Caring for a Baby Monkey / Baby Squirrel Rescue Lesson Plan

Blackline master

Animal rescue game

Make a book 1. Illustrate each sentence in the boxes below.

2. Cut out each box.

3. Staple the pages in the correct order to make your own mini-book.

The baby squirrels are let go in the tree behind Kim’s house.

Lesson Plans

Activity card

✂

A big tree falls down in front of Kim’s house.

Be the first to collect all the things your animal needs.

Then release your animal back into the wild!

Transitional reading stage

You will need: a dice

Level H (14)

How to play: 1. Draw a baby animal that you will look after.

2. Cut out the number cards and your drawing.

3. Take turns to roll the dice.

4. Collect the card with the number on it that you rolled.

5. Place the card on your animal picture.

6. The first person to collect all six cards is the winner.

1 Comes to the refuge center

2 Looked at by a vet

My animal

Caring For a Baby Monkey reports on what happens to wild baby monkeys that are found without a mother.

Running words: 183 Text type: Report

In Baby Squirrel Rescue, Kim finds a nest of baby squirrels with no mother. She helps to save their lives by rushing them to a vet.

Running words: 273 Text type: Narrative

High-frequency words

Key vocabulary

New: able back could does front animal hospital baby fed feed forest monkey/s mother safe help house outside soon took safely squirrel/s teach vet wild

Phonics 3 Eats food

• Identifying the long /e/ sound as in monkey, baby, feed, teach

4 Learns how to play

• Identifying the short /i/ sound as in milk, squirrel and the long /i/ sound as in wild, find

Kim finds some baby squirrels in the tree. They do not have a mother.

Text features

The vet looks at the squirrels and gives them some milk.

Caring For a Baby Monkey Baby Squirrel Rescue

5 Learns how to find food

• Photographic insets • Simple and compound sentences; dialogue

6 Learns how to make a home Reading strategies

• Asking questions about the information • Making predictions about the story

Correlations with State Standards

Kim takes the squirrels to an animal hospital.

The squirrels learn how to find food and how to make a nest.

Assessment Can the student draw illustrations that match the text?

Can the student order the text appropriately?

Flying Start to Literacy Lesson Plans Caring For a Baby Monkey / Baby Squirrel Rescue © 2014–2019 EC Licensing Pty Ltd.

Flying Start to Literacy Lesson Plans Caring For a Baby Monkey / Baby Squirrel Rescue © 2014–2019 EC Licensing Pty Ltd. © 2014–2019 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: “© 2014–2019 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: Kerrie Shanahan 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.4 Ask and answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text.

Foundational skills 1.RF.4a Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.

Writing 1.W.1 Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, 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.1g Use frequently occurring conjunctions.

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

Caring For a Baby Monkey Key concepts • Baby monkeys that do not have a mother need to be looked after or they will die.

• Monkeys must be able to look after themselves before they can live in the wild.

Baby Squirrel Rescue

Returning to the book

Key concepts • Some wild animals live near people.

• Some baby animals that don’t have a mother would die if people did not look after them.

• Wild animals can be returned to the wild when they are able to look after themselves.

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 Students could record their reading on an audio recording device. They could listen to the recording and rate how fluent or smooth their voice sounded.

Before reading

After reading

Word work

Before reading

After reading

Phonemic awareness and phonics

Getting ready to read

Talking about the book

Encourage students to activate their prior knowledge. Ask: What does a baby monkey need its mother for? What would happen if the baby monkey didn’t have a mother? Explain that there are places called refuge centers where trained workers look after baby monkeys that do not have a mother. Ask: What do you think people at these places do to look after baby monkeys that don’t have a mother? Make a list.

Have the students talk about the book. Encourage 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 do people at the refuge center look after a baby monkey?

(Literal) Why does a monkey need to know how to play with other monkeys before it can live in the wild? (Inferential) What other animals would need looking after if they had no mother?

(Synthesizing) Why do you think the author chose to write about baby monkeys in this book? (Critical)

Vocabulary building As needed, introduce the vocabulary from the book. Say: The book you are going to read is about a place where baby monkeys are looked after. Ask: What words might be in the book? List students’ ideas.

Introducing the book Give each student a copy of the book. Say: This book is called Caring For a Baby Monkey. Why do you think the monkey needs caring for? Discuss. Give students time to browse through the book. Ask: What do you see the monkey doing? What things did the people in the book do to look after the monkey?

Reviewing reading strategies Give positive feedback on the reading strategies the students used as they read the book. For example, say: I love that you want to find out more about this topic. The questions you have asked are great.

ELL support

During reading As each student reads the text independently, monitor and support them as needed. If necessary, ask them to stop reading and remind them to use the reading strategies you are focused on. Check for students who understand what they read. Ask: Was that clear to you? Are you unsure about any of the information? Check for students who are engaged in what they are reading about. Ask: Is there something that you are still wondering about? What else would you like to know?

• Photographs reflect what is written in the text.

• Photographs support the introduction of new ideas • Photographic insets add more details.

Write the words teach, feed, baby, and monkey on the board.

Ask: What one sound do these words have in common? Draw out that they all have the long /e/ sound. Invite students to circle the letter or letters in each word that make the long /e/ sound. Pairs of students could look through familiar texts to find other words with this sound.

Exploring words Ask students to write five words from the book on cards.

Each student can then work with a partner and put their word cards together. They take turns to group the ten words according to criteria such as starting sound, number of syllables, and type of word.

Writing Modeled writing

Getting ready to read

Talking about the book

Encourage students to activate their prior knowledge.

Ask: What wild animals live near your house? Give students the chance to discuss this with a partner. Say: A squirrel is a wild animal. Sometimes they live in trees near people’s homes. Do you think a baby squirrel could survive without a mother? Discuss students’ thoughts.

Have the students talk about the book. Encourage 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.

Where did Kim take the baby squirrels? (Literal) What would have happened to the squirrels if Kim hadn’t rescued them? (Inferential) What other animals could this story have been written about?

(Synthesizing) Could this have been a true story? Why do you think so? (Critical) Students could complete the Blackline master.

Vocabulary building As needed, introduce the vocabulary from the book. Write the words squirrel, baby, mother, vet, nest, animal hospital, and milk on the board. Read through the list and discuss the meanings of the words. Ask students to work with a partner, taking turns to put the words into sentences.

Introducing the book

Independent writing Have students write their own opinion piece, entitled “I would/would not like to work at a refuge center.” Remind students to give relevant reasons for their opinions.

During reading

Sharing and presenting Have small groups of students sit in a circle and take turns to read their writing aloud.

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 students work with a partner. One student reads the book aloud while the other student acts out Kim’s part.

Students then change roles.

Word work Phonemic awareness and phonics

Give each student a copy of the book. Say: This book is called Baby Squirrel Rescue. It is about a girl called Kim who finds some baby squirrels outside her home. They do not have a mother. What do you think Kim will do? Ask students to browse through the book. Talk through each page, asking students to comment on what is happening in the illustrations. Respond using vocabulary used in the text. For example, on page 6, say: Yes, Kim took the squirrels to the animal hospital.

Ask: What are the good things about working at a refuge center for animals? What are the negative things? Record students’ ideas on a T-chart. Ask: Would you like to work at a refuge center? Give students the chance to discuss this question with a partner. Model writing an opinion piece about whether or not you would like to work at a refuge center.

Returning to the book

As each student reads the text independently, monitor and support them as needed. If necessary, ask them to stop reading and remind them to use the reading strategies you are focused on. Check that the students understand what they are reading. Are they able to make sensible predictions about what might happen next? For example, on page 5, ask: What might Kim do now?

Reviewing reading strategies Give positive feedback on the reading strategies the students used as they read the book. For example, say: Well done. Your predictions are excellent. They show that you understand what is happening in the story.

ELL support • The character name is easy to decode.

• Illustrations support the story.

Write the words milk, Kim, and squirrel on the board. Ask: What sound does the “i” make in these words? List other words that have the short /i/ sound. Write the words wild and find on the board. Discuss the sound the letter “i” makes in these words. List other words with the long /i/ sound.

Exploring words Refer the students to the first sentence on page 4. Say: This sentence has two ideas, or parts, in it. What word joins these two parts? Repeat for the last sentence on page 5. Then say: Words that join two parts of a sentence together are called conjunctions. Ask students to find conjunctions in other texts.

Writing Modeled writing Make a list of animals that would need to be cared for if they did not have a mother. Model writing a narrative about one of these animals, in which the animal is rescued and looked after, then released into the wild.

Independent writing Students choose an animal to write a narrative about, using your writing and the text as a model.

Sharing and presenting Students could record their stories on an audio recording device. The recordings could be played to the whole group.

Synthesizing: Talk about the pair When students have read both books, have them work in small groups to brainstorm what they know about rescuing baby animals. Ask: What do you still wonder

about baby animals and refuge centers? Discuss. Students can work further with these books by completing the Activity card.