Setting Purpose: From Engagement Text to Decodables | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA G2:S1:C5:L22

Setting Purpose: From Engagement Text to Decodables

In this Lesson

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Daily Learning Targets

  • Opening A: I can retell the events from the current edition of the Sunnyside Gazette: "New Principal and New School Year at Sunnyside Elementary."
  • Opening B (optional): Using evidence from the text, I can answer questions about the current edition of the Sunnyside Gazette: "New Principal and New School Year at Sunnyside Elementary."
  • Work Time A: I can read high-frequency words and words that "don't play fair": "school," "sure," "none," "friends" (RF.2.3f).
    • I can read second-grade words that "don't play fair" (irregularly spelled words).
  • Work Time B: I can read the decodable text: "Friends at School." (RF.2.3)
    • I can decode (regularly spelled) two-syllable words with long vowels.
    • I can decode words with common prefixes (part of the word at the beginning) and suffixes (part of the word at the end).  
    • I can read second-grade words that "don't play fair" (irregularly spelled words).

Ongoing Assessment

  • Observe students during Work Time A. Determine whether they can read irregularly spelled high-frequency words and determine why they are irregular.
  • Observe students during Work Time B.
    • Determine whether they can independently find a given word.
    • Also determine whether they can decode two-syllable words, words containing vowel teams (one- or two-syllable), and irregularly spelled high-frequency words.
  • Exit ticket (see Differentiated Small Groups: Work with Teacher)

Agenda

Agenda

1. Opening (3-5 minutes)

A. Engagement Text Read-aloud: "New Principal and New School Year at Sunnyside Elementary"

B. Introducing Comprehension Conversation (optional)

2. Work Time (10 minutes)

A. Snap or Trap: "school," "sure," "none," "friends"

B. Decodable Reader: Partner Search and Read: "Friends at School"

3. Closing and Assessment (2 minutes)

A. Reflecting on Learning

4. Differentiated Small Group Instruction (40-45 minutes)

In Advance

  • Prepare:
    • Snap or Trap T-chart
    • Snap or Trap Word Cards (write the following words on index cards: "school," "sure," "none," "friends," "ready," "anybody," "will," "for," "know")
    • Interactive Word Wall (one to display)
    • Comprehension Conversation questions (if different from suggested questions)
  • Pre-determine partnerships for retelling during Opening A and Work Time B.
  • Gather materials for differentiated small group instruction (see Differentiated Small Groups: Work with Teacher).

Vocabulary

Key: Lesson-Specific Vocabulary (L); Text-Specific Vocabulary (T); Vocabulary Used in Writing (W)

  • comprehension, grapple, responsibility, retelling (L)
  • enthusiastic/enthusiastically, replied (T)

Materials

  • Enlarged Engagement Text: "New Principal and New School Year at Sunnyside Elementary" (one to display)
  • Snap or Trap Word Cards (one of each; see Teaching Notes, "In advance," above)
  • Snap or Trap T-chart (on whiteboard or chart paper; Snap on one side and Trap on the other; see supporting materials for example)
  • Enlarged Decodable Reader: "Friends at School" (one to display)
  • Interactive Word Wall (one to display)
  • Decodable Reader: "Friends at School" (one per student)
  • Highlighters (one per student and one for teacher)
  • Highlighter tape (optional; for the teacher to use to highlight the Decodable Reader)
  • Tape, magnet, or other material to fasten Snap or Trap Word Cards to the Snap or Trap T-chart

Opening

OpeningMeeting Students' Needs

A. Engagement Text Read-aloud: "New Principal and New School Year at Sunnyside Elementary"

  • (Suggested transition song, sung to the tune of "The More We Get Together"):

"Gather round together, together, together. It's time to hear a story, a story, a story. It's time to hear a story and say what you've learned."

  • Display Enlarged Engagement Text: "New Principal and New School Year at Sunnyside Elementary."
  • Introduce the read-aloud of the Engagement Text: "New Principal and New School Year at Sunnyside Elementary": 

1. Teacher says: "Listen carefully as I read today's edition of the Sunnyside Gazette: 'New Principal and New School Year at Sunnyside Elementary.' After I am finished reading, you will retell the story to a partner and answer some questions about it."

2. Teacher reads text without interruption, pointing out the accompanying illustrations.

3. Students turn to an elbow partner and retell the events in the Sunnyside Gazette article: "New Principal and New School Year at Sunnyside Elementary."
  • For students who need extra support, including ELLs: Consider providing picture cards of nouns in "New Principal and New School Year at Sunnyside Elementary" to support comprehension.
  • Consider providing sentence frames or transition words and phrases to facilitate organization of retelling. Example:
    • "First, _____. After that, _____. Next, _____. Then, _____. Finally, _____."

B. Comprehension Conversation (optional)

  • Teacher asks the following suggested comprehension questions:

1. Recall:

"What happened today according to the article?" (It was the first day of school.)

"What did James say excited him most about school?" (He read all the books from his summer booklist and is ready to read chapter books this year.)

2. Vocabulary and Language:

"In the article, it said, 'When asked what excited him most, James replied...' What must 'replied' mean?" (answered)

"What does it mean to be 'enthusiastic'?" (very excited)

"If 'enthusiastic' means 'very excited,' what do you think it meant when the article said that Patricia said something 'enthusiastically'?" (She said it in an excited way.)

3. Digging Deeper: Extension Questions:

"At the end of the text, Principal Pack says he is looking forward to meeting the wonderful students and families, and he says, 'Together, we will work to make Sunnyside Elementary the best school it can be.' Whom does he mean when he says 'we'?" (teachers, families, students, all of the people involved in the school)

"What things can students, parents, and teachers do to make a school the best it can be?" (Answers will vary. Examples: work hard, help with homework, volunteer, make sure we have the materials we need.)

"How do we do that here in our school?" (Answers will vary.)
  • Consider drawing students' attention to how the language of reporting sounds. Encourage students to articulate how this differs from other types of writing. Examples from the text:
    • "Students were welcomed by _____."
    • "When asked if she is excited about the first day of school, _____."

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Snap or Trap: "school," "sure," "none," "friends"

  • Begin the Snap or Trap instructional practice:

1. Teacher says: "We know some words can be hard to read and spell because they don't look and sound like they should. We call those words 'words that don't play fair.' Today we're going to look at some words like this and figure out what makes them hard to read and spell."

2. Teacher shows students a list of Snap or Trap Word Cards ("school," "sure," "none," "friends," "ready," "anybody," "will," "for," "know") and a Snap or Trap T-chart.

3. Teacher says: "All of these words are high-frequency words, which means we see them a lot when we read and use them a lot when we spell. Some of them are regularly spelled; they 'play fair.' Some of them are irregularly spelled or include spelling patterns that we don't see a lot, so they don't 'play fair.' We will figure out which ones should go in the Snap column (words that do play fair) and which ones go in the Trap column (words that don't play fair)."

4. Teacher reads all the words aloud.

5. Teacher reads "none."

6. Teacher says: "I hear the vowel sound /u/ in this word, but I don't see a 'u.' In fact, when I look at this word, I see the vowel 'o' and a magic 'e.' I would expect this word to say /known/, but it doesn't! The word 'none' goes in the Trap column."

7. Teacher puts the "none" card in the Trap column.

8. Teacher asks:

"Can anyone see any other trap words? This is a difficult job because we need to use all that we know about letters and sounds to figure out if the word is snap or trap. You might be unsure about the answer. That's okay! We will help one another as a class think about the words and back up our ideas with evidence." ("school," "sure," "friends," "ready," "know")

9. Teacher asks:

"Great! Why do you think it's a trap word?" (Answers will vary based on word selected.)

10. Teacher says: "Right! _____ is a trap word because it doesn't sound like it is spelled. It belongs in the Trap column."

11. Teacher adds the selected trap word to the T-chart.

12. Students and teacher complete steps 8-11 until all trap words are found.

13. Students and teachers chorally read list of "trap" words together
  • Encourage students to grapple with their knowledge of letter sounds to decide if a high-frequency word is a snap or a trap word.
  • Encourage students to read a high-frequency word as a whole word. Analyze the word after reading it. 
  • Some students may notice that the word "none" looks and sounds almost like "one." Draw students' attention to this, as it can be a helpful mnemonic device for remembering the spelling of both of these irregularly spelled words.
  • The word "ready" is a two-syllable word that has "-y" as a vowel. Draw students' attention to this and remind them that "-y" at the end of a two-syllable word makes the long "e" sound. The word "anybody" is a compound word. The first part, "any," contains two syllables, as does the last part, "body," so the "-y" in both cases makes the long "e" sound.

B. Decodable Reader: Partner Search and Read: "Friends at School"

  • (Suggested transition song, sung to the tune of "The More We Get Together"):

"Now you will read a story, a story, a story. Now you will read a story with words that you know."

  • Begin the Decodable Reader: Partner Search and Read instructional practice:

1. Teacher displays the Enlarged Decodable Reader: "Friends at School."

2. Teacher says: "First we read an article from the Sunnyside Gazette: 'New Principal and New School Year at Sunnyside Elementary.' Now we will read a story about characters from Sunnyside: 'Friends at School.' This story is filled with words that YOU can read! There are decodable words, and there are some words that don't play fair, like 'school,' 'sure,' and 'none.'"

3. Teacher draws students' attention to words on the Interactive Word Wall.

4. Teacher distributes the Decodable Reader: "Friends at School" and highlighters to each student. 

5. Teacher says: "Before you read the book with your partner, we are going to be detectives. We are going to look for some of the high-frequency words. Remember, some of these words 'don't play fair,' which means they are not easily decodable."

6. Teacher models, thinking aloud as he or she notices one of the high-frequency words. Teacher highlights it with a highlighter or highlighter tape in the book. Model again as needed.

7. Teacher draws students' attention to the word "unsure," highlighting the high-frequency base word "sure" and explaining that adding "un" to the base word "sure" changes its meaning to "not sure."

8. Partners search for high-frequency words in the Decodable Reader "Friends at School" together and highlight in their own book.

9. Teacher circulates to help partners find words as needed, focusing especially on those words that "don't play fair."

10. Teacher says: "Now you are ready to read the Decodable Reader with your partner. Some of the words in the story will be familiar because you have learned them in previous lessons. And some of the words you will see for the first time, but don't worry: Each of the words that you will see for the first time includes only spelling/sound patterns that you have learned. So, you just need to say the sound that goes with each of the patterns you see in the word, then blend them together to read the word. There are two-syllable words in the story as well, so remember you can be syllable sleuths, too!"

11. Students read "Friends at School" with a partner. Partners may take turns (by page or whole text), read in unison, or both.  
  • If readers in the Partial Alphabetic phase have trouble finding the high-frequency words, consider allowing a reader in the Full or Consolidated Alphabetic phase to help them. Or consider asking them to find the beginning letter of the word instead of the whole word.
  • If readers have trouble with words that "don't play fair," direct them to the Interactive Word Wall. Or have them read the rest of the sentence and think about which high-frequency word would make sense in the blank.
  • Consider drawing students' attention to the word "slowly," identifying the base word "slow" and the "ow" as long "o" pattern. Explain that the suffix "ly" changes the base word "slow" to mean "in a slow way."

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Reflecting on Learning

  • Emphasize that successful learners take responsibility for their own learning. Invite students to reflect on ways they took responsibility for their learning during whole group or how they plan to take responsibility during differentiated small group instruction. Example:
    • "I found all of the irregularly spelled words in the Decodable Reader and highlighted them. I also know that I need to work on the vowel team 'oa,' so I highlighted those, too."
  • For students who need additional support organizing their ideas: Provide sentence frames. Examples:
    • "When reading the words for Snap or Trap, I _____."
    • "When I work by myself during small group instruction, I will _____."

Differentiated Small Groups: Work with Teacher

Suggested Plan: Teacher works with students in the Partial Alphabetic and Full Alphabetic groups. If possible, teacher should also meet with the Consolidated Alphabetic group at least once per week.

Note: Groups not working with the teacher at a given time should be engaged in purposeful independent rotation work. Refer to the Independent and Small Group Work Guidance document for more details (see K-2 Skills Resource Manual).

All Groups:

Either today or another day this week after the Decodable Student Reader has been introduced, follow the Decodable Student Reader routine with each group. Differentiate the routine as needed based on students' microphase. See Lesson 7 or Independent and Small Group Work document for full routine. See Supporting Materials for Decodable Student Reader Planning and Recording Template.

Partial Alphabetic:

  • Students complete exit ticket:
    • Students read the Decodable Reader: "Friends at School."
    • Students highlight each word that contains the spelling patterns from the current cycle: "ow" and "oa."

Or:

    • Students highlight words with spelling patterns they are working on (CVC, CCVC, etc.).
    • Look over the exit tickets with student(s). Analyze words that were more challenging and discuss why.  
  • Use the Assessment Conversion chart to determine appropriate Grade 1 lessons and Activity Bank ideas to use in differentiated small group instruction.

Full Alphabetic:

  • Students complete exit ticket:
    • Students read the Decodable Reader: "Friends at School."
    • Students highlight each word that contains the spelling patterns from the current cycle: "ow" and "oa."

Or:

    • Students work with teacher to write a new page in the Decodable Reader: "Friends at School" using words with spelling patterns from the current cycle: "ow" and "oa."

Or:

    • Students work with teacher or in pairs to provide a written response to the prompt:

What are some ways that students, teachers, and parents work together to make a school year successful?

    • Look over the exit tickets with student(s). Analyze words that were more challenging and discuss why.

Consolidated Alphabetic:

  • Students complete exit ticket:
    • Students read the Engagement Text: "New Principal and New School Year at Sunnyside Elementary." Students provide a written response to the prompt:

What are some ways that students, teachers, and parents work together to make a school year successful?

    • Students should try to use words with the spelling patterns from the current cycle: "ow" and "oa."
    • Students should use a Writing Checklist (example found in supporting materials) to self-check or partner-check writing conventions.
    • Look over the exit tickets with student(s). Analyze words that were more challenging and discuss why.
  • Additional Supporting Materials:
    • Writing Checklist

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