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Lesson Plan The Backyard
About the Book
Text Type: Nonfiction/Concept Page Count: 10 Word Count: 16

Book Summary
What is in your backyard? In the book The Backyard, students
will read about some things found in the backyard. Students
will have the opportunity to identify the main idea and details
as well as connect to prior knowledge as they read. Detailed,
supportive pictures, a repetitive sentence pattern, and the
high-frequency word the support early emergent readers.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy
• Connect to prior knowledge

Objectives
• Use the reading strategy of connecting to prior
knowledge to understand text
• Identify main ideas and details
• Discriminate initial consonant /f/ sound
• Identify initial consonant Ff
• Recognize and use nouns
• Recognize and use the high-frequency word the

Materials
Green text indicates resources available on the website
• Book—The Backyard (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Highlighters
• Main idea and details, initial consonant Ff, nouns worksheets

Indicates an opportunity for students to mark in the book. (All activities may
be demonstrated by projecting book on interactive whiteboard or completed with
paper and pencil if books are reused.)

Vocabulary
*Bold vocabulary words also appear in a pre-made lesson for this title on VocabularyA–Z.com.
• High-frequency words: the
• Content words:
Story critical: backyard (n.), ball (n.), dog (n.), fence (n.), flower (n.), hose (n.), swing (n.),
tree (n.)

Before Reading
Build Background
• Write the word backyard on the board and point to it as you read it aloud to students.
Repeat the process and have students say the word aloud.
• Ask students whether or not they have a backyard and what it is used for. Discuss the types
of things that might be found in a backyard. Make a list of these things on the board.

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Lesson Plan (continued) The Backyard
Book Walk
Introduce the Book
• Show students the front and back covers of the book and read the title with them. Ask what
they think they might read about in a book called The Backyard. (Accept all answers that
students can justify.)
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author’s name,
illustrator’s name).
• Write the following repetitive sentence on the board: The ____. Read the sentence aloud,
pointing to the word The as you read it to students. Have students read it aloud. Explain that this
word repeats throughout the book.
Introduce the Reading Strategy: Connect to prior knowledge
• Explain to students that good readers make connections between what they already know and
new information they read. Remind them that thinking about what they already know about the
topic of the book will help them understand what they read.
• Model connecting to prior knowledge using the information on the covers.
Think-aloud: When I read the title on the cover and look at the picture, it makes me think about
times I have been in my backyard. I think about the grass and flowers that are in my backyard.
I know that a backyard is a great place to play.
• Invite students to share how they connected to prior knowledge, on the basis of the covers and
title page of the book.
• As students read, encourage them to use other reading strategies in addition to the targeted
strategy presented in this section.
Introduce the Comprehension Skill: Main idea and details
• Explain to students that every book has a big, or main, idea, which is what the book is mostly
about. Read the title to students. Explain that the title often provides clues about the book’s
main idea. Invite students to share predictions about the main idea of this book.
• Explain to students that the main idea of this book is Many things are found in a backyard.
Write the following sentence on the board: Many things are found in a backyard. Point to
each word as you read the sentence aloud with students.
• Model how to identify details.
Think-aloud: I know that every book has details that help explain the main idea. I also know
that this story is about the things found in a backyard. I see a picture of a dog on the title page.
I know that some families have dogs, and they usually stay inside a fence so they stay safe. So
I know that a dog might be something found in a backyard. Since this helps to explain the main
idea, a dog might be a detail in the book.
• Review the list of the kinds of things that might be found in a backyard. Discuss whether any of
these things might be details in this book.
Introduce the Vocabulary
• While previewing the book, reinforce the vocabulary words that students will encounter. For
example, while looking at the picture on page 3, you might say: It looks as though a fence can be
found in the backyard.
• Remind students that they can help themselves when they come to a tricky word by looking at
the first letter in the word and then checking the picture on the page to see what might start
with the same sound and what might make sense in the story. For example, on page 4, point to
the letter d in dog. Say: I am going to help myself by looking at the picture and thinking about
what object I see in the picture that starts with /d/ (make the /d/ sound).
• Invite students to identify the word (dog). Use the word in the sentence and ask students if the
word dog makes sense.

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Lesson Plan (continued) The Backyard
Set the Purpose
• Have students use what they already know about things in a backyard to help them read the
book. Remind them to think about the details that support the main idea as they read.

During Reading
Student Reading
• G uide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Have a volunteer point to the first word
on page 3 (The). Point out to students where to begin reading on each page. Remind them to
read the words from left to right.
• Ask students to place a finger on the page number in the bottom corner of page 3. Have them
read to the end of page 5, using their finger to point to each word as they read. Encourage
students who finish before others to reread the text.
• Model connecting to prior knowledge.
Think-aloud: On page 3, I see a fence. I know that a fence is a divider built around a yard. Many
times a fence is used to keep children or animals inside the yard so they will be safe. I know that
many people put up a fence in their backyard for privacy.
• Invite students to share how they connected with what they already knew as they read.
• Review the main idea of the book: Many things are found in a backyard. Ask students to explain
whether a fence is a detail that supports the main idea of the book and why (yes; a fence is
found in a backyard).
• Introduce and explain the main-idea-and-details worksheet. Write the word fence on the board.
Have students write the word and draw a picture that represents the word fence in one of the
spaces on their worksheet.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 8. Encourage them to share
how they connected to prior knowledge as they read. (Accept all answers that show students
understand how to connect to prior knowledge.)
• Ask students to think about other details they read that support the main idea Many things are
found in a backyard. Have them choose one of the details to draw on their worksheet. Ask them
to label their drawing using the word from the book. Have students share the detail they drew
and wrote about.
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to use what they already know
about backyards to help them understand new information as they read.

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 read page 9, I thought about backyards and the things I’ve seen there. The
picture shows a hose with water running out. I know that a hose is used to water flowers, trees,
and grass. I also know that plants are found in backyards. A hose can also be used to cool off
people or animals on a hot day.
• Have students draw a picture on a separate piece of paper showing how they connected to prior
knowledge while reading about one of the things in the backyard. Invite them to share and
explain their picture to the rest of the class.
• Ask students to explain how thinking about what they already knew helped them to understand
and remember the story.

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Lesson Plan (continued) The Backyard
Reflect on the Comprehension Skill
• Discussion: Read the main idea on the board with students. Review the details that students drew
on their worksheet. Invite them to explain why each of the details on their worksheet matches
the main idea of the story.
• Independent practice: Have students complete the main-idea-and-details worksheet. If time allows,
discuss their responses.
• Enduring understanding: In this book, you have learned about things that are found in a backyard.
Now that you know this information, why do you think someone might want to spend time in
a backyard?

Build Skills
Phonological Awareness: Discriminate initial consonant /f/ sound
• Say the word fox aloud to students, emphasizing the initial /f/ sound. Have students say the word
aloud and then say the /f/ sound.
• Read page 3 aloud to students. Have them raise their hand when they hear a word that begins
with the /f/ sound.
• Check for understanding: Say the following words, one at a time, and have students give the
thumbs-up signal if the word begins with the /f/ sound: four, grass, trees, fun, cat, feel.
Phonics: Identify initial consonant Ff
• Write the word fence on the board and say it aloud with students.
• Have students say the /f/ sound aloud. Then run your finger under the letters in the word as
students say the whole word aloud. Ask students to identify which letter represents the /f/ sound
in the word fence.
• Have students practice writing the letter Ff on a separate piece of paper while saying the
/f/ sound.
• Check for understanding: Write the following words that begin with the /f/ sound on the board,
leaving off the initial consonant: fun, for, fin. Say each word, one at a time, and have volunteers
come to the board and add the initial Ff to each word.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the initial consonant Ff
worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.
Grammar and Mechanics: Nouns
• Show students a picture of a person, a place, and a thing. Ask volunteers to identify the pictures.
Explain that words that name a person, a place, and a thing are called nouns.
• Have students turn to page 3 in their book. Ask them to name the object in the picture. Then
read the sentence with students, pointing to the words as you read them aloud. Ask students to
point to the word that names the object, or thing, in the picture (fence). Explain that this word is
a noun.
• Have students turn to page 4. Read the sentence aloud with them, pointing to the words as
you read them aloud. Ask students to point to the word that names the object, or thing, in the
picture (dog).

Check for understanding: Have students look at the object in the picture on each page of the
book. Point to the words as you read each page aloud with students. Have them underline the
nouns in the book. Discuss the word they underlined.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the nouns worksheet. If time
allows, discuss their responses.

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Lesson Plan (continued) The Backyard
Word Work: High-frequency word the
• Explain to students that they are going to learn a word that they will often see in books they
read. Write the word the on the board and read the word aloud. Have students read the word
with you.
• Ask students to write the word the on the top of their desk with their finger as you spell
it aloud with them, pointing to each letter on the board as you say the letter name with
students.
• Read the first sentence on page 3 aloud to students. Point to the word The. Explain that the
word the is often used to explain which object someone is talking about. Have students use
the word the in oral sentences with a partner.

Check for understanding: Have students locate and highlight every occurrence of the word
the in the book. Have them write the word on a separate piece of paper several times. Then
have each student use the word the in an oral sentence.

Build Fluency
Independent Reading
• Allow students to read their book independently. Additionally, partners can 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.
Have them identify the main idea and details of the book to someone at home.

Extend the Reading

Concept Writing and Art Connection
Have students draw a picture of something found in their backyard. Under the picture, have
them write one sentence telling about their picture.

Science Connection
Discuss the growing things that might be found in a backyard and make a list on the board.
Provide information about plants, their parts, and how they grow. Discuss other items that
might be found in the backyard that help plants grow.

Assessment
Monitor students to determine if they can:
• consistently connect to prior knowledge to understand text
• accurately identify the details that support the main idea of the book during discussion
and on a worksheet
• accurately discriminate initial consonant /f/ sound during discussion
• accurately identify and write the letter symbol that represents the /f/ sound during
discussion and on a worksheet
• correctly identify and use nouns during discussion and on a worksheet
• correctly use and write the high-frequency word the

Comprehension Check
• Retelling Rubric

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