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

Teacher’s GuideFor students reading at Literacy Level C/4, including:

English-language learners •Students reading below grade level •Kindergarten emergent readers •

Metacognitive StrategyVisualize •

VocabularyRecognize high-frequency words •Develop Tier Two vocabulary •Develop Tier Three vocabulary •

Grammar and Language Development

Recognize the sentence structure •Look at the ____.

Use prepositions • in and on

Phonemic AwarenessListen for initial • /s/

PhonicsUse first-letter cues to solve words •Recognize words with initial • “s”

FluencyRead question marks •

Concepts About PrintRead a page top to bottom •

WritingWrite to a picture prompt •

skills & strategies

Anchor Comprehension StrategyMake inferences •

Theme: Weather and seasonsA Week of Weather (B/2) •Rainy Day (D/6) •Weather Tools (E/8) •

science Big idea:Readers will learn how plants and animals change from season to season.

What Is the Season?Level C/4

• Use a Graphic Organizer Draw a T-chart on the board with the headings What is the Season? and What Happens? Read the headings aloud. Ask students to help you name the four seasons and describe something that happens in each season. Then read each entry on the chart and ask students to echo-read.

Introduce the Book• Give each student a copy of the book.

Remind students they will read about the four seasons. Preview the book, encouraging students to interact with the pictures and text on each page as you emphasize the elements from the page 3 chart that will best support their understanding of the book’s language, concepts, and organization. (Items in bold print include sample “teacher talk.”)

• Pages 2–3 Words to Discuss Ask students to point to each photograph as you say its matching label. Repeat the process, inviting students to echo-read. After students Think/Pair/Share what they know about each word, fill in any missing details. Say: We will see these words in the book.

Before Reading

Make Connections and Build Background• Use Art Place a large sheet of paper

and a variety of crayons on the table. Divide the paper into four sections. Say: We will read a book called What Is the Season? The book is about the four seasons of the year: spring, summer, fall, and winter. I will draw something that reminds me of spring. Draw and color a symbol of spring, such as a tulip, in first section of the paper. Then invite students to draw objects in the other sections to represent the seasons.

Related ResourcesThe following Benchmark Education resources support this lesson.

Other Early Explorers Books• Summer to Fall (F/10)• Ready for Fall (F/10)• Predicting the Weather (G/11)• Winter to Spring (H/14)• See You in Spring (H/14)• Weather Every Day (I/15)• Plants and Animals in Different

Seasons (J/18)• Earth’s Water Cycle (L/24)

Fluency and Language Development• What Is the Season? Audio CD

Comprehension Resources• What Is the Season? question card• Power Tool Flip Chart for Teachers• Student Bookmark• Make Inferences poster

Assessment• Early Explorers Overview &

Assessment Handbook• Grade K Comprehension Strategy

Assessment Book

What is the Season?

What Happens?

• spring• summer• fall• winter

• flowers grow• hot and

sunny• leaves fall• snows

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© 2008 Benchmark Education Company, LLC. All rights reserved. Teachers may photocopy the reproducible pages for classroom use. No other part of the guide may be reproduced or transmitted in whole or in part in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in Canada.ISBN: 978-1-60437-468-1

Pages Text and Graphic Features

Words to Discuss

English/Spanish Cognates

Sentence Structures

Cover title, author, photo

1 title, author, photos

2–3 photos leaves, rain, snow, squirrel

4–5 illustrations, photo tree, leaves, rain Look at the ____.

6–7 illustration, photo squirrel, season in/en

8–9 illustrations, photos sun, seeds

10–11 photos ground

12–13 illustration, photo snow

14–15 photo

16 photos

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• Remind students to use other reading strategies they are learning as well, such as checking the picture and returning to the beginning of the sentence if something doesn’t sound right.

Set a Purpose for Reading• Direct students’ attention to the

T-chart. Say: Now it’s time to whisper-read the book. Read to learn about the different seasons.

Before Reading (continued)

• Page 4 Illustrations Say: This page has two illustrations. Illustrations are drawings that go with the informa-tion on the page. What do these illustrations show? (leaves and raindrops)

• Page 4 Sentence Structure Write Look at the ____ on the board. Read the sentence structure aloud and ask students to repeat it several times. Say: We use this sentence structure to ask someone to look at something. Model using the sentence structure while displaying the cover of the book, such as Look at the squirrel or Look at the seed. Say: This sentence structure is in the book. Can you find the structure on page 4? Frame the first sentence. Let’s read the sentence together. Repeat for the other two sentences on the page.

• Page 6 Spanish Cognate Ask: Does in sound like a word you know in Spanish? (Allow time for students to respond.) The English word in sounds like the Spanish word en. In and en mean the same thing. What can you put in a drawer? (Allow time for students to respond.) Write the word in on the board and ask students to locate it on page 6 in the book.

Rehearse Reading Strategies• Say: One word in this book is little.

Say the word little. What letter do you expect to see at the beginning? Allow time for students to respond, assisting as needed. Then ask them to find the word little on page 4. Say: Use first-letter sounds to help you when you read.

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Observe and Prompt Reading Strategies• After the supportive introduction,

students should be able to read all or most of the book on their own. Observe students as they read. Take note of the graphophonic, syntactic, and semantic cues they use to make sense of the text and self-correct. Prompt individual students who have difficulty problem-solving independently, but be careful not to prompt English-language learners too quickly. They may need more time to process the text as they rely on their first language for comprehension.

Use the Graphic Organizer to Summarize• Ask students to think about their

reading. Say: Look at our T-chart. What else do we need to add? Record ideas students suggest from the book. Then choral-read the T-chart and ask students to use the graphic organizer to tell a partner about the book.

During Reading After Reading

Cue Source Prompt Example Page

Graphophonic Look at the first letter.

has 12

Syntactic Think about the sentence structure.

Look at the big leaves.

8

Semantic Check the picture.

ground 10

What is the Season?

What Happens?

• spring

• summer

• fall

• winter

• flowers grow, rains, tree has little leaves, squirrel is in tree

• hot and sunny, big leaves on tree, squirrel gets seeds

• leaves fall, leaves are colorful, squirrel gets seeds on ground

• snows, tree has no leaves, squirrel looks for seeds

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After Reading (continued)

Reading Strategy Mini-Lesson: Visualize• Reflect Ask: Did you understand

what you read? What parts were hard to understand? How did you help yourself?

• Model Say: I want to understand what I read. One way is to visualize what I’m reading. To visualize means to make a picture in my mind. Ask students to turn to pages 4 and 5. Say: I will shut my eyes. I will imagine walking under tall trees. I feel raindrops fall. I hear raindrops hit the leaves. Can you think of other things I might see, hear, or feel? Allow time for students to share their ideas. Say: Visualizing the pages helped me. Now I better understand the season the author describes.

• Guide Invite students to read page 8 with you. Ask: What do you see? Can you feel the warm sun shining? Can you see the big leaves on the tree? How do you feel? Allow time for students to share their visualizations. Then invite them to tell how visualizing the scene helped them better understand page 8.

• Apply Ask students to read their favorite page to a partner and then visualize it out loud. Observe students as they share their visualizations, providing assistance if needed. See the Early Explorers Overview & Assessment Handbook for an observation chart you can use to assess students’ understanding of the monitor-reading strategy. Then say: You can visualize any time you read. Remember to visualize to help you understand.

Answer Text-Dependent Questions• Explain Remind students they can

answer questions about books they have read. Say: We answer different types of questions in different ways. I will help you learn to answer each type. Tell students that today they will practice answering Vocabulary-Building questions. Say: The answer to a Vocabulary-Building question is in the book. You can define the word if you know what to look for.

• Model Use the first Vocabulary-Building question on the question card. Say: I will read the question to find out what to do: What does the word seed mean in this book? Let’s look for clues. Look on pages 9, 11, and 14. This question asks me to figure out what the word seed means. I will look for the word seed on the pages. I will look for seeds in the photographs, too. Read the first sentences on pages 9 and 11 and the second sentence on page 14 aloud. Then direct students’ attention to the photographs. Say: We read that the squirrel gets seeds in the tree and on the ground. The squirrel looks for seeds in the snow. The photographs show the squirrel with a seed in its mouth. I know what the word seed means in this book. A seed is food for the squirrel. This definition answers the question. The answer makes sense. I have found the answer in the book.

• Guide Ask students to answer the other questions on the question card. Use the Power Tool Flip Chart and Student Bookmark to provide

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additional modeling as needed. Remind students to ask themselves: What is the question asking? How can I find the answer? Does my answer make sense? How do I know?

Build Comprehension: Make Inferences• Explain Create an overhead

trans parency of the graphic organizer on page 12 or draw it on the board. Say: An author can’t give us every bit of information in a book. We figure out some things on our own. We use the author’s words and the illustrations for clues. Figuring something out using one or two clues is making an inference.

• Model Say: Let’s make an inference in What Is the Season? On page 4 we read that the tree has little leaves. We read that it is raining. Write little leaves and raining in the first Clues box on the graphic organizer. Then say: Now we will use the clues to make an inference. We can infer that the season is spring. Write The season is spring in the first Inference box.

• Guide Say: Now let’s make an inference about the next season. What do the tree and sun look like on page 8? What does the author say about the tree? (Allow time for students to respond, assisting if needed.) Yes, the tree has big leaves, and the sun is bright. Write big leaves and bright sun in the second Clues box on the graphic organizer. Then ask: What can we figure out from these clues? (Again allow time for students to respond.) Yes, we can infer that the season is summer. Write The season is summer in

the second Inference box.• Apply Ask students to work with a

partner to make inferences about the last two seasons. Remind them to use word and photograph clues to figure out things the author doesn’t say. After each partnership shares, record their ideas on the graphic organizer. Finally, read the completed graphic organizer aloud and invite students to echo-read.

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After Reading (continued)

Home Connection• Give students the take-home version of

What Is the Season? to read to family members. Encourage students to work with a friend or family member to draw their favorite season. Invite them to bring their drawings to share with the group.

Reader ResponseInvite students to respond to the book in a way that is meaningful to them. Model and use think-alouds as needed to scaffold students before they try the activities on their own.• With a partner, act out something you

do in each season.• Tell what you wondered as you read

the book.• Tell something you already knew

about each season.• Draw a picture of a tree in each season.• Write about a connection you made to

the book. • Write what you thought was most

important in the book.

Write to a Picture Prompt• Retell Tell students they will talk

about a picture from the book. Then they will write about the picture. Ask them to turn to page 7. Say: I can use this picture to tell part of the book in my own words: The squirrel sits in a tree. The squirrel eats a seed. Now I will write my idea. Model writing your sentences on the board. Ask students to choose a picture and tell a partner about it. Allow time for students to share their retellings, providing assistance as needed. Then say: You used a picture to tell part of the book in your own words. Now write your idea. When you finish, read your writing to a partner.

Concepts About Print• Read a Page Top to Bottom Point

out that some pages in the book have words on more than one line. Say: We read the top line first. Then we read the next line or lines. We always read a page from top to bottom. Turn to page 4. Without reading the words aloud, model how to move your finger under the top line, then the middle line, then the bottom line. Invite students to mimic your actions. Repeat the process on page 14.

Phonemic Awareness: Initial /s/• Tell students you will read a sentence

from What Is the Season? Ask them to listen for words that begin with /s/: Look at the sun (page 8). Reread the sentence if needed so students can identify the word sun.

Mini-Lessonsfor Differentiating Instruction

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• Say: I will say some things that remind me of summer. Some of the words begin with /s/ and some do not. Listen carefully. Hiss like a snake—/ssssss/—if you hear a word that begins with /s/: picnic, sightsee, heat, sandals, camp, seashore, sailboat, vacation.

Phonics: Initial “s”• Write the letter “s” on the board.

Then write the words season (page 6), sun (page 8), and seeds (page 9) on the board. Ask students to locate the words in the book and frame the letter “s” between their fingers.

• Ask students to brainstorm words that begin with /s/. List the words on the board. Read each word, inviting students to echo-read.

• Say: Imagine that the words on our list could talk. I will say something one of the words might say. You will guess which word is talking. I will circle the “s” in the word. Then you will know you guessed correctly. Model the process using one of the words on the list, such as I get your hands clean (soap). Then invite each student to make up a sentence another word might say and circle the letter that makes the /s/ sound.

Vocabulary• Tier Two Vocabulary Pronounce

the word occur and ask students to repeat it. Say: To occur is to happen. Different things occur in each season. Windy days can occur in spring. Thunderstorms can occur in summer. Some favorite holidays occur in fall and winter. Discuss other things that can occur, such as a birthday party or falling off a bike. Then model a sentence, such as I can’t wait to see what will occur next in this book. Invite students to share their own sentences, providing assistance as needed. Ask: What word have we been talking about? Yes—occur. Let’s try to use the word occur many times today. We can use the word at school and at home.

• Tier Three Vocabulary Review the book with students and write the word season on the board. Then record the words ground, leaves, rain, seeds, snow, squirrel, sun, and tree on index cards. Ask students to read the words with you. Mix the word cards and place them facedown on the table. Choose a card, read the word, and model an oral sentence using that word and season. Finally, invite students to take turns making their own sentences. Continue the game until each student has had several turns. For additional practice, students may work as a group or in pairs to complete the vocabulary activity on page 11.

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Grammar and Language DevelopmentPrepositions in and on

• Model Explain that authors sometimes use phrases that begin with the word in. Ask students to read page 6 with you: A squirrel is in the tree. Say: The words in the tree tell where the squirrel is. I can use the word in as well. Point to classroom objects as you make up simple sentences such as: The ruler is in my desk. Boys and girls are in the room. The picture is in the book.

• Guide Explain that authors also use phrases that begin with the word on. Invite students to read the second sentence on page 10 with you. Ask: Where are the leaves? (on the ground) The words on the ground tell the reader where the leaves are. Ask students to describe things that are on something else, such as a person on a swing or a cup on a table.

• Apply Write My ____ is in the ____ and My ____ are on the ____ on the board. Pair students and ask them to make up sentences using these structures. As each partnership shares, fill in the blanks on the board and invite the group to read the sentences with you.

Fluency: Read Question Marks• Say: Sometimes authors ask questions.

We recognize a question by the question mark at the end. Our voices sound different when we ask something. Our voices move to a higher pitch at the end of the question.

• Ask students to turn to page 6. First, read the author’s question in a flat voice. Hold your hand level while you read it. Discuss how this makes the question sound. Then read the question again, moving your hand upward at the end as you move your voice to a higher pitch. Ask students to echo-read and move their hands along with yours.

• Ask students to turn to page 9. Choral-read the page with them, moving to a higher pitch at the end of the question.

• Invite students to take turns rereading What Is the Season? with a partner. Remind them to move their voices to a higher pitch at the end of each question.

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Name: Date:

Vocabulary

Choose two words from the box. Write a sentence for each word. Draw a picture for each sentence.

leaves rain seeds snow squirrel sun

Word:

______________________________

Sentence:

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

Word:

______________________________

Sentence:

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

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Name: Date:

What Is the Season?

Clues Inference

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