LESSON 24 TEACHER’S GUIDE
Butterflies
by Darrel Claxton
Fountas-Pinnell Level F
Nonfiction
Selection Summary
There are many kinds of butterflies. Butterflies come in all colors and
range from tiny to very large in size. Some butterflies have markings
on their wings that scare enemies away.
Number of Words: 181
Characteristics of the Text
Genre
Text Structure
Content
Themes and Ideas
Language and
Literary Features
Sentence Complexity
Vocabulary
Words
Illustrations
Book and Print Features
• Nonfiction
• Focused on a single topic
• Each page presents one simple category of information
• Butterflies
• Markings on butterflies’ wings
• There are many kinds of butterflies.
• Butterflies have amazing ways of surviving.
• Simple, straightforward language
• Meaning provided through integration of photos with text
• A mix of short and more complex sentences
• Some longer sentences with more than ten words
• Terms that may be unfamiliar: rain forest, see-through
• Highlighted high-frequency words: also, anything, flower, kind, places, ready, upon, warm
• Some multisyllable words that may be challenging: zebra, notice, enemies, hungry
• Closed, open, and hyphenated compound words: butterfly, anything, rain forest, seethrough
• Photos on every page that support the text
• Nine pages of text with photos on every page
• Sentences stand alone, not run into paragraphs
© 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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Butterflies
by Darrel Claxton
Build Background
Read the title to children and talk with them about butterflies. Ask them to describe
butterflies they have seen. Encourage children to use their knowledge of butterflies to
think about the book. Ask questions such as the following: How are all butterflies alike?
How are butterflies different?
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. Here are some
suggestions:
Page 2: Explain that this book gives facts about butterflies.
Suggested language: Turn to page 2. What do you see in the photo? The photo
shows some of the many different kinds of butterflies. What kind of butterfly do
you like?
Page 3: Look at the photo of the butterfly. Have you ever seen a butterfly like this
one? The first sentence reads: No other butterfly looks anything like this one.
Find the word anything on the page. The word anything is made up of two smaller
words, any and thing. You can use the smaller words to help you figure out the
meaning of the longer word. In the photo, you can see the butterfly land upon a red
flower.
Page 6: Turn to page 6. This butterfly lives in a rain forest. Rain forests are warm,
wet places that get a lot of rain. Do you think all butterflies live in warm places?
Have you ever seen a butterfly in the cold winter?
Pages 8–9: Look at the photos. The butterfly on page 8 has spots on its wings to
scare its enemies away. The butterfly on page 9 also has spots on its wings. Do
you think the spots also look like eyes?
Now go back to the beginning and read to find out about some of the many
different kinds of butterflies.
Words to Know
Have children turn to the Words to Know at the back of the book. Read each word aloud and
then together. Explain any unknown words. Tell children to look for these words as they read.
Words to Know
also
flower
places
upon
anything
kind
ready
warm
Grade 1
2
Lesson 24: Butterflies
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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 butterfly do you think is the most beautiful or interesting? Why?
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 different kinds of
butterflies.
• Butterflies are beautiful.
• The photos show some of
the many different kinds of
butterflies.
• Some butterflies are tiny, and
some are very large.
• Some butterflies have markings
that scare their enemies away.
• Some butterflies’ markings
protect them from enemies.
• Butterflies have amazing ways of
surviving.
• People like to look for unusual
butterflies.
• The author points out interesting
things about butterflies’
markings.
• The author presents many facts
about butterflies.
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
Choices for Support
Concepts of Print
Have children match one spoken word to one written word while reading the book.
Phonemic Awareness and Word Work
Provide practice as needed with words and sounds, using one of the following activities:
• Matching Game Materials: index cards. On individual index cards, write pairs of
words with vowel digraphs, such as woods-looks, rain-wait, sleep-seen. Remind
children that when two vowel letters come together, they usually stand for one vowel
sound. Spread out the cards face down in random order, and let two children use them
to play Concentration. Children take turns turning over two cards to find a match.
Unmatched cards are placed back face down. The object is to match words with the
same vowel digraph.
• Clapping Syllables Have children hear and say syllables in words from the book,
such as butterflies, anything, zebra, enemies. Have them clap on each syllable: but-terflies, an-y-thing, ze-bra, en-e-mies.
Grade 1
3
Lesson 24: Butterflies
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Writing About Reading
Vocabulary Practice
Read the directions and have children complete the Vocabulary questions on BLM 24.1.
Responding
Have children complete the vocabulary activities on page 11.
Building Vocabulary
Describing Words
Build on the adjectives in Butterflies.
Suggested language: Let’s think about words that describe things. The biggest butterfly
lives in warm, wet places in the rain forest. Biggest describes the butterfly. Warm and wet
describe places in the rain forest. Let’s look at the photos of butterflies in the book and
think of words to describe them. As children suggest adjectives, write their words and
sentences on the board or on a long strip of paper. Begin the list with the sentence frame I
see a ____ butterfly.
(Possible suggestions: long, thin, fuzzy, pretty, green, striped.)
After children have made their suggestions, read the list aloud together, pointing to each
word. Look at all the ways to describe butterflies!
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 your favorite butterfly.
Write a sentence that tells why you like it.
Grade 1
4
Lesson 24: Butterflies
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English Language Learners
Reading Support In Introduce the Text (page 2), include as much practice as needed
to help children become familiar with the language structures of the book.
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 do you see in the
cover photo?
Speaker 1: Why do you think the
butterfly on page 3 is named after a
zebra?
Speaker 1: Why do enemies stay
far away from the butterfly on
page 8?
Speaker 2: It has stripes.
Speaker 2: The butterfly’s spots
look like an owl’s eyes. The
enemies think they are seeing a
hungry owl and are scared away.
Speaker 2: a butterfly
Speaker 1: What is this book about?
Speaker 2: butterflies
Speaker 1: What do all butterflies
have?
Speaker 1: What do some people see on
the wings of the butterfly on page 5?
Speaker 2: They see a dog’s face.
Speaker 2: wings
Lesson 24
BLACKLINE MASTER 24.1
Name
Words to Know
Butterflies
Words to Know
Answer each question with a word from
Word Bank
the box.
also
1. Which word goes with hot?
anything
flower
warm
kind
places
2. Which word goes with too?
ready
upon
also
warm
3. Which word goes with stem, leaf, and bud?
flower
4. Which word goes with all set?
ready
5. Which word goes with on top of?
upon
Read directions to children.
Words to Know
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Grade 1
5
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Lesson 24: Butterflies
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Name
Date
Butterflies
Draw a picture of your favorite butterfly.
Write a sentence that tells why you like it.
Grade 1
6
Lesson 24: Butterflies
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Lesson 24
BLACKLINE MASTER 24.1
Name
Words to Know
Butterflies
Words to Know
Answer each question with a word from
the box.
Word Bank
also
1. Which word goes with hot?
anything
flower
kind
places
2. Which word goes with too?
ready
upon
warm
3. Which word goes with stem, leaf, and bud?
4. Which word goes with all set?
5. Which word goes with on top of?
Grade 1
7
Lesson 24: Butterflies
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Student
Lesson 24
Date
BLackline master 24.23
Butterflies • level f
page
Butterflies
Running Record Form
Selection Text
2
Errors
Self-Corrections
Accuracy Rate
Self-Correction
Rate
All butterflies have wings.
But all butterflies
are not the same.
What kind of butterfly
do you like best?
No other butterfly looks
3
anything like this one.
It is named after a zebra.
This butterfly lands
upon a flower.
Comments:
(# words read
correctly/39 × 100)
(# errors + #
Self-Corrections/
Self-Correction)
%
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
cat
cut sc
0
Insertion
the
1
Word told
T
cat
cat
ˆ
Error
1413460
Behavior
1
Lesson 24: Butterflies
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