unit 1/week 3 at a glance

TM

LiteracyB e n c h m a r k

Teacher’s Guide Grade K • Unit 1 3Unit 1/Week 3 at a Glance

Day Mini-Lessons

ONE • Activate Prior Knowledge: Concept Web

• Introduce the Reader’s Theater Script: Build Concepts about Print

• Build Academic Vocabulary

• Build Sight Word Vocabulary

• Model Fluency: Read Together

TWO • Build Fluency: Echo-Read

• Build Comprehension: Retell the Script

• Shared Writing

THREE • Introduce Fluency Skills: Speed/Pacing—Varied

FOUR • Practice and Self-Assess Fluency Skills: Speed/Pacing—Varied

• Apply Fluency Skills to Reader’s Theater

FIVE • Prepare for and Manage Student Performances: Audience and Performer Expectations

• Show Time!

• Assess and Reflect

Week

Ask Questions/Identify Main Idea and Supporting Details

® B e n c h m a r k e d u c a t i o n c o m p a n y

Benchmark Literacy • Grade K • Unit 1/Week 3 ©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC2

Day One

Read-Aloud (10 minutes)

Select a favorite fiction read-aloud from your classroom or school library with which to model the metacognitive strategy “Ask Questions.” Use the sample read-aloud lessons and suggested titles provided in the Benchmark Literacy Overview.

Mini-Lessons (20 minutes)

Activate Prior Knowledge: Concept Web

Say: This week we’re going to read and perform a reader’s theater script about families. What does the word family mean to you? Allow responses. Encourage students to understand that there are many kinds of families, and that your family is the people who love and take care of you.

Create a “Families” concept web and ask students to brainstorm words for family members. (See the sample web below.)

Reinforce words related to families by using the words in complete sentences with students. For example:

A family can have sisters. A family can have grandparents. Some families have a mom and a dad. Some families have a dad and a stepmom.

Ask: Who is in your family? What do you like to do with your family?

Save your concept web to refer to throughout the week.

Lesson Objectives

Students will:

• Discuss the concept of families.

• Ask questions before reading.

• Build concepts about print.

• Build academic and sight word vocabulary.

• Build fluency through choral-reading.

• Build oral language and vocabulary through whole-group and partner discussion.

Related Resources

• Reader’s Theater Whiteboard CD-ROM

• Audio CD

Reader’s Theatre Lap Book

Sample Families Concept Web

Families

brother

grandma

daduncle

momfoster parent

sisterstepparent

godparent

grandpa

Day One

3©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC Benchmark Literacy • Grade K • Unit 1/Week 3

Make Content Comprehensible for ELLsBeginningAs you introduce the script, point to each family member. Use simple sentence frames to talk about families. Ask students to repeat the names and sentences.

I see a family. The family has a .

Beginning and IntermediateAs you front-load the script vocabulary, allow time for students to practice using the words in sentences.

If you have students whose first language is Spanish, share these English/Spanish cognates: family/la familia; mom/la mamá.

Intermediate and AdvancedModel the use of academic sentence frames to support ELLs’ vocabulary and language development. (See suggested sentence frames provided.)

Support Special Needs LearnersThroughout the week, use the following strategies to help students who have learning disabilities access the content and focus on skills and strategies.

Support visual learners and students with attention issues by projecting the whiteboard version of the lap book. Allow students to come to the whiteboard and circle, highlight, or label key vocabulary.

Support auditory learners by playing the e-book readings of the script or allowing them to listen and follow along as the text is highlighted.

During independent workstation time, pair special needs students with more fluent readers for partner-reading practice of the script.

Group students heterogeneously for small-group reading of the script so that struggling students benefit from working with more fluent readers.

Introduce the Reader’s Theater Script: Build Concepts About Print

Display the lap book With My Family on an easel or use the Reader’s Theater Whiteboard CD-ROM to display the book on a whiteboard.Say: Look at the photograph on this cover. What do you see? What connections can you make to this photograph? Does it remind you of anyone or anything? Allow responses.

Activate metacognitive strategies. Say: Looking at the cover of a book can help you predict, or guess, what the book will be about. We know this book will be about families, but what do you think it might say about families? What clues are on the cover? Remember to ask yourself questions to help you form ideas.

Read the title. Ask: Who can come up and point to the title of the book?

Read the name of the author. Ask: Who would like to find the author’s name on this book cover?

Display the inside front cover of the book. Read the question aloud. Invite students to share their favorite family activities. Ask: Does this picture help you make new predictions about what this book is about? What new predictions can you make?

Point out the title page. Ask: Who will show us where the top of the page is? Where is the bottom of the page?

Ask: Where should I start reading on this page? Where should I stop reading?

Point to the character group icons on the title page. Explain that a script is like a play. It has parts for different characters, and each character reads his or her part. Say: In this script there are three parts—the red group, the blue group, and the purple group.

Point to and read the setting of the script. Explain: The setting is where the action takes place.


Day One

Build Academic Vocabulary

Open the book to My Picture Words on page 2.Ask: What do you see in each picture?

Invite a student to name what he or she sees in each picture. If students cannot name the picture, provide the name for them as you point to the label.

Talk about the meaning of each word, and ask students to use the word in meaningful sentences. Support ELLs by modeling how you use the following sentence frames:

I see a . A is .

Build Sight Word Vocabulary

Turn to My Sight Words on page 3. Say: Now look at these words. Do you know any of these words? Point to them and read them for me.

Turn to page 4 and read aloud each group of sentences, pointing to each word as you read it.

Write the list of sight words used in the text on the board, or use the Reader’s Theater Whiteboard CD-ROM to display the list of words on a whiteboard.

Have the students practice reading the list chorally several times. Then ask volunteers to use each word in a sentence.

With My Family, page 2

With My Family, page 3

©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC Benchmark Literacy • Grade K • Unit 1/Week 3 5

Day One

Fluency Quick-CheckNote students who can or cannot read aloud the script with you. Students who would benefit from hearing additional oral readings of the script to support the development of sight word vocabulary and automaticity can listen to the With My Family audio CD during independent workstation time.

Throughout the week, refer to the Fluency Rubric provided with the Benchmark Literacy Assessments to help you informally assess where the students are in their development of key areas of fluency.

Home/School Connection You may want to have students take home the printable version of the script (available on the Reader’s Theater Whiteboard CD-ROM) and read it with a family member. A home/school connection letter to family members is also available on the CD. This letter explains how to read the script with students.

Model Fluency: Read Together

Turn to page 4. Point out the color-coded icons for each reading group. Say: These icons help me know which group is reading. When you read this book in your small reading groups, you will be assigned one of these parts to read. Right now, we will all read all of the parts together.

Point to the first line of text as you read it with fluent expression. Invite students to read the sentence with you.

Read the second and third lines on page 4 in a similar manner, making sure that students pay attention to how you read smoothly and expressively.

Finally, ask students to choral-read the rest of the script with you. Point to each word as you read it. Remind students to pay attention to how they sound and to make their reading sound natural and smooth, too.

Connect and transfer. Say: Today we practiced reading the script together. Tomorrow, we’re going to practice some more so that you feel very comfortable with the text and you can read with fluent expression. At the end of the week, you will get to perform the script with your classmates.

Small-Group Reading Instruction (60 minutes)

Based on students’ instructional reading levels and comprehension needs, select titles that provide opportunities for students to continue to practice identifying stated main ideas and details (see the list provided on the Small-Group Reading Instructional Planner), or select titles that enable students to review previously taught comprehension strategies.

Use the instruction provided in the Teacher’s Guide to introduce the texts.

Individual Student Conferences (10 minutes)

Confer with individual students on their text selections and application of strategies. Use the Reading Conference Note-Taking Form to help guide your conference.

Phonics Workshop (20 minutes)

Select StartUp Phonics Red Lessons to review phonological awareness skills, letter recognition, and letter formation. Use your beginning of the year assessments to determine the appropriate lessons.


Day Two


Select a favorite fiction read-aloud from your classroom or school library with which to model the metacognitive strategy “Ask Questions.” Use the sample read-aloud lessons and suggested titles provided in the Benchmark Literacy Overview.


Build Fluency: Echo-Read

Display the lap book on an easel or use the Reader’s Theater Whiteboard CD-ROM to display the book on a whiteboard.

Explain that you will model fluent reading. As you read, invite students to listen to how you read the text. (You may also use the talking e-book feature on the Whiteboard CD-ROM so that students can follow along as the text is read and highlighted.)

Ask students to listen for how smoothly you read, how your voice inflection changes as you read, and how you use punctuation to guide your voice to read expressively.

Explain that a script is written in dialogue, which means that people say all the words out loud, like people talking or actors acting.

Open the book to page 4, and read one sentence at a time.

Have students echo (repeat) each sentence after you. Point out changes in expression and voice intonation. (See the Echo-Reading Checklist on page 7.)

Repeat echo-reading of pages 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 until students are familiar with the language patterns of the text.

Build Comprehension: Retell the Script

Write the repetitive language patterns for each group part on sentence strips or use the Reader’s Theater Whiteboard CD-ROM to display them.

Reread the book by putting the sentence strips in order in a pocket chart. Have students use the rebus picture cards to complete the sentences. (Copies can be made from the Whiteboard CD-ROM.)

Lesson Objectives

Students will:

• Echo-read to build fluency.

• Build comprehension through retelling.

• Build vocabulary through shared writing.


Related Resources

• Reader’s Theater Whiteboard CD-ROM

• Audio CD

• Printable Scripts (on Whiteboard CD-ROM)

Reader’s Theater Lap Book


Day Two

Make Content Comprehensible for ELLs

Beginning and IntermediateReview the picture and sight words on pages 2–3 of the lap book before you begin. Spend time orally practicing the sentence frames in the text.

Pair students and ask them to role-play the script.

All LevelsPair ELLs with fluent English speakers during discussions and activities.

Echo-Reading Checklist• Point out the rise and fall of the voice

during reading.

• Read smoothly and in phrased units.

• Pause or stop at the end of a sentence with a period.

• Read the text as if you were talking to someone.

Cut each sentence strip into individual word cards. Ask students to put the sentences together to match the sentences in the book.

Ask: What family members were in the script? What did the family members like to do?

Shared Writing

Display page 4 of the With My Family lap book on an easel.

Explain to students that they will write their own sentences using the same sentence patterns that are in the book.

Ask a volunteer to read the first sentence on page 4: This is my mom. Ask other students to reread the sentence together.

Ask: Who is another family member we could write about? If necessary, reread the family members students brainstormed on their “Families” concept web on Day 1.

Say: Let’s say our sentence together: This is my . What is the first word we will write? That’s right. We’ll write the word this.

Write the word on chart paper. Repeat this process to write the complete sentence with students. Reread the sentence.

If time allows, work with students to write the sentences: I play with my . We like to play.

Choral-read your sentences together. Then invite individual students to take turns pointing to each word as they read it aloud to the class.

Connect and transfer. Say: Remember, good readers learn to recognize certain words automatically, so that they don’t have to stop and think when they come to them in a sentence. Tonight, when you practice reading with your family members, try to make your reading sound smooth and expressive.


Day Two

Oral Language ExtensionDuring independent workstation time, display the pocket chart with word cards forming the sentence patterns from the book. Invite pairs of students to reread the sentences together and to form new oral sentences about their family members, using the same sentence patterns.

Home/School ConnectionAsk students to read their take-home script again at home with a family member and to practice reading smoothly and with expression.


Based on students’ instructional reading levels and comprehension needs, select titles that provide opportunities for students to continue to practice identifying stated main ideas and details (see the list provided on the Small-Group Reading Instructional Planner), or select titles that enable students to review previously taught comprehension strategies.

Use the instruction provided in the Teacher’s Guide to introduce the texts.


Confer with individual students on their text selections and application of strategies. Use the Reading Conference Note-Taking Form to help guide your conference.




Day Three

Lesson Objectives

Students will:

• Practice reading a rhyme with varied speed and pacing.

• Compose a class Fluency anchor chart.


Related Resources

• Fluency Whiteboard CD-ROM

• Audio CD

• Hickory, Dickory, Dock (BLM 1)


Select a favorite nonfiction read-aloud from your classroom or school library with which to model the metacognitive strategy “Ask Questions.” Use the sample read-aloud lessons and suggested titles provided in the Benchmark Literacy Overview.


Introduce Fluency Skills: Speed/Pacing—Varied

Explain: We read different kinds of texts at different speeds. For example, we read funny poems quickly to keep the rhythm going. We read things like directions slowly to make sure we don’t miss any steps. Sometimes we read different parts of a text at different speeds. We read the easy parts faster than the hard parts. This is called pacing. Good readers use pacing to help their reading sound right and makse sense to themselves and others.

Display the fluency poster “Hickory, Dickory, Dock” and read aloud the title. (Note: The poster is also available as BLM 1.)

Say: This is a rhyme. It is about a mouse who runs up a clock and then comes down again. I will use this rhyme to model how I change my pace as I read to make my reading sound interesting and make sense. Listen as I read the rhyme, and try to notice where I read more quickly and where I slow down.

Point to each word as you read the rhyme aloud, varying your speed to make the text interesting and dramatic. For example: Read slowly:

Hickory, dickory, dock.

Increase your pace to build anticipation:The mouse ran up the clock.

Increase your pace:The clock struck one,

Read fast, with excitement:The mouse ran down!

Return to the slow pace you started with:Hickory, dickory, dock.

Next say: Now I will read the rhyme again. This time, I will read every word at the same speed.

Read the first few lines of the rhyme in a slow, word-by-word manner.

Ask: Which reading makes the dialogue sound better? Why?

Fluency Poster


Day Three


Beginning and IntermediateOrally demonstrate fast and slow pace. Invite students to vary their pace, too, and tell you whether it was fast or slow.

All LevelsBefore reading the poster to model fluency, read and support comprehension of unfamiliar words and concepts through explanation, gestures, role-play, and the use of realia. Words to support include: clock, mouse, running, struck, one.

Comprehension Quick-CheckThe goal of fluency practice is to increase comprehension. Use the following questions to check students’ comprehension of the passage:

• What was this rhyme mostly about?

• How did the mouse get up the clock?

• When did he come down?

Home/School ConnectionInvite students to take home Hickory, Dickory, Dock (BLM 1) and choral-read it with a family member to build fluency.

Shared Writing. Invite students to help you create a class anchor chart to remind them how good readers use speed and pacing. (See the example provided.) When you are finished, ask students to echo-read the entire chart. Then post the chart in the classroom for future reference.

Connect and transfer. Say: Today during small-group reading, pay attention to pacing as you read. Slow down when you are having trouble with a word. Vary your pacing depending on what is happening in the script.


Use the small-group reading time to read With My Family.

Use the Day 3 instruction provided in the My First Reader’s Theater Teacher’s Guide to assign roles and guide students’ reading of the script.


Confer with individual students to discuss their script roles and how they plan to read their part. Use the Reading Conference Note-Taking Form to help guide your conference.



Sample Anchor Chart

Speed/Pacing• We read different kinds of texts at

different speeds.

• We read easy parts faster and hard parts slower.

• We match our pacing to what the author is saying.

• Reading too fast makes the reading hard to understand.

• Reading too slowly does not sound natural.

• No matter what speed we use to read, we pay attention to punctuation.


Day FourRead-Aloud (10 minutes)

Select a favorite nonfiction read-aloud from your classroom or school library with which to model the metacognitive strategy “Ask Questions.” Use the sample read-aloud lessons and suggested titles provided in the Benchmark Literacy Overview.


Practice and Self-Assess Fluency Skills: Speed/Pacing–Varied

Distribute copies of Hickory, Dickory, Dock (BLM 1).

Ask students to choral-read the rhyme with you one or more times.

Next, allow students to choral-read the rhyme without your assistance.

Distribute the Fluency Self-Assessment Master Checklist (BLM 2) and review the assessment criteria for speed/pacing and integration. Ask students to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down on each question based on the group’s choral-reading. Discuss their responses.

Partner reading. Pair students, and then put two pairs together. Have one pair of students read the rhyme while the other pair of students listens and supports their reading as necessary. Then have pairs switch roles.

Monitor students’ partner-reading practice and provide responsive feedback using the appropriate prompts from the list on page 12.

Ask students to rate themselves on specific fluency skills covered in this lesson using their Fluency Self-Assessment Master Checklist (BLM 2).

Connect and transfer. Ask students to reflect on their fluency practice, using the following prompts:

•Whenisithelpfultoreadslowly?•Whenisitimportanttoreadmorequickly?•Howwillyouusewhatyouhavelearnedasyoupracticereading

With My Family?

Fluency Poster

Lesson Objectives

Students will:

• Read a dialogue at a varied pace.

• Utilize punctuation cues.

• Demonstrate understanding of the text through purposeful pacing.

• Use effective pacing to make their reading sound like talking.

Related Resources

• Audio CD

• Hickory, Dickory, Dock (BLM 1)

• Fluency Self-Assessment Master Checklist (BLM 2)

• With My Family (BLM 3)


Day Four


BeginningAllow ELLs to participate through active listening while other students demonstrate varied speed and pacing. Invite them to indicate when the pacing is fast or slow.

Intermediate and AdvancedAllow ELLs to read parts of the script chorally with you or other students as they demonstrate their varied speed and pacing.

Responsive Prompts for Speed and Pacing

As students work together, observe those who demonstrate understanding and those who struggle. Use appropriate responsive prompting to provide additional support or to validate students who demonstrate mastery.

Goal Oriented• Listen to me read. Can you read it like I do?• Listen to how I read this. I am going to read this faster.• Listen to how I read this. I am going to read this slower.• Listen to my voice as I read the next sentence. Am I reading

at a fluent pace?

Directive and Corrective Feedback• Read these words faster.• Read these words slower.• Try that again and read slower.• Try that again and read faster.• Try moving your eyes quicker so you can read more words together.• Read the text again and make it sound like you are talking.

Self-Monitoring and Reflection• How did you pace your reading?• Did you read that too fast or too slowly?• What did you do to read that faster/slower?• How did you vary your pace in that passage?• What did you notice about your reading?• What made you read slower or faster?• Where did you read too fast/slowly?• Where did you read at the right pace?

Validating and Confirming• I liked the way you read it faster that time.• I liked the way you slowed your reading down that time.• Good job at varying your pace in the passage.• You read at an appropriate rate. Great job!

Fluency Self-Assessment Master Checklist (BLM 2)

Name Date

Benchmark Literacy • Grade K • Unit 1/Week 3 ©2010 Benchmark Education Company, LLC

BLM 0BLM 2

s S

Speed/PacingDid my speed and pacing match the kind of text I was reading? Did my speed and pacing match what the character was saying? Did I read with a natural talking voice?Did I slow my reading down when appropriate?Did I pay attention to punctuation? PausingDid I pause to keep from running all my words together? Did I pause in the correct locations?Did I pause for the appropriate length of time?Did I pause to help my reading make sense? Did I use punctuation to help me figure out when to pause? Inflection/IntonationDid I make my voice rise at a question mark?Did I make my voice fall at a period?Did I think about what the author was saying so I would know when to read louder or softer? Did I think about what the author was saying so I would know when to stress or emphasize words? Phrasing Did I notice the phrases?Did I read all the words in each phrase together?Did I think about what the words in the phrase mean when they are together?ExpressionDid I look for clues so I could anticipate the mood of the passage? Did I use my tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language to express what the author or characters were thinking or feeling?Did I change my reading when something new was about to happen?IntegrationDid I read the words right? (accuracy)Did I read the words at the right speed? (rate)Did I read with expression? (prosody)Did my reading sound like talking?Did I understand what I read?

Fluency Self-Assessment Master Checklist


Day Four

Oral Language ExtensionHave pairs of students practice fluency during independent workstation time by reading aloud Hickory, Dickory, Dock (BLM 1). Students will:

• choral-read the passage together

• take turns reading to each other

Home/School ConnectionHave students take home the With My Family activity page (BLM 3) and draw their own pictures to complete each sentence. Ask them to read their sentences to a family member.

Apply Fluency Skills to Reader’s Theater

Display the With My Family lap book and turn to page 4.

Say: Let’s take what we have learned about pacing and use it as we reread a few pages of the script. Listen as I read. After I finish, I want you to tell me how I varied my pacing and how that helped the script be more exciting for you as listeners.

Read pages 4–7. Vary your pacing. Use the suggestions below or interpret the text in your own way:

• Red Group: fast, enthusiastic• Blue Group: moderate speed, explanatory• Purple Group: slower and emphatic

Ask students to comment on your reading and how it affected them as listeners. Then invite volunteers to read aloud and vary their pacing following your example.


Practice reading With My Family.

Use the Day 4 instruction provided in the My First Reader’s Theater Teacher’s Guide to help students rehearse for their performance.


Confer with individual students on their fluency development. Use the Reading Conference Note-Taking Form to help guide your conference.



With My Family, pages 4–5

With My Family, pages 6–7


Day Five


Revisit the week’s read-alouds to make text-to-text connections and provide opportunities for reader response. Use the suggested activities in the Benchmark Literacy Overview, or implement ideas of your own.


Prepare for and Manage Student Performances: Audience and Performer Expectations

Prepare students for their reader’s theater performances by sharing your expections of audience members and performers.

Audience expectations. Say: While you are listening to the other groups perform, I expect you to do the following:

• Give your classmates your full attention.• Do not speak to your neighbors or make any noise.• Enjoy their performance and show your appreciation by clapping when

they are finished.• Be prepared to give your feedback on the script, and always remember

to put your feedback in a constructive, or helpful, way.

Performer expectations. Say: While you and your group are performing the script, remember to do these things:

• Read in a loud, clear voice and act out your role.• Use expression and fluency to help everyone listening to understand

your character.• Remember to vary your speed and pacing.• When it is not your turn to read, follow along in the script so you know

when to come in.• If one of your group members gets lost or forgets to come in, prompt

him or her quietly.• Accept both suggestions and praise from your audience.

Show Time!

Invite students to perform the script for an audience such as members of the class, students from other classes, school staff members, or parents.

Continue your performances during small-group reading time, giving each group the opportunity to perform.

Lesson Objectives

Students will:

• Demonstrate their level of fluency development through an oral reading interpretation of the script.

• Demonstrate active listening skills.

• Reflect on and assess their own fluency development.

Related Resources

• Audio CD

• Reader’s Theater Self-Assessment (BLM 4)

Reader’s Theater Lap Book


Day Five

Assess and Reflect

After all groups have completed their performance, use the following self-assessment activity to help students reflect on their performance, identify how they have improved as readers and performers, and determine what they will focus on as they participate in future reader’s theater experiences throughout the year.

Draw a three-column reflection chart on chart paper. Include a column for Reflection Questions and columns to answer Yes or No in response. Use the following questions to guide the group’s assessment of their performance, or use Reader’s Theater Self-Assessment (BLM 4). Place a check mark in the appropriate column, noting their responses.

•Didwemakeourreadingsoundsmoothliketalking?•Didwemakeourcharacterssoundandfeellikerealpeople

with feelings?•Didweactoutourpartswithourvoicesandbodylanguage?•Wereourpartsat“justright”readinglevels?•Didwepracticeourreadingmanytimesbeforeperforming?•Didwevarythepacingtosupportlisteners’understandingofthe

characters and events?

Connect and transfer. Discuss ways to improve future performances based on the self-assessment and reflections.


Use the small-group reading time to continue students’ performances of With My Family.

After all groups have performed, use the Assess and Reflect activity above.


Have students use their self-reflection to discuss how they would read differently next time. Discuss how students plan to apply what they learned to future performances and independent reading.



Support Participation of ELLs

Beginning Allow beginning ELLs to participate as active listeners.

Intermediate and AdvancedGroup ELLs with more fluent readers to choral-read their part in the script.

Assessment TipDuring student performances, record anecdotal notes that focus on how students are developing fluency skills and how they are meeting performer and audience member expectations.

Reader’s Theater Self-Assessment (BLM 4)

Name Date

Benchmark Literacy • Grade K • Unit 1/Week 3 ©2010 Benchmark Education Company, LLC

BLM 0BLM 4

Reader’s Theater Self-AssessmentDirections: Answer each question by coloring the face that best

shows how you feel about your reading.

1. Did my reading sound like talking?

s S ß

2. Did I use my voice to show the character’s feelings?

s S ß

3. Did I say the lines like the character would say them?

s S ß

4. Did I use the punctuation marks to help me know how to say the words?

s S ß

5. Did I read with a good speed?

s S ß

6. Did I fix my mistakes when I read?

s S ß

7. Did I act like the character?

s S ß

8. Did I listen carefully to the other readers?

s S ß

unit 1/week 3 at a glance

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