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Thematic Unit: Dogs

READING LESSON

TEKS: Grade 1 1.E Reading/Beginning Reading Skills/Print Awareness. Students understand how
English is written and printed. Students are expected to: read texts by moving from top to bottom of the
page and tracking words from left to right with return sweep.

Materials: Dog Loves Books by Louise Yates; Colored stars cut out

Objective: Students will be able to understand how to read the text by reading from the top to the bottom
and left to right.

Anticipatory Set:

“Boys and girls, raise your hand if you have a favorite book. Who has ever received a book as a
gift? What book did you receive?”

I will describe some of my favorite books and why they are one of my favorites. I will include a lesson
that I learned from one of my favorite books. I will also share the books that I have received as a gift and
who it was from.

“I have a couple of favorite books and most of them can be found in our classroom library. I
really enjoy the books from Pete the Cat because there are a lot of lessons that can be learned such as
colors and subtraction. My first book of Pete the Cat was actually a gift. The books are also fun and
catchy which makes it a lot easier for me to read. And a lot of other books in our class library were gifts.”

I will ask the students if they have ever been to a bookstore, and I will provide examples such as Barnes
and Nobles, Half Price Books, etc. I will explain how bookstores are categorized much like the library
here at school. It is organized into sections and genres; some places even have a coffee shop or place to
hang out and read.
I’m going to do a book tour of the book, Dog Loves Books. Based on the children’s observations of the
book cover and pictures of parts of the book, I’m going to ask the students to think about why Dog could
love books. Ask the students to think about what kind of books do they think Dog would love.
Lastly, I’m going to explain that the lesson is about directionality in the text. I will explain the importance
of being able to follow the text in order for the story to make sense.

“The reading lesson today is about directionality in the text. I just want you to think of what that
means and how it can affect the storyline.”

Input and Modeling:

I will read the story to the class focusing on showing the direction as I read.

“Boys and girls, look at the direction of my finger as I read the story.”

Here are some of the questions I intend to raise while reading the story:

 Page 2 Do you love books? Why?

 Page 8 What do you think will happen next?
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 Page 11 What are some things you could do if you had to wait patiently for something?
 Page 16 What do you think the author means with saying that dog forgot he was alone?
 Page 21 Have you ever read a book and got so into it that you felt like you were actually
there?
 Page 26 What books would you recommend if a friend asked for a suggestion? Have you
ever shared a book with a friend?

After asking the students I will do a quick Think-Pair-Share activity. I will have the students reflect for a
moment on these questions:

 What book did you really enjoy and feel a part of?
 What do you like most about a story?
 What are some places you have read a book?

Students will all be given different colored stars and will be asked to find another person in the same
room with the same colored star. They will then briefly discuss the questions they reflected on. Then I’ll
ask them to share their thoughts as a class.

“Thank you for sharing your ideas and interest, boys and girls. At the beginning of the lesson I
asked you to think about the importance of knowing in which direction to read the pages in a
story. In the story, the author places the text in different places on the page and even features
some pictures floating around the text. Can anyone tell me why it is important to read a story
following the order of the text?”

I’ll write their responses on the board.

“Now looking at our list, what did a lot of us point out is the main reason why the direction of
reading the text is important?”

I’ll open the book and point out how the book has a lot of pages where the text is placed on different areas
on the page. I will point out how we can notice how the text flows and the sentences make sense.

“Boys and girls, it is important to keep track of the direction of the text. We have to remember
that in order for the story to make sense to us, we must follow the text from the top to the bottom
of the page and understand that text is read from left to right.”

Here is an anchor chart that I will make to help the students remember the direction to read the text. The
song will be placed at the reading center to aid students while they read.

I will point out the front and back cover of the book. I will show the characteristics located on them, such
as the author and illustrator name, title, awards the book won, or any other feature. When the children see
how I turn the pages, they will get a sense of how you move from the beginning to the end of a book.
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“In U.S. English we start reading from the cover of the page and we read left to right. There are
some cultures that read right to left or bottom to top. Hebrew, for example, reads right to left. But in our
culture, the English language is based on top to bottom and left to right orientation. It is the basis for both
reading and writing. Lets turn the page to see what’s next.”

Later, we’ll have a reading lesson on understanding the text and the purpose for the author.

I’m going to ask a few quick questions to reinforce the objective.

“Boys and girls, can anyone tell me why it is important to read the text from top to bottom and
left to right? What will happen if we were to read from the bottom of the page to the top?”

“I want us to turn to the book again and this time read the text in a different direction and see how
it affects the sentence in the story. See how it makes a difference and can change how the story
will end.”

Guided Practice:

I will provide each student with a copy of a part of a book. They will be asked to put the sentences in the
correct order. They can also draw a line to help them remember the flow of the text.

“In your copy of the story, you will find empty boxes where the sentences of the story begin. You
have 5 minutes to complete this; so try your best.”

Independent Practice:

I will provide students with paper and crayons and have them draw a doghouse and show its importance
of where things go. I will show Clifford the Big Red Dog in his doghouse as an example.

“Boys and girls, now it’s your turn to practice directionality. Everyone will draw a doghouse and
show what you will have inside your doghouse. At the bottom of your picture, write a couple of sentences
to why these items are where they are and why it’s important.”
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Closure:

“We just finished learning about the way to read a text. Remember, we read from top to bottom
and left to right.”

Early Finishers:

The students have two options: to read a book on directions or to find a book that features the text going
in a new direction that may be challenging to them.