Houghton Mifflin Reading

Second Grade

Delights

Ant by Rebecca Stefoff     FIRST READING 

Before Reading —  

OPEN AND CLOSE BOOK

Open book to pages 58-59 and look at the title, "Fun Facts with Ants"

Have the children CLOSE their books and put them on the floor.

List everything they know about ants on the board in black ink.

Open the book, read the bold face words, "colonies, antennae, fungus, larvae, cocoons."

Have the children CLOSE their books and put them on the floor.

List everything they know about ants on the board in blue ink.

Open book and read each green box, adding to the board in a variety of colors. 

Set purpose for reading — while you are reading today why are these Aant@ words important? What does the author tell us about these words? What facts can you tell about ants using these words?  

Colonies —

Larvae —

Cocoons —

Fungus —

Antennae —  

During reading —

Read a page. Look at the graphic organizer. Is the page you are reading about

Colonies, or Larvae or Cocoons or Fungus or Antennae? Tell your group a sentence about what you=ve learned.  

After reading — Add to the graphic organizer. Write sentences using the vocabulary.

Houghton Mifflin Reading

Second Grade

Delights

Ant by Rebecca Stefoff     SECOND READING 

Before Reading — Sometimes authors use questioning to encourage students to reflect on their thinking. Let=s look at the questions that the author asks the reader.  

During reading —

Whole group with the teacher leading the discussion.  

Set purpose for reading today — Read the three questions that the author asks the reader: 

On page 72: Leafcutter ants live in Central and South America. Some people call them parasol ants. Do you know why? 

Have the children read page 73 to find the answer.  

On page 81: Can you pick up your mother and carry her over your head? Continue reading on page 81 to find the answer to the author=s question. 

On page 83: I think ants are a lot like us. Do you? Have the students find places in the story to justify their answers.  

Note to teacher — I have the students sit together with their books open and lead the class in a class discussion for questions #1 and #2. Then I read question #3 and have the students turn to a partner (person they are sitting next to) and work together to read the book looking for places that the ants are a lot like us.  

After reading — Make a list of ways that the ants are like people.  

Follow Up Activity —

• Pages 56-57 recommend writing a research report on animals. Wait until you have finished this unit=s stories. Then have the students write their reports.
• Sing The Ants Go Marching (a traditional children=s song)
•  
  

Houghton Mifflin Reading   RESEARCH WRITING IDEA

Second Grade

Delights

Ant by Rebecca Stefoff  

This book describes lots of different ants. The basal discusses writing a research report (pages 56-57). If the teacher wishes to include report writing, one option might be to have children write a report on one of the ants discussed in the book, Ant by Rebecca Stefoff. 

Set purpose for reading — Choose one type of ant described in the selection. Read about the ant.  

During reading — Fill in the Graphic Organizer:  
Where do _________ ants live?   Why are the _________ ants special? 

______ Ants 

What do _________ ants eat?   Questions I still have about ____ ants. 
 
 
 

After reading — Use the Graphic Organizer to write a report using these sentences starters: 

_________ ants live _____________________________. 

_________ ants are special because _________________________________ 

_____________________________________________________________ 

_________ ants eat ____________________________.