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Grade: Elementary

#3593. "Swamp Monsters" by Mary Blount Christian

Reading/Writing, level: Elementary
Posted Sun Nov 27 13:26:07 PST 2005 by Mindy Leach (mindy974@hotmail.com).
Ontario Local Schools, Mansfield USA
Activity Time: 6 35-minute lessons
Concepts Taught: guided reading lesson plans

Guided Reading Lesson Plans
For Swamp Monster by Mary Blount Christian

Day 1:
Prereading
"Categorizing Vocabulary Words"-- read through list of vocab words. Have students write words in correct category independently. Discuss their placement of the words. Discuss possible options for finding out the meaning of unknown words (look for chunks, root words, use dictionary, context clues, etc.).
Show cover of book, title, and read back cover-- discuss what book may be about
Ask building background questions:
What do you think. . .
swamp monsters do for fun?
swamp monsters eat?
swamp monsters have for pets?
* Make a T-chart of predictions and actual answers to the questions.
Words to Focus On- Give word cards of words/phrases/sentences from book. Discuss how they are pronounced, how they should sound, what they mean, etc.

Day 2:
Prereading, cont.
Do "Sketch to Stretch" Activity- Fold piece of computer paper into fourths. In first square, draw a picture of what they predict will happen in the first half of the book. After reading, draw what actually happened in the second square. Share drawings with group.
Reading
Set purpose for reading- Read to find out answers to building background questions. Write answers on "actual" side of T-chart as they find them.
Read p. 4- 25 silently
Discuss the answers to the building background questions.
Draw what actually happened in the second square of the "Sketch to Stretch" paper.
Responding
Choose a reading response prompt from list to respond to in "Writing About Reading" journal. Write title, author, and date in journal and write response in "After I Read" section.
Share response with group
Exploring
Discuss how to "Draw Inferences" from the clues an author gives you.
- p. 15 Who do you think "the tall one" is? How do you know?
- p. 15 What kind of event is going on? How do you know?
- p. 16 Who is the tall one? How do you know?
-p. 24/25 "The children took off their skins, They hung them up!" What are the swamp monsters talking about?
Story Map- Fill in "Character", "Setting", "Problem", and first two "Events" sections of map together.

Day 3:
Prereading
Do "Probable Passage" activity- give each student a Cloze passage of the second part of the book (with a word bank). Have them work with a partner to fill in the blanks. Then discuss answers in group.
Remove paper clip and look through second half of book.
Do "Sketch to Stretch" Activity- In third square, draw a picture of what they predict will happen in the second half of the book. After reading, draw what actually happened in the fourth square. Share with group.
Reading
Set purpose for reading- read to find out if their sketch/prediction was correct. Use post-it notes to mark at least 2 places where they made a connection (text-to-self or text-to-text).
Read p. 26- end silently
Sketch what actually happened in the end of the story in the fourth square of "Sketch to Stretch" paper.
Responding
Write about the connections they made in their "Writing About Reading" journal. Use prompt "This part of the book reminded me of. . ." Share connections they made.

Day 4:
Exploring
Review how to draw inferences from the clues an author gives you.
- p. 26 What does Ms. Mumfrey mean when she says, "Take your seats?"
What do Crag and Fenny think she means?
Are they doing this to be funny or bad? How do you know?
-p. 28 What does Ms. Mumfrey mean when she says, "Put on the TV"?
What does Crag think she means?
-p. 30/31 What does Ms. Mumfrey mean by "finger-painting"?
What do Crag and Fenny think it means?
-p. 34 Why did Crag put the money Ms. Mumfrey gave him in his mouth?
-p. 39 What is the "big white berry"?
What is the "stick"?
What is the "metal tree"?
-p. 41 What does Ms. Mumfrey mean when she says, "The principal will straighten you out!"?
What do Crag and Fenny think she means?
Story Map- Fill in last "Events" and "Solution" sections of map together.

Day 5:
Reading
Set purpose for reading- "Say It Like the Character". Review all clues the author may provide and what each clue tells us to do.
Reread book orally with partner- Partner marks 2 places in book where their partner "said it like the character". Have them share these places orally with the group.
Responding
Grand Conversation- Discuss what a "Grand Conversation" is (a chance to share their thoughts and feelings about the book). Use questions on "Plot" card to guide conversation if needed.

Day 6:
Exploring
Mini-lesson about past-tense verbs. Introduce the word "verbs" as words that tell an action. Brainstorm ideas of verbs. Discuss how there are different tenses of verbs (past, present, future, etc.) and how these tenses give us a clue about when something is happening. Have each student draw a verb card from a pile and determine the "rule" it follows to change from present to past tense (+ed, +d, change y to i +ed, double final consonant +ed, irregular). Categorize all verb cards into proper rules and then discuss any generalizations the students have found (ex.- if a verb ends with "e", you only add a "d" to make it past tense). Have students look back through book to find other words that fit into each category.


WORKSHEETS AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Name _________________________

Probable Passage Activity
For Swamp Monsters

Write the key words from the word bank in the probable passage below. You will only use a word once, and some words may not be used at all!


She hit the desk with a ruler. "Sit down in the ___________," she said. "It's time for our TV art lesson. You ___________," she told Crag. "Put on the TV." Crag saw the ___________ in the corner. It was like the one in his ___________. But he did not know how to put it on. ___________ didn't want her mad at him though. He thought it ___________ fit on his head. So that is where he put ___________. "Stop that!" Ms. Mumfrey yelled. "The new kids are neat!" ___________ said. Ms. Mumfrey put the TV on the table. She ___________ the knob. A picture came on. "Today we will finger-paint," it ___________. Ms. Mumfrey smiled. "Yes, we will finger-paint," she said. The ___________ got paints and paper. Crag and Fenny found some too. ___________ children swooshed paint on the paper. "That looks like paper ___________ to me," Crag said. "But Ms. Mumfrey said to finger-paint." "___________ don't want to make her mad," Fenny said.


Name ___________________________

Categorizing Vocabulary Words
Write each of the vocabulary words in one of the columns in the chart below.

Characters Setting Actions Objects


tadpole swamp Crag swooshed
lunchroom kelp whined poison ivy
stumbled knob fountain Fenny
tiptoed Ms. Mumfrey monster finger-paint


Crag made a face. "Snail stew, kelp salad," he ___________. "Why can't we eat good things?

Ms. Mumfrey held her head. "Why me?" she ___________.

So Crag popped the money into his mouth. Ms. Mumfrey ___________. Crag swallowed. The money clinked into his tummy.

"Eeeeek!" Ms. Mumfrey ___________. "You act like-- like MONSTERS!"

"Is that a people?" Crag ___________.


yelled whined moaned asked gasped