Planning for Interactive Read Alouds and Taking Observational Notes

(Adapted from Fountas & Pinnell (2018) Literacy Quick Guide)

New Text: The Good Egg by Jory John and Pete Oswald

Standard(s): CC.1.3.2.A- Recount stories and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.

Objective(s):
● Students will be able to make text- to-self connections to The Good Egg in order to infer the moral of the story.

Introduce the Text

● Engage student interest
and activate thinking.
● Set a purpose for reading.
● Ask students about what a moral is that we have been talking about in the
reading block.
● Ask the students if they have ever gone to the grocery store and looked at the
eggs.
● Ask the students to think about themselves as eggs and as if we are one big
carton of eggs. Think of us, and the eggs, as one big family that looks out for
one another.
● Tell the students to keep this image in mind as we start to read the book The
Good Egg by Jory John and Pete Oswald.
○ Some students may have read this book already, so encourage those
who have read it previously, to think about what you didn’t notice the
first time you read it and look especially for the moral. Remind them
not to spoil the fun/ending!
● Let’s start reading to find out what happens to the Good Egg and how we can
connect to it…

Read the Text

● Stop a few times to invite After “They broke their stuff… on purpose!”
thinking and a brief ● Think of yourselves… Do you relate to the Good Egg? Have you ever been
conversation. around others making poor choices and you were trying to do the right thing?
o 3-5 stopping Turn and talk to your partner.
points only.
● Students turn and talk. After “They were everywhere.”
● Why do you think the Good Egg is cracking? Turn and talk to your partner!

After “For once, I found time for me.”

● Do you think it is good to take time for ourselves? What do you do to take time
for yourself?
 **After students turn and talk, allow some partners to share what they talked about.
Make sure to EXTEND students’ thinking, ask them to explain WHY they think the
way they do, and CHALLENGE them to go deeper in their thinking**

Discuss the Text

● Invite students to talk After “It’s good to be home.”

about the book.
● Guide them toward some
of the key understandings
and main messages of the
text.
● What do you think the moral was? What did the Good Egg learn? What did you
learn?
● Turn and talk
After
● What happened in the text that told you what the moral was?
○ Ask for students to share their ideas

Revisit the Text (Optional)

● Revisit the text to reread it, If needed, reread the page “Here’s what I realized: The other eggs aren’t perfect, and I
or parts of it, so students don’t have to be, either. I’m OK with that.”
can notice more about how ● Do we all have to be perfect all the time? NO! But, we have to be our best and
it is crafted and build a worry about/take care of ourselves!
deeper meaning.

Respond to the Text (Optional)

● Write about reading, art,

drama, or inquiry-based
projects to enhance
appreciation and
interpretation of the text.

Rationale: Share why the instructional approach was selected, why the materials were selected, and how the
materials are responsive to the curriculum and students’ needs as well as interests and/or cultures.

I chose this book because I call kids good eggs, and apparently there is a book about it! I also have multiple
groups of kids (across different classrooms) who have trouble worrying about themselves and learning when to tell
an adult or distinguish what tattling is. Students also need to talk about the book to draw connected meaning to the
text. I also picked this book because there is a specific moral to be learned and my students need help identifying a
moral!
___________________________________________________________________________________________
After teaching the lesson or visualizing how the lesson may go, fill in this section. This may be completed
later in the semester.

Describe your observations.

I did this with my kids to talk about making good decisions (since it was during an “intervention” block where i am
not allowed to teach new content….) BUT we had a really great discussion that just because someone is not
making a good choice, doesn’t mean we can’t make the right ones! We also had a great discussion concerning
mistakes and if we make one bad choice, it doesn’t mean we are a bad egg! Overall, I love this book. I wish I could
have made a flow chart about the moral of the story, but we aren’t allowed to teach new content if some students
are pulled by specialists for intervention!

Share your reflection regarding implementation and next steps.