Grade: 1
Unit: 1, Week 1
Title: Alphabet Books and Children Who Read Them
Essential Question
Why is it important to ask
questions while you are reading?
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Objectives
Target Skills
Understand that ideas are processed through inquiry, thought, and conversation.
Use pictures, illustrations, and details in a text to describe key ideas.
Listen to one another in conversations and speak one at a time.
Learn and use new vocabulary words: stories, alphabet books, author, illustrator, capitalization, key
details, periods, question marks, and questions.
Know basic features of print and distinguishing features of a sentence (e.g., first word capitalized and
ending punctuation present).
Review and teach (as necessary) upper- and lowercase letters.
Review and teach (as necessary) initial and ending consonant sounds/ letter-sound correspondence.
Questioning – use questions to gain,
process, clarify, and analyze
information
Writing Conventions – understand
that sentences start with a capital letter
and end with a period, question, or
exclamation mark
Details and Key Ideas – understand
that details and key ideas can be found
in pictures, illustrations, and text
Suggested Materials
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Dates of Instruction: _______________________
Alphabet Mystery (Audrey Wood and Bruce Wood)
The Turn-Around, Upside-Down Alphabet Book (Lisa Campbell
Ernst)
An A to Z Walk in the Park (R.M. Smith)
26 Letters and 99 Cents (Tana Hoban)
Dr. Seuss’s ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book! (Dr. Seuss)
I Read Signs (Tana Hoban)
Look Book (Tana Hoban)
Exactly the Opposite (Tana Hoban)
Resources
For ABC book ideas and additional activities:
http://www.readwritethink.org Search keywords “ABC books.” Option:
click search “Book Sorting” and click on K-2 option “Book Sorting: Using
Observation and Comprehension to Categorize Books” or search
“Adventures in Nonfiction: A Guided Inquiry Journey” for additional
activities.
Possible Activities
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Introduce new unit and what will be covered during next few weeks. Explain that just because books are called
“ABC books,” it does not mean they are always easy to understand. Encourage students to be willing to ask and
answer questions and to think deeply.
Review upper- and lowercase letters as needed. Review initial and ending consonant sounds and letter- sound
correspondence. Teach as necessary.
Review concepts of print. Discuss sentence structure/language conventions and the use of capital letters and
ending punctuation in each sentence. Teach mini-lesson on capitals, periods, and question marks.
Have available and examine a variety of ABC books for students. Using shared reading, read Alphabet Mystery
(Audrey Wood and Bruce Wood) and encourage students to make predictions and ask questions. Prompt students
to use pictures, illustrations, and details in the text to describe key ideas.
Compare and contrast the variety of ABC books read (compare/contrast how the alphabet is presented,
illustrations, if there is a story line, rhymes, alliteration, etc.). Encourage students to decode words and begin to
practice fluency.
Learn and appropriately use new vocabulary words in conversation and writing.
Discuss rules for discussion etiquette and participation in a collaborative group in preparation for class research
project.
Unit Standards
Recurring
Standards
RL.1.1
RI.1.1
RF.1.1
RF.1.2
RF. 1.3
RF.1.4
W.1.7
SL.1.1
L.1.1
L.1.2
RL.1.6
RL.1.7
RL.1.10
RL.1.11
RI.1.4
RI.1.5
RI.1.7
W.1.8
SL.1.6
L1.6
Evidence of Learning
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Student asks questions that demonstrate forethought.
Student answers questions, makes comparisons, and interprets
information demonstrating forethought and understanding.
Student correctly uses upper- and lowercase letters.
Student correctly sequences alphabet.
Student participates in discussion, using appropriate discussion
etiquette.
Student demonstrates understanding of using capitalization and
ending punctuation within a sentence.
Student is beginning to decode words in order to read text.