LESSON 14 TEACHER’S GUIDE
Arthropods Rule!
by Barbara A. Roenz
Fountas-Pinnell Level S
Informational Text
Selection Summary
More than a million species of arthropods populate Earth. The
arachnids, crustaceans, millipedes and centipedes, and insects in this
diverse group of organisms are all fascinating.
Number of Words: 1,337
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
• Second-person narrative with introduction followed by four chapters organized by
arthropod type and a chapter of fast facts
• Crustaceans, arachnids, millipedes and centipedes, and insects
• Social insects
• More than three-fourths of creatures on Earth are arthropods.
• Arthropods are incredibly diverse and important creatures.
• Text and graphic features help readers to better understand information
• A mix of short and complex sentences
• Dashes and exclamations
• Some technical language, with many terms explained in the text
• Pronunciations provided for many terms: arthropod, antennae, arachnid, venom
• Many multisyllable words, some of them challenging, such as proboscis, paralyze
• Color photographs help the reader to better understand the characteristics of arthropods.
• Captions for photographs.
• Twelve pages of text, photographs on many pages
• Table of contents
• Sidebar on insect orders
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
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Arthropods Rule!
by Barbara A. Roenz
Build Background
Help students use their knowledge about various types of arthropods to visualize the text.
Build interest by asking a few questions such as the following: Can you name any animals
that have six or more legs? What would be the advantages and disadvantages of having
numerous legs? Read the title and author and talk about the cover photograph. Note the
five chapter heads. Tell students that this selection is informational text, so that they will
find facts and examples about numerous kinds of arthropods.
Introduce the Text
Guide students through the text, noting important ideas, and helping with unfamiliar
language and vocabulary so they can read the text successfully. Here are some
suggestions:
Page 2: Have students look at the table of contents. Ask: How has the author
organized the book?
Page 4: Direct students to the chapter heading.
Suggested language: The chapter heading tells you that crustaceans are
one kind of arthropod. Ask: What crustaceans can you name? The text says
that crustaceans are faced with obstacles. What might be an obstacle for a
crustacean?
Page 5: Read the last sentence on the page. Help students pronounce the word
venom. Explain that venom is a kind of poison.
Page 8: Point out the word transport in the last paragraph. Ask: How do you think
millipedes transport themselves?
Page 10: Point out the chart of Insect Orders. Explain that insects are divided into
groups called orders.
Now go back to the beginning of the text and read to find out why arthropods really
do rule.
Target Vocabulary
chamber – a room or enclosed
area that has a special
purpose, p. 11
reinforce – to support or make it
stronger, p. 4
excess – more than needed, p. 14
scarce – not enough of
something, p. 8
exchange – when something is
given and received, p. 4
social – when people or animals
live and work together, p. 6
obstacles – things that get in the
way, p. 4
storage – a place in which
supplies are kept, p. 8
Grade 4
2
transfers – moves something
from one place to another, p.
12
transport – to move something
from one place to another, p. 8
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Read
Have students read silently while you listen to individual students read aloud. Support their
problem solving and fluency as needed.
Remind students to use the Question Strategy
, and to ask questions
before, during, and after they read. Tell them to question the author’s purpose and the
author’s approach to the subject.
Discuss and Revisit the Text
Personal Response
Invite students to share their personal responses to the book.
Suggested language: What arthropods have you seen around your neighborhood or
school? Why do you think they might be helpful?
Ways of Thinking
As you discuss the text, help students understand these points:
Thinking Within the Text
Thinking Beyond the Text
Thinking About the Text
• More than three-fourths of
Earth’s creatures are arthropods
and, although they share some
characteristics, they have
different habitats and traits.
• Understanding the role of
various creatures in the food
chain is important.
• The close-up photographs offer
additional insight into the text.
• Crustaceans, arachnids,
millipedes and centipedes, and
insects are common types of
arthropods.
• Having an external skeleton has
advantages and disadvantages.
• Humans are not the only animals
that work together.
• A chart on insect orders provides
clear information.
• The author includes fascinating
fast facts about arthropods.
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
Choices for Further Support
• Fluency Invite students to choral read a passage from the text and demonstrate
phased fluent reading. Remind them to pause and to properly pronounce the words
included in parentheses. Remind them to make brief pauses at commas, and full
pauses after periods, question marks, and exclamations.
• Comprehension Based on your observations of the students’ reading and discussion,
revisit parts of the text to clarify or extend comprehension. Remind students to go
back to the text to support their ideas.
• Phonics/Word Work Provide practice as needed with words and word parts, using
examples from the text. Remind students that the prefix dis can mean something
sneaky or otherwise bad. An example from the text is disguised on page 6. Other
examples include dishonest, distrust, and discontent.
Grade 4
3
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Writing about Reading
Critical Thinking
Have students complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 14.8.
Responding
Have students complete the activities at the back of the book, using their Reader’s
Notebook. Use the instruction below as needed to reinforce or extend understanding of the
comprehension skill.
Target Comprehension Skill
Text and Graphic Features
Have students identify the various parts of this
book and the purposes that they serve. Ask them how text features and graphics can help
them determine the author’s purpose in writing this selection. Model how to add details to
the Chart, using a “Think Aloud” like the one below:
Think Aloud
The author includes a caption and photograph of a curled-up millipede.
She also includes a list of insect orders. The purpose of the millipede
photograph and caption is to show what a curled-up millipede looks like.
The purpose of the list of insect orders is to help understanding of which
animal species are insects.
Practice the Skill
Encourage students to identify other examples of text and graphic features in the book that
support understanding of the author’s meaning.
Writing Prompt: Thinking About the Text
Have students write a response to the writing prompt on page 6. Remind them that when
they think about the text, they reflect back on the text. They should notice and evaluate
language, genre, literary devices, and how the text is organized.
Assessment Prompts
• In the second paragraph on page 11, what does the word chamber mean?
• What is the main idea of the first paragraph on page 12?
• The author’s purpose is to _____________________________________.
Grade 4
4
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English Language Development
Reading Support Check regularly on students’ oral reading to determine accuracy,
fluency, and comprehension. Remind them that the different types of arthropods are very
different from one another.
Cognates The text includes many cognates. Point out the English words and their
Spanish equivalents: crustacean (crustáceo), insect (insecto), and centipede (cientopiés)
Oral Language Development
Check student comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches your students’
English proficiency level. Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the student.
Beginning/Early Intermediate
Intermediate
Early Advanced/Advanced
Speaker 1: What is the world’s loudest
insect?
Speaker 1: Why doesn’t an adult mayfly
have a mouth?
Speaker 1: How is an arthropod’s
body symmetrical?
Speaker 2: the cicada
Speaker 2: It does not live long enough
as an adult to eat.
Speaker 2: You could draw a line
down the center of an arthropod
and create matching halves. The
right half of an arthropod is the
mirror image of its left half.
Speaker 1: What arachnid stings with a
poisonous tail?
Speaker 2: the scorpion
Speaker 1: How many legs does a
spider have?
Speaker 2: eight
Speaker 1: Why don’t you need to count
legs to tell millipedes and centipedes
apart?
Speaker 2: You can watch how they
move to tell them apart.
Lesson 14
Name
BLACKLINE MASTER 14.8
Date
Critical Thinking
Arthropods Rule!
Critical Thinking
Read and answer the questions. Possible responses shown.
1. Think within the text Why is it a dangerous time for arthropods
when they shed their exoskeletons and grow new ones?
They do not have a hard outer covering to protect them and reinforce their bodies,
so hungry animals can more easily kill and eat them.
2. Think within the text What is the only arthropod that can fly?
The insect is the only arthropod that can fly.
3. Think beyond the text What is your favorite arthropod?
Explain why it is your favorite.
My favorite arthropod is the shrimp because I love to eat them. I also don’t think I
would be scared of a live shrimp if I saw one (unlike spiders).
4. Think about the text The author provides a caption for every
picture and illustration. Do you think this is necessary? Why or
why not?
The captions are very important. They tell what is being pictured, and they also
often give more facts that aren’t in the main text.
Making Connections There are many types of arthropods. Think about the
special features that arthropods have. Imagine a new type of arthropod. Draw
it and describe your arthropod below its picture. Explain why it belongs to this
group of animals.
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
Critical Thinking
10
Grade 4, Unit 3: Natural Encounters
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Grade 4
5
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First Pass
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Name
Date
Arthropods Rule!
Thinking About the Text
Think about the questions below. Then write your answer in two paragraphs.
Remember that when you think about the text, you reflect back on the text.
You notice and evaluate language, genre, literary devices, and how the text
is organized.
When the chapter on arachnids begins on page 5, the author helps with
pronunciation of arachnid and shows a photograph that the caption says is a
poisonous bark scorpion that lives in Arizona. How did this kind of support
help your understanding of the text? What other kinds of text or graphic
features, such as the the author’s organization of topics, pronunciations,
photographs, and captions, did you find useful? Do you think that the author
did a good job of helping you understand arthropods?
Grade 4
6
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Lesson 14
Name
Date
Critical Thinking
BLACKLINE MASTER 14.8
Arthropods Rule!
Critical Thinking
Read and answer the questions.
1. Think within the text Why is it a dangerous time for arthropods
when they shed their exoskeletons and grow new ones?
2. Think within the text What is the only arthropod that can fly?
3. Think beyond the text What is your favorite arthropod?
Explain why it is your favorite.
4. Think about the text The author provides a caption for every
picture and illustration. Do you think this is necessary? Why or
why not?
Making Connections There are many types of arthropods. Think about the
special features that arthropods have. Imagine a new type of arthropod. Draw
it and describe your arthropod below its picture. Explain why it belongs to this
group of animals.
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
Grade 4
7
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Student
Lesson 14
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 14.12
Arthropods Rule! • LEVEL S
page
9
Arthropods Rule!
Running Record Form
Selection Text
Errors
Self-Corrections
Accuracy Rate
Total SelfCorrections
The insect is the only arthropod that can fly. Some dragonflies
zoom at speeds greater than 39 miles per hour. Every year,
scientists are discovering new arthropods, and most of them
are insects! In fact, insects are the most numerous kind of
animals on Earth.
Unlike the many-legged millipedes and centipedes, all insects
have six legs.
10
An insect’s legs are in the same place on both sides of its
body. In fact, all arthropods share this “mirror” quality. If you
drew a line down an arthropod’s center, both halves would
match.
There are thirteen orders, or groups of insects.
Comments:
(# words read
correctly/100 ×
100)
%
Read word correctly
Code
✓
cat
Repeated word,
sentence, or phrase
®
Omission
—
cat
cat
Grade 4
Behavior
Error
0
0
Substitution
Code
cut
cat
1
Self-corrects
cut sc
cat
0
Insertion
the
1
cat
Error
1413970
Behavior
ˆ
Word told
1
8
T
cat
1
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