F K for ME - Read Aloud 9.1 Wolves (1) - Informational Book Focus

Aug 26, 2026

Upload by Sarah

Unit 2 Animals and Habitats, Week 9 Day 1 centers on a read-aloud lesson about wolves using Seymour Simon’s informational book. Learners examine author’s purpose by closely analyzing key words and phrases, connecting illustrations to feelings and making predictions. Vocabulary is explicitly taught (eerie, misunderstood, trait, domesticated) and text evidence is discussed through questions, modeling, rereading, and Think-Pair-Share to explain why Simon wrote the book.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

Unit 2: Animals and Habitats

Week 9 Day 1

Read Aloud Wolves

Content and Language Objectives

Vocabulary

Opening

Text and Discussion

Key Discussion and Activity

Unit 2: Animals and Habitats WEEK 9 Day 1 Read Aloud Wolves Read 1 of 3, Pages 1-5 | Big Idea | Through shared or independent research, people gather, organize, and analyze information about the world to think critically and gain understanding. | | --- | --- | | Unit Question | How do animals grow and change over time? | | Guiding Questions | What do you want to learn more about animals and their habitats? How and where can you find this information? | | Content
Objective | I can identify the author’s purpose by closely analyzing key words and phrases in the text. (R.7. K, R.10. K) | | Language
Objective | I can explore the meaning of words in a text in order to understand the author’s purpose. (L.5. K) | | Vocabulary | eerie: scary or spooky
misunderstood: not known or not understood
trait: a characteristic; something typical of a place, a thing or a person
domesticated: tamed, kept by humans | | Materials and Preparation | ● Lon Po Po, Ed Young
● Wolves, Seymour Simon
● Wolves vocabulary cards | | Opening
4 minutes | Review learning from the previous week.
Last week we met the wolf in Lon Po Po. Let’s look at some illustrations of that wolf to remember how Ed Young, the author and illustrator, made us feel about the wolf. | Read Aloud U2 W9 D1 Focus on K2/ K for ME | Boston Public Schools Department of Early Childhood P-2/ Maine Dept of Education | | Show the book’s cover. On the cover, the illustration gives me a spooky feeling because the eyes are bright white—almost like a ghost’s eyes!
Show page 5.
What feeling does this illustration give you? Why does the image give you that feeling?
Harvest a few ideas and prompt as needed.
Show page 7.
Again, on this page, this dark shadow of a leaping wolf makes me feel like wolves are really scary!
Introduce Wolves and set a purpose for the lesson.
Today we will start an informational book about wolves. On the cover of this book, I see a photograph of a wolf. This helps me know that it’s not a fictional story like Lon Po Po, it’s an informational text.
Authors write books for diferent purposes—or for diferent reasons. Ed Young wrote Lon Po Po because he wanted us to enjoy a story—a story that was a little scary and suspenseful at some points. Today we’re going to closely read one page from this new book in order to understand what Seymour Simon wants us to think and feel about wolves and we’ll learn why he wrote his book. | | --- | --- | | Text and Discussion
8 minutes
page 2 | Display the two-page spread at the beginning of the text.
Here I see that Seymour Simon decided to start this book with a big photograph of a wolf. From the photograph I can tell that the wolf lives in a snowy place. The color of the wolf’sfur is almost camouflaged in the snow, so interesting. He doesn’t look scary like the wolf in Lon Po Po at all! | | page 5 | Define vocabulary before reading.
Before we begin reading, I want to teach you a word. The word iseerie. Say “eerie.” Eerie means scary or spooky. The wolf in the story of Lon Po Po was definitely eerie.
Pause after reading the first paragraph.
The author didn’t just use the word eerie, he also said wolves in stories, like Lon Po Po and Little Red Riding Hood, are sly and evil! Sly means sneaky. What’s he telling us about wolf characters in stories?
Harvest a few responses, then model thinking as needed (sample response: He’s telling us that stories about wolves make us think that wolves are really bad creatures.) | Read Aloud U2 W9 D1 Focus on K2/ K for ME | Boston Public Schools Department of Early Childhood P-2/ Maine Dept of Education | | Do you know any other stories with wolves? What did the wolves act like in those stories?
Elicit a few responses. | | --- | --- | | page 5 continued | Read the 2nd paragraph once through.
After savage and destructive, insert the word violent as a quick synonym.
Closely reread focus sentences and analyze key det

FAQs

What is the lesson’s main goal for identifying the author’s purpose?

Students identify the author’s purpose by closely analyzing key words and phrases in the text, then use those details to explain what Simon wants readers to think and feel about wolves.

Which vocabulary words are taught before reading?

The lesson teaches eerie, misunderstood, trait, and domesticated, using simple definitions and examples from the text.

How does the lesson help students understand why Seymour Simon wrote the informational book about wolves?

Through illustration-based feelings, close rereading of focus sentences, and discussion questions, students connect evidence from the text to Simon’s reasons for writing the book.

Aug 26, 2026

Upload by Sarah