Wildfires / Hard Choice Lesson Plan

Lesson Plans

Activity card

Blackline master Wildfires

Comic strip Draw a comic strip showing the stages of a wildfire approaching an area.

What would you do? What would you take with you?

Write the words from the word list that are most closely related to each photo. Add other words that help to give meaning to each picture. You may decide to use a word for more than one photograph. Then write a sentence using some of the words.

Fluent Plus reading stage Level P (38)

Word list: fire, embers, forests, burning, inferno, fire truck, water tanks, hoses, firefighter, volunteers, flames, risk, heat, fire spotters, spot fires, wildfire Words:

Wildfires explains what wildfires are, how they start, and how people can prepare for and survive wildfire.

Running words: 1,275 Text type: Explanation

When Dad goes off to fight a wildfire, Carlos doesn’t expect that by the end of the day he will have to make some hard choices. A Hard Choice explores what is really important to people when disaster strikes.

Content vocabulary

air tankers arson control firefighter fire retardants fire spotters flying embers fuel high-fire-danger zones inferno lightning strike melt moisture out of control oxygen risk smoke smoldering spot fires temperature threatens underbrush volunteers water tanks

Phonics

• Representations of the long /i/ sound as in height, fight, fire, sign • Representations of the short /i/ sound as in system, whistling

Sentence:

Words:

Running words: 1,588 Text type: Narrative

Text structures and features

Sentence:

Wildfires

• Contents page, index, captions, and fact boxes • Chapter headings and subheadings

A Hard Choice

• Contents page, chapter headings • Third-person narrative with dialogue

Reading strategies

• L inking information in photographs and written text • Identifying characters’ traits and motivations

Words:

Sentence:

Assessment Is the student able to link the vocabulary from the book with the visual information to demonstrate comprehension?

Does the student’s word placement indicate that he/she understands the meaning of the vocabulary from the book?

Flying Start to Literacy Lesson Plans Wildfires / A Hard Choice © 2012–2020 EC Licensing Pty Ltd.

Correlations with State Standards

Flying Start to Literacy Lesson Plans Wildfires / A Hard Choice © 2012–2020 EC Licensing Pty Ltd. © 2012–2020 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. In addition to certain rights under applicable copyright law to copy parts of this work, the purchaser may make copies of those sections of this work displaying the footnote: “© 2012–2020 EC Licensing Pty Ltd”, provided that: (a) the number of copies made does not exceed the number reasonably required by the purchaser for its teaching purposes; (b) those copies are only made by means of photocopying and are not further copied or stored or transmitted by any means; (c) those copies are not sold, hired, lent or offered for sale, hire or loan; and (d) every copy made clearly shows the footnote copyright notice.

All other rights reserved.

Developed by Eleanor Curtain Publishing

okapi educational publishing

Text: Jenny Feely Consultants: Susan Hill and Jenny Feely Designed by Derek Schneider Printed in China through Colorcraft Ltd., Hong Kong Distributed in the USA by Okapi Educational Publishing Inc. Phone: 866-652-7436 Fax: 800-481-5499 Email: info@myokapi.com www.myokapi.com www.flying-start-to-literacy.com

Reading literature 3.RL.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

Informational texts 3.RI.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.

Foundational skills 3.RF.3c Decode multisyllable words.

Writing 3.W.3b Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations.

Speaking and listening 3.SL.1c Ask questions to check understanding of information presented, stay on topic, and link their comments to the remarks of others.

Language 3.L.4b Determine the meaning of the new word formed when a known affix is added to a known word.

Lesson 1 Wildfires

Lesson 2 A Hard Choice Key concept • W ildfires are naturally occurring events that have a serious impact on people, plants, and animals.

Returning to the book

Key concepts • Wildfires are naturally occurring events that have a serious impact on people, plants, and animals.

• When faced with disaster, people must decide what is most valuable to them.

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

Before reading

After reading

Getting ready to read

Talking about the book

Support the students in activating their prior knowledge.

Ask: What is a wildfire? Where do they happen? What words would describe them? List students’ ideas on a chart. After the students have read and discussed the book, compare these ideas with the ideas they now have about wildfires.

Vocabulary building Write words about fire that you think may be challenging to students (e.g. fire, smoke, embers, inferno, smoldering). Discuss the meaning of these words. Ask questions that encourage students to use the meaning of the words. Would an inferno be a big or small fire? Is an ember big or small? Which word would indicate the strongest heat – smoldering or inferno?

Introducing the book Give each student a copy of Wildfires. Direct students to use the cover, title page, and contents page to get themselves ready to read. Ask: What do you already know about this book?

Have the students read the introduction. Ask: What is a wildfire? How is it different from other fires (e.g. campfire, birthday candles). What happens during a wildfire? Discuss the need to be sure of what a wildfire is to support understanding.

During reading As each student reads the text independently, monitor and support the students where appropriate. Ask the students to stop reading and remind them to use the reading strategies you are focused on. After pages 6 and 7, ask: What does the word fuel mean when talking about wildfires?

Can you point out the fuel in this picture?

Encourage the students to make inferences about the information they are reading. Say: Think about what the author is implying. What is the author implying that is not stated explicitly?

Have the students read chapters of the book aloud as if they were news reporters. Encourage them to focus on using phrasing to support fluent reading – reading a few words at a time in a smooth way.

After reading

Phonics

Getting ready to read

Talking about the book

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.

What is a wildfire? What do people do to protect themselves from wildfires? (Literal) Why is the job that smoke jumpers do dangerous? How can people best be ready for the fire season? (Inferential) Why are wildfires so dangerous? (Synthesizing) Are wildfires a problem for all people? Why do you think this? Did the author give enough information about how to stay safe from wildfires? If not, what other information could be given? (Critical)

Have the students list a number of words from the book that contain the short /i/ sound. Point out words such as oxygen. Ask: What sound does the “y” make? Do you know any other words that have “y” making this sound? (Examples include syllable, typical, syrup, physical, symbol, sympathy, containing.

Support the students in activating their prior knowledge.

Ask: What do you know about wildfires? Where do they happen?

What do people who live in places where wildfires happen need to know about? What do they need to do to prepare for the wildfires?

What do they do when a wildfire is near?

Exploring words

Vocabulary building

Have students look through the book for words containing the base word fire (e.g. wildfire, firefighter, fire retardant, campfire, fire front, high fire danger, fire spotter, fire truck, fire crews, firefighting).

Discuss how these words relate to the concept of fire. Add other words to the list (e.g. fireplace, fire brush, fire extinguisher).

Write the word evacuation. Ask: What does this mean? What things might make you evacuate your house? What would you take with you if you had to evacuate your house? Allow time for students to discuss these questions with partners.

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.

What did the family’s fire plan involve? Where did Carlos take Rusty for a walk? (Literal) Should Carlos have gone close to the forest on that day? Why/Why not? Why didn’t Mr. Grant take his tools? (Inferential) Why did Carlos say that he felt lucky at the end of the story? Was Carlos really lucky? Why/ Why not? (Synthesizing) What would you do if you were in Mr. Grant’s place? (Critical)

Reviewing reading strategies

Writing

Introducing the book

Reviewing reading strategies

Encourage students to identify what they did to help themselves as readers. Ask: What information did you get from the words? What information did you get from the photographs? How did the words and the photographs support each other? Why is it important to take in all the information on the page?

ELL support • Photographs support the introduction of new concepts.

• Chapter headings and subheadings clearly signal content.

• Text boxes add additional information.

Give each student a copy of the Blackline master. Discuss the words in the word list, clarifying the meaning of the words as needed. Have students complete the Blackline master.

Sharing and presenting Have the students talk about what they have learned about wildfires from reading this book. Students could work in small groups to list five things they didn’t know prior to reading 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 Have each student read the book to a partner. Ask students to focus on developing dramatic tension by attending to the pace and intensity of their reading.

Before reading

Word work

Returning to the book

Give each student a copy of A Hard Choice. Direct students to use the cover, title page, and contents page to get themselves ready to read. Ask: What do you already know about this book? What does each chapter heading tell you? Have students read the first chapter. Ask: Who are the main characters so far?

What have you learned about Carlos and his parents? Which words tell you this? What do you expect Carlos will do if a wildfire comes?

Why? How does knowing what the characters are like help you to understand what you are reading?

During reading As each student reads the text independently, monitor and support the students where appropriate. Ask the students to stop reading and remind them to use the reading strategies you are focused on. Have the student pause at a given point. Ask: How is Carlos feeling? How do you know?

Encourage the students to apply appropriate comprehension strategies, such as making connections about what they know and what they are reading. Say: Think about how you would feel if you were Carlos. How does this help you understand what you are reading?

Encourage students to identify what they did to help themselves as readers. Have the students brainstorm the traits of each character from the book. Discuss how knowing about characters supports comprehension. Ask: What is something that Carlos is likely to do? What is he unlikely to do?

ELL support • I llustrations support the story.

• Content vocabulary is supported by the context.

• First chapter clearly establishes setting and the main character.

Word work Phonics Write the words through and thought on a chart. Say: These words are from the book. They both look very similar, but they sound quite different. Underline the “ough” in each word. Ask: What sound do these letters represent in “through?” How about in “thought?” Ask students to suggest other words containing “ough” (e.g. although, cough, dough, enough, plough). List these as well.

Discuss the different sounds represented by the letters “ough.” Group the words by sound.

Exploring words Have the students suggest words from the book that relate to the intensity of a wildfire (e.g. flames, embers, smoke, smoldering, melt, inferno). Discuss what each word means.

Have students order these words from hottest to coolest.

Have students list other groups of words from the book in an order according to a category of their own (e.g. most to least important thing to do when a wildfire is approaching).

Writing Have students work in small groups to role play what might happen if they lived in a wildfire-prone area when a fire alert was given. Ask: What would you do? What would you say to each other? Have the students complete the Activity card.

Sharing and presenting Have students share the comics they have written on the Activity card. Discuss the feelings that each comic portrays.

Ask: How did you feel when you were writing this? What did you do to get that feeling across to your readers?

Synthesizing: Talk about the pair Ask: Why are wildfires feared? What have you learned about them by reading these two books? How might this help you if you had to face a wildfire? Allow students to work in pairs to determine two or three questions that they thought the

books helped them to consider. Have the students pose these questions to another pair of students. These small groups could then share the ideas that the questions have helped them to develop.