GRADE 2 • KNOWLEDGE LIBRARY BOOK • TEACHER CARD
LIVING THINGS Features of Creatures Animal Characteristics Essential Question How do animals survive in nature?
Fur by Eric Geron | 32 pages | Informational Text
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fur? Mammals! elps mammals , protect their d more. all about Fur !
Explore the amazing world of animal fur! Learn about fantastic fur—from whiskers to stripes. See how fur helps to keep animals warm or cool, and also safe from predators. Join in for a fun, furry adventure!
in this series:
$6.99 US / $8.99 CAN
BY ERIC GeRON
440L Quantitative: Text Complexity Quantitative: 610 L Qualitative: Complex Qualitative: Complex
2/20/23 3:36 PM
Moderate 2 Moderate 1 Basic Complex
Before Reading Engage Read the title and talk about the striking pattern of the tiger’s fur. Remind children of the Essential Question. What do you think an animal’s fur has to do with its surviving? Introduce Genre: Informational Text Remind children that an informational text provides facts about a real topic. Together, browse the Contents page and share the engaging titles. Preview Content Vocabulary Let children know they’ll be encountering these words as they read. • mammal (noun) a warm-blooded animal that has hair or fur and usually gives birth to live babies (p. 6) • predator (noun) an animal that kills other animals for food (p. 9) • camouflage (verb) to blend in with your surroundings (p. 20)
First Reading: Share Big Ideas and Wonderings Read aloud the text and have children follow along. After reading, guide children to discuss the Big Ideas and share their Wonderings . Big Ideas What facts did you learn about fur? What new words did you discover in the book? Wonderings Encourage children to share their wonderings. You might suggest using the following sentence starters:
I wonder why ___________________________ . I wonder how ___________________________ .
Second Reading: Build Comprehension and Vocabulary Read through the text again, and this time use these stopping-point prompts to build knowledge. Some children might benefit from discussing what they read at each point. Big Ideas pp. 6–7 The animals in these photographs are mammals. What do all mammals 1
Comprehension Support: Explain Scientific Terms Help children understand that animals can be warm-blooded or cold-blooded . Explain that a warm-blooded animal’s body keeps its temperature constant, while a cold-blooded animal, like a snake, uses its environment to control its body temperature. Comprehension Support: Make Inferences Explain that readers can combine what they learn in the text with what they already know to figure out something new. Review the meanings of predator and prey and ask: Why would it be helpful to hide while trying to capture something?
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have in common? In what ways do these mammals look different from each other? Deep Thinking pp. 8–9 Why would a mammal hide from a predator? Why would a mammal hide from its prey? MLs Explain that the phrase “plays an important role” (p. 8) means “does a job.” Point out the descriptions in the text of the different jobs that fur has. Vocabulary pp. 10–13 The author explains that the fur of many animals has a topcoat and an undercoat. What is the purpose of each? Big Ideas pp. 14–15 The author says that many animals rely on their fur to protect them from the sun. How do animals with little fur protect themselves from the sun? How do people protect themselves from the sun? Deep Thinking pp. 16–19 How does an animal’s fur help it survive in its habitat? Why is Fur-mometer a good title for these pages? MLs Provide children with this sentence starter: The color of a mammal’s fur helps it survive b y _____ . Deep Thinking pp. 22–23 The author says that darker-colored fur can help animals stay warmer. Why do many arctic animals, though they live in cold, snowy places, have white fur? Vocabulary pp. 24–26 Why are whiskers and quills special? How do animals use them to protect themselves from predators? MLs Help children locate the whiskers and quills on the animals in the photographs. Big Ideas pp. 28–29 What happens when an animal sheds its fur? Why is it helpful to the animal?
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KNOWLEDGE LIBRARY BOOK • TEACHER CARD
Write About Reading To encourage writing in response to a text, present children with these choices for writing activities. • Write two ways that the fur of mammals helps them survive. Look back in the book to find ideas. (Informative/Explanatory) • Choose a favorite animal from the book. Describe the animal and tell how its fur helps it survive. (Informative/Explanatory) MLs Allow children to draft their responses in their home language first and then transfer to English. Point out the words from the glossary on page 31 that might be helpful.
After Reading: Wrap Up • Essential Question Refer to the Essential Question and ask children what they learned from the book that helps to answer it. On the Platform • Knowledge Notes Help children record what they learned. Encourage them to share their notes with partners and/or families. • Show What You Know Check children’s understanding of the book.
Focus on Differentiated Instruction Use your observations, formative assessment, or data from available assessments to match children to instruction.
Speaking and Listening: Fantastic Fur Introduce Recall with children that they have been reading about all the different ways an animal’s fur helps it to survive in its surroundings. Say: Let’s talk about why we can say that an animal’s fur is fantastic. Show Model how to answer one of the questions below using part of the question in your answer. Try It! Have children work with the group to discuss and answer the questions below. • How does fur help an animal stay warm? • How does fur help an animal stay cool? • How does fur help an animal hide from its predators? • How can whiskers help an animal keep safe? Text Features: Text Boxes Introduce Point out that authors use different kinds of text features to add information. Show Ask children to return to the text and focus attention on the text boxes. Note that each text box gives more information in a colored box with white text. Try It! Have children use the information in the text boxes to answer questions about the text, such as: • Look at the text box on page 6. Do you think it’s surprising that fur and human nails are made of the same material? • Look at the text box on page 8. Why do you think dolphins and whales are hairless? • Look at the text box on page 16. How does the information in this box relate to the text on the rest of the page?
Figurative Language: Similes Introduce Explain that sometimes authors compare things using the words like or as . In comparing things, the author helps the reader better understand the information. Show Point out the use of the word like to make a comparison on page 12. The author wrote, ”The topcoat acts like a rain jacket by protecting the undercoat from getting wet.” Say: Since I know that a rain jacket can protect me from getting wet in the rain, I can understand how the topcoat helps the mammal. Try It! Together discuss the similes on pages 13, 15, 20, and 21. Talk about what is being compared and why it is helpful for the author to use these comparisons. Then challenge children to compare an animal in one of the photos to something else using the word like . Give a hint by reminding children that they might compare its color, its size, or the way it moves to something else. Fluency: Reading for Automaticity Introduce Let children know that repeated readings can help them build accuracy and an appropriate rate. Show Locate the Contents page. Choose a chapter to turn to. Read a section several times to demonstrate how to practice reading for greater automaticity. Try It! Have children work with partners. Have them each choose a chapter from the Contents page. Then have each partner take a turn at reading a section a few times, working on correcting their mistakes and reading with greater accuracy and fluency each time. Then have them listen as their partner does the reading aloud.
KNOWLEDGE LIBRARY BOOK • TEACHER CARD
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