This lesson begins with students rereading Clever Tails to think more about the strategies they use as readers. The fiction text in the pair, The Monkey’s Tail, has the same key concepts as the informational text, Clever Tails, so revisiting those key concepts supports the students to be successful with the upcoming text. The teacher takes a reading record with one student while the other students read silently.
The lesson using The Monkey’s Tail begins with a book walk to unfold the story. Students discuss the illustrations on the first few pages and read the text on those pages to begin to understand the main character. In the middle section of the story, students just discuss the illustrations to anticipate the storyline. The teacher intentionally didn’t have students discuss the ending pages, leaving these pages for students to read and think about independently. Students then read the text from the beginning independently and silently. After reading, students discuss the text and strategies used to understand the text.
