B e n c h m a r k e d u c a t i o n c o m p a n y

Teacher’s Guidexplorers

For students reading at Literacy Level K/20, including:

English-language learners •Students reading below grade level •Second-grade readers • First graders reading above grade level •

METACOGNITIVE STRATEGYVisualize •

VocabularyRecognize high-frequency words •Develop Tier Two vocabulary •Develop Tier Three vocabulary •

Grammar, Word Study, and Language Development

Use commands •Use antonyms • Recognize the sentence structure •A ___ is a ___

Phonics Use word parts to problem-solve •multisyllable wordsRecognize CVCe words •

FluencyRead with appropriate stress or emphasis •

WritingWrite to a picture prompt •Write to a text prompt •

skills & strategiesAnchor Comprehension Strategies

Draw conclusions •Summarize information •

Theme: shapesShapes and Solids Outdoors (K/20) •Finding Shapes and Solids (M/28) •

Math Big idea:Readers learn to identify the properties of shapes and solids they see outdoors.

Shapes and Solids OutdoorsLevel K/20

• Use a Graphic Organizer Draw a T-chart on the board with the headings Questions and Answers. Read the headings aloud. Ask: What do you want to learn about shapes and solids? Write students’ responses in the first column of the chart. Then read the questions aloud and ask students to echo-read.

Introduce the Book• Give each student a copy of the book.

Remind students they will read about shapes and solids outdoors. Preview the book, encouraging students to interact with the pictures and text on each page as you emphasize the elements from the page 3 chart that will best support their understanding of the book’s language, concepts, and organization. (Items in bold print include sample “teacher talk.”)

• Pages 2–3 Words to Discuss Ask students to point to each illustration as you say its matching label. Repeat the process, inviting students to echo-read. After students Think/Pair/Share what they know about each word, fill in any missing details. Say: We will see these words in the book.

Before Reading

Make Connections and Build Background• Use Art Place a large sheet of paper

on the table and give each student a pencil. Say: We will read a book about shapes and solids outdoors. I will draw some shapes and solids I see outdoors. Sketch an outline of your school building and add a few details, such as a window and a flag. Name each shape or solid you drew. Then invite each student to add another shape or solid they see outdoors and tell the group about it.

Questions Answers

How is a shape different from a solid?

Do all shapes and solids have corners?

Are buildings usually cubes?

What is an example of a sphere?

Related ResourcesThe following Benchmark Education resources support this lesson.

Other Early Explorers Books• I See Cubes (B/2)• Cones All Around (E/7)• What Is Round? (F/10)• Shapes and Solids (I/15)

Fluency and Language Development• Shapes and Solids Outdoors

Audio CD

Comprehension Resources• Shapes and Solids Outdoors

question card• Power Tool Flip Chart for Teachers• Student Bookmark• Draw Conclusions poster

Assessment• Early Explorers Overview &

Assessment Handbook• Grade 2 Comprehension Strategy

Assessment Book

© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLCShapES and SoLidS outdoorS2

Copyright © 2007 Benchmark Education Company, LLC. All rights reserved. Teachers may photocopy the reproducible pages for classroom use. No other part of the guide may be reproduced or transmitted in whole or in part in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in Canada.ISBN: 978-1-4108-7815-1

Pages Text and Words to English/Spanish Sentence Graphic Features Discuss Cognates Structures

Cover title, author, photo

1 title, author, table of contents, photo

2–3 photos circle, cube, rectangle, rectangular prism, sphere, square

4 chapter head, photo, caption home, cube cube/cubo

5 labeled photo, caption solid, corners, edges, faces, solid/sólido, part/parte A ____ is a ____. flat, parts, shape, square

6 labeled illustration, caption length

7 photo, caption games

8 chapter head, photo, building, rectangular prism rectangular prism/ illustration, caption prisma rectangular

9 labeled illustration, caption different, rectangles, trace different/diferente, rectangle/rectángulo, trace/trazar

10 photo, caption bricks

11 labeled illustration, labeled fold photo, caption

12 labeled illustrations, caption short, long

13 illustration, caption sidewalks, art art/arte

14 chapter head, photo, caption spheres, round sphere/esfera, round/redondo

15 photos, caption roll, circle circle/círculo

16 illustrations, caption curved

17 photo, labeled illustration, cone cone/cono caption

18 chapter head, photo, caption country

19 photo, caption

20 glossary, index

© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC ShapES and SoLidS outdoorS 3

• Page 4 Spanish Cognate Ask: Does cube sound like a word you know in Spanish? (Allow time for students to respond.) The English word cube sounds like the Spanish word cubo. Cube and cubo mean the same thing. Can you see a cube in our classroom? (Allow time for students to respond.) Write the word cube on the board and ask students to locate it on page 4 in the book.

• Page 5 Graphic Feature This page has a labeled photo. The labels have words. The words name parts of the cube in the photograph. What parts of the cube are labeled? (edge, corner, and face)

• Page 5 Sentence Structure Write A ____ is a ____ on the board. Read the sentence structure aloud and ask students to repeat it several times. Say: We use this sentence structure to tell about something. Model using the sentence structure to tell about shapes or solids, such as A circle is a round shape or A house is a solid. Then assist students in forming their own sentences using the structure. Say: This sentence structure is in the book. Can you find the structure on page 5? Frame the sentence. Let’s read the sentence together.

Rehearse Reading Strategies• Write the word outline on the

board. Say: One word in this book is outline. Look at the word outline. Say the word outline. What parts are in outline? Allow time for students to respond, assisting as needed. Say: The word outline has two parts, out and line. Out and line are words, too. We

can put the words out and line together to make outline. Ask students to find the word outline on page 15. Say: Use word parts to help you when you read.

• Remind students to use other reading strategies they are learning as well, such as thinking about the meanings of prefixes and suffixes or reading on to the end of the sentence to solve a word through context clues.

Set a Purpose for Reading• Say: Now it’s time to read the book.

You may whisper-read or read silently to yourself. Assign one or more chapters, depending on available time and the needs and abilities of students in the group. Use the chart below to set a purpose for each chapter. Invite students to place self-stick notes on pages where they find information to add to the T-chart and look for opportunities to answer questions on the chart at each stopping point. If students do not complete the book, orally summarize the previously read chapters and begin at this point in the teacher’s guide the next time you meet.

Before Reading (continued)

4–7 Learn where you can find cubes and squares.

8–13 Learn where you can find prisms and rectangles.

14–17 Learn where you can find spheres and circles.

18–19 Learn where you can find solids and shapes.

© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLCShapES and SoLidS outdoorS4

Observe and Prompt Reading Strategies• After the supportive introduction,

students should be able to read all or most of the book on their own. Observe students as they read. Take note of the graphophonic, syntactic, and semantic cues they use to make sense of the text and self-correct. Prompt individual students who have difficulty problem-solving independently, but be careful not to prompt English-language learners too quickly. They may need more time to process the text as they rely on their first language for comprehension.

Use the Graphic Organizer to Summarize• Ask students to think about their

reading. Say: Look at out T-chart. Can we answer any of our questions? Record students’ answers in the second column. Then choral-read each question and answer and ask students to use the graphic organizer to tell a partner about the book.

During Reading After Reading

Questions Answers

How is a shape different from a solid?

A shape is flat.

Do all shapes and solids have corners?

Circles and spheres do not have corners.

Are buildings usually cubes?

Many buildings are rectangular prisms.

What is an example of a sphere?

A ball is a sphere.

© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC ShapES and SoLidS outdoorS 5

After Reading (continued)

Reading Strategy Mini-Lesson: Visualize• Reflect Ask: Did you understand

what you read? What parts were hard to understand? How did you help yourself?

• Model Say: I want to understand what I read. One way is to visualize what I’m reading. To visualize means to make a picture in my mind. Ask students to turn to page 8. Say: I will shut my eyes. I will imagine standing beside this building. The building is a rectangular prism. The giant building makes me feel tiny. I see windows on the building. The windows are rectangles. I hear the doors on the building slam. The doors are rectangles, too. Can you think of other things I might see, hear, or feel? Allow time for students to share their ideas. Say: Visualizing the page helped me. Now I better understand how to find prisms and rectangles outdoors.

• Guide Invite students to read page 14 with you. Ask: What do you see? Can you imagine being in space? How would you describe Earth? How do you feel? Allow time for students to share their visualizations. Then invite them to tell how visualizing the scene helped them better understand seeing a sphere outdoors.

• Apply Ask students to read their favorite page to a partner and then visualize it out loud. Observe students as they share their visualizations, providing assistance if needed. See the Early Explorers Overview & Assessment Handbook for an observation chart you can use to assess students’

understanding of the monitor-reading strategy. Then say: You can visualize any time you read. Remember to visualize to help you understand.

Answer Text-Dependent Questions• Explain Remind students they can

answer questions about books they have read. Say: We answer different kinds of questions in different ways. I will help you learn how to answer each kind. Tell students today they will practice answering Prove It! questions. Say: The answer to a Prove It! question is not stated in the book. You have to look for clues and evidence to prove the answer.

• Model Use the first Prove It! question on the question card. Say: I will read the question to figure out what to do: Look at pages 6 and 7. The squares on the game are flat. How can you tell? This question asks me to use a graphic feature to interpret information. I know because I read the words look at and how can you tell. What other words in the question will help me? (Allow student responses.) Yes, I need to look on pages 6 and 7. I need to look at the squares on the game. Model doing so. Say: I see the game with squares. I read about squares on page 6. I read that a square is a shape and all shapes are flat. The squares in the game are flat because they are shapes. The evidence supports my answer. The answer makes sense.

© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLCShapES and SoLidS outdoorS6

• Guide Ask students to answer the other questions on the question card. Use the Power Tool Flip Chart and Student Bookmark to provide additional modeling as needed. Remind students to ask themselves: What is the question asking? How can I find the answer? Does my answer make sense? How do I know?

Build Comprehension: Draw Conclusions• Explain Create an overhead

transparency of the “Shapes and Solids Outdoors” graphic organizer on page 12 or draw it on the board. Say: An author can’t give us every bit of information in a book. We figure out some things on our own. We use the author’s words and photographs for clues. Figuring something out using three or more clues is drawing a conclusion.

• Model Say: Let’s draw a conclusion in Shapes and Solids Outdoors. On page 4 we see a home. I have never seen a home like this. The author says the home looks very unusual. The home is a cube. This home is like a big box. Record this evidence in the first Clues box on the graphic organizer. Then say: Now we need to use the clues to draw a conclusion. We can conclude that few homes are cubes. Write this statement in the first Conclusion box.

• Guide Say: Let’s draw another conclusion. Page 5 says a cube is a solid. A cube has six faces. You can see three faces of the cube. Record the evidence in the second Clues box on the graphic organizer. Then ask: What can we figure out from these clues? (Again allow time for students to respond.) Yes, we can conclude that you cannot see all the parts of a solid at the same time.

• Apply Ask students to work with a partner to draw another conclusion in the book. Remind them to use word and picture clues to figure out the things the author doesn’t say. After the partnerships share, record their ideas on the graphic organizer. Finally, read the completed graphic organizer aloud and invite students to echo-read.

© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC ShapES and SoLidS outdoorS 7

After Reading (continued)

Home Connection• Give students the take-home version of

Shapes and Solids Outdoors to read to family members. Encourage students to work with a friend or family member to draw a picture of something in their home that is a cube, rectangular prism, sphere, or cone. Invite them to bring their drawings to share with the group.

Reader ResponseInvite students to respond to the book in a way that is meaningful to them. Model and use think-alouds as needed to scaffold students before they try the activities on their own.• Tell what you remember best about

the book.• Write a word that describes each solid.• Draw a picture of a house and label

the shapes.• Use blocks that are cubes, rectangular

prisms, spheres, and cones to make a building.

• Write another question you would like to ask about shapes and solids.

• Tell how cubes and rectangular prisms are alike and different.

Write to a Picture Prompt• Retell Tell students they will talk

about a picture from the book. Then they will write about the picture. Ask them to turn to page 11. Say: I can use this picture to tell part of the book in my own words: Boxes have edges and corners. Many boxes are rectangular prisms. Now I will write my idea. Model writing your sentences on the board. Ask students to choose a picture and tell a partner about it. Allow time for students to share their retellings, providing assistance as needed. Then say: You used a picture to tell part of the book in your own words. Now write your idea. After you are finished, read your writing to a partner.

Write to a Text Prompt• Persuade the Author Do you

wish something different was in the book? Would you like the author to talk about other shapes and solids? Write a letter to the author about your idea. Then write why your idea would make the book better. When you are finished, read your writing to a partner.

Phonics: CVCe• Ask students to locate the word game

on page 7. Write game on the board. Explain that often a vowel followed by a consonant and final “e” is long. Cross out the “e” and underline the “a” as you say: The letter “e” at the end of the word is silent. The “e” doesn’t make a sound. It signals a long vowel in the middle, though. It makes the “a” say its own name. Slowly draw

Mini-Lessonsfor Differentiating Instruction

© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLCShapES and SoLidS outdoorS8

your finger under the word as you blend the sounds. Then ask students to do the same in their books. Repeat the process on page 5 (face, shape), 9 (trace), and 17 (base); long i on page 6 (side); long o on page 4 (home) and 17 (cone); and long u on page 4 (cube).

• Ask students to brainstorm words with long vowel sounds. Acknowledge all correct responses, and record those with the CVCe pattern on index cards. Then spread the cards out in a pocket chart or on the table. Read each word, inviting students to echo-read.

• Say: We can sort the cards using the long vowel sounds. Hold up a card, such as cave. Say: Find the words that have the same long vowel sound as cave. Repeat the process for each long vowel sound. Once the cards are all sorted, invite each student to select word and use it in a sentence.

Vocabulary• Tier Two Vocabulary Pronounce

the word unusual and ask students to repeat it. Say: The author says the home on page 4 is unusual. Something unusual is different from what you expect. A home that is a cube is unusual. A home that is a sphere or cone would be even more unusual. Discuss other things that are unusual, such as a round desk, a black flower, or a two-dollar bill. Then model a sentence, such as The bird had unusual purple feathers. Invite students to share their own sentences, providing assistance as needed. Ask: What word have we been talking about? Yes—unusual. Let’s try to use the word unusual many times today. We can use the word at school and at home.

• Tier Three Vocabulary Review the book with students and write the words shape, solid, edges, faces, corner, flat, and round on one set of index cards and circle, square, rectangle, sphere, cube, cone, and prism on a second set of cards. Read the words with students and spread both sets out in a pocket chart or on the table. Choose one word from each set and model an oral sentence using both words, such as A cube has six faces. Then invite students to take turns making their own sentences. Continue the game until each student has had several turns with different word pairs. For additional practice, students may work as a group or in pairs to complete the vocabulary activity on page 11.

Grammar, Word Study, and Language DevelopmentCommands

• Model Explain that authors sometimes use sentences that tell readers what to do, or commands. Ask students to read the first sentence on page 7 with you: Think about squares that you know. Say: The author uses the word think as a command. The author wants us to think about squares. I use commands, too. Model simple commands for students to act out, such as:

Clap your hands. Close your eyes. Hop on one foot.

• Guide Invite students to read page 9. Ask: What command is on this page? (Trace one face of the rectangular prism.) How do you know this sentence is a command? (It tells the reader what to do.) Repeat the process with the command on page 17.

© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC ShapES and SoLidS outdoorS 9

• Apply Pair students. Ask them to make up a command related to shapes or solids, such as Draw a square inside a circle or Point to a rectangular prism in the classroom. Ask each student to perform his or her partner’s command. Then invite students to share their commands with the group.

Antonyms

• Model Explain that authors sometimes use antonyms, or opposites, when they write. Say: I see some antonyms on page 12: This rectangle has two short sides. This rectangle has two long sides, too. The words short and long are antonyms. The words short and long have opposite meanings.

• Guide Ask students to locate the word same on page 6. Then ask them to look at page 9. Ask: Can you find an antonym for the word same? (different) Why are same and different antonyms? (The words have opposite meanings.) Invite students to use the words same and different in oral sentences and pantomime the actions.

• Apply Pair students. Ask partners to think of an antonym for curved on page 16. (straight) Then ask partners to make up an oral sentence using an antonym pair of their own choice.

Fluency: Read with Appropriate Stress or Emphasis• Say: We do not read every

word the same way. Instead, we watch for important words to stress or emphasize.

• Ask students to turn to page 4. First, read the caption in a flat voice. Discuss how this makes the listener feel. Then read the caption again, emphasizing the words big box. Say: Sometimes an exclamation point shows us what to emphasize. Read the caption again, asking students to echo-read.

• Ask students to turn to page 10. Point out that authors do not always use exclamation points to show what to emphasize. Help students locate words they might want to emphasize, such as prisms, many ways, and bricks. Choral-read the page with them, emphasizing the words discussed.

• Invite students to take turns reading Shapes and Solids Outdoors with a partner. Remind them to stress or emphasize important words and sentences as they read.

© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLCShapES and SoLidS outdoorS10

Name: Date:

Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks. Use the words from the box below. Then read the paragraph to a partner.

A cube and a rectangular prism are both

_______________________________. A shape is

_______________________________. Squares and

_______________________________ are shapes. Squares have

four _______________________________. Circles are

_______________________________.

circles flat round sides solids

© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC ShapES and SoLidS outdoorS11

Name: Date:

Shapes and Solids Outdoors

Clues Conclusions

© 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLCShapES and SoLidS outdoorS12