LEVEL A

Lesson Plan My Body

About the Book
Text Type: Nonfiction/Concept Page Count: 10 Word Count: 32

Book Summary
My Body introduces students to the
print vocabulary for the names of
familiar body parts. The photographs
encourage picture-to-text connections,
while the repeated sentence pattern
ensures early readers’ success.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy
• Connect to prior knowledge

Objectives
• Use the reading strategy of connecting to prior knowledge
• Compare and contrast
• Identify rhyme
• Identify words with initial consonant Bb
• Recognize nouns as naming words
• Categorize

Materials
Green text indicates resources available on the website
• Book—My Body (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Compare and contrast, initial consonant Bb, categorization worksheets
• Discussion cards

Indicates an opportunity for students to mark in the book. (All activities

may be demonstrated by projecting the book on interactive whiteboard
or completed with paper and pencil if books are reused.)

Vocabulary
• High-frequency words: is, my, this,
• Content words:
Story critical: arm (n.), belly (n.), body (n.), chest (n.), foot (n.), hand (n.), head (n.), leg (n.),
  my (adj.)

Before Reading
Build Background
• Have students stand up and take a step forward. Ask what parts of their body they used to walk
(foot, leg). Have students sit down and pat the part of their body that makes noises when it’s
hungry (belly). Have students take a deep breath. Ask what part of their body moves when they
breathe (chest). Have students wave to you. Ask what parts of their body they used to wave
(hand, arm). Have students look over their shoulder. Ask what part of their body they turned
(head). Tell students that all of these parts put together make up their body.

© Learning A–Z All rights reserved. 1 www.readinga-z.com

 LEVEL A
Lesson Plan (continued) My Body
• Expand the discussion by having students place their hands palms-to-palms with another student.
Have them count the number of fingers on each hand. Ask students to tell how many fingers
each person has on each hand. Have them compare the shapes and sizes of their fingers and
hands. Ask them to tell what they found. Reinforce that while most students have two hands
with five fingers on each one, the shapes and sizes, and perhaps the color, are different.

Book Walk
Introduce the Reading Strategy: Connect to prior knowledge
• Show students the front and back covers of the book and read the title. Ask students what they
think this book will be about based on the cover information. Model how to use prior knowledge.
Think aloud: When I read a new book, I try to think about what I already know about the topic in
the book. When I look at the picture of the boy on the front cover, I think about my nephew. He
likes to jump like this boy, but his arms and legs aren’t as long. I know that lots of people have
some things that are alike and some things that are different. By looking at the title and the
covers, I can predict that I may find out other things about the boy’s body in the book.
• Show students the title page and ask them what they see in the picture. Ask them if they have
ever jumped like the boy is jumping. Turn the pages in the book so students can see the pictures.
If necessary, model once more for students how you draw on your personal knowledge to make
predictions about the book.
• As students read, encourage them to use other reading strategies in addition to the targeted
strategy presented in this section.
Introduce the Vocabulary
• Go through each page of the book with students. Ask them to talk about what they see in
the illustrations and use the vocabulary they will encounter in the text. Ask them to name what
they see in the pictures and have them draw on prior knowledge and experience with their own
bodies. For example, point to the foot on page 3 and ask: What is this? What are some of the
things you use it for?
• Point out the words on the page. Explain that the words on the page tell them the story,
and that the words are read left to right.
• Ask a student to come up and use your book to point to the place where he/she should
start reading and in which direction he/she should go while reading.
• Reinforce new vocabulary and word-attack strategies by modeling how students can read
unfamiliar words. Ask a volunteer to point to the word belly. Ask students how they know this
word says belly and not tummy or stomach. (Only belly begins with b.) Remind students to look
at the beginning and ending sounds in words and/or familiar parts within words to help them
sound out the word. They should check whether the word makes sense by looking at the picture
and rereading the sentence.
Set the Purpose
• Have students think about what they already know about their own body as they read about
the parts of the body in the book.

During Reading
Student Reading
• Guide the reading: Give students their book and tell them to read to the end of page 5.
Tell students to reread the pages if they finish before everyone else.
• When they have finished, ask students to tell the parts of the body they have read about. Have
students point out the parts on their own bodies and tell how using what they know about their
own body helped them understand the book.

© Learning A–Z All rights reserved. 2 www.readinga-z.com

 LEVEL A
Lesson Plan (continued) My Body
• Model making connections to prior knowledge.
Think aloud: I have the same body parts as the ones I’ve read about. I have two feet, two legs,
two arms, and two hands. I have one belly, one chest, and one head. It helps me understand
what I am reading if I can think about what I already know about those parts of my body.
• Tell students to read the remainder of the book.

Have students make a small question mark in their book beside any word they do not
understand or cannot pronounce. These can be addressed in the discussion that follows.

After Reading
• Ask students what words, if any, they marked in their book. Use this opportunity to model how
they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues. For example, point out
the word leg and ask students how they know this word doesn’t say beg. Focus on the sound
of /l/ at the beginning of the word.

Reflect on the Reading Strategy

• Reinforce how using what they already knew about the parts of their body helped them
understand what they read. (Connecting life experiences and using prior knowledge of
a topic helps students personally relate to and remember what they have read.)

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Compare and contrast

• Introduce and model: Have two students (one short, one tall) come to the front. Have each remove
one shoe and sock, and place their left legs and feet next to one another’s. Ask students to tell
what is alike (five toes, two feet, two legs) and what is different about their feet and legs. Have
students hold out their arms. Ask students to tell what is alike and different about their hands
and arms (five fingers, two hands, two arms). Have each student at the front of the class point
to his/her belly, chest, and head. Ask students to tell how they are alike (each student has one
of each) and different.
• Discussion: Show students two pictures, such as photographs of a body builder and a regular
person or two other different people. Have students tell the ways in which their bodies are alike
and different.
• Check for understanding: Have students hold their hands out with palms facing their bodies. Have
them look around the group and find a person who has hands that are like their own. Have each
student identify the other person and tell why he/she thinks their hands are alike. Repeat for
differences and discuss.
• Independent practice: Tell students to complete the compare-and-contrast worksheet. Discuss
students’ responses.

Extend the discussion: Instruct students to use the last page of their book to draw a picture
of their body. Have students share their pictures with the group.

Build Skills
Phonological Awareness: Identify rhyme
• Say the words leg and beg, and have students repeat the words. Tell them that leg and beg
rhyme because they have the same ending sound. Repeat the words and have students listen
for the ending sounds.
• Tell students that you are going to say a word. If the word rhymes with leg, they should give
you a thumbs-up. If it doesn’t rhyme with leg, they should give you a thumbs-down. Say the
following words one at a time: Meg, keg, lag, peg, bag.
• Say the word hand and have students repeat it. Tell them that you are going to say some more
words. If the word rhymes with hand, they should pat their head. If the word doesn’t rhyme,
they should shake their head. Say the following words: land, lend, bend, band, sand, send.

© Learning A–Z All rights reserved. 3 www.readinga-z.com

 LEVEL A
Lesson Plan (continued) My Body
Phonics: Initial consonant Bb
• Say the word body and ask students what sound they hear at the beginning of the word.
Have them look at the cover of the book and point out the word that says body.
• Show students a capital and small letter b and point out the upper- and lowercase letters.
Ask students to repeat the sound that the letter b stands for.
• Run your finger under the word ball as you say each sound: /bbbb/ /aaaa/ /llll/. Ask a student
to come up and run his/her finger under the word while the rest of the group sounds it out.
• Ask students to tell you some words that start with /b/. Write the words on the board. Ask
volunteers to come to the board and circle the letter that stands for the /b/ sound in each word.
• Give students the initial consonant Bb worksheet and explain what they are to do. When
completed, discuss their answers.
Grammar and Mechanics: Nouns as naming words
• Tell students that the words they read in the book are used to tell about parts of their body.
Explain that these words are called naming words. Have students look at page 4. Ask them
to find the naming word that tells what is in the picture.
• Ask students to find another naming word in the book. Reinforce that all of the parts of the
boy’s body are naming words.

Instruct students to work together to underline the naming words in the book.
Word Work: Categorize words
• Tell students that the words they read in the book are used to tell about parts of a body and that
these can be put into a group called “body parts.” Draw a large circle on the board with the words
body parts in the center. As students name the words that belong in the group (foot, leg, hand,
arm, belly, chest, head), draw and label a picture of each in a smaller circle around the large circle.
Attach the smaller circles to the large circle with a line.
• Ask students to think of parts of their heads. As students offer head parts (eyes, ears, nose,
mouth, chin, cheeks, eyebrows), draw small circles around the circle labeled head. Draw and
label each part. Continue with other body parts if students need additional practice categorizing.
• Give students the categorization worksheet. Tell them they can use the book as a reference.

Build Fluency
Independent Reading
• Allow students to read their book independently. Additionally, allow partners to take turns
reading parts of the book to each other.

Home Connection
• Give students their books to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.

Extend the Reading

Writing and Art Connection
Have students lie down on a large piece of butcher-block paper. Trace each student’s body.
Have students label each body part.

Science Connection
Use this book as an introduction to a science unit about the body. Help students understand
how their body grows and changes as they get older. Have students draw pictures of themselves
as grown-ups.

Music Connection
Have students sing along and follow the directions in the Hokey Pokey song.

© Learning A–Z All rights reserved. 4 www.readinga-z.com

 LEVEL A
Lesson Plan (continued) My Body
Skill Review
Discussion cards covering comprehension skills and strategies not explicitly taught with the book
are provided as an extension activity. The following is a list of some ways these cards can be used
with students:
• Use as discussion starters for literature circles.
• Have students choose one or more cards and write a response, either as an essay
or as a journal entry.
• Distribute before reading the book and have students use one of the questions
as a purpose for reading.
• Cut apart and use the cards as game cards with a board game.

Assessment
Monitor students to determine if they can:
• connect their life experience and prior knowledge to better understand what they read
• make comparisons
• identify words that rhyme
• recognize that the letter Bb stands for the /b/ sound and suggest words that start with /b/
• recognize naming words
• categorize the parts of a body

Comprehension Check
• Retelling Rubric

© Learning A–Z All rights reserved. 5 www.readinga-z.com