These simple stories with strong picture support are wonderful for introducing five and six year olds to the joys of reading. Rebus pictures provide an easy and engaging way to share the responsibility of creating meaning with beginners. The rebus images provide markers that ground the youngest reader in what the book is about. Simple syntax and natural language help youngsters develop an ear for what sounds right. Well-chosen photographs provide strong support for comprehending the important ideas.

The Rebus books make it possible for emergent readers to "read." What a perfect format for a gradual release of responsibility--from fluent adult and dependent child to fluent child and celebrating adult! Young readers who struggle with language have pictures to keep them focused on the meaning. For children experiencing English as a new language and those whose language proficiency is underdeveloped have exciting opportunities to "read" high interest materials and grow their personal vocabularies and experience natural, repeating syntax.

Two instructional threads run through the teacher support materials for each series: a repeating Concept of Print strand and a repeating Making Sense strand. The first focuses on the basic understandings of how we organize and write stories and books. The other focuses on how we create meaning from stories and books.

Each series presents possibilities for rich Concept Development . Learning stations that extend the concept as well as language opportunities for enriching children’s oral and written communication skills are suggested for each group of books.

Developmentally appropriate Assessment Ideas for each series encourage teachers to observe their students and document their growth as they read the six books in the series. And suggestions for extending the understanding at home are included in Home Connections .

A brief list of specific suggestions for high-frequency words, an interactive writing activity, and a familiar song or poem is provided for each book in the series. Teachers can create word walls with the high-frequency words, provide charts with these words used by the children in meaningful content, and write the words to childhood classic songs and poems that foster the love of language.

The six Nature books visit favorite animals in their unique habitats. Most books have at least twelve rebus words, so the text becomes very interactive even for the emergent reader. Important content words (pride, pupa, blows) are defined and pronounced in the glossary. Each book includes some information that might be new and intriguing for the young reader, such as the two-week incubation period for robins. Carefully selected photographs make the text very predictable.

Concept of Print Strand

Return sweep: Sometimes readers need to go to the next line of print to finish reading a sentence or an idea.

As you begin to read the story aloud with the children, point to the words and clearly show the "return sweep." After reading the first page, tell children how you needed to keep reading and could not stop at the end of the line because the sentence was not finished. (1) Have the children find the periods. (2) Compare the number of periods with the number of lines of print. (3) Continue reading the story so that the meaning of the story is not interrupted with a skill lesson. Reread with students giving thumbs up if they find a return sweep on a page. If appropriate, have students demonstrate with their voices how they keep going when they come to a return sweep.

Making Sense Strand

We often learn NEW things when we read.

Teacher: "Sometimes I choose books because I want to learn more about something. These books had information that I didn’t know." Begin with a modified K-W-L chart.

"Before we read this book, we will make a list of things we already know about whales. When we finish, we can list the new things we have learned." Record the students’ ideas on chart paper or the chalkboard. Caution them to remember new things they have learned as you read the story together. After you finish the book, list the new ideas. You might find that the children will need to look through the book, page by page, to recall the new information.

As you read the books in this series, gradually release responsibility for "gathering new information" to the students. By the middle of the series, they should be able to generate a few new ideas with the support of a classmate. By the end of the series, many students will be able to retell new information independently.

Concept Development

Animals live in different places, do different things, and eat different food.

Learning Stations
Drama Center: Make simple costumes (vests, Velcro closed capes, masks, and/or hoods) so students can pretend to be the different animals. Include important props (lily pads, snakes, blue eggs, fish, tall grass, and branch).
Science Center: Bring in discarded birds nests and reference books showing the nests that different birds build. Include magnifying lenses for careful observation.
Math Center: Categorize these animals (and others) by specific traits. Where do they live (land, air, water)? How do they move (feet, wings, and fins/flippers)? What do they eat (plants, animals)? How many legs do they have (0, 2, 4, 6)?
Listening Center: Provide taped fiction stories with these animals . The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Frog and Toad, Whales Passing, Pierre, My Friend Rabbit, Feathers for Lunch would be age-appropriate choices.
Art Center: Create shoebox dioramas highlighting the unique environments of each animal.

Language Development

Movement Vocabulary: Use the action words associated with each animal for a modified Mother, May I game. For example, the leader says, "Little Frog, leap six times." The response is, "Mother Frog, may I leap six times?" Vary the animals and movements until one child makes it to the finish line.
A Trip to the Zoo: A real field trip would be wonderful; a digital trip would be another possibility, such as the video cam recordings at the San Diego Zoo (www.sandiegozoo.org/videos/index.html). Students can draw a picture and write (or dictate) something new that they have learned.

Assessment

Monitor your students’ growth during the six instructional periods as well as periodically hereafter. Provide multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate their skill during the semester during regular class activities. Keep an assessment clipboard with you during instructional times:

Indicator	Not Yet	Developing	Proficient
Return sweep	Stops at the end of a line; unsure of next step	Continues to read the additional lines from left to right, but still stops at the end of each line	Knows that thought units end with a period; continues to read until the end of the sentence
Reading gives NEW information	Unable to accept new written information as valid	Knows we learn new things from books	Retains and retells new information from reading

Home Connections

Send home the suggested Web sites and book titles so families can learn about these animals together. Have a bulletin board entitled "Fun Facts from Families: New Information about Animals." Encourage children and families to write and draw new things they have learned during their home study. Add these papers to the bulletin board.

Extend the basic concept of different animals living in different places, doing different things, and eating different foods by having children take turns sharing that information about an animal they know. (Could be a house pet such as a cat or an animal they interacted with such as a horse or an animal they studied such as a dolphin.)

Often the sound that young children associate with an animal varies by linguistic group. For instance, a pig says " Buta! Buta! " in Japanese. Explore the different sounds; this would be especially fun if there are ESL students.

-	High-Frequency Words: for, to, in, on
-	Interactive Writing: Keep an ongoing list of the birds the class sees. Use the high-frequency words when appropriate. (The cardinal went to the feeder.)
-	Song: Sing Zippidy Doo Da , but substitute robin for bluebird.