Making Friends / The Blue Crane Lesson Plan

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Lesson Plans

Activity card I didn’t know that!

Know and think Use the book and your own thoughts to fill in the chart below.

What I know

What I think

How did they meet?

How did they become friends?

Why do you think they are good friends?

A part of making new friends is learning things about them.

Find out more about the people in your group by interviewing them and filling in this chart. When you have finished, talk with your group about what new things you learned and what surprised you.

Person 1 Name:_________

Person 2 Name:_________

Person 3 Name:_________

What is your favorite thing to do outside school?

Transitional reading stage Level G (12)

Making Friends recounts several personal experiences about making new friends.

Running words: 348 Text type: Personal narrative

The Blue Crane is a story about a blue crane that arrives at a lake where some white cranes live.

Despite many differences, the blue crane is eventually accepted by the white cranes.

Running words: 318 Text type: Narrative

High-frequency words

Key vocabulary

New: asked away back ball because became best dance eating food friends games kids friend(s) house into let(’s) live(d) met mothers new park play school next until walk(ing) want(ed) water

How many people live in your home?

Phonics What is your favorite food?

Text features Making Friends

How do you get to school?

The Blue Crane

Reading strategies

What job would you like to do when you finish school?

Assessment Is the student able to record facts on a chart?

Is the student able to offer opinions?

Flying Start to Literacy Lesson Plans Making Friends / The Blue Crane © 2009–2017 EC Licensing Pty Ltd.

© 2009–2017 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.

All other rights reserved.

• Labels on some photographs • Some dialogue • Dialogue

• Summarizing by identifying important ideas • Decoding using initial letter clusters

Correlations with State Standards

Flying Start to Literacy Lesson Plans Making Friends / The Blue Crane © 2009–2017 EC Licensing Pty Ltd.

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: “© 2009–2017 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.

• Identifying the /c/ sound represented by “ch” as in school • Identifying the vowel digraph “ue” as in blue

Developed by Eleanor Curtain Publishing

okapi educational publishing

Text: Kerrie Shanahan and Lyn Reggett Consultant: Susan Hill 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 1.RL.3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

Informational texts 1.RI.7 Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.

Foundational skills 1.RF.4c Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.

Writing 1.W.3 Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.

Speaking and listening 1.SL.1b Build on others’ talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple exchanges.

Language 1.L.2d Use conventional spelling for words with common spelling patterns and for frequently occurring irregular words.

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

Making Friends

Key concepts • F riends can be made in different ways.

• F riends have things in common.

• F riends have differences.

Before reading

After reading

Getting ready to read

Talking about the book

Support the students in activating their prior knowledge.

Show the students a photograph of one of your friends.

Talk about your friend, explaining how you met and how you became friends. Invite the students to share stories about a friend they have and how they met their friend.

Ask: How did you become friends? Where were you when you first met?

Make a list of some of the words that the students used when they were talking about how they met their friends (friends, school, met, new, games, play, became, first, etc).

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

How did Kim and Sophie meet? Why was Emma feeling sad at school? How did Liz help her? (Literal) What are some of the ways that people can become friends? (Inferential) Have you made a friend in a similar way to one of the people in this book? (Synthesizing) All of the narratives in this book are positive stories about friends.

Do all friendship stories end happily? (Critical)

Introducing the book

Reviewing reading strategies

Vocabulary building

Give each student a copy of Making Friends. Say: This book is called Making Friends. It has four different narratives by children who remember how they met a special friend. Refer the students to pages 2 and 3. Say: This is Kim and this is Sophie. Kim tells us how she met Sophie and how they became friends. Where do you think they met? Why do you think they are friends? Continue talking about the book, encouraging the students to make predictions from the photographs.

Encourage the students to identify what they did to help themselves as readers. What are some of the things you did that helped you make sense of this book? Can you find a place where you did some problem-solving? If appropriate, comment on how well the students identified what was important about the way that the children became friends in each narrative.

ELL support

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. Ask the students to summarize what they have read by identifying the important ideas. Can they provide an oral summary of each of the narratives? For example, ask: How did Kim and Sophie become friends? What information is important?

• Page color signals each friendship pair.

• Photographs support and extend the text.

The Blue Crane

Returning to the book

Key concepts • Friends can be made in different ways.

• Friends have things in common.

• Friends have differences.

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

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

Developing fluency

Developing fluency

Ask the students to work in pairs and to take turns reading each of the narratives. Encourage the students to read the text fluently. Try to make your reading sound like you are telling each person’s story. Your voice should sound smooth, just like it does when you are talking.

Encourage the students to read the text expressively, with appropriate intonation. You will need to make sure your voice sounds like the character is talking. How would the blue crane say that? Can you make your voice sound upset/happy?

Word work Phonemic awareness and phonics Write the word “school” on the board. Ask: What sounds can you hear in this word? What letters make each of these sounds? What letters make the /c/ sound in this word?

Brainstorm a list of words that contain the /c/ sound with the students and write them on index cards.

Ask the students to sort the cards according to the spelling pattern.

Exploring words Ask: What words could you use to describe a good friend? (For example: kind, helpful, sharing.) Make a list of these words on a chart.

Writing Ask the students to draw a picture of a good friend, and then to write their own personal narrative about how they met and became friends. They could refer to the list of “good friend” words for support.

Sharing and presenting Ask the students to take turns reading their personal narratives to each other. Ask them to comment on the “good friend” words that they have used.

Before reading

After reading

Getting ready to read

Talking about the book

Support the students in activating their prior knowledge.

Discuss how we all have different talents and abilities.

If appropriate, refer to the “Frog and Toad” stories (by Arnold Lobel). Ask: How are Frog and Toad the same? How are they different? Does it matter that they are good at different things?

What are you good at? Ask the students to talk about their talents and abilities. Ask: What can you do that is different from one of your friends?

Ask the students to talk about the book. Promote discussion by choosing questions that are appropriate for your students.

Ask them to support their answers by referring to the illustrations and the text in the book.

Why didn’t the white cranes want to be friends with the blue crane?

(Literal) Why did the white cranes change their minds about being friends with the blue crane? (Inferential) Have you ever been in a situation similar to the one that the blue crane was in? Explain. What did you do? (Synthesizing) Is it fair that the white cranes did not want to be friends with the blue crane because she was different? Explain. (Critical)

Vocabulary building Say: The book we are going to read is about birds called cranes.

Draw a simple picture of a white crane and a blue crane near a lake. Say: These birds are called cranes. One is blue and one is white. They live on the edge of a lake. Label your picture with the words “blue”, “white”, “crane”, “beak”, and “wings”.

Introducing the book Give each student a copy of The Blue Crane. Say: This book is called The Blue Crane. It is a story about a group of white cranes that live near a lake. They are all good friends. One day a blue crane comes to their lake. The blue crane is different. The white cranes do not want the blue crane to be their friend. Talk the students through the book. Prompt them by saying: These are the white cranes. They all look like each other. Here is the blue crane.

How is this crane different? What might the white cranes say?

Reviewing reading strategies Encourage the students to identify what they did to help themselves as readers. If appropriate, comment on how the students used initial letters as they read.

ELL support • There is a clear problem and solution.

• Illustrations support the story line.

Word work Phonemic awareness and phonics Ask: What color was the new crane? What sounds can you hear in this word? Invite the students to write the word “blue” on their dry erase boards. Provide the correct model. If necessary, ask: Does anything surprise you about how this word is spelled? Prompt the students to underline the “ue”. What other letters can be used to represent this sound?

Exploring words Ask the students to refer to the end of the story. What are some words that could describe how the blue crane might have felt when the white cranes became her friend? (For example: happy, contented, relieved, full of joy.) Make a list of the students’ responses on a chart.

Writing Ask the students to talk about why the blue crane felt the way she did at the end of the story. Refer to the chart.

Why was she so relieved? What made her full of joy? Then ask the students to write about what might have happened to the blue crane after the story ended.

Sharing and presenting Ask the students to share their writing with each other.

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 the students are using initial consonant digraphs and clusters when decoding. Do they check the initial letters of the word?

Synthesizing: Talk about the pair Encourage the students to talk about what they have learned from reading Making Friends and The Blue Crane.

Ask: What have you learned about making friends? Ask the students to use the books to support their thinking.