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 Guide

Theme: habitatsThe Arctic (F/10) •Colorful Coral Reefs (G/12) •In a Tropical Rain Forest (I/16) •

science Big idea:Readers learn about the plants and animals that live on the savannas of Africa.

For students reading at Literacy Level H/14, including:

English-language learners •Students reading below grade level •First-grade readers •

skills & strategies

METACOGNITIVE/FIX-UP STRATEGYRetell what you’ve read •

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

Grammar, Word Study, and Language Development

Use adjectives •Use compound words •Recognize the sentence structures •One ____ is ____ and ____ live on ____.

PhonicsProblem-solve by searching all the way •through wordsRecognize words with variant vowel • /oo—/

FluencyRead smoothly with minimal breaks •

WritingWrite to a picture prompt •Write to a text prompt •

ANCHOR Comprehension STRATEGY

Identify cause and effect •

The Savannas of AfricaLevel H/14

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

Remind students they will read about the savannas of Africa. 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.

some things we know about plants and animals on a savanna. Now we will list our ideas on the chart. Write students’ responses in the K column of the chart. Then ask them what they want to find out about savannas. Write their questions in the W column. Finally, read the entries in both columns and ask students to echo-read.

Before Reading

Make Connections and Build Background• Use a Photograph Display the cover

of the book. Say: We will read a book about savannas in Africa. Savannas are grasslands. This photograph shows some plants and animals that live on savannas. I see small trees and grass. I see large animals. Some of the animals are eating the grass. Ask students to Think/Pair/Share what they know about the plants and animals in the cover photograph.

• Use a Graphic Organizer Draw a KWL chart on the board. Explain that K stands for What I Know, W stands for What I Want to Find Out, and L stands for What I Learned. Say: We shared

Related ResourcesThe following Benchmark Education resources support this lesson.

Other Early Explorers Books• What Can You See in a Desert? (A/1)• On a Coral Reef (C/3)• In the Forest (D/5)• Ponds (E/7)• In the Backyard (K/20)• Polar Habitats (M/28)

Fluency and Language Development• The Savannas of Africa Audio CD

Comprehension Resources• The Savannas of Africa question card• Power Tool Flip Chart for Teachers• Student Bookmark• Identify Cause and Effect poster

Assessment• Early Explorers Overview &

Assessment Handbook• Grade 1 Comprehension Strategy

Assessment Book

K W L

have grass and small trees

have big animals such as elephants and zebras

some animals eat the grass

What small animals live on savannas?

Do people live on savannas?

How do savannas get water?

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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. ISBN: 978-1-60437-489-6

Pages Text and Graphic Features

Words to Discuss

English/Spanish Cognates

Sentence Structures

Cover title, author, photo

1 title, author, table of contents, photo

2–3 photos elephant, giraffe, mole rat, ostrich, savanna, tusks

4 chapter head, chart, photo, caption

grassland, habitat, plants, animals, savanna, Africa

habitat/el hábitat, plant/la planta, savanna/la sabana, type/el tipo

One ____ is ____.

5 maps, caption dry season

6 chapter head, photo, caption

giraffe animal/ el animal, giraffe/la jirafa, group/el grupo

____ live on ____.

7 photo, caption ostrich, migrate

8 photo, caption elephant elephant/ el elefante

9 photo, caption mole rats, tunnel tunnel/el túnel

10 chapter head, photo, caption, inset photos, label

taproot

11 photo, inset photo, caption

grasses, rainy season

12 chapter head, photos, caption

hunt, tusks, fur, meat

13 photos, captions danger zebra/la cebra, lemur/el lémur

14 photo, caption graze

15 photo, caption soil

16 photo, caption, map laws, protect

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

Say the word quickly. What letters do you expect to see after /kw/? Allow time for students to respond, assisting as needed. Then ask them to find the word quickly on page 11. Say: Search all the way through a word to help you when you read.

• Remind students to use other reading strategies they are learning as well, such as looking at the pictures for additional information or rereading part of the sentence if something doesn’t sound right.

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

questions on the KWL chart. Say: Now it’s time to whisper-read the book. Read to learn about the savannas of Africa.

Before Reading (continued)

• Page 4 Graphic Feature Say: This page has a chart. A chart adds to the information on the page. What is the heading on the chart? (Grasslands Around the World) What can we learn from the chart? (the names of different types of grasslands and where the grasslands are located)

• Page 4 Spanish Cognate Ask: Does habitat sound like a word you know in Spanish? (Allow time for students to respond.) The English word habitat sounds like the Spanish word el hábitat. Habitat and el hábitat mean the same thing. What is a habitat? (Allow time for students to respond.) Write the word habitat on the board and ask students to locate it on page 4 in the book.

• Page 4 Sentence Structure Write One ____ is ____ on the board. Read the sentence structure aloud and ask students to repeat it several times. Say: We use this sentence structure to identify one member of a group. Model using the sentence structure to identify objects in the classroom, such as One type of writing tool is chalk or One book is a dictionary. Then assist students in forming their own sentences using the structure. Say: This sentence structure is in the book. Can you find the structure on page 4? Frame the sentence. Let’s read the sentence together.

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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. Ask: Can you answer any questions in the W column of our chart? (Allow time for students to respond, assisting as needed.) What did you learn about savannas? Record appropriate responses in the L column of the KWL chart. Choral-read the entire chart. Then ask students to use the graphic organizer to tell a partner about the book.

During Reading After Reading

Cue Source Prompt Example Page

Graphophonic Search all the way through the word. Are you blending the right sounds?

ground 10

Syntactic You read “This tree look like an umbrella.” Let’s read this sentence together and make it sound

This tree looks like an umbrella.

10

Semantic What do you see in the picture that would make sense in this sentence?

leaves 6

K W L

have grass and small trees

have big animals such as elephants and zebras

some animals

What small animals live on savannas?

Do people live on savannas?

How do savannas get

Mole rats are small animals on a savanna.

People hunt and farm on savannas.

Savannas have a

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After Reading (continued)

Reading Strategy Mini-Lesson: Retell What You’ve Read• 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 retell the important information. I will read page 4 again. (Read the page aloud.) Now I will say the important information in my own words: “Grasslands are all around the world. A savanna is one type of grassland in Africa.”

• Guide Invite students to read page 7 with you. Ask the following questions, allowing time for students to respond after each one: What do you see? What is the page about? What is an ostrich? How does an ostrich get what it needs? How could you tell about the ostrich in your own words? If students have difficulty, model a retelling of your own, such as An ostrich can run very fast on the savanna. Ostriches move to find plants and water.

• Apply Ask each student to turn to his or her favorite page. Then ask students to read the page to a partner and retell the important information in their own words. Observe students as they read and retell. If more support is needed, use the prompts in the “Guide” section. 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 retell any time you read. Remember to retell 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 how to answer each type. Tell students that today they will practice answering Find It! questions. Say: The answer to a Find It! question is in the book. You can find the answer if you know what to look for. The answer is in one place. You can put your finger right on the answer.

• Model Use the Find It! question on the question card. Say: I will read the question: “A mole rat is only 3 ____ long.” The important words in the question show me what to look for in the book. What words do you think will help me? (Allow student responses.) Yes, I’m looking for the words mole rat and long. Model looking through the book. Say: On page 9 I read: A mole rat is only 3 inches (7 centimeters) long. This sentence has the words mole rat and long. Put your finger on this sentence. The sentence 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 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?

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Build Comprehension: Identify Cause and Effect• Explain Create an overhead

transparency of the graphic organizer on page 12 or draw it on the board. Say: Nonfiction books sometimes tell about things that happen and why they happen. The reason something happens is the cause. What happens is the effect.

• Model Say: Let’s figure out the cause-and-effect relationships in The Savannas of Africa. Ask students to turn to page 5. Say: We read that a savanna is hot all year. A savanna has a long dry season. Being a hot, dry habitat is a cause. Write A savanna is a hot, dry habitat in the first Cause box on the graphic organizer. Then say: One effect of the hot, dry habitat is that ostriches must migrate to find water. Write this statement in the first Effect box on the graphic organizer. Then ask students to turn to page 8. Say: The elephant has large ears. Having large ears is a cause. An effect of having large ears is being able to keep cool. Write this cause-and-effect relationship in the next row.

• Guide Say: Let’s find another cause-and-effect relationship. Look on page 10. What does an acacia tree have? (Allow time for students to respond, assisting if needed.) Yes, an acacia tree has a taproot. What happens because the tree has a taproot? (Again, allow time for students to respond.) Yes, the effect of having a taproot is that the tree gets water from deep underground. Write the cause and effect in the third row on the graphic organizer.

• Apply Ask students to work with a partner to find other cause-and-effect relationships mentioned in the book. Remind them that a cause happens first and an effect happens as a result of the cause. After each partnership shares, agree on how to word the entries 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 The Savannas of Africa to read to family members. Encourage students to work with a friend or family member to draw a savanna with plants and animals. 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. • Act out how elephants and giraffes eat.• Name your favorite animal in the book.

Tell why you like it.• Tell something you learned about

a savanna.• Tell what you wondered as you read

the book.• Write a word that describes each plant

and animal you read about.• Write about a connection you made to

the book.

Write to a Picture Prompt• Describe a Place Tell students they

will tell about a picture from the book. Then they will write about the picture. Ask them to turn to page 15. Say: I can use this picture to describe a place in the book: This part of the savanna is bare and empty. Few plants and animals live here. Now I will write my idea. Model writing your sentences on the board. Ask students to use a picture to tell a partner about a place in the book. Allow time for students to share their descriptions, providing assistance as needed. Then say: You used a picture to tell about a place in the book. Now write your idea. When you finish, read your writing to a partner.

Write to a Text Prompt• Analyze the Problem and Solution

Say: Think about how people are trying to solve some of the problems on the savanna. How else could you solve the problem? Write your idea. When you are finished, read your writing to a partner.

Phonics: Variant Vowel /oo—/ • Ask students to locate the word too

on page 4. Write too on the board and circle the “oo.” Say: The letters “oo” in the word too stand for the vowel sound /oo—/. Slowly draw your finger under the word as you say the sounds. Ask students to do the same in their books. Then invite them to locate and read other words with the letters “oo” for /oo— / on page 7 (food) and page 8 (cool). Repeat the process with the letters “ew” in new (page 15).

Mini-Lessonsfor Differentiating Instruction

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Ask students to read the words with you. Then invite volunteers to draw illustrations for the words on another set of cards. Place the word cards in a pocket chart or on a table. Show the picture cards one at a time. Ask students to find the word that names the picture, read it aloud, and place the two cards on the chalk ledge. Continue until all the words have been matched with their pictures. For additional practice, students may work as a group or in pairs to complete the vocabulary activity on page 11.

Grammar, Word Study, and Language DevelopmentAdjectives

• Model Explain that authors sometimes use describing words when they write. Tell students that the words that describe nouns are adjectives. Ask them to turn to page 5. Say: The author says a savanna is a large grassland. A savanna is hot all year. The words large and hot are adjectives. Large describes the size of the grassland. Hot describes how the savanna feels. I can use the adjectives large and hot, too. Pantomime simple actions as you model sentences, such as: I drink a large glass of lemonade in summer. I drink hot chocolate in winter.

• Guide Invite students to read the last sentence on page 5 with you. Ask: Which words are adjectives? (long, dry) Why are long and dry adjectives? (Long describes the length of the season. Dry describes what kind of season it is.) What could you describe with the adjective long? What could you describe with the adjective dry?

• Ask students to brainstorm words with /oo—/. Acknowledge all correct responses, and record words with “oo” or “ew” on index cards. Then spread the cards out in a pocket chart or on a table. Read each word, inviting students to echo-read.

• Say: Find the word that completes my sentence. Then you may pick up the matching card. Model the process using one of the words students offered, such as A hammer is a kind of ____ (tool). Then invite each student to make up a cloze sentence for one of the words.

Vocabulary• Tier Two Vocabulary Pronounce

the word permit and ask students to repeat it. Say: To permit something is to let it happen. Some people permit their farm animals to graze on the savanna. New laws do not permit hunting on the savanna. Discuss other situations where people permit things to happen, such as theater workers who permit people with tickets to see a movie, librarians who permit students to check out several books, or parents who permit their children to stay up late on weekends. Then model a sentence, such as I do not permit my dog to sit on the sofa. Invite students to share their own sentences, providing assistance as needed. Ask: What word have we been talking about? Yes—permit. Let’s try to use the word permit many times today. We can use the word at school and at home.

• Tier Three Vocabulary Write the following words on index cards: Africa, elephant, giraffe, grasses, mole rat, ostrich, savanna, tusks.

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• Apply Write the first sentence from page 9 on the board and underline the adjective small. Invite student partners to make up their own sentences using the word small. Repeat the process for the second sentence on page 11 (rainy) and the first sentence on page 15 (bare).

Compound Words

• Model Explain that authors sometimes use compound words when they write. Tell students a compound word is made of two words put together. Ask them to turn to page 4. Say: The author talks about grasslands. What two words make the compound word grasslands? (grass, lands) Write the word grasslands on the board. Draw a line under each part as you say: The words grass and lands make up the compound word grasslands.

• Guide Invite students to read page 6 with you. Ask: Which word is a compound word? (treetops) What two words make the compound word treetops? (tree, tops) Write the word treetops on the board. Draw a line under each part as you and the students say tree and tops.

• Apply Ask students to find the compound words on pages 9 (mole rat, underground), 10 (taproot), and 15 (without, cannot). Point out that the compound word mole rat has a space between the two words. Explain that it is a compound word because both words are needed to make the animal’s name. Read the compound words aloud and ask students to echo-read. Then invite volunteers to name the words that make up each compound word.

Fluency: Read Smoothly with Minimal Breaks• Say: We do not pause or stop after

each word when we read. Instead, we read smoothly. We blend one word into the next. We pause or stop only when we see punctuation marks. We quickly fix mistakes and move on.

• Ask students to turn to page 7. Read the page in a choppy, word-by-word manner. Discuss how this makes the listener feel. Say: Now I will read the words smoothly. The punctuation will show me when to pause or stop. Read the sentences again, pausing at the commas and stopping at the periods. Then invite students to echo-read the page with you.

• Ask students to turn to page 14. Choral-read the page with them, reading smoothly. Pause at the commas and stop at the periods.

• Invite students to take turns rereading The Savannas of Africa with a partner. Remind them to read smoothly, pause or stop at punctuation, and quickly fix any mistakes so they can keep on reading.

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Name: Date:

Vocabulary

Find each word in the book. Write the number of the page where you first found the word. Then write a sentence for each word.

Words Page Number

Africa_________________________________________________ _

__________________________________________________

elephant_________________________________________________ _

__________________________________________________

giraffe_________________________________________________ _

__________________________________________________

mole rat _________________________________________________ _

__________________________________________________

ostrich _________________________________________________ _

__________________________________________________

savanna_________________________________________________ _

__________________________________________________

tusks_________________________________________________ _

__________________________________________________

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Name: Date:

The Savannas of Africa

Cause Effect

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