LESSON 15 TEACHER’S GUIDE
Making a Home
by Cecilia Méndez
Fountas-Pinnell Level D
Informational Text
Selection Summary
There are lots of animals, each of which has a home. Rabbits, birds,
beavers, bees, bears, frogs, and crabs all make their own kind of
home.
Number of Words: 102
Characteristics of the Text
Genre
Text Structure
Content
Themes and Ideas
Language and
Literary Features
Sentence Complexity
Vocabulary
Words
Illustrations
Book and Print Features
• Informational Text
• Focused on a single topic
• Each page presents one simple category of information
• Details help the reader compare and contrast
• Familiar animals
• Animal homes
• All animals need homes.
• Different animals make different kinds of homes.
• Animal homes offer protection.
• Repeating language patterns: ____ make a home in a ____.
• Simple sentences: Rabbits can dig.
• Some longer sentences with more than six words
• Mostly one- to two-syllable words; one three-syllable word: animals
• Animal names: rabbits, birds, beavers, bees, bears, frogs, crabs
• Names of animal homes: den, nest, lodge, hive, cave, pond, shell
• Repeated use of high-frequency words: a, animal, make, the
• Photos support each page of text
• Nine pages of text, with photos on every page
• Labels on photos identify animals and animal homes
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
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Making a Home
by Cecilia Méndez
Build Background
Read the title to children and talk with them about the animal on the cover. Ask them what
they can tell from the picture about the rabbit’s home. Ask questions such: Is this a pet
rabbit or a rabbit that lives in nature? What kinds of animal homes do you know about?
Introduce the Text
Guide children through the text, noting important ideas, and helping with unfamiliar
language and vocabulary so they can read the text successfully. Explain important text
features such as the repetition of the sentence patterns. Here are some suggestions:
Page 2: Explain that in this book, different animals make their homes in different
places. Help children identify the birds, nest, foxes, prairie dogs and spider web.
Suggested language: Turn to page 2. You can see four different photos of animals
or their homes. Every animal has a home. What is the name of a spider’s home?
Page 3: Explain that some photos in the book have labels that name animals and
their homes. What animal do you see in the photo? Where does the rabbit live?
The sentence reads: Rabbits make a home in a den. Say make. What sound do you
hear at the beginning of make? Find the word make. What does the rabbit’s den
look like?
Page 4: Turn to page 4. What do you see? The first sentence reads: Birds can fly.
Where does this bird make a home? Is it on the ground or in a tree? Yes, birds
make a home in a tree.
Now go back to the beginning and read to find out where different animals make
their homes.
Words to Know
animal
birds
Grade 1
food
fly
2
make
water
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Read
As children read, observe them carefully. Guide them as needed, using language that
supports their problem solving ability.
Respond to the Text
Personal Response
Ask children to share their personal responses to the book. Begin by asking what they
liked best about the book, or what they found interesting.
Suggested language: Which of the animals in the book have you ever seen in its home?
Where did you see this animal?
Ways of Thinking
As you discuss the text, make sure children understand these teaching points:
Thinking Within the Text
Thinking Beyond the Text
Thinking About the Text
• There are many kinds of animals.
• All animals need homes.
• Each kind of animal has a home.
• Different animals make different
kinds of homes.
• The writer uses the same
sentence structure on each
page but changes the names of
the animals, what they do, and
where they make their homes.
• Animal homes protect the
animals and their babies.
• Labels on the photos tell the
names of animals and their
homes.
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
Choices for Support
Concepts of Print
Practice early reading behaviors such as understanding the concept of a sentence as a
group of words with ending punctuation.
Phonemic Awareness and Word Work
Provide practice as needed with words and sounds, using one of the following activities:
• Listening Game Have children listen for words that rhyme. Have children raise their
hands if the words rhyme and keep their hands down if the words do not rhyme. Say
pairs of words, for example: bird and word, bird and bud, fly and flew, fly and high.
• Build Sentences Materials: index cards, sentence strips. Write the high-frequency
words from Making a Home on index cards: animal, birds, fly, food, make, water. On
other cards, write appropriate high-frequency words, such as can, do, here, high,
there, today, will, and so on. Then have children write sentences that include the
words on the index cards.
Grade 1
3
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Writing About Reading
Critical Thinking
Read the directions for children on BLM 15.6 and guide them in answering the questions.
Responding
Read aloud the questions at the back of the book and help children complete the activities.
Target Comprehension Skill
Compare and Contrast
Remind children that when they compare and
contrast, they tell how two things are alike or not. They can compare two different animals
in a book. Model how to compare and contrast:
Think Aloud
In one way, a frog and a crab are alike. They both live near water. But
they are different in other ways. A frog makes its home by a pond, and a
crab lives by the sea. A crab has a shell, but a frog doesn’t.
Practice the Skill
Have children compare and contrast two other animals from the book.
Writing Prompt: Thinking Beyond the Text
Read aloud the following prompt. Have children draw and write their response, using the
writing prompt on page 6.
Draw a picture of your home.
What do you like about your home?
Grade 1
4
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English Language Learners
Front-Load Vocabulary Make sure children know the meanings of the verbs related
to each animal: dig, fly, swim, sleep, eat, live.
Oral Language Development
Check the children’s comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches their English
proficiency level. Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the child.
Beginning/ Early Intermediate
Intermediate
Early Advanced/ Advanced
Speaker 1: Where do birds make their
home?
Speaker 1: Where do rabbits make their
home?
Speaker 1: What do frogs do in
the water?
Speaker 2: in a tree
Speaker 2: in a den
Speaker 1: What is a bird’s home
called?
Speaker 1: Name what beavers can do.
Speaker 2: Frogs eat bugs in the
water.
Speaker 2: a nest
Speaker 1: Where do frogs make
their home?
Speaker 2: Beavers can swim.
Speaker 1: Where do bees get their
food?
Speaker 2: Frogs make their home
by a pond.
Speaker 2: from flowers
Lesson 15
BLACKLINE MASTER 15.6
Name
Think About It
Making a Home
Think About It
Write the word that completes each
sentence.
cave
1. Bears can make a home in a
cave
tree
crab
2. A shell is a good home for a
bee
.
hive
frog
.
crab
Making Connections Think about another
animal and its home. Draw a picture of the
animal in its home. Label your picture.
Read directions to children.
Think About It
8
Grade 1, Unit 3: Nature Near and Far
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Grade 1
5
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Name
Date
Making a Home
Draw a picture of your home.
What do you like about your home?
Grade 1
6
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Lesson 15
BLACKLINE MASTER 15.6
Name
Think About It
Making a Home
Think About It
Write the word that completes each
sentence.
1. Bears can make a home in a
cave
tree
hive
2. A shell is a good home for a
bee
.
frog
.
crab
Making Connections Think about another
animal and its home. Draw a picture of the
animal in its home. Label your picture.
Grade 1
7
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Student
Lesson 15
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 15.11
Making a Home • LEVEL D
page
2
Making a Home
Running Record Form
Selection Text
Errors
Self-Corrections
Accuracy Rate
Self-Correction
Rate
There are lots of
animals.
Each animal has
a home.
3
Rabbits can dig.
Rabbits make a home
in a den.
4
Birds can fly.
Birds make a home
in a tree.
5
Beavers can swim.
Beavers make a home
in the water.
Comments:
(# words read
correctly/40 × 100)
(# errors + #
Self-Corrections/
Self-Corrections)
%
1:
Read word correctly
Code
✓
cat
Repeated word,
sentence, or phrase
®
Omission
—
cat
cat
Grade 1
Behavior
Error
0
0
1
8
Substitution
Code
cut
cat
1
Self-corrects
cut sc
cat
0
Insertion
the
1
Word told
T
cat
cat

Error
1413435
Behavior
1
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