These Are Opposites aa

Focus Question: These Are LEVELED BOOK • aa

What are opposites?

Opposites
A Reading A–Z Level aa Leveled Book
These Are
Opposites
Word Count: 24

Book Summary
Connections
Writing and Art
Think of two opposites not
in the book.

Text Type: Fiction/Concept Draw a picture and write

about them.
Science

Big or small? Short or tall? Children use these words to describe differences in things they see everyThe lizard is eating a popsicle
on a hot day.

day. These Are Opposites introduces students to some common words that describe things that
What is happening to the
popsicle because it is hot out?
Share your ideas with a partner.

are opposites. Detailed and entertaining illustrations highlight the meanings of the opposite words
discussed in the book. This book can also be used to teach students how to determine an author’s
Written by Katie Delbridge • Illustrated by Neesha Hudson

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purpose for writing and to identify and use periods.

for thousands of books and materials.

Guiding the Reading

Lesson Essentials
Before Reading
Instructional Focus
Visualize to understand text
Build Background
Determine author’s purpose
•• Write the word opposites on the board, and point to
the word as you read it aloud to students. Repeat
Describe information provided by illustrations the process, and have students say the word aloud.
Word awareness Explain that opposites are words that have meanings
Identify final consonant Tt that are as different as possible from one another.
Recognize and use periods •• Draw a happy face and a sad face on the board.
Encourage students to explain how the two drawings
Identify and use the high-frequency word they
are different from one another (one is happy, the other
is sad). Point out that happy and sad are words that
Materials
have opposite meanings. Invite volunteers to name
Book: These Are Opposites other opposites they know. Write student examples
(copy for each student) on the board, and illustrate them if possible.
Author’s purpose, final consonant Tt,
periods worksheets Introduce the Book
Retelling rubric
•• Give students their copy of These Are Opposites.
Guide them to the front and back covers, and read
Vocabulary the title. Have students discuss what they see on the
covers. Encourage them to offer ideas as to what type
Boldface vocabulary words also appear in a pre- of book it is (genre, text type, and so on) and what it
made lesson for this title on VocabularyA–Z.com. might be about.
(*) word appears in the lesson but not the book •• Show students the title page. Discuss the information
• High-frequency words: is, this on the page (title of book, author’s name, illustrator’s
name).
• Words to Know
Critical: dry (adj.), flat (adj.), hot (adj.), round (adj.), Introduce the Reading Strategy: Visualize
small (adj.), wet (adj.) Explain to students that engaged readers visualize, or
• Academic vocabulary: author (n.)*, purpose (n.)* create pictures in their mind, as they read. Explain that
readers make visual images using information from the
text and what they already know about the subject.
Point out that the pictures in a book can also provide
information to add to visualizations. Have students close
their eyes as you read page 3 aloud. Ask students to
draw a representation of what they visualized. Invite
volunteers to share their visualization with the rest of the
class, and discuss how their pictures compare to the
picture in the book.

Introduce the Comprehension Skill: Author’s purpose

•• Explain to students that authors have a purpose, or
reason, for what they write. Write the words inform,
entertain, and persuade on the board. Explain to
students that inform means to provide information,

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Guiding the Reading (cont.)
entertain means to amuse, and persuade means
to convince another to act or feel a certain way.
•• Review a book the class has previously read. Have
students work in groups to determine the author’s
purpose, and guide students to a class consensus.
Have students work with a partner to predict the
author’s purpose for These Are Opposites.
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
opposites. 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 is big? What is small? (level 1) pages 3 and 4
•• How does the dog feel about being wet?
How can you tell? (level 2) page 5
•• How does the marshmallow get hot? (level 3) page 7
•• What is happening to the popsicle? Why? (level 3)
page 8
•• How does the fish change in the story? (level 2)
pages 9 and 10
•• What are the opposites the author shows in this book?
(level 2) multiple pages
Text Features: Illustrations
Explain that another part of reading is paying close
attention to the pictures, or illustrations, because they
provide readers with extra information. Discuss how
readers can use this information, combined with what
they already know, to understand the information
presented in the text. Ask students: How do the pictures
help you understand what opposites are? What other
opposites do the illustrations make you think of? What
questions do you have after looking at the pictures?
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These Are Opposites aa
Have students discuss in groups what illustrations they
would add to the book and why. Invite volunteers to
share their thoughts with the rest of the class.
Skill Review
•• Model for students how you create visual images as
you read, and direct them to stop at several points
during the reading to draw a representation of what
they visualized. Invite volunteers to share their pictures
with the rest of the class. Discuss with students how
their pictures compare with the pictures in the book.
•• Draw students’ attention back to the words on
the board: inform, entertain, persuade. Remind
students that authors have a purpose for writing,
and determining the purpose helps readers better
understand what they are reading.
•• Model determining the author’s purpose.
Think-aloud: As I read the book, I learn about some
words that are opposites, things that are as different
as possible from each other. The illustrations in the
story are funny, so they entertain me. However, since
the pictures add details to help me know what
opposites are, I don’t think that the author’s main
purpose for writing this book was to entertain readers.
I also don’t think the author was trying to get me to act
or feel a certain way about these words. The author
is giving me information to teach, or inform, me about
what opposites are. So I think the author’s purpose
is probably to inform. Still, I will read to the end of
the book, examining each detail, to see if there is a
different main purpose.
•• Write to inform readers about opposites on the board.
Ask students to list details about how the author
Informed them of words that are opposites. Write
these details on the board.
•• Model how to complete the author’s purpose
worksheet. Have students circle the correct author’s
purpose and then pick a detail from the book that
supports their answer. Have them draw and label the
detail in the box provided.
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: Author’s purpose
Review the author’s purpose worksheet that
students completed. Have students share their
work with the group. Discuss with students the
justification for choosing the purpose, inform.
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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. (Answers will vary.
Example: Opposites are words that are very different
from each other like big and small, wet and dry, hot
and cold, or flat and round.)
Comprehension Check
• Retelling rubric
Book Extension Activities
Build Skills
Phonological Awareness: Word awareness
•• Say the following sentence aloud: This is big. Say the
sentence again, and clap once for each word as you
say it. Have students repeat the process with you.
•• Explain to students that each clap represents a word.
Review with students the idea that words in a sentence
are separated by little pauses when they are read
aloud. Reinforce that these pauses help listeners know
when one word ends and when a new word begins.
•• Have students stand up. Say the following sentence
aloud: We can learn about opposites. Have students
repeat the sentence while jumping up for each word.
Ask students how many words are in the sentence.
Repeat the process with other simple sentences, and
vary the actions for each sentence.
•• Check for understanding: Have students work with
a partner to create one sentence about opposites.
Invite them to share the sentence with the class while
clapping, jumping, or stomping to show how many
words are in the sentence.
Phonics: Final consonant Tt
•• Write the word hot on the board, and read it aloud
with students.
•• Have students say the consonant /t/ sound aloud.
Then, run your finger under the letters in the word hot
as students say the whole word aloud. Ask students
to identify which letter represents the consonant /t/
sound in the word hot.
•• Have students practice writing the uppercase and
lowercase Tt on a separate piece of paper while saying
the /t/ sound.
•• Check for understanding: Write the following words on
the board, leaving off the final consonant: sat, flat, wet,
and pet. Invite volunteers to come to the board and
add the final consonant Tt and read each word aloud.
•• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have
students complete the final consonant Tt worksheet.
If time allows, discuss their answers.
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These Are Opposites aa
Grammar and Mechanics: Periods
•• Write the following sentence on the board: The hat is
small. Read the sentence aloud with students. Explain
that every sentence has a signal at the end so readers
will know when to stop reading. Ask a volunteer to
come to the board and point to the signal at the end
of the sentence.
•• Explain that the signal is called a period. Have
students say the word period aloud. Point out that
the period is like a stop sign because it tells readers
to stop reading at the end of the sentence and to
pause before reading the next sentence.
•• Ask volunteers to share a sentence about opposites.
Write each sentence on the board, and omit the
periods. Read the sentences aloud to students
without stopping between each sentence. Point out
that the information can be confusing without the
correct punctuation. Invite volunteers to come to the
board and add a period to each sentence. Reread
the sentences, pausing at the periods. Have students
share with a partner the purpose of a period.
•• Check for understanding: Have students locate and circle
all the periods in the book.
•• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have
students complete the periods 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
on their palm, on their desktop, and in the air.
•• Write the following sentence on the board:
This flower is tall. Have a volunteer come to the board
and underline the word this. Have students work with
a partner to use this in oral sentences.
•• Check for understanding: Have students reread and
underline each this in the book.
Connections
•• See the back of the book for cross-curricular extension
ideas.
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