12 giraffe’s neck - houghton mifflin harcourt and ideas • people tell stories to explain why...

Characteristics of the Text Genre • Folktale

Text Structure • Third person narrative • Traditional three-event structure: eating of low, middle, high leaves

Content • Giraffe’s long neck explained in a Pourquoi tale.• Problem and solution

Themes and Ideas • People tell stories to explain why animals look the way they do.• An animal needs ways to get food.

Language and Literary Features

• Simple sequence of events• Narrative with limited dialogue

Sentence Complexity • Sentences of ten words or fewer• Repeated sentence patterns: Giraffe ate the leaves on the low [middle, high] branch.

“Yum,” said Giraffe.Vocabulary • Familiar words supported by illustrations

• Words central to understanding the story: Giraffe, hungry, leaves, branch, ate, low, middle, high, stretch, neck

Words • One- and two-syllable words; three-syllable word anymore• Words with endings: leaves, tried, stretched

Illustrations • Illustrations, some with labels, support text.Book and Print Features • Illustration above text on each of nine pages

• Each sentence begins on a new line.• Some two-line sentences; one three-line sentence

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

Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

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Number of Words: 109

L E S S O N 1 2 T E A C H E R ’ S G U I D E

Giraffe’s Neckby Denise Carter

Fountas-Pinnell Level EFolktaleSelection SummaryHungry Giraffe eats the leaves on the low branch of a tree, and then eats the leaves on the middle branch. She cannot reach the leaves of the high branch, though, until she stretches her neck, which becomes very long.

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high leaves saw some very was

Words to Know

Giraffe’s Neck by Denise Carter

Build BackgroundRead the title to children and have them tell what they notice about the giraffe’s neck in the cover illustration. Make sure they recognize that this giraffe’s neck looks short. Anticipate the text with questions like these: What does a real giraffe’s neck look like? What do giraffes eat?

Introduce the TextGuide children through the text, noting important ideas and helping with unfamiliar language and vocabulary so that they can read the text successfully. Point out sentence patterns that are repeated on each page. Here are some suggestions:

: Explain that people have always made up stories to tell why animals look the way they do, and this story tells why giraffes have such long necks.Suggested language: Turn to page 2. Here is Giraffe next to a tree with lots of leaves. The sentences read: Giraffe was hungry. She saw some leaves on a low branch. Say leaves. What letter sound do you hear fi rst in leaves? Find the word leaves and put your fi nger under it.

Page 3: Now on page 3, look at what Giraffe is doing. Giraffe ate the leaves on the low branch. Why did Giraffe eat the leaves on the low branch fi rst?

Page 4: Remind children that they can use information in the pictures to help them read. Turn to page 4. You can see Giraffe looking at the middle of the tree. Now look at the low branch. What happened to all the leaves? The sentence reads: She saw some leaves on a middle branch. Say some. What letter sound do you hear fi rst in the word some?

Page 8: Turn to page 8. Look at the highlighted word. The sentence reads: Giraffe was very hungry. Say very. What letter do you see at the beginning of very? What do you think Giraffe will do now that he is very hungry?

Now turn back to the beginning of the story and you read to fi nd out what happens when Giraffe keeps eating more and more leaves.

2 Lesson 12: Giraffe’s NeckGrade 1© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

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ReadAs children read, observe them carefully. Guide them as needed, using language that supports their problem solving ability.

Respond to the Text Personal ResponseInvite children to share their personal responses to the story. Begin by asking what they liked best about the story, or what they found interesting.Suggested language: Which picture of Giraffe looks most like a real giraffe to you? Why did you choose that picture?

Ways of ThinkingAs you discuss the text, make sure children understand these teaching points:

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

• Giraffe eats leaves from the low branch and middle branches.

• Giraffe stretches her neck to reach the leaves on the high branch.

• At the end, Giraffe has a long neck.

• A giraffe’s long neck helps it eat from tall trees.

• Real giraffes don’t need to stretch their necks to make them grow long.

• It can be fun to make up a reason why an animal looks a certain way.

• A storyteller made up this tale to explain how the giraffe got a long neck.

• The pictures help you see how the giraffe changes.

• The writer repeats words in different sentences.

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

Choices for SupportFluencyInvite children to choose one or two pages to read aloud. Demonstrate reading a sentence in a word-by-word monotone and then reading it expressively. Remind children to make their voice go up and down to sound like a person talking naturally.

Phonemic Awareness and Word WorkProvide practice as needed with words and sounds, using one of the following activities:

• Clapping Syllables Say each of these words from the book, and have children clap once, twice, or three times as they say the syllable or syllables: hun-gry, branch, an-y-more, long, gi-raffe, leaves, mid-dle, still.

• Build Words Write these letters on four cards: str, e, tch, ed. Guide children in blending the three consonant sounds in str, saying the short e vowel sound, and saying one consonant sound /ch/ for tch. Pronounce the ending ed as /t/. Have children put the letters together to make a word from the story, blend the sounds, and say the word: stretched.



Writing About ReadingCritical ThinkingRead the directions for children on BLM 12.6 and guide them in answering the questions.

RespondingRead aloud the questions at the back of the book and help children complete the activities.

Target Comprehension SkillSequence of Events

Target Comprehension Skill Tell children that they can tell about what happens

fi rst, next, and last in a story. Model thinking about the sequence of events:

Think Aloud

First, Giraffe eats leaves from a low branch. Next, she eats leaves from a middle branch. Last, she stretches her neck to eat leaves from the high branch.

Practice the SkillTell children to start with the sentence, “First, Giraffe ate the leaves on the low branch.” Then have them say sentences to tell what happened next and last.

Writing PromptRead aloud the following prompt. Have children draw and write their response, using the writing prompt on page 6.

How has Giraffe changed by the end of the story? Draw a picture to show the change.

Write about how Giraffe has changed.



Read directions to children.

Think About ItWrite the word that completes each

sentence.

1. Giraffe could not get the leaves on the

high branches.

middle high low

2. Giraffe stretched her neck to eat the leaves.

bent curved stretched

Making Connections Think of Giraffe’s long

legs. Draw a picture that shows how Giraffe got

such long legs. Label your picture.

8 Grade 1, Unit 3: Nature Near and Far

Name

Think About It© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Lesson 12B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 1 2 . 6

Giraffe’s NeckThink About It

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English Language LearnersCognates Spanish-speaking children may know the word jirafa. Point out its similarity to giraffe.

Oral Language DevelopmentCheck the 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: Where are the leaves?

Speaker 2: [Points to leaves]

Speaker 1: Where is Giraffe’s long neck?

Speaker 2: [Points to long neck]

Speaker 1: Is Giraffe hungry or not hungry at the end?

Speaker 2: not hungry

Speaker 1: Look at page 7. Is this a low branch, a middle branch, or a high branch?

Speaker 2: It’s a middle branch.

Speaker 1: What is Giraffe thinking about on page 8?

Speaker 2: stretching her neck

Speaker 1: Why does Giraffe say “Yum”?

Speaker 2: She likes the taste of leaves.

Speaker 1: What does this story explain?

Speaker 2: It explains how giraffes got long necks.



Name Date

Giraffe’s NeckHow has Giraffe changed by the end of the story? Draw a picture to show the change.

Write about how Giraffe has changed.



Think About ItWrite the word that completes each

sentence.

1. Giraffe could not get the leaves on the

branches.

middle high low

2. Giraffe her neck to eat the leaves.

bent curved stretched

Making Connections Think of Giraffe’s long

legs. Draw a picture that shows how Giraffe got

such long legs. Label your picture.

Name Lesson 12

B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 1 2 . 6

Giraffe’s NeckThink About It



1413422

Student Date

Giraffe’s NeckRunning Record Form

Lesson 12B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 1 2 . 1 1

Giraffe’s Neck • LEVEL E

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

3

4

5

6

Giraffe ate the leaves

on the low branch.

“Yum,” said Giraffe.

Giraffe was still hungry.

She saw some leaves

on a middle branch.

Giraffe ate the leaves

on the middle branch.

“Yum,” said Giraffe.

Giraffe was still hungry.

She saw some leaves

on a high branch.

Comments: Accuracy Rate (# words read

correctly/46 × 100)

%

Self-Correction Rate

(# errors + # Self-Corrections/ Self-Corrections)

1:



12 giraffe’s neck - houghton mifflin harcourt and ideas • people tell stories to explain why...

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