LEVEL A

Lesson Plan Fruit

About the Book
Text Type: Nonfiction/Concept Book Page Count: 10 Word Count: 31

Book Summary
This informational text introduces students to the printed
vocabulary that names examples of nutritious foods. Students
may be surprised to find the tomato, which is a large berry,
included alongside lemons, apples, and bananas. Repeated
high-frequency words reinforce fluency and support the
decoding of new vocabulary.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy
• Visualize

Objectives
• Use the reading strategy of visualizing information from the book
• Classify information
• Identify words that rhyme
• Associate the letter Tt with the sound /t/
• Understand that some words name people, places, and things
• Categorize words

Materials
Green text indicates resources available on the website
• Book—Fruit (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Word journal (optional)
• Classify information, rhyming words 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: a, is, this
• Content words:
Story critical: apple (n.), banana (n.), cherry (n.), fruit (n.), lemon (n.), orange (n.),
  pear (n.), tomato (n.)

Before Reading
Build Background
• Have students close their eyes and picture an orange in their minds. Have them picture its shape
and color. Ask them to think about how it feels in their hands and what it smells like. Have
students keep their eyes closed as they say some words that describe the picture of the orange
in their minds.
• Have students open their eyes. Show them a real orange and let them smell it and touch it. Talk
about how their mind-picture of the orange is similar to and different from the real orange.

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 LEVEL A
Lesson Plan (continued) Fruit
• Expand the discussion by asking students to identify their favorite types of fruits. Encourage
students to talk about what the word fruit means. (Fruit is a part of a plant that has the seeds
in it.) Prompt with questions, such as: When do you eat fruit? Why do you eat fruit? Is all fruit
sweet? Is all fruit small? What does it mean when fruit is “in season?”

Book Walk
Introduce the Book
• Show students the front and back covers of the book and read the title with them. Ask what they
might read about in a book called Fruit. (Accept any answers students can justify).
• Have students name the fruits they see in the cover pictures. Then have them close their eyes and
visualize a lemon. Ask them what shape they see in their minds, how the fruit smells, and what
it feels like.
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author’s name).
Have them name the fruits they see. Ask students what they know about each of the fruits pictured.
Introduce the Reading Strategy: Visualize
• Explain that good readers often visualize, or make pictures in their mind, as they read. Readers
often use what they already know about a topic to make the pictures in their mind.
• Model how to visualize.
Think-aloud: As I look at the picture of the apple on the title page, I picture a dark, shiny red apple.
It is the size of a baseball, but it is not as round. Picturing the apple in my mind will give me a better
understanding of this fruit.
• As students read, encourage them to use other reading strategies in addition to the targeted
strategy presented in this section.
Introduce the Vocabulary
• As you preview the book, use the vocabulary and language pattern of the book. Say: What kind
of fruit is this? Yes, this is a cherry.
• Encourage students to add new vocabulary words to their word journals.
• Model how to work out words they do not know. For example, point to the word banana
on page 5.
Think-aloud: If I didn’t know what this word said, I could first look at how it starts. I see the letter
b and I know this stands for the /b/ sound. I can also recognize the word part an, so I know the
first part of the word is ban. I see another an and then an a, and I can put the parts together
to read banana. Then I check the picture for clues and I see a banana in the picture.
Set the Purpose
• Have students read to find out about fruit. Remind them to visualize each fruit in their mind
as they read.

During Reading
Student Reading
• Guide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Have a volunteer point to the first
word on page 3. Read the word together (This). Point out where to begin reading on each
page. Remind students to read words from left to right. Point to each word as you read it
aloud while students follow along in their own book.
• Ask students to place a finger on the page number in the bottom corner of the page. Have
them read to the end of page 4, using their finger to point to each word as they read. Encourage
students who finish before others to reread the text.
• Ask students to share what they visualized as they read. Model visualizing.
Think-aloud: I pictured a cherry in my mind when I read page 3. I have eaten a cherry before.
I pictured it on top of an ice-cream sundae, like a little red ball.
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to visualize as they read.
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 LEVEL A
Lesson Plan (continued) Fruit

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.

Reflect on the Reading Strategy

• Think-aloud: When I pictured an orange in my mind, I pictured its round shape. I thought about
its bumpy, tough outer skin.
• Discuss how making pictures in their mind makes the book more interesting and more fun to
read. Ask students to share additional examples of how they visualized as they read the book.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Classify information

• Discussion: Discuss the classification of tomato as a fruit. Reinforce the meaning of fruit so students
understand why tomato is in this group.
• Introduce and model: Elicit from students that the main topic of the book is fruit. Explain that this
is the main category and all the items mentioned in the book can be placed in the category of
fruit. Explain that one way to organize information read is to put it into categories.
• Make a two-column chart on the board labeled fruit and vegetables. Write the following words
on the board: apple, pear, celery, carrots.
• Think-aloud: I know that some of these words name fruit and some name vegetables. An apple
and a pear are fruit. Celery and carrots are vegetables. Write the words under the correct heading.
• Check for understanding: Have students check the book to name other foods that can be placed
under the heading Fruit. When they have listed all the fruits mentioned in the book, have them
add any others they can think of. Then have them name vegetables they know to add to the list
under the heading Vegetables.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the classify information
worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

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

Build Skills
Phonological Awareness: Identify rhyme
• Say the words cat and hat and have students repeat the words. Tell students that the words
rhyme because they have the same sound at the end: /at/. Repeat the words and have students
listen for the rhyming sound.
• Say the words cat and hut. Tell students these words do not rhyme because they have different
sounds at the end: /at/ and /ut/. Have students repeat the words and listen for the ending sounds.
• Say the following word pairs, one at a time: cake/cat; man/pan; car/star; dog/dig; bike/hike; feet/
fat; cup/pup; jump/pump. If the words rhyme, have students clap their hands. If the words do not
rhyme, have them shake their heads.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the rhyming words worksheet.
If time allows, have them discuss their answers.
Phonics: Initial consonant Tt
• Say the word tomato and ask students what sound they hear at the beginning.
• Write the letter Tt on the board and ask students to name the letter. Tell them that the letter Tt
stands for the sound they hear at the beginning of the word tomato. Have students practice writing
the letter Tt on a separate piece of paper while saying aloud the sound the letter stands for.

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 LEVEL A
Lesson Plan (continued) Fruit
• Tell students that you are going to show them how to read some words that begin with the
/t/ sound. Write the words top, tap, and tip on the board. Ask students what is the same about
the words (they all start with the letter Tt).
• Model saying the first word, running your finger under each letter as you blend the sounds:
/t/ /a/ /p/. Then have students sound it out with you. Repeat with the remaining words.
Grammar and Mechanics: Naming words (nouns)
• Tell students that there are words that name things. Have them turn to page 3 to find a word
that names a kind of fruit (cherry).
• Ask each student to tell a naming word they read in the book. Reinforce that all of the fruits
in the book are naming words. Tell them that we call these naming words nouns.
• Ask students to identify nouns that name objects in the classroom.
Word Work: Categorize words
• Refer to the list of fruits and vegetables on the board. Tell students that all of these words
are nouns.
• Create another category for foods, for example, snacks, meats, soups, and so on. Have students
brainstorm words that fit into the category. Remind students that all the words in the list
name kinds of food and are nouns.

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 book to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.

Extend the Reading

Writing and Art Connection
Instruct students to finish the following sentence on a separate piece of paper: If I were a fruit,
I would be a/an____. Ask students to draw themselves as the fruit they have chosen. (Allow invented
spelling or take dictation for the students.)
Math Connection
Make a fruit chart with headings such as: Apples, Bananas, Pears, Oranges, and Grapes. Have each
student draw a picture of one of the fruits to place at the top of the chart. Survey the students in the
group or class to find out how many like apples best. Ask students to place a tally mark on the chart
for each person who raises his or her hand. Repeat for the other types of fruit. Discuss the findings.

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.

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 LEVEL A
Lesson Plan (continued) Fruit
Assessment
Monitor students to determine if they can:
• actively participate in the visualization activity and tell what they are visualizing
• correctly classify foods into groups during discussion and on a worksheet
• associate the letter Tt with the sound /t/ during discussion
• identify whether pairs of spoken words rhyme on a worksheet
• understand that nouns name things; locate nouns in the book
• identify and categorize food words during discussion

Comprehension Check
• Retelling Rubric

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