LESSON 22 TEACHER’S GUIDE
Our Family Vacation
by Rafael Melo
Fountas-Pinnell Level A
Fiction
Selection Summary
The raccoon family is on vacation. During the day, the family
members fish, swim, climb, and cook—while the baby sleeps. At
night, the baby cries, while the rest of the family tries to sleep.
Number of Words: 29
Characteristics of the Text
Genre
Text Structure
Content
Themes and Ideas
Language and
Literary Features
Sentence Complexity
Vocabulary
Words
Illustrations
Book and Print Features
• Fiction
• Predictable and repetitive text, listing things the family likes to do
• Surprise ending: The family likes to sleep, but can’t because the baby cries.
• Fun things to do on vacation
• It’s fun to vacation with your family because you can do a lot of things together.
• Babies can make sleep challenging.
• Simple repetitive language
• Humor
• Repetitive sentence pattern, changing only one word on each page
• Four-word sentences with simple sentence structure: We like to ___.
• Action words: fish, swim, climb, cook, sleep
• High-frequency words: we, like, to
• Illustrations that support and add to the text
• Five pages, with one line of text and one illustration on each page
• Labels in illustrations: fishing rod, log, water, hats, fire, car, sleeping bags
• Sounds in illustrations: zzzzz; WAAA!
• Large print and good spacing between words
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
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Our Family Vacation
by Rafael Melo
Build Background
Read the title to children and talk with them what the characters are doing in the cover
illustration. Ask children what they do on family vacations. Then ask: What else might the
raccoon family do on its vacation?
Introduce the Text
Guide children through the text, noting important ideas, and helping with unfamiliar
language and vocabulary. Explain important text features, such as the repetition of the
phrase: We like to. Here are some suggestions:
Page 2: Explain that in this story a raccoon family has a lot of fun together on
vacation—most of the time.
Suggested language: Turn to page 2. In the picture you can see that the raccoon
family is fishing. So they say: We like to fish. Say the word we. We begins with the
/w/ sound. Find the word We and put your finger under the first letter, W. And you
can see that We starts with uppercase W because it comes at the beginning.
Page 3: Turn to page 3. What do you see in the picture? What will the raccoons
say they like to do now? They say: We like to swim. Say the word like. What letter
would you expect to see first in the word like? Find the word like and put your
finger under it. What is the baby doing here? How can you tell?
Page 4: Remind children that they can use information in the pictures to help them
read. On page 4, what is the family of raccoons doing? Yes, they are climbing up a
path in the woods. So what will they say they like to do? And what about the baby?
What is the baby doing now? How do you know that?
Page 5: Now what will the raccoons say they like to do? And what is the baby still
doing?
Now go back to the beginning and read to find out all the things the raccoon family
likes to do on vacation.
Words to Know
like
Kindergarten
to
2
we
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Read
Now have children read Our Family Vacation softly while pointing under each word.
Observe children as they read.
Respond to the Text
Personal Response
Ask children to share their personal responses to the story. Begin by asking what they
liked best about the story, or what they found most interesting.
Suggested language: Were you surprised by the ending of the story? Why or why not?
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 raccoon family with a baby
goes on vacation.
• It’s fun to vacation with your
family because you can do a lot
of things together.
• The writer uses humor and
surprises us with the ending.
• While the parents and the older
child fish, swim, climb, and
cook, the baby sleeps.
• A crying baby can make it hard
to sleep.
• At night, the baby cries as the
family tries to sleep.
• Labels in the pictures tell the
names of things.
• Sounds in illustrations give clues
to the baby’s actions.
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
Choices for Support
Concepts of Print
Help children understand the concept of letter and word, and that you say one word for
one group of letters when you read.
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 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 sound is different. Say pairs of words, for example:
fish and fan, water and wish, fish and wish, swim and swan, cook and book, etc.
• Build Sentences Materials: index cards. Write the high-frequency words from Our
Family Vacation on index cards: We, like, to. Then write the story words on index
cards: fish, swim, climb, cook, sleep. Have the children build sentences using the
word cards. Have them read the sentences and illustrate them if they wish.
• Blend the Sounds Say words sound by sound and ask children to say the words.
Begin with /f/ / ı̆/ /sh/. What is the word? (fish) Continue with these words: /s/ /w/ / ı̆/
/m/ (swim) /k/ /l/ / ˉı / /m/ (climb), /s/ /l/ /eˉ/ /p/ (sleep), etc.
Kindergarten
3
Lesson 22: Our Family Vacation
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Writing About Reading
Critical Thinking
Read the directions for children on BLM 22.6 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
Story Structure
Tell children that stories have settings, characters, and
events. Model how to think about the structure of this story.
Think Aloud
Our Family Vacation takes place in a campground. The characters are
the members of a family of raccoons, including a mother, a father, a little
boy, and a baby. This is what happens: The family goes fishing, swims,
climbs, and cooks over a campfire. All during the day, while the rest of
the family has fun, the baby sleeps. Then, when the family wants to sleep,
the baby is wide awake and crying.
Practice the Skill
Have children tell about the settings, characters, and events of another story they have
read.
Writing Prompt
Read aloud the following prompt. Have children draw and write their response, using the
writing prompt on page 6.
Draw a picture of one more thing the raccoon family can do on their vacation.
Write about what they can do.
Kindergarten
4
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English Language Learners
Front-Load Vocabulary Make sure children know the meanings of fish, swim,
climb, cook, and sleep. Also explain that the letters in the illustrations on each page tell the
sounds the baby is making as she sleeps (ZZZZ), and then at night when she cries (WAAA).
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: What does the family like to
do on page 2?
Speaker 1: What does the family do at
the water?
Speaker 1: What does the family
do while the baby is sleeping?
Speaker 2: fish
Speaker 2: fish and swim
Speaker 1: What does the family do at
the fire?
Speaker 1: Where does the family cook?
Speaker 2: They fish, swim, climb,
and cook.
Speaker 1: What happens when
the family wants to sleep?
Speaker 2: over the fire
Speaker 2: cook
Speaker 2: The baby cries,
“WAAA!”
Speaker 1: What is the baby doing
while the family swims?
Speaker 2: sleeping
Lesson 22
Name
BLACKLINE MASTER 22.6
Date
Think About It
Our Family Vacation
Think About It
Children listen and circle the words that answer the question.
1. Where did the raccoon family go on vacation?
to the woods
to the beach
Children draw a picture of where they would like to go on vacation and label it.
2.
Read directions to children.
Think About It
8
Kindergarten, Unit 5: Growing and Changing
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Kindergarten
5
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Name
Date
Our Family Vacation
Draw a picture of one more thing the raccoon
family can do on their vacation.
Write about what they can do.
Kindergarten
6
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Lesson 22
Name
Date
Think About It
BLACKLINE MASTER 22.6
Our Family Vacation
Think About It
Children listen and circle the words that answer the question.
1. Where did the raccoon family go on vacation?
to the woods
to the beach
Children draw a picture of where they would like to go on vacation and label it.
2.
Kindergarten
7
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Student
Lesson 22
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 22.10
Our Family Vacation • LEVEL A
page
Our Family Vacation
Running Record Form
Selection Text
2
We like to fish.
3
We like to swim.
4
We like to climb.
5
We like to cook.
6
We like to sleep.
Comments:
Errors
Self-Corrections
Accuracy Rate
Self-Correction
Rate
(# words read
correctly/20 × 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
1413507
Behavior
1
Lesson 22: Our Family Vacation
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