the word summer on the board and read it with students. Read the word again, breaking it into syllables. Draw a slash mark between the two ms. Explain that in words that have double consonants, the syllabication occurs between those consonants. Write the following words on the board: cannot, letter, hotter, runner, pretty, getting, dollar. Read each word with students, then call on volunteers to break each word into syllables. Put a slash mark in each word as students identify the syllables.
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©2012 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
High-Frequency Word Vocabulary Write the words without, cold, and would on the board. Read the words with students. Provide each student with three index cards and have them write one word on each card. Have students write a cloze sentence for each word. When they have finished, ask them to take turns reading their sentences aloud. Tell the students who are not reading to hold up the index card with the word to complete each sentence as it is read.
Content Vocabulary: Words that describe the Sun Ask students to brainstorm a list of words associated with the sun, such as hot, star, yellow, burning, light, and heat. Have students write two or three sentences telling about things they learned from the book and using words from the list. Challenge students to use at least three of the words in one sentence.
Grammar/Word Study: Antonyms Write the words bright, hot, warm, outside, light, and day on the board. Review the concept of opposites with students. Give examples, such as tall and short, happy and sad, and good and bad. Read the words on the board with students, then ask volunteers to think of an opposite for each word. Write these antonyms beside the appropriate words.
without
cold would
hot star yellow burning light heat
©2012 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: 978-1-4108-0144-9
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Skills Bank Build Comprehension IDENTIFY MAIN IDEA AND SUPPORTING DETAILS
Sun Pictures Invite students to look at the illustrations on pages 7, 11, 13–15 of the book. Discuss what each picture shows and why the authors drew it. Then ask students to draw their own picture showing something they know or like about the sun. Encourage them to add a caption that explains what their picture is about. After students share them, compile their pictures into a class book titled “Our Sun.”
••Explain Create an overhead transparency of the graphic organizer “Our Sun” or draw it on the board. Say: Nonfiction books have main ideas and supporting details. The main idea is the most important thing we learn. Details tell about the main idea. Sometimes readers have to use details to figure out the main idea. Sometimes the author tells the main idea. ••Model Say: We know from the title that this book is about the sun, but that is not the main idea. The authors state their main idea about the sun on page 6. Read the first sentence on page 6 aloud. Say: This sentence tells the most important thing we learn about the sun in this book. This sentence is the main idea of the book. In the Main Idea box on the graphic organizer, write We cannot live without the sun. Ask students to turn to page 3. Say: Now we need to look for supporting details. The details tell us why we cannot live without the sun. On this page we learn that the sun gives off heat and light. We know that heat and light are important to us. In the first Detail box on the graphic organizer, write The sun gives off heat and light. ••Guide Say: Let’s find another supporting detail. Look on page 7. What does the sun do? How does this help us? (Allow time for students to respond, assisting if needed.) Yes, the sun warms Earth and the air around Earth. The warm air around Earth helps us stay warm. Help students recall the main idea: We cannot live without the sun. Say: These sentences tell us more about the main idea. The sun making Earth’s air warm is another supporting detail. Write the sentences in the second Detail box on the graphic organizer. ••Apply Ask each student to work with a partner to find other supporting details to add to the graphic organizer. Remind partners that they are looking for more information about why we cannot live without the sun. If more support is needed, use all or part of the “Guide” process on pages 8–11 and 13–15. Finally, read the completed graphic organizer aloud and invite students to echo-read.
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©2012 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Name ___________________________________________________ Date _______________________
Our Sun Identify Main Idea and Supporting Details Main Idea:
Detail:
Detail:
Detail:
Detail:
Detail:
Detail:
©2012 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Name _______________________________________________________ Date ___________________
Cause and Effect Topic: ______________________ Cause
Effect
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©2012 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Notes
©2012 Benchmark Education Company, LLC
Notes
©2012 Benchmark Education Company, LLC