SNAKES
All About Rattlesnakes
by Jim Arnosky 0-590-46795-6
Great Snakes! By Fay Robinson 0-590-26243-2
My Little Book of Snakes by Gina Ingoglia 0-307-02475-X
Snakes By Patricia Demuth 0-448-40513-X
Snakes By Golden Books 0-307-20402-2
Verdi By Janell Cannon 0-590-11749-1
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SSR day one
Read aloud Verdi
by Janell Cannon. I bought the tape with the story on it from Scholastic.
It is definitely worth the money.
Show the kids all
the snake books. I remind the kids that they are allowed to read these
books during the SSR time.
The other days during
SSR the kids pick books from book baskets and the teacher can read aloud
snake books if she desires.
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Guided Reading day one
I do a little introduction
about snakes.
I put the books
on different tables. I divide the kids into as many different book titles
that I have available. Each child gets to picture walk, read a bit,
and look at the books. Then I have the kids write down a first choice
and a second choice and a third of the book they want to read. See book
clubs pages 58-61 for better directions.
We predict what
we will learn about (see teacher's guide to 4 blocks page 67) I try
to get the kids to generate some of the following questions:
Where do snakes live?
What do snakes eat?
What are the names of snakes?
What are the special characteristics of snakes?
How do snakes move?
When do snakes.... eat, breed, die,...?
Why are snakes important to our environment?
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Guided Reading day 2
I start a graphic
organizer web (see page 70 in Teacher's Guide to 4 Blocks).
Look
Live
Eat
Help Environment
Move
I assign book club books reminding the kids that the other books will
be available for their use during SSR time.
For 20 minutes,
the kids read the first section together. I look at the books and decide
where each break should be. Then the kids work together to add to the
graphic organizer. I have each group work on a group graphic organizer.
We gather the groups
together and add to the class web.
Guided Reading day
3 and 4
I repeat day 2.
Focused Writing----
When we are done learning about snakes the children will be using "Safe
Topic" Sentences to Write about Snakes.
Students will be
pick one topic sentence from the following list:
Let me tell you
about ______
Have you ever wondered about ______
Have you ever wondered why ______
I think was for many reasons.
I just learned facts about ______
Let me tell you how and are alike.
Let me tell you how and are different.
Many changes happen to as they grow.
People used to think , but now we know...
Partner one tells
everything he knows about what was read. Switch. Partner two tells everything
she knows about what was read. Pick a Safe Topic sentence. Write details
from the snake books that was read.
