Guided Reading Lesson Plan Book: Crocker, R. (2004) Welcome to Japan. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic.

Materials: Books World map Post it notes Objective: 1. Students will identify and utilize text structure throughout the book. 2. Students will use the text structure to determine importance. Common Core: RI.4.2. Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details: summarize the text R1.4. Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of text in which it appears. Introduction: Discuss with students before picture walk: What do you know about Japan? What continent is it on? What language do they speak in Japan? Purpose: Teacher finds out students schemas of Japan, and it activates background knowledge. Picture walk as a group, point out text features: o Table of contentspoint out that this is what we will know about Japan by the end of the book o Pronunciation guideshow to find them, how to use them. o Titles o Bolded wordsmention the glossary in the back o Captions by pictures Look at page 3. Try and say Konnichi wa together. Practice using the pronunciation guide together. Look at the map. The map does not show Japan in relation to the rest of the world. Show students on world map where Japan is located.

Look at page 5. They say that most farmers use wet fields to grow their rice. How is this different than in Iowa? Why might these farmers use wet fields instead of dry fields? (Direct students to the first part of the paragraph) Have the students skim pages 6 and 7. Note the bold words as vocabulary words. Look at pages 8 and 9. Have students skim the pages. Now take a look at the photos and captions. Note how the photos and captions are supporting details of the text that help us understand the main idea better.

Reading Plan Have students read the entire book to themselves. While they are reading, they should use the bold words, picture and captions to help them come up with one or two sentences that describe the main idea for each section. Teacher will model the first section Konnichi wa. As students are reading, the teacher will check in with students individually to either have them read aloud to the teacher, or explain what they are reading. Discussion Points o What did you find interesting? o What are some things that are similar to the United States? o What are some differences between Japan and the United States? Processing Strategy Teachers will remind students that they were to use text features to find the main idea on each page. Discuss as a group what they found to be the main idea of each section. How did they figure that out? What elements of the book did they use to determine the importance? Share main idea points and write the sentences on the white board for students to see. Extension Write a paragraph about why you would or would not like to visit Japan. Use examples from the book to support your statement. Be sure to talk about the three main topics: The Land The People Living in the City Word Work Take a look at the Japanese words that youve learned in this book. Which were new? Which words do we also use in English? (Tsunamis, Sushi, Sayonara). Talk about how some of the words we use in English come from other languages.