LESSON 24 TEACHER’S GUIDE
Bugs for Dinner
by Courtney Kim
Fountas-Pinnell Level A
Informational Text
Selection Summary
This book presents five different animals that eat a variety of bugs: a
frog, bat, bird, lizard, and another bug.
Number of Words: 35
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
• Third-person narrative
• Focused on a single topic
• A surprising fact at the end
• Animals that eat bugs
• A bug that eats bugs
• Bugs are a common food for animals.
• Even some bugs eat bugs for food.
• Meaning provided through integration of pictures with text.
• Simple straightforward language
• Repetitive sentence pattern, changing one word on each page
• Five-word sentences
• Simple sentence structure
• Names of animals that eat bugs: frog, bat, bird, lizard, spider
• Mostly words with one syllable; one two-syllable word: lizard
• One two-syllable word (spider) appears only in label.
• Easy high-frequency word repeated: a
• Photographs closely linked to text on all pages.
• Five pages of text; photographs on every page
• Good spacing between words
• One exclamation
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
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Bugs for Dinner
by Courtney Kim
Build Background
Read the title to the children and talk with them about what the bird in the cover photo has
in its mouth. Ask how the title and the photo make them feel. Invite children to share what
they know about bugs. Ask questions such as: What kind of bugs do you see outdoors?
Can you think of any animals that eat bugs for dinner?
Introduce the Text
Guide children through the text, noting important ideas and helping with unfamiliar
language and vocabulary. Point out the repetition of the words A ____ eats a bug in each
sentence. Here are some suggestions:
Page 2: Explain that in this book, different animals eat bugs for dinner.
Suggested language: Turn to page 2. What kind of animal do you see? Why is the
frog’s mouth open? The sentence reads: A frog eats a bug. Say a. Find the word
a in two places in the sentence, say it, and put your finger under it in each place.
What is the difference between the two examples of A in this sentence? Why is the
first A an uppercase letter?
Page 3: Turn to page 3. What kind of animal do you see? What does this photo
show the bat doing? What does a bat eat? The sentence reads: A bat eats a bug.
Page 5: Remind children that they can use information in the pictures to help them
read. Look at the photo. What kind of animal do you see? What is in its mouth?
What does a lizard eat?
Now turn back to the beginning of the book and read to learn about different kinds
of animals that eat bugs.
Words to Know
a
Kindergarten
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Read
Now have children read Bugs for Dinner softly while pointing under each word. Observe
children as they read.
Respond to the Text
Personal Response
Invite 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: What did you learn about bugs that you didn’t know before?
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
• A frog, a bat, a lizard, a bird, and
a spider eat bugs.
• Some animals eat bugs for food.
• The photos show different
animals with bugs they eat.
• The idea of eating bugs is not
appetizing.
• There must be a lot of bugs if so
many animals need to eat them.
• The writer waits to the end to
show that even a bug can eat
bugs.
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
Choices for Support
Concepts of Print
Practice letter knowledge such as recognizing uppercase and lowercase letters and
understanding special uses of letters.
Phonemic Awareness and Word Work
Provide practice as needed with words and sounds, using one of the following activities:
• Listening Game Materials: pairs of words. Have children listen for words that begin
with the same sound. Have children raise their hands if the words begin with the same
sound, and keep their hands in their laps if the beginning letter is different. Say pairs
of words, for example, bat and bug, bat and eats, lizard and like, lizard and spider, bird
and bus, bird and fly.
• Matching Letters Materials: upper and lower case magnetic or cardboard letters or
letter cards. Have children choose letters and match them with their upper or lower
case form.
• Finding Letters Have children recognize letters by name and locate them quickly in
words. Use letters from the words in the book, including: frog, bug, bat, lizard.
Kindergarten
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Writing About Reading
Critical Thinking
Read the directions for children on BLM 24.6 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
Conclusions
Tell children that they can use details to figure out more
about the text. Model how to draw a conclusion:
Think Aloud
I can figure out more about the book. First I learn that a frog eats bugs.
Then I learn that a bat and a bird eat bugs. After reading these facts, I
think many different kinds of animals like to eat bugs.
Practice the Skill
Have children think of another detail that helped them figure out more about the book.
Writing Prompt
Read aloud the following prompt. Have children draw and write their response, using the
writing prompt on page 6.
Think of the different animals in the book. Draw a picture of one of the animals eating
lunch.
Write about what the animal is eating.
Kindergarten
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English Language Learners
Cultural Support Some children may come from an area where some of the animals
in the book are common, and other children may not be familiar at all with some of the
animals. Discuss with children the animals they know about, and make sure children can
name the animals they are not familiar with.
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: Point to the frog in the
book.
Speaker 1: What does the frog eat in the
book?
Speaker 1: What are some
animals that eat bugs?
Speaker 2: [Points to frog]
Speaker 2: a bug
Speaker 1: Point to the bat in the book.
Speaker 1: What do all the animals in
the book eat?
Speaker 2: Possible answers:
frogs, bats, birds, lizards, spiders
Speaker 2: [Points to bat]
Speaker 1: Point to a bug in the book.
Speaker 2: bugs
Speaker 1: What is interesting
about a spider eating bugs?
Speaker 2: A spider is a bug. A
bug is eating bugs.
Speaker 2: [Points to bug]
Lesson 24
Name
BLACKLINE MASTER 24.6
Date
Think About It
Bugs for Dinner
Think About It
Children read the words and circle the one that answers the question.
1. What do the animals in this story eat?
bugs
plants
Children draw a picture of what they like to eat for dinner and label it.
2.
Read directions to children.
Think About It
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Kindergarten, Unit 5: Growing and Changing
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Name
Date
Bugs for Dinner
Think of the different animals in the
book. Draw a picture of one of the animals
eating lunch.
Write about what the animal is eating.
Kindergarten
6
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Lesson 24
Name
Date
Think About It
BLACKLINE MASTER 24.6
Bugs for Dinner
Think About It
Children read the words and circle the one that answers the question.
1. What do the animals in this story eat?
bugs
plants
Children draw a picture of what they like to eat for dinner and label it.
2.
Kindergarten
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Student
Lesson 24
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 24.10
Bugs for Dinner • LEVEL A
page
Bugs for Dinner
Running Record Form
Selection Text
2
A frog eats a bug.
3
A bat eats a bug.
4
A bird eats a bug.
5
A lizard eats a bug.
6
A bug eats a bug!
Comments:
Errors
Self-Corrections
Accuracy Rate
Self-Correction
Rate
(# words read
correctly/25 × 100)
(# errors + #
Self-Corrections/
Self-Corrections)
%
1:
Read word correctly
Code
✓
cat
Repeated word,
sentence, or phrase
®
Omission
—
cat
cat
Kindergarten
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
1413516
Behavior
1
Lesson 24: Bugs for Dinner
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