Day
Shared Reading
Meet the Octopus
9
Key Idea An octopus has many characteristics that make it a unique and fascinating sea
creature, including its abilities to change color, hide in small spaces, shoot a cloud of ink,
and solve problems.
Learning Focus
RI.1.2
Students read closely to identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
Previewing the Text
3 minutes
We’re going to read a big book today about a unique animal. Let’s start by
reading the title and author’s name and then the text on the back cover. What
do you see in the picture?
What do you know about octopuses?
The other day I read the text “Frogs” to you. As I read, we talked about key details
in sections of the text. Then we used those key details to tell the main topic of each
section. We will practice that same strategy today as we read this text together.
Close Reading of the Text
7 minutes
Let’s read the Contents page to get ideas about the topics in this text. Then
we’ll read pages 4 and 5 together. We’ll recall details and use them to identify
the topic of this section.
Let’s talk about key details we have read in this text so far. Who will share ideas?
Let’s think about what all of these details are telling us. Who has ideas?
Let’s use our Sound, Read, and Check strategy with this word. When I first try to
sound it and blend it, I get en-em-eye-es. Read it with me in the sentence. Then
we’ll check to see if it makes sense. . . . Does en-em-eye-es make sense here? No.
Let’s try to correct it. (Say enemies.) Let’s check again. Does it make sense now?
Remember to sound, read, and check when you come to a word you do not know.
Read the rest of the text with me. At the end of each section, retell the key
details. Then we’ll use the key details to tell the main topic of that section.
Discussing the Text
10 minutes
As we talk about the book, please ask questions in order to get more
information about what a speaker says. Be sure to ask questions if you read
Mondo Bookshop Grade 1 • Theme 9 1
something that you don’t understand. If you notice something in an illustration
or photo that you are unsure about, ask the question. We’ll work together to
find answers to your questions.
Let’s talk about this section of the text called “Hiding and Escaping” on pages
6 through 13. What are the key details in this section? Who would like to share?
What main topic are these facts about?
Let’s look back at pages 14 through 18 for more key details that support a main
topic. Who has found a detail?
Most of the details in this section are about how an octopus eats. I notice that
the section on pages 19 through 21 is called “Octopus Babies.” I think this is a
clue to the main topic. What key details have you noticed?
Do you agree or disagree that the heading of this section tells the main topic?
Let’s reread pages 10 and 11. The word escaping has an -ing ending, so the root
word is escape. Sometimes when we read a word we are unsure of, we can read
the sentences around it to help us figure out what it means. The text says that
the octopus has a special trick for escaping. Then it describes the trick. Notice
the first sentence in the paragraph on page 12. What clues in that sentence tell
what the root word escape means?
Reading words and sentences around a word can give us clues to its meaning.
We need to figure out the main topic of this book and be able to tell what the
author taught about the topic. We identified topics for each section of the text.
Who remembers our topics? I’ll write them down as you name them.
Let’s look at our list. Who can tell what this book is mostly about?
Remember that retelling key details and using them to identify the main topic of
a text helps us better understand the text.
2 ALL ABOUT ANIMALS
Day
Shared Reading
Meet the Octopus
10
Learning FocusES
RI.1.2, RI.1.5
Students read closely to use text features to locate key facts or information as they continue
to identify the main topic and retell key details.
Returning to the Text
3 minutes
Before we reread Meet the Octopus today, let’s talk about what the text was
mostly about. Who’d like to share your thoughts?
Let’s reread the beginning of Meet the Octopus together. Nonfiction books
often have special parts like a contents page, an index, headings, and diagrams.
We’ll use these special parts of the book to find information. We’ll also discuss
what the author taught us about octopuses.
Close Reading of the Text
7 minutes
Let’s read page 4 together. What do you see at the bottom of the page?
How does it help us?
Let’s turn back to the front of the book. What part of the book do you see?
Who can tell how a Contents page helps us?
Let’s look at the Contents page and find the section about how an octopus hides
and escapes.
I remember reading something about how a den helps the octopus hide and
escape. What part of the book can help us find specific information?
Who can tell us on which pages we should look to read about an octopus’s den?
Let’s read to find that information.
Let’s reread the rest of the text to page 21 together. . . . Now let’s take a close
look at page 22. What is at the top of this page?
What are the headings for?
What is the text on this page about?
Let’s read this page together. . . . Who can retell key details that tell about the
topic “what scientists have learned about octopuses”?
Mondo Bookshop Grade 1 • Theme 9 1
Where can we look in the book to find a list of all the headings?
Let’s look at the list of topics on the Contents page and use them to tell what
the book is mostly about. Who has thoughts?
Any other ideas?
Discussing the Text
10 minutes
You’ve been talking about many special parts of a nonfiction text. Let’s talk as a
group about how each one helps us. Who would like to start?
Who learned about another special part of the book?
Who has another idea to share?
Remember to use these parts of the text as you read nonfiction. Doing this will
help you find information. Remember that connecting details to main topics
helps us better understand information.
2 ALL ABOUT ANIMALS
Day
Shared Reading
Meet the Octopus
11
Learning FocusES
RI.1.2, RI.1.7
Students read closely to use illustrations and details to describe key ideas as they continue to
identify the main topic and retell key details.
3 minutes
Returning to the Text
Before we read today, let’s quickly review our reading so far.
Remember to ask questions to help you understand what we read. In our last
two sessions, we paid close attention to special parts in the text and identifying
the main topics. Today we’re also going to think about how the pictures and text
help us understand the details in the text.
7 minutes
Close Reading of the Text
Let’s reread Meet the Octopus up to page 5. We’ll stop and talk about what the
pictures tell us. Let’s read together. . . . What do the pictures and captions on
page 5 tell us?
How do they give us an even better understanding than the text alone can give?
How do the details in the pictures tell you about the main topic of the section?
Let’s finish reading the book. As we read, we’ll take time to look at details in the
pictures. We’ll also identify the main topic shown by those details.
10 minutes
Discussing the Text
Let’s use the pictures to help us talk about the key ideas. Take a look at pages 8
and 9. How does the picture work with the text?
How does this connect to the section “Hiding and Escaping”?
Look closely at page 14. Who can tell what the picture tells us?
How does it give us an even better understanding than the text alone can give?
Who can identify the main topic of the page?
Mondo Bookshop Grade 1 • Theme 9 1
Day
Shared Reading
Meet the Octopus
12
Learning FocusES
RI.1.2, RI.1.5, RI.1.7
Students read closely to continue to use text features to locate key facts or information,
use illustrations and details to describe key ideas, and identify the main topic and retell key
details.
Returning to the Text
3 minutes
Today we’re going to reread the text and use the pictures to see what they
tell us about the key details. We’ll also use the special parts of a text to find
information. We’ll use these facts to identify the main topics.
Close Reading of the Text
7 minutes
Let’s take a close look at the diagram on page 12. It shows a close-up of an
octopus’s head. What two parts are shown?
How can we quickly find text and pictures about the funnel?
Remember that the subjects in the index are in alphabetical order. Who can tell
us what page to go to?
Let’s read the text and caption on page 12 to learn more about the funnel.
Who can use the caption to tell us what the funnel is for?
Let’s take a close look at the illustrations and details on pages 12 and 13 to see
if we can learn more about an octopus’s funnel. Who notices something?
How can we use the index to learn more about what the funnel can do?
Let’s do that. . . . What did you find in the index?
Let’s turn to those pages. How does the ink cloud connect to the octopus’s
funnel?
I remember reading something about the octopus using her funnel with her
eggs. Let’s use the index to find information about eggs.
We used the illustrations and details in the text to learn key facts about the
octopus’s funnel. Who can share three important details about the octopus’s
funnel?
Mondo Bookshop Grade 1 • Theme 9 1
All of these facts are about ways the octopus uses its funnel. I think our main
topic is “an octopus uses its funnel in many ways.”
Discussing the Text
10 minutes
As we finish our discussion of this book, what did the author teach about
octopuses by writing this book?
2 ALL ABOUT ANIMALS