13 teacher’s guide a school in a garden · pdf filelesson 13 teacher’s guide a...

Number of Words: 887

L E S S O N 1 3 T E A C H E R ’ S G U I D E

A School in a Gardenby Sara Flannery

Fountas-Pinnell Level NInformational TextSelection SummaryChef Alice Waters helped a local school create a garden. Today with the help of a garden teacher and a cooking teacher, the students plant seeds, pick fruit, care for chickens, use garden tools, and turn the food they grow into delicious meals. The garden is a great school for learning about science, history, art, cooking, and more.

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Characteristics of the Text Genre • Informational text

Text Structure • Five sections with headings, one to four pages each• Sections organized by topic: working/learning in the garden; cooking and eating the

produce; the futureContent • Chef helps school create a garden

• Learning in the garden: science, writing, using tools, cooking• Local, seasonal food: vegetables, fruits, eggs

Themes and Ideas • Local produce is good for people and our planet.• Children can take care of a garden and learn to cook.• You can have fun and learn a lot from gardening.

Language and Literary Features

• Clear, direct language• No fi gurative language

Sentence Complexity • A mix of short and longer sentences• Both dependent and independent clauses• Compound and complex sentences with phrases: The students fi gure out what tools they

will need, and then they get the tools from the garden shed.Vocabulary • Food and cooking terms. Examples: chef, restaurant, roast, grind, beets, garlic, peppers,

berries, onions, clover, fi gsWords • Mostly one- and two-syllable words with a few longer words on each page, such as

transportation, community, delicious, restaurantIllustrations • Clear, bright photographs support the text

Book and Print Features • Twelve pages of text with photos on all pages© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.

2_302812_AL_LRTG_L13_SchoolGarden.indd 1 1/5/10 11:57:31 PM

Expand Your Vocabulary

chef – a chief cook, p. 3coop – a cage for small animals,

p. 10

restaurant – a place where meals may be bought, p. 3

season – a time of the year, p. 9

A School in a Garden by Sara Flannery

Build BackgroundHelp children use their knowledge about plants and gardens. Build interest by asking questions such as the following: Can you imagine part of the playground being turned into a fruit and vegetable garden? What would be the best thing about having a garden at your school? Read the title and author and talk about the cover illustration. Tell children that this book is informational text, so the words and photos will give factual information about a school garden.

Introduce the TextGuide children through the text, noting important ideas, and helping with unfamiliar language and vocabulary so they can read the text successfully. Here are some suggestions:

Page 3: Explain that this is a book is about a school where students have classes in gardening and cooking. Suggested language: Turn to page 3. Have children read the section head, “A Garden Grows,” and explain that this part of the book tells how the school garden got started. Read the sentence: Ms. Waters is an important chef who owns a famous restaurant in California. Ms. Waters likes to cook with fresh food. Look at the photo to see some of the foods she serves to customers at her restaurant.

Page 4: Explain that Ms. Waters wanted to help her community. Ms. Waters knows all about growing and cooking good food. How do you think she decides to help the people who live nearby? The photo gives you some clues.

Page 6: Explain that Ms. Waters started a garden at a school. Turn to page 6 and read the fi rst sentence: The garden is part of the school’s science lessons. What kinds of things might the students learn in these lessons?

Page 9: Do you recognize the food in these photos? These are foods that children grow in the garden. Each season the garden changes. Give some examples of how a garden where we live might change each season.

Now turn back to the beginning of the book and read to fi nd how a garden can be a wonderful school.

2 Lesson 13: A School in a GardenGrade 2© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

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ReadHave children read A School in a Garden silently while you listen to individual children read. Support their problem solving and fl uency as needed.

Remind children to use the Analyze/Evaluate Strategy and to tell how they feel about the text, and why.

Discuss and Revisit the TextPersonal ResponseInvite children to share their personal responses to the book.Suggested language: What do you think would be the best thing about having a school garden? What parts would be diffi cult?

Ways of ThinkingAs you discuss the text, help children understand these points:

Thinking Within the Text Thinking Beyond the Text Thinking About the Text

• Ms. Waters, a famous chef, helps a school create a garden.

• Students help to create and care for the garden.

• Students learn about science, nature, cooking, and responsibility from gardening and cooking teachers.

• We should know where our food comes from; local food is freshest and best.

• People can learn how to grow their own fresh food.

• Children can be responsible and do important work like growing and cooking their own food.

• It is important (and fun) to learn by doing.

• The author includes a lot of details about the garden and what the students do there.

• The photos help readers visualize the students planting, watering, cooking, etc.

• The section headings give a good idea of what information will be discussed.

• The author’s point of view is that gardening can make a big difference in children’s lives.

© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.

Choices for Further Support• Fluency Invite children to choose a passage from the text and demonstrate phrased,

fl uent reading. Remind them to read at an appropriate rate, not too fast and not too slow.

• Comprehension Based on your observations of the children’s reading and discussion, revisit parts of the text to clarify or extend comprehension. Remind children to go back to the text to support their ideas.

• Phonics/Word Work Provide practice as needed with words and word parts, using examples from the text. Remind children how to pronounce vowel sounds in open (CV) syllable words such as lo-cal (page 3) and clo-ver (page 9), and in closed (CVC) syllable words such as gar-den (page 3) and gar-lic (page 9).



Writing about ReadingCritical ThinkingHave children complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 13.9.

RespondingHave children complete the activities at the back of the book. Use the instruction below as needed to reinforce or extend understanding of the comprehension skill.

Target Comprehension SkillAuthor’s Purpose

Target Comprehension Skill Remind children that thinking about details in the text

will help them understand why the author wrote the book. Model the skill, using a “Think Aloud” like the one below:

Think Aloud

I want to know the author’s purpose for writing this book. I’ll think about the details in the book. The author tells how students work in groups in the garden. She tells about their lessons, like having a question to answer each time they work in the garden. She tells how students cook the things they grow. I think the author wrote the book to show readers that you can learn a lot from gardening.

Practice the SkillHave children write two sentences telling why they think the author used photographs instead of drawings to illustrate the book.

Writing Prompt: Thinking Beyond the TextHave children write a response to the prompt on page 6. Remind them that when they think beyond the text, they use what they know and their own experience to think about what happens in the text.

Assessment Prompts• Which words on page 9 help the reader understand the meaning of the word season?

• Chef Alice Waters can best be described as

________________________________________________________________.



Read directions to children.

Think About ItRead and answer the questions.

1. What did Ms. Waters do to try to make the school a

better place?

2. What were science lessons like after the garden was

planted?

3. Why do you think the author uses headings such as

“Meet the Garden” and “In the Kitchen”?

Making Connections Think about what the children learn in A School in a Garden. What can people learn about food by planting a garden?

Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.

Name Date

Grade 2, Unit 3: Tell Me About It

Lesson 13B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 1 3 . 9

Think About It

A School In a GardenThink About It

English Language DevelopmentReading Support In Introduce the Text (p.2) include as much practice as needed to help children become familiar with the language structures of the book.

Vocabulary Point out the sentence on page 14: Food is science, food is history, and food is art. Explain the meaning of science, history, and art, and discuss how food is related to each of the subjects.

Oral Language DevelopmentCheck children’s comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches their English profi ciency level. Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the child.

Beginning/Early Intermediate Intermediate Early Advanced/ Advanced

Speaker 1: What is the book about?

Speaker 2: a garden

Speaker 1: Where is the garden?

Speaker 2: at a school

Speaker 1: Who works in the garden?

Speaker 2: children at the school

Speaker 1: Who helped to start the garden?

Speaker 2: A famous chef got it started.

Speaker 1: What do the children do with the food they grow?

Speaker 2: They cook it and eat it.

Speaker 1: Why is the book called A School in a Garden?

Speaker 2: You can learn a lot of lessons from working in a garden. You can learn about nature and science. You can learn about healthy foods. You can learn to work together.



Name Date

A School in a GardenThinking Beyond the Text

Think about the questions below. Then write your answer in one or two paragraphs.

On page 14, the author says, “People often don’t know where their food comes from.” Why does the author believe it is important to know where our food comes from? Do you agree with her? Why or why not? How would a family find out more about where their food came from?



Think About ItRead and answer the questions.

1. What did Ms. Waters do to try to make the school a

better place?

2. What were science lessons like after the garden was

planted?

3. Why do you think the author uses headings such as

“Meet the Garden” and “In the Kitchen”?

Making Connections Think about what the children learn in A School in a Garden. What can people learn about food by planting a garden?

Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.

Name Date Lesson 13

B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 1 3 . 9

A School In a GardenThink About It



1413624

Student Date Lesson 13

B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 1 3 . 1 3

A School in a GardenRunning Record Form

A School in a Garden • LEVEL N

Behavior Code Error

Read word correctly ✓cat 0

Repeated word, sentence, or phrase

®cat

0

Omission —cat 1

Behavior Code Error

Substitution cutcat 1

Self-corrects cut sccat 0

Insertion the

cat 1

Word told Tcat 1

page Selection Text Errors Self-Corrections

8 Each garden class begins with a meeting.

The garden teacher tells about that day’s chores.

The teacher also asks a question. Students may

be asked to find a certain plant, or to think

about the names of foods in different languages.

Students think about the question during class

that day.

Students then pick jobs and work in small

groups. A garden teacher goes with each group.

The students figure out what tools they will

need, and then they get the tools from the

tool shed.

Comments: Accuracy Rate (# words read

correctly/85 × 100)

%

Total Self- Corrections



13 teacher’s guide a school in a garden · pdf filelesson 13 teacher’s guide a...

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