Vegetables A
Focus Question:
What are some vegetables?
Book Summary
Text Type: Nonfiction/Informational
Eating healthy foods is essential for students’ development, and that includes lots of fruits
and vegetables! Vegetables introduces students to a wide variety of foods from this food
group—some they might already know, and some they might not! Colorful photographs
and a repetitive text structure support early emergent readers. This book can also be used to
teach students how to connect to prior knowledge as well as to classify information to better
understand text.
Lesson Essentials
Instructional Focus
Connect to prior knowledge to better
understand text
Classify information to understand text
Describe details found in photographs
in the text
Discriminate initial consonant /v/ sound
Identify initial consonant Vv
Recognize and use declarative sentences
Identify and use the high-frequency
word this
Materials
Book: Vegetables (copy for each student)
Classify information, initial consonant Vv,
high-frequency word this worksheets
Discussion cards
Book quiz
Retelling rubric
Vocabulary
Boldface vocabulary words also appear
in a pre-made lesson for this title on
VocabularyA–Z.com. (*) word appears
in the lesson but not the book.
• High-frequency words: are, is, this
• Words to Know
Story critical: broccoli (n.), cabbage (n.),
chile pepper (n.), lettuce (n.), potato (n.),
vegetables (n.)
• Academic vocabulary: classify (v.)*,
information (n.)*
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Guiding the Reading
Before Reading
Build Background
• Make a four-column chart on the board, and label
the columns with the following headings: Fruits,
Vegetables, Grains, Meat/Dairy. Have students work
with a partner to name foods that belong in the four
categories. Have students share their ideas with the
class, and record these ideas in the correct columns.
• Have students vote on which category of food is
their favorite. If any student chooses vegetables,
invite him or her to share which vegetables are
his or her favorite and why. Explain to students
they will be learning about a variety of vegetables
today, which is one of the most important food
groups to eat every day.
Introduce the Book
• Give students their copy of Vegetables. Guide them
to the front and back covers and read the title.
Have students discuss what they see on the covers.
Encourage them to offer ideas as to what type of
book it is (genre, text type, and so on) and what
it might be about.
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information
on the page (title of book, author’s name).
Introduce the Reading Strategy:
Connect to prior knowledge
Explain to students that effective readers make
connections between what they already know and
new information they read, which is called connecting
to prior knowledge. Remind them that thinking about
what they already know about the topic of a book
will help them better understand what they read.
Read the title of this book and ask students to look
at the front and back covers. Invite volunteers to
share what they already know about this book,
on the basis of the title and cover pictures.
Introduce the Comprehension Skill:
Classify information
• Explain to students that one strategy effective
readers use to understand information in a book
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Guiding the Reading (cont.)
is to group items that are alike. Point out that
deciding how to sort the information from the
book into groups is called classifying information.
• Put students into small groups. Give each group
pictures of a variety of toys. Have students work
together to sort the toys into groups (for example,
by color). Once done, have students determine
another way to sort the toys into groups (by type,
by size, and so on). Have groups share the new way
they sorted the toys with the class.
Vocabulary
Have students turn to the “Words to Know” box
on the copyright page. Point out that these words
can be found in the story and that understanding
the meaning of each word will help them better
understand what they read. Read the words aloud to
students and as a group, discuss the meaning of each
word. On the basis of the definitions discussed, have
students work in groups to illustrate each vocabulary
word on a poster. Have students share their posters
with the class.
Set the Purpose
• Have students read to find out more about
vegetables. Write the Focus Question on the board.
Invite students to look for evidence in the book to
support their answer.
• 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 a
future discussion.
During Reading
Text-Dependent Questions
As students read the book, monitor their understanding
with the following questions. Encourage students to
support their answers by citing evidence from the book.
• What type of vegetable is on this page? (level 1)
page 3
• How are the potato and broccoli alike? How
are they different? (level 2) pages 3–4
• What could lettuce be used to make? (level 3)
page 5
• In which season do people usually eat corn?
Why do you think that? (level 3) page 6
• How can you describe cabbage? (level 2) page 8
Text Features: Photographs
Explain that photographs, or pictures taken with
a camera, are important to analyze while reading
because they give readers clues about unknown
words in the text. Have students look at the
photograph on page 4 and put their finger on the
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Vegetables A
word broccoli. Ask students: If you did not know how
to read the word broccoli, how could you use the
photograph to help you? What clues do you see in
the photograph to help you identify the word? Have
students review other photographs in the book and
discuss in groups how the photographs give clues to
help them figure out unknown words in the text.
Invite volunteers to share their ideas with the class.
Skill Review
• Model for students how you connect with prior
knowledge as you read. Share personal experiences
with eating vegetables, which vegetables you
like, which ones you don’t, and any stories you
have related to vegetables. Remind students that
connecting to prior knowledge will help them
better remember and understand the information
presented in a text.
• Have students work together to periodically sort
the items from this book into different groups.
• Model classifying information.
Think-aloud: I know that all the items in this book
are vegetables, but I can also sort them into
different groups. One way I can sort them is by
color. I see that broccoli, lettuce, and chile peppers
are green. I also see that potatoes, corn, cabbage,
and carrots are not green. Therefore, I can sort
them into two groups: green vegetables and
vegetables of other colors. I will continue reading
to see if there are any other ways I can sort the
vegetables from this book.
• Model how to complete the classify information
worksheet. Have students sort the vegetables into
different groups.
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.
Skill Review
Graphic Organizer: Classify information
Review the classify information worksheet that
students completed. Have students share their work
in groups. Invite volunteers to share with the rest
of the class how they sorted the vegetables. Discuss
with students how classifying the information from
the book helped them to better remember and
understand what they read.
Comprehension Extension
Discussion cards covering comprehension skills and
strategies not explicitly taught with the book are
provided to be used for extension activities.
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Guiding the Reading (cont.)
Response to Focus Question
Have students cite specific evidence from the book to
answer the Focus Question. (Sample: Some vegetables
are potatoes, broccoli, lettuce, corn, chile peppers,
cabbage, and carrots.)
Comprehension Checks
• Book quiz • Retelling rubric
Book Extension Activities
Build Skills
Phonological Awareness:
Initial consonant /v/ sound
• Say the word vegetable aloud to students,
emphasizing the initial /v/ sound. Have students say
the word aloud and then say the /v/ sound. Have
students practice saying the /v/ sound to a partner.
• Say the following word pairs, and have students
identify the word in each pair that begins with the
/v/ sound: violin/piano, victory/lost, dust/vacuum,
flowers/vase.
• Check for understanding: Say the following words
one at a time, and have students give the thumbs-up
signal when they hear a word that begins with the /v/
sound: vampire, drums, violin, pants, vest, and vote.
Phonics: Initial consonant Vv
• Write the word vegetable on the board and read
it aloud with students.
• Have students say the /v/ sound aloud. Then, run
your finger under the letters in the word vegetable
as students say the whole word aloud. Ask students
to identify which letter represents the /v/ sound in
the word vegetable.
• Have students practice writing the letter Vv on a
separate piece of paper while saying the /v/ sound.
• Check for understanding: Write the following words
on the board, leaving off the initial consonant: van,
vote, vulture, and village. Say each word, one at a
time, and have volunteers come to the board and
add the initial Vv to each word.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and
have students complete the initial consonant Vv
worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.
Grammar and Mechanics: Declarative sentences
• Review or explain that a declarative sentence
is a sentence that tells information. Explain that
a declarative sentence starts with a capital letter
and ends with a period.
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Vegetables A
• Write the following sentence from page 3 on the
board, leaving off the capital letter and period: this
is a potato. Have students locate it in their book.
Ask a volunteer to come to the board and add a
capital letter to the beginning and a period to end
of the sentence. Ask another volunteer to explain
why this is a declarative sentence.
• Check for understanding: Have students look through
the book with a partner to locate the declarative
sentences. Have students underline the capital
letter and circle the period in each sentence.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have
students complete the declarative sentences
worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.
Word Work: High-frequency word this
• Write the word this on the board and read it aloud
with students. Explain to students that they will
often see this word in books they read and they
should memorize it so they can decode it right away.
• Spell the word aloud while students write each
letter in the air.
• Write the following sentence on the board: This is a
carrot. Read it aloud with students and discuss with
them the meaning of the word this.
• Have students practice spelling this in many ways,
such as in shaving cream spread on their desk or in
rice on cookie sheets.
• Check for understanding: Have students reread the
book and circle every occurrence of the word this.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have
students complete the high-frequency-word-this
worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.
Connections
• See the back of the book for cross-curricular
extension ideas.
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