Grade 1 Teaching Center
Reading, critical thinking, and citizenship skills for first grade
Here is everything you need to teach each week's issue.
 Week 1
|
 Week 2
|
 Week 3
|
 Week 4
|
Teach facts about schools around the world.
National Standard
Social Studies (NCSS)
Individuals, groups, and institutions
Common Core Standard
Describe the connection between two individuals, events, and ideas or pieces of information in a text.
Goal
Children will learn about some characteristics of schools around the world.
Objective
Children will be able to match sentences with the correct photos.
Concepts of Comprehension©
Comparing is noticing how two or more things are alike. Contrasting is noticing how they are different. Ask students to read the issue. Then have them compare and contrast their school experience with the experiences of kids from schools in other parts of the world.
Link
Learn more about schools around the world, watch videos, and see photos.
Literature Connection
• My Librarian Is a Camel: How Books Are Brought to Children Around the World, by Margriet Ruurs
• School Days Around the World, by Catherine Chambers
• School in Many Cultures, by Heather Adamson
Multimedia Features in This Issue
COVER
Video: It’s time for school!
Ask: What do you do to get ready for school? How do you get to school?
PAGES 2–3
Video: See kids in school.
Ask: What do you like best about school? How are the schools in the video similar to your school? How are they different?
PAGE 4
Activity: Reading Comprehension
Assess students’ comprehension. Ask students to place the number of the sentence under the photo that relates to it. They can type in or drag and drop answers.
Word Power
Encourage children to match the picture with the word that names it.
Before Reading
Take a “picture walk” through this week’s issue, pointing to details in photos and key words that students will encounter. Explore students’ prior knowledge. Ask: What is school? What do you like best about school? How might school be the same in other parts of the world? How might school be different in other parts of the world?
Background Information
• Many children in Brazil go home during the school day to eat lunch with their families. Lunch is their most important meal.
• Some children in China spend their summer vacation going to summer classes or studying.
• In Iran, boys and girls are taught separately, with girls having female teachers and boys having male teachers.
• In Kenya, some schools give their children free lunch. In poor villages, the children try to save some of that food to share with their families.
• In Russia, students remain together in the same classroom from grades 1 through 10.
• South Korean students must help clean their classrooms before they leave for the day.
During Reading
Model thinking aloud. Example: “Hmm, I wonder why children in South America might learn lessons outdoors.” Encourage students to think aloud about other facts they read.
After Reading
Compare and Contrast: Read aloud a picture book from the Literature Connection. Guide children in completing a Venn diagram to compare and contrast
their school to a school in another country. Review the findings.
Social Studies Extension: Write the name of each continent featured in the issue on a different-colored sticky note. Make two matching sets. Place the notes on a world map to show children the location of the continents mentioned in the issue. Ask children to review the text about schools. Then invite volunteers to place the second set of notes on the continents’ names in the issue. To review, point to each continent on a globe and encourage students to say the name.
Adaptation: Show pictures of children in school/playground/cafeteria settings. Describe a picture aloud. Ask: What are the students doing? Where are they?
Introduce school rules and the laws of our country in the U.S. Constitution.
National Standard
Social Studies (NCSS)
Individuals, groups, and institutions
Common Core Standard
Ask and answer questions about key details of a text.
Goal
Students will understand why schools have rules.
Objective
Students will be able to answer questions based on explicit information in a passage.
Concepts of Comprehension©
Explicit Information is information that can clearly be found “right there” in the text. Play a game called Find a Fact. Invite students to find facts in the text such as the name of our country, a school rule, the name of our country’s rules, and the first words of the U.S. Constitution.
Link
Get the lyrics to the Schoolhouse Rock song “The Preamble.”
Literature Connection
• Following Rules, by Cassie Mayer
• Grody’s Not So Golden Rules, by Nicole Rubel
• Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen, by Howard Binkow
• Kevin Knows the Rules: Introduces Classroom Rules to Kindergarten Through Third Grade Students, by Molly Dowd
• Know and Follow Rules, by Cheri J. Meiners
Multimedia Features in This Issue
COVER
Video: Kids talk about rules.
Listen to kids talk about school rules.
PAGES 2–3
Video: See Independence Hall.
Many people go to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to see Independence Hall. Ask: Why might people want to visit Independence Hall?
Video: See the U.S. Constitution.
It was written with a pen made from a feather. Ask: What do you know about the U.S. Constitution?
PAGE 4
Activity: Reading Comprehension
Assess students’ ability to answer questions based on Buddy’s letter. Have students click on the correct answer to each question.
Word Power
Invite students to type the word.
Before Reading
Activate Prior Knowledge: Explain that students will be reading and learning about rules. Ask: What is a rule? What rules do we have at school? What rules does our country have? What would happen if there were no rules in school or in our country?
Background Information
Experts say that classroom routines, procedures, and rules help create a calm, orderly, and safe learning environment. Be sure to display classroom rules and procedures where students and caregivers can see them. Some helpful tips include the following:
• Involve students in the process of creating the rules. List three to five rules. Make sure they are clear, specific, and stated positively.
• Review and practice the rules regularly to reinforce them in the beginning of the year.
• Identify activities that require certain guidelines (sharpening pencils, turning in homework, arriving at and leaving the classroom, walking in halls, and silent reading and classwork time).
• Establish and explain consequences for those who do not follow the rules.
During Reading
Draw Conclusions: Point to the photo of the U.S. Constitution. Ask students to describe what they see. (old paper, written words, and so on) Ask: How does the photo help you understand the story?
After Reading
Critical Thinking: Ask students to think about the rules in their school and classroom. Ask: Which rule do you think is most important? Why?
Social Studies Extension: Guide students in writing a classroom constitution. Ask them to brainstorm ideas together. Have them write five important rules on a large piece of paper, and have students sign their names on the bottom. Start the constitution with “We the Students in Room ___ …” Display the constitution in the classroom.
Language Arts Extension: Write the word school on the board. Invite children to count how many times that word appears in the issue (seven times). Help students make a list of words that rhyme with school, such as tool and cool.
Adaptation: Reinforce reading and rules. On sentence strips, create simple cloze sentences based on this issue. Let students complete the sentences
as they reread the issue.
Discuss with students what hurricanes are and how to stay safe.
National Standard
Science (NSES)
Changes in Earth and sky
Common Core Standard
Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by words in a text.
Goal
Children will understand that a hurricane is a strong storm that can cause damage to trees and property.
Objective
Children will be able to select the correct words and pictures to complete sentences about hurricanes.
Concepts of Comprehension©
Author’s Purpose is the reason why an author has written a text for readers. Ask: Why might the author have given us this information? What does the author want us to do? Why should you learn hurricane safety tips?
Link
Find more hurricane information, including safety tips and games.
Literature Connection
• Changing Weather: Storms, by Kelley MacAulay and Bobbie Kalman
• Eye of the Storm: A Book About Hurricanes, by Rick Thomas
• Hurricanes, by Seymour Simon
• Sergio and the Hurricane, by Alexandra Wallner
• When a Storm Comes Up, by Allan Fowler
Multimedia Features in This Issue
COVER
Video: What is a hurricane watch?
A hurricane watch is announced when a hurricane is possible within 48 hours. Ask: Why might it be important to listen to weather reports?
PAGES 2–3
Video: See hurricane winds and rain.
Hurricanes bring strong winds and a lot of rain. Ask: How might people stay safe during a hurricane?
Video: Watch a hurricane.
Ask: Why might scientists use computers to track hurricanes?
PAGE 4
Activity: Explicit Information
Assess students’ comprehension of the content by having them draw a line from the first part of each sentence to the word or words that complete it.
Word Power
Invite students to click on the two pictures whose names begin with h.
Before Reading
Set a Purpose for Reading: As children look at the cover of the issue, have them complete this sentence: Hurricane winds could _____.
Background Information
• Hurricanes are powerful swirling storms that can be 200 to 300 miles across.
• A hurricane forms over warm ocean water and then carries heavy rain and strong winds onto land.
• Hurricane winds swirl around an eye, or a calm area in the storm’s center, that can be 20 miles wide.
• Hurricane winds blow at 74 miles per hour or more. Winds that blow around a hurricane’s eye can reach speeds of 130 to 150 miles per hour.
• The storms can cause ocean flooding; their winds can severely damage buildings, cars, and boats.
During Reading
Mini Activity: Ask students to think about the weather. Ask: What are some kinds of weather? What is a storm? What happens during a storm?
Why might a spinning storm be dangerous? Create a word web on an easel pad. Guide students in finding words (such as wind, rain, clouds, and blow) that describe stormy weather and hurricanes.
After Reading
Monitor Understanding: Help children paraphrase the story “People Can Stay Safe.” Ask: What is the big idea? Discuss some of the items people need to have to stay safe. Ask: Why might we need each of these items? Why might you need batteries if a hurricane takes place?
Language Arts Extension: Discuss how weather can make different sounds. Make a chart with three sections. Label the sections Rain, Thunder, and Wind. Invite children to think of sound words that go with each kind of weather. List the words in the correct sections. Practice using the words in sentences, such as “Thunder goes boom.”
Science Extension: Explain that rain can be both helpful and harmful. Discuss the helpful and harmful effects of rain. Record responses on a chart with the headings Helpful and Harmful. Give each child a piece of paper with this sentence frame: Rain can _____ because it _____. Let each child choose a response from the chart to complete the sentence. Bind papers in a class booklet titled Rain Can Be Helpful or Harmful.
Adaptation: Create pairs of matching hurricane word cards (wind, rain, storm, and so on). Place them facedown, and let students play a memory game.
Show students how apple trees look during each season of the year, and teach them how apples grow.
National Standard
Science (NSES)
Characteristics of organisms
Common Core Standard
Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
Goal
Children will understand how apples grow during the four seasons.
Objective
Children will be able to name the sequence of steps in an apple’s growth and will be able to write the words that identify the basic parts of an apple.
Concepts of Comprehension©
Sequence is the order of events or steps in a text. Make copies of pages 2–7 of the Make-a-Book. Cut them apart, and laminate them. Invite students to arrange them in the correct order.
Links
How many apples can you catch?
Watch the four seasons of apple growing.
Literature Connection
• Amelia Bedelia’s First Apple Pie, by Herman Parish
• The Apple Book, by Rosie Sanders
• Apple Farmer Annie, by Monica Wellington
• Apple Picking Time, by Michele Benoit Slawson
• Little Apple Goat, by Caroline Jayne Church
• One Red Apple, by Harriet Ziefert
Multimedia Features in This Issue
COVER
Video: See apples.
Ask: What do you know about apples? Have you ever eaten an apple? What do apples taste like? look like?
PAGES 4–5
Video: Watch apple trees change.
Why might apple trees need to rest in winter? During which season are apples ready to pick?
PAGE 8
Activity: Reading Comprehension
Assess students’ comprehension of the content and understanding of the key vocabulary words. Have students type or drag and drop the correct word from the word box under each photo.
Before Reading
Make Predictions: Let students look over the pages of the issue and complete these sentences: I think this is about _____. I think I will learn that _____.
Background Information
• Each spring, mature apple trees bear pink and white flowers.
• Bees help carry pollen from the flowers of one tree to the flowers of another tree.
• Inside the pollinated flower, a tiny apple starts to grow around new seeds. The blossoms fall off.
• Sun, rain, and air help apples grow bigger during the summer.
• Some apples are red; others are yellow or green. Apples can taste sweet or tart.
• In fall, apples are ripe and ready to be picked.
• Washington is the top apple-producing state, followed by New York, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
• On average, each American eats about 19 pounds of apples each year.
During Reading
Mini Activity: Create simple cloze sentences based on this week’s issue. Let students complete them as they go through the issue.
After Reading
Make Connections: Give each child a sheet of paper with this sentence frame on it: Here is an apple tree in the _____. Let children choose either spring or fall to complete their sentences. Then have them illustrate the sentences according to their word choices.
Mathematics Extension: Bring in enough red, yellow, and green apples for students to sample. Cut apples into small slices. Across the top of a large piece of chart paper, show a red apple, a green apple, and a yellow apple. Invite children to taste each type of apple and decide which they like best. Record each
student’s name below the correct apple symbol. Then review the graph, posing simple “more than or less than” questions. (Note: Be aware of food allergies.)
Adaptation: On a blank wall, hang a large apple-shaped piece of red paper. On the paper apple, draw boxes large enough in which to write sight words. Let students look back and find words from this week’s Make-a-Book and think about other apple-related words. Write the words in large print in each
section of the paper apple. If possible, show a small picture to illustrate each word. Review words, and encourage pairs to create oral sentences about apples using words from the wall.
