Lesson Plan · Level 1 Ant and Grasshopper

Book Summary
Level 1 (Grades K–1) Text Type: Fiction/Folktale Word Count: 190
In this traditional retelling of the fable of the ant and the grasshopper,
Grasshopper plays his fiddle through the summer and fall while Ant works
hard gathering food. In winter, Grasshopper is out in the cold looking for
food. Ant sees him and invites him in for a meal. Grasshopper vows he will
work the next summer so he’ll have food to eat in winter.

Skills for the Week

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
Concepts

Use the Identify print

Print

projectable concepts
as your
Choral read
Reading

shared book. Listen for Ask and answer Cloze read:

fluency and questions Content words
Print copies expression
Content words
of the book
Vocabulary/
Awareness Word Work

Predict
for students through
Compound
words
to take home. vocabulary
Phonological
Phonics/

Phonics: Initial
consonant
gr- blend

Comprehension
Check:
Comprehension

Text-to-text
Recall Author’s purpose
connections
Make Make inferences / Comprehension
predictions Story Elements:
Draw conclusions Check:
Problem and
Cause and effect Sequence events
solution
Grammar and
Mechanics

Capitalization
Writing

Write sentences
Shared

using correct
capitalization
Connection

Identify words
Home

Read for with initial

enjoyment consonant gr-
blend

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Lesson Plan · Level 1 Ant and Grasshopper

Day 1
Build Background
• Ask students:
Have you ever wanted to play instead of doing your homework
or chores around the house? What happened?
Why is it important that we do our chores but also take time to play?
Do you know what a fable is?
Have you heard or read the fable about the ant and the grasshopper?
What happened in the story?

Book Walk
• Discuss front and back covers, title, author, and illustrator.
• Ask students what they see on the cover.
On the cover, I see ______.
The title of this story is ______.
make • Encourage students to predict what the text will be about, on the basis
Predictions of the title and pictures.
• Ask:
What do you see on the front and back covers?
What do you think this story will be about?
If you have read a story about ant and grasshopper, do you think this
story will be like that story or different? Why do you think this?
Where is the title of this story? (Ask a student to point to it.)
Where is the author’s name? (Ask a student to point to it.)
What does an author do?
Where is the illustrator’s name? (Ask a student to point to it.)
What does an illustrator do?
• Do a brief picture walk through the first few pages to highlight elements
in the pictures relating to the story and the concept that pictures support
what is read. Don’t show students the whole story as you want them to
experience it for themselves and be able to make predictions. This should
NOT be a discussion of a potential story sequence.

Predict through Introduce Vocabulary

Vocabulary Vocabulary Words
fiddle (n.), gathering (v.), grain (v.), rest (v.), work (v.)
• Use vocabulary cards to introduce vocabulary. Show students one
vocabulary card at a time.
• Discussion:
Can you tell me what this is a picture of?
What does this picture remind you of?
This word says ________. Does anyone know what this word means?
Let’s read the definition of this word.
I can use this word in a sentence: ________. (Use the word in a
sentence aloud.)
Who can use this word in a different sentence?

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Lesson Plan · Level 1 Ant and Grasshopper

Day 1 continued These words are all in this book. What do you think this book might be
about? (If students made predictions during the Book Walk, ask them
whether they want to change their predictions or keep them the same.)
What other words might be in this book?
Let’s read the definition of this word.

Read 1 Read the Book

Listen for • Read to illustrate fluency and expression. Stop occasionally to make brief
fluency and predictions or think aloud (self-query, prediction). The focus should be on
expression
reading for enjoyment. Have each student turn to a partner and retell the
story in their own words.

read for Home Connection

enjoyment
• Send printed books home with students to read with a parent or another
trusted adult. The focus should be on reading for enjoyment.

Day 2
Introduce the Book
• Review the front and back covers, title, author, and illustrator.
• Ask:
Where is the title of this story? (Ask a student to point to it.)
Where is the author’s name? (Ask a student to point to it.)
What does an author do?
Where is the illustrator’s name? (Ask a student to point to it.)
What does an illustrator do?
identify print • Invite student volunteers to do the following Concept About Print tasks:
concepts Point to where you would begin reading the story.
Show me with your finger which way I go as I read this page.
Where do I go once I get to the end of the line?
Point to the words while I read the sentence.
Show me the first word on this page. Now, show me the last word
on this page.

Read 1 Read the Book

choral read • Read at a slightly slower pace, tracking print with a pointer. Students
ask and answer should be encouraged to join in the reading if they can. The overall focus
questions should be on enjoyment of the text and reading experience and not on
total participation among students.
• Have students work with a partner to write a question that would require
a reader to search the text in at least two places to find the answer.
Have them share their questions aloud and answer them as a group,
highlighting evidence in the story that supports each answer.

Read 2 Read with Students

content words • Read at a slower pace and have students join in when they can. Track print
with a pointer.
• As you read the story, emphasize important content words. For example,
on page 3 you might emphasize the word summer since the seasons are
important. You might also emphasize the words work, gathering, and

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Lesson Plan · Level 1 Ant and Grasshopper

Day 2 continued winter on the same page. Continue to read, hesitating at important words
on each page, allowing students to say the words if they know them.

Text-to-text Connect to the Reading: Text-to-text

connections
• Explain that engaged readers think of events or characters from other
books or texts they have read when they read about similar events
or characters in whatever they are reading. These kinds of connections
are called text-to-text connections.
• Discussion
• Discuss stories students have read that are similar to this story. Ask them
to tell what connections they can make between that story and this
one. Were the characters the same? Did the story end the same way?
• Point out that making these connections will help them understand and
relate to the information presented in this story.
• Encourage students to make additional text-to-text connections:
This story reminds me of another story that I’ve read because ______.
When I read about ______, it reminded me of ______ because ______.
The things in this story are similar to things I’ve read about in other
stories because ______.
The things in this story are different from things I’ve read about in
other stories because ______.
• Invite students to locate and use the stamp tool to show the part(s)
of the story in which they made a text-to-text connection.

problem and Story Elements: Problem and solution

solution
• Ask students who the characters in the story are. Ask students to name
the characters in this story.
• Explain to students that in stories, a character often has a problem. The
story events tell how the character solves the problem. Ask students what
problem Grasshopper had.
• Ask students to tell how Ant helped solve Grasshopper’s problem.

Day 3
Introduce the Book
• Review the front and back covers.
• Using the vocabulary cards and character cards as prompts, ask students
to retell the story. (This can include dramatization, working with a partner
to retell the story, and so on.)

Read 1 Cloze Read with Students

content words • Using the masking tool , cover important content words from the
story. For example, on page 3 you might cover summer, work, gathering,
winter and so on. On page 4 you might cover the word rest.
• Read at a slower pace. Hesitate at the masked parts of the story and have
students fill in the blanks. Have students guess each correct word. As they
suggest words, ask students: Does this word make sense in the sentence?
Have students show thumbs up if they agree and thumbs down if they
do not agree.

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Lesson Plan · Level 1 Ant and Grasshopper

Day 3 continued Comprehension Check: Text dependent

Comprehension • Ask students comprehension questions to help them think critically about
Check the text. Have students highlight evidence in the story that supports
their answers.
What did Grasshopper do while Ant worked? Where does it tell you this
in the story? (Recall)
Why wasn’t Grasshopper playing his fiddle when he passed by Ant’s
house in winter? (Make inferences / Draw conclusions)
Why is Grasshopper hungry? How could he have prevented this?
(Cause and effect)
What can you tell about Ant from the way he acts on page 10? (Make
inferences / Draw conclusions)

InitiaL Phonics: Initial consonant gr-blend

Consonant
• Write the following words on the board: grab, grip, grub. Read the words
gr-blend
aloud with students. You may want to have them sound out each word
with you and then blend the sounds together.
• Ask students what they notice about all three of the words. Call on
students to come up and circle the blend at the beginning of the words.
• Point out the two beginning letters in the words are g and r. Explain that
the two letters blend together to make the sound /gr/.
Read 2 • Read the Book
InitiaL • Project the cover of the book and have students read the title with you.
Consonant Ask what they notice about Grasshopper’s name. Ask a volunteer to use
gr-blend
the pen tool to circle the blend in the name.
• Project page 4 and read it aloud with students. Call on two students
to each identify one of the words with the gr- blend on the page (green,
grass). Ask them to use the pen tool to underline the words and
to circle the blend.
• Project pages 6, 7, and 9 and have students find the words with
identify words
with Initial a gr- blend (Grasshopper, grand, grain, gray).
Consonant • See the Home Connection on the back of the printed book for a Phonics
gr-blend extension activity.

Day 4 Review Home Connection

• Ask volunteers to share the words with the gr- blend that they found
in the story. Write the words next to the projectable book cover or circle
them on the page where they are located using the pen tool or the
text tool . Have students share other words they found at home that
have this blend.

Read 1 Read with Students

(optional) • Read with students as needed for fluency and expression. You may choose
to have the only reading on this day be part of the skill lesson.

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Lesson Plan · Level 1 Ant and Grasshopper

Day 4 continued
Grammar and Mechanics: Capitalization
capitalization • Ask students if they know why we use capital letters in sentences.
• Write the following sentence on the board: On Saturday, I went to
John’s house. Read aloud the sentence. Ask students which words in
the sentence have capital letters. Call on students to come up and
circle the capital letters.
• Discuss the different reasons you used capital letters in this sentence:
at the beginning of a sentence, for the name of the day of the week,
for the pronoun I, for a person’s name.
Read 2 • Read the Book
capitalization • Project page 3 and read it aloud, encouraging students to read along
with you. Ask students what letter the first sentence begins with
(capital O). Call on a student to use the pen tool to circle the letter.
Ask students where they see more capital letters on the page. Have
volunteers come up and circle them.
• Project and read aloud several other pages in the book, having students
watch for capital letters. Call on students to use the pen tool to
circle the words they find.

write sentences Shared Writing: Write sentences using correct capitalization

using correct • Write the following sentences on the board: One day goldilocks went
capitalization
for a walk. she saw a little house.
• Read the sentence aloud. Ask students if they notice anything wrong
with the sentences that you need to fix. Then ask students to help you
capitalize the name Goldilocks and the first word in the second sentence.
• Ask students to help you write what happened next in the story of
Goldilocks and the Three Bears. As you write the next sentences, make
sure to not capitalize several words that should be capitalized. After
writing the sentences, read them aloud with students and ask for their
help in fixing any mistakes.
• Ask students to draw a picture and write another part of the story
of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
• Have students check a partner’s sentences for correct use of capital letters.

Day 5
Read 1 Read with Students
(optional) • Read with students as needed for fluency and expression. You may
choose to have the only reading on this day be part of the skill lesson
or Comprehension Check.

author’s Comprehension Check: Author’s purpose

purpose • Explain to students that authors have a purpose for writing their stories.
Sometimes they want to entertain readers and give them a fun story to
read. Sometimes they want to inform their readers by giving facts about a
topic. And sometimes they want to persuade their readers to do something.
• Ask students why they think the author wrote Ant and Grasshopper
(to entertain).

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Lesson Plan · Level 1 Ant and Grasshopper

Day 5 continued • Read the Book

Read 2 • Explain that some stories, like Ant and Grasshopper are meant
author’s to entertain us, but they also teach a lesson.
purpose • Project and read aloud pages 8 through 12. Ask students what lesson
they think the author is trying to teach.

compound Word Work: Compound words

words
• Write the word grasshopper on the board. Explain that the word is made
up of two smaller words and that this type of word is called a compound
word. Circle the two words grass and hopper.
• Point out to students that sometimes they can tell what a compound
word means by thinking about what the smaller words in a compound
word mean. Discuss why how the words grass and hopper help them
understand the meaning of the word grasshopper.
• Write other simple compound words on the board and have students
identify the smaller words that make up the larger words, for example:
baseball, firefly, raincoat, bedroom, and bathtub. Discuss how the smaller
words help with the meaning of each of the compound words.
Read 3 • Read the Book
compound • Project the book and have students look for compound words as you
words read the story together. (Grasshopper throughout; fiddlesticks, p. 6;
inside, p. 10; something, p. 12)

sequence Comprehension Check: Sequence events

events
• Explain that stories happen in a certain order. First one event happens,
then another event, and so on. Tell a familiar story out of order. Ask
students whether or not it makes sense and why.
• Point out to students that sometimes writers use signal words to help
their readers understand the order of events. Write the following words
on the board: first, next, then, finally.
• Model using the word first to tell what happened first in the story about
Ant and Grasshopper. Be sure to explain the difference between an
important event and a detail.
• Ask students to tell the important events in the story in order with
a partner, using the character cards and the vocabulary cards as prompts.

Subsequent readings using the projectable tools

• Use the stamp tool • Use the highlight tool • Use the highlight tool
to identify the most to highlight story vocabulary to identify a word in
interesting words in the text. and then connect it to its the text.
• Use the highlight tool picture in the illustration. • Use the text tool
to find as many words with • Use the masking tool to write in the sides as
the beginning or ending to mask the verbs on one many words as possible
sound as X in one minute. page of text. Have the that rhyme with the
students tell that page highlighted word.
• Use the masking tool
to hide the text on any page. in present tense. • Use the pen tool
Have students write the text to write the numerals
they think should go there. above the number words.

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