Shared Reading Plan

Book Information:
Book: ​Giraffes Can’t Dance
Author: ​Giles Andreae
Illustrated by: ​Guy Parker-Rees
Level: Pre-K/ Kindergarten

Introduction:
Giraffes Can’t Dance is an African animal related book, written by Giles Andreae. This
African animal based story is included in the theme of “animals around the world”. Giraffes
Can’t Dance is a fiction based story and includes reading level M (Pre-K, K).
The book is poetically told and based on a giraffe named Gerald who has some trouble
with fast movements. When he tries to run, he will fall. Gerald has a dream to dance, however,
because he becomes clumsy with fast movements, it becomes hard for him to dance. When the
African animals all met to have a dance party, Gerald showed up to attempt to dance, but all of
the animals laughed at Gerald and told him he couldn’t. When the sad giraffe left the dance, he
came across a cricket who encouraged Gerald that he could dance if he wanted tried hard
enough. Before he knew it, Gerald became the best dancer of the African animals, leaving all of
his animal friends in awe.
I chose this book for my shared reading unit because it expresses many emotions through
text, as well as through Guy Parker-Rees’ vibrant illustrations. Because of these aspects, my
expressions while reading the book to the students will become clear to the child as the emotions
of the characters (Gerald the giraffe) in the story. This story also illustrates the African animals’
home, which the students will visually notice through illustrations. Understanding categorical
animals’ environments entails as part of the thematic unit, encouraging the students to pay
attention to the environment of the illustrations. This will also allow the student to pay attention
to “setting” aspects, understanding that all animals come from a different place. This story is also
told in a poetic design, allowing the student to remember the text effectively and engages the
students, as well as developing phonemic understanding with words that sound similar (prance/
dance; floor roar).
Focus 1 - Alphabet Knowledge

Standard/Indicator:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.1.D​:

Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

Activity to Teach Alphabet Knowledge:

 - This display is called the “Animal Alphabet Match”. Students will be partnered up in the
class and given one animal and letter that was seen in the book “Giraffes Can’t Dance”
(ex. 2 students receive the letter “L/l” and given the animal “lion”). Within each pair, one
student will be in charge of writing the​ upper-case letter​ and one will be in charge of
writing the ​lowercase letter​ on two seperate index cards. Next, the students will work
together to illustrate a puzzle between the index cards, creating the animal that connected
to the letter (each card will have half of the animal illustration; when the correct letters
are put together, the illustration will match to be the correct animal, which represents the
letter). Once this part is complete, all of the students will put their cards in a pile and as a
class, students will be instructed to match each uppercase card with the correct
lower-case card, resulting with the correct matching animal. This activity will help
students recognize the connection between upper and lower- case letters, as well as
demonstrate understanding with visuals through a collaborative activity. Using animal to
connect with letters will eventually assist students in understanding the correspondence
of upper- and lower-case letters.

Website:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Alphabet-Matching-Literacy-Center-Easy-
Prep-Uppercase-Lowercase-A-to-Z-Animals-4519255​ ​(created my own version based off
this picture)

Focus 2: Phonological or Phonemic Awareness

Standard/Indicator:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.2

Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.2.E

Add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new
words.

Activity to Teach Phonemic Awareness:

- This activity is called “How Tall is Your Gerald Giraffe?” Students will be given a
picture of an object that is related to or seen in the story’s illustrations or text (ex: frog,
chimp, moon, bugs, etc.). The teacher will also verbally tell the student the name of the
object for clarification. With this object’s name, students will count the sounds they hear
in the word (ex: f-r-o-g= 4 sounds). Students will show their understanding of phonemes
in their given term by making a lego giraffe and giving the giraffe's neck the amount of
legos that the word has (ex: if the word was “frog”, the student would give their giraffe 4
lego pieces for the neck). Students will use a marker to number the amount of legos
pieces of the giraffe’s neck that represents how many sounds they hear in the term. After
completing, students will present their giraffe and tell the class the term they were given
and the sounds the students hears in the word. This will demonstrate the students
recognition of sound and word length with the many sounds they hear through
segmentation​. In this activity, students will be able to use a visual, as well as mental
aspects to understand sounds and words.
- In this activity, students aren't writing or using letters; they are only using their​ listening
skills to interpret individual sounds, which is the essence of ​Phonemic Awareness.

Focus 3: Sight Words

Standard/Indicator:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.3.C

Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g., ​the​, ​of​, ​to,​ ​you​, ​she​, ​my​, ​is​, ​are​, ​do​, ​does​).

Activity to Teach Sight Words: ​Twister Sight Word Game

- This activity is called “Jungle-Dance Twister” with sight words. Because the book
“Giraffes Can’t Dance” is based on Gerald Giraffe learning to dance in his own way by
throwing his legs sideways, swinging them everywhere, and doing somersaults, students
will perform Gerald’s crazy dancing moves playing the game Twister. While playing the
game Twister, students will learn ​sight words​. Each colored circle will have a sight word
that is found in the shared reading book. When a student is told how to move on the map
(right food red), they will have to read the sight word on the spot they choose. For
example, if the student was instructed “right foot red” and the sight word was ‘she’, the
student will have to read the word out loud. In this activity, students are engaged with the
implementation of a game format, while learning and recalling sight words. With these
words, students are proving accuracy of sight words, which will enhance comprehension
while reading the shared reading book.

Website:

https://littlestbookworms.com/2018/05/11/a-week-of-sight-words-twister-sight-words/
(created my own version based off this website link)
 Day 4: Analogizing Words

Standard/Indicator:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.3.D

Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ.

Activity to Teach Analogizing Words:

- This activity is called “Pin the Spot on the Giraffe”. Students are each given a spotless
giraffe with five velcros glued to the giraffe. With their stopless giraffe, they are given
five spots (with velcro on the backs of each spot), markers, and one word that contains
one of the various ​phonograms​ that are found in the book. With this word (which will be
located on the giraffe’s tail), students will be asked to find five rhyming words (or ​word
families​) that rhyme with the given word on the giraffe’s tail. Students will write these
words on the 5 spots they were given and velcro these words on the giraffe. For example,
if the word on the giraffe's tail is “spot” (--ot) (a word found in the book), the student
may come up with words such as “pot”, “tot”, “rot”, “knot”, “hot”. The student will then
write each of these words on the five spots and finally, velcroing the spots on the giraffe.
This activity proves the student’s understanding of rhyming and word pattern. Students
also show skills of being able to ​substitute​ letters to make new words through ​decoding​,
using the same phonograms to keep the rhyming sound. This activity not only proves the
understanding of phonograms, but also is an engaging activity that uses the main
character of the shared reading, “Girraffe’s Cant Dance”, as well as taking phonograms
from the story to connect rhyming understanding. The book helps to make the connection
between the importance of rhyming words and phonograms, as these words are
represented as phonograms within the poetic story.
- After the students complete the assignment, I would collect the giraffe creations and
make a ​word wall ​to show the students all of the ways in which we can make words from
the same (two) phonogram endings, along with providing a visual of the many different
word families in which the students created.
 Focus 5: Phonics

Standard/Indicator:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.3

Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

Activity to Teach Phonics: ​Short Vowel Words in the Jungle

- This activity is called “​Short Vowel​ Words in the Jungle”. Each student will be given a
card with a phrase that is referenced from the book setting, as well as the short vowel
letter and picture to illustrate. Words can be elephant (short vowel ĕ), crocodile (short
vowel ŏ), chimp (short vowel ĭ,), baboon (short vowel ă), jungle (short vowel ŭ), exedra.
Once every student has one card, I would call out everyone’s word individually (“where
is the chimp”). The student will rise and I will ask the student to recall what short vowel
they see and sound out the short vowel sound (“i” in chimp sounds like /ĭ/). Along with
this activity, I would have students recall a part of the story that they remember seeing
that word (“I saw the chimps dancing to the cha-cha in the story”). This proves the
student understands the connection between the shared reading and relative activities.
- After going through all of the students and their jungle words, I would have the students
divide themselves into the same short vowel letters (students with the cards ‘chimp’,
‘cricket’, ‘hippo’ will group together). After grouping together, students within the group
will individually call out their words and what sounds the short vowel makes (the word is
chimp and the short vowel sound is /ĭ/). Every student within the group will repeat this
task, allowing the ​repetitiveness​ of the short vowel sound to sink in, hearing the letter’s
consistent sound through multiple words. This task will be repeated with all of the groups
of the varying short vowel sounds (ă, ĕ, ĭ, ŏ, ŭ). This activity involves ​listening​ skills,
sounding out​ words to indicate the correct short vowel sound, as well as ​connecting
similarities to the story.
Website: ​https://learningattheprimarypond.com/blog/5-short-vowel-activities/​ ​(created my own
version based off this website link)

Conclusion:
To conclude, this shared reading plan will bring students to understand how to interpret stories
within a variety of activities and assessments including; ​uppercase and lowercase
understanding using visuals and collaboration, attending to ​phonemic awareness​ strictly
through sounds and a visual of they own lego creation, learning​ sight words​ through engaging
Twister games, interpreting word families and segmenting abilities through ​phonograms​, and
finally, understanding ​short vowels​ through repetitive tasks. Students will also understand the
importance of reading when being able to connect these various activities to the story “Giraffes
Can’t Dance”, interpreting the meaning of characters and setting.