Cleaning Up Our Wetland / The Baby Swans Lesson Plan

Blackline master Lesson Plans Xx Early Fluent

Xxxxxxxxx reading stage Level J (18)

Cleaning Up Our Wetland recounts the experiences of a group of children as they clean up their local wetland.

Running words: 527 Text type: Personal narrative

The Baby Swans is a narrative about a pair of swans who find the perfect place to build a nest, lay their eggs, and watch them hatch. But they must be careful to protect their new babies, because a fox lies in wait in the bushes.

Running words: 586 Text type: Narrative

Content vocabulary

attack beak birds bushes clean ducks eggs feathers flowers fox/es frogs grasses habitat hatched insects nest pelicans polluted protect reeds roots seeds shelter summer trash trees water water lillies water plants weeds wetland wing winter

Phonics

• Identifying “a” making the /o/ sound as in swan • Identifying “al” making the /or/ sound as in call, tall, fall

Text features Cleaning Up Our Wetland

• Photographic summary of events • Labeled sections

The Baby Swans

• Illustrations support and extend the text

Reading strategies

• Recognizing the sequence of events in a personal narrative • Summarizing the plot

Correlations with State Standards Reading literature 2.RL.5 Describe the overall structure of a story, including how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.

Informational texts 2.RI.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

Foundational skills 2.RF.3a Distinguish long and short vowels when reading regularly spelled one-syllable words.

Writing 2.W.8 Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

Speaking and listening 2.SL.1b Build on others’ talk in conversations by linking their comments to the remarks of others.

Language 2.L.6 Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using adjectives and adverbs to describe.

Lesson 1 Cleaning Up Our Wetland

Lesson 2 The Baby Swans

Key concepts • A n animal’s habitat has everything required to meet its needs.

• I f a habitat becomes polluted, many animals and plants are affected.

Before reading

After reading

Getting ready to read

Talking about the book

Support the students in activating their prior knowledge.

Show the students pictures of wetlands from a book or the Internet. Ask: What is a wetland? What sort of plants would you find in a wetland? What animals might live there?

Have the students talk about the book. Promote discussion by choosing questions that are appropriate for your students. Ask them to support their thinking by referring to the photographs and the text in the book.

How did the children check to see if the water was clean? (Literal) What did they need to find out before they planted new plants?

Why was this important? (Inferential) What might the wetland look like in a year from now? (Synthesizing) Could the children have done this all by themselves? Explain. (Critical)

Vocabulary building Write on blank cards the names of the plants and animals that belong in the wetland described in the book (ducks, water plants, pelicans, trees, reeds, swans, frogs, insects, water lilies, grasses, bushes, flowers, etc). Students could sort these words into two groups – plants and animals.

Introducing the book Give each student a copy of Cleaning Up Our Wetland and have them read the title. Say: In this book, a group of children clean up their local wetland. A wetland could be a swamp, a lake, or an area beside some parts of rivers. Have the students think and talk about the book, noting how the information is presented. For example, on pages 9 and 10 you could say: The heading says “Week 3”. Look at the photographs. What did the children do during week 3? What can you see at the bottom of page 10? What information is the author including here? How is the information on both pages linked?

During reading Ask each student to read the text independently. Monitor the students as they read and support them where appropriate. If necessary, ask the students to stop reading and remind them to use the reading strategies you are focused on. For example, check that students can recall the sequence of events in a personal narrative. Ask: What decision did the children make at the beginning of the book? What did they do next? How did the book end?

Reviewing reading strategies Encourage students to identify what they did to help themselves as readers. Ask: What are some of the things you did that helped you make sense of this book? What strategies did you use? If appropriate, comment on how well the students recognized the sequence in this personal narrative. Say: I noticed that you were able to talk about the order in which the children changed their wetland.

ELL support • Clear photograph and text match.

• A pictorial summary links each week.

Returning to the book

Key concept

Provide multiple opportunities for the students to reread and interact with the book – with teacher support, with a partner, and independently. Choose activities that are appropriate for your students.

• An animal’s habitat has everything required to meet its needs.

Returning to the book Provide multiple opportunities for the students to reread and interact with the book – with teacher support, with a partner, and independently. Choose activities that are appropriate for your students.

Developing fluency

Developing fluency

Students could work in small groups to practice reading the book. One student could be the narrator and read the book while the other students act out what is being read.

Students could change roles.

Before reading

After reading

Pairs of students could work with each other. One student could read the book, concentrating on making his/her reading clear and smooth. The other student could then give an oral recount of the story. Students could then change roles.

Phonics

Getting ready to read

Talking about the book

Word work

Write the word swan on the board. Ask: What letter makes the /o/ sound in this word? Students could talk with a partner about other words they know that have an /o/ sound represented by an “a”. Make a list of these words (what, was, wand, want, quarry, watch).

Support the students in activating their prior knowledge.

Show the students a picture of a swan from The Baby Swans.

Ask: What do you know about swans? Listen to the students’ responses and, if necessary, provide some background knowledge. Say: Swans are birds that live near water. They are good swimmers and they can dive underwater. They use their long necks and strong beaks to find food in the water. Students could look through bird books to see more pictures of swans.

Have the students talk about the book. Promote discussion by choosing questions that are appropriate for your students. Ask them to support their thinking by referring to the illustrations and the text in the book.

Who was watching the swans build their nest? (Literal) Why was this wetland a good home for the swans? (Inferential) What might happen to the plants and animals in this wetland if it became polluted? (Synthesizing) Do you think that baby swans are always safe from animals that want to eat them? (Critical)

Word work

Exploring words Refer back to the list of words made during the Vocabulary building section. Ask students to choose three of the words from the list to draw and label. Encourage students to refer to the book to make their illustrations accurate.

Writing Ask: What is a wetland? Discuss. Students could then write a response to this question. Encourage them to use the book as a reference.

Sharing and presenting Students could read their written responses to the group.

Vocabulary building Students could work with a partner to brainstorm a list of words related to swans (beak, feathers, nest, eggs, swim, hiss, etc). Invite students to share their words with the group.

Introducing the book Give each student a copy of The Baby Swans and have the students read the title. Ask the students to think and talk about the book so that they become familiar with the story. Ask questions to generate students’ thinking. For example, on pages 4 and 5 you could say: It’s the end of the winter and these swans have just arrived at the wetland. Why do you think they have come there? If necessary, support the students’ understanding of the life cycle of birds by saying: Birds lay eggs, and their babies hatch from the eggs. Where do some birds lay eggs? In what ways do the birds make sure their eggs are safe? Swans lay eggs. They make a nest in the middle of water so that their eggs are safe from animals such as foxes that might eat the eggs.

Reviewing reading strategies Encourage students to identify what they did to help themselves as readers. Ask: What are some of the things you did to help yourself? What strategies did you use?

ELL support • Illustrations support and extend the written text.

• First pages clearly establish the setting and the main characters.

Phonics Ask students to work in pairs to brainstorm as many words as they can with the /or/ sound. As they read their lists, record the words in groups according to the letters that make the /or/ sound (or, au, aw, al, oor). Say: There are words in the book that have the /or/ sound represented by “al” (call, fall, tall). Can you find them?

Exploring words Students could draw a picture of a swan’s nest and use words from the book (eggs, reeds, mother swan, water, etc) to label it.

Writing Students could fold a long strip of paper into six squares and use each square to write and draw the main events from the story in order (for example: Swans come to the wetlands; Swans make a nest; Eggs hatch; Mother swan saves her baby from the fox; Swans grow up; Swans leave the wetland).

Sharing and presenting Students could take turns talking about their drawings and descriptions of the main events in the story.

During reading As each student reads the text independently, monitor and support them where appropriate. Remind them to use the reading strategies you are focused on. Can students talk about the main events in the story? Say: Good readers can remember the important events in the story. When you summarize a story, you only tell these important events. What is important in this story?

Synthesizing: Talk about the pair After students have read both Cleaning Up Our Wetlands and The Baby Swans, ask: Why are wetlands important?

What types of plants and animals live in a wetland?

What does a healthy wetland look like?

Activity card

Blackline master Life cycle of a swan

Making signs 1. On a large piece of paper, draw a picture of a wetland.

Use the book The Baby Swans to help you do this activity. Cut out each description of events below and paste them where they belong on the diagram.

✂

Swans arrive at the wetlands

Swans leave the wetlands

Swans make a nest

Swans lay eggs

Baby swans hatch out of the eggs

Swans’ feathers grow white

2. T hink about how people need to act when they visit a wetland so that it stays clean and healthy.

3. W rite, draw, and/or make symbols on the signs below to inform people about what they should and shouldn’t do when they visit a wetland.

4. C ut out the signs and paste them on your picture.

✂

Winter

Summer Assessment Can the student locate information in the text?

Can the student sequence events?

Flying Start to Literacy Lesson Plans Cleaning Up Our Wetland / The Baby Swans © 2010–2015 EC Licensing Pty Ltd.

Flying Start to Literacy Lesson Plans Cleaning Up Our Wetland / The Baby Swans © 2010–2015 EC Licensing Pty Ltd. © 2010–2015 EC Licensing Pty Ltd. This work is protected by copyright law, and under international copyright conventions, applicable in the jurisdictions in which it is published. The trademark “Flying Start to Literacy” and Star device is a registered trademark of EC Licensing Pty Ltd in the US.

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