Level

aa

Counting Bugs

Lesson Plan
About the Book
Text Type: Nonfiction/Concept

Page Count: 10

Word Count: 17

Book Summary

Counting Bugs revels in the colorful world of creepy crawlies. The

butterflies, caterpillars, ladybugs, and other friendly multi-legged
insects in this book will excite students without scaring them.
Each page invites readers to count a different number of bugs.
The photographs are gorgeous and appealing, while the text is
simple and well suited for the earliest of readers.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy
Visualize

Objectives

Use the reading strategy of visualizing to understand text

Classify information
Discriminate initial consonant /s/ sound
Identify initial consonant Ss
Identify and use nouns
Recognize and use number words

Materials
Green text indicates resources available on the website.

BookCounting Bugs (copy for each student)

Chalkboard or dry erase board
Plastic bug toys or photographs of bugs
Pictures cut out of an extra copy of the book
Noun pictures
Picture cards, classify information, initial consonant Ss, nouns worksheets
Indicates an opportunity for students to mark in the book. (All activities may
be demonstrated by projecting book on interactive whiteboard or completed with
paper and pencil if books are reused.)

Vocabulary
*Bold vocabulary words also appear in a pre-made lesson for this title on VocabularyAZ.com.
Content words:
Story critical: bugs (n.), five (adj.), four (adj.), many (adj.), one (adj.), seven (adj.), six (adj.),
three (adj.), two (adj.)

Before Reading
Build Background
Place at the front of the class an assortment of plastic bug toys or photographs of bugs. Ask
students to identify the bugs, and record the list of insect names on the board. Point to a name in
the list and have students raise their hand if they have seen that bug before.

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Level

aa

Counting Bugs

Lesson Plan (continued)

Line up the toys or photos and have students count the number of bugs. Separate the toys
or photographs in groups of similar bugs, and have students count the number of bugs in
each group.

Book Walk
Introduce the Book
Show students the front and back covers of the book and read the title with them. Ask what they
think they might read about in a book called Counting Bugs. (Accept all answers that students
can justify.)
Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, authors name).
Write the following repetitive phrase on the board: ______ bugs. Read the phrase aloud, pointing
to the words as you read them to students. Have students read them aloud. Explain that this
word pattern repeats throughout the book.

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Visualize

Explain to students that good readers often visualize, or make pictures in their mind, as they
read. Readers use what they already know about a topic to help form their visualizations.
Model visualizing using the title page.
Think-aloud: The title of this book is Counting Bugs. I will use that information to help me visualize
my own mental picture. The title tells me that this book is about bugs, so I envision bugs. I see
red ladybugs and bright green June bugs. I see potato bugs rolled up in a ball. I can even hear
the chitter chatter of insect wings and legs. Since the title also tells me that I will be counting
bugs, I see lots of bugs covering everything because that way there are more bugs to count.
Draw a picture of your visualizations. Point out a visualization not only involves seeing things
but also imagining how they will smell, sound, and taste.
Pass out a blank sheet of paper to students. Ask students to close their eyes and create their
own mental image that matches the title Counting Bugs. Have them open their eyes and draw
a picture of their visualization. Invite volunteers to share and explain their picture.
As students read, encourage them to use other reading strategies in addition to the targeted
strategy presented in this section.

Introduce the Comprehension Skill: Classify information

Explain to students that readers often think about the objects in a book and what they have
in common. Thinking about what objects have in common and sorting them into groups, or
classifying them, helps readers understand and remember what they read.
Cut out the pictures from the picture cards worksheet and place them in a pocket chart or along
the chalkboard ledge.
Model how to classify information using the pictures.
Think-aloud: As I think about how to group these objects, I start by asking myself what they have
in common. I notice that the cat on this card is striped. The wasps on this card are also striped.
I will group both of these pictures under the heading Stripes. Here is a picture of spotted frogs.
I cant put this picture under the Stripes heading. What group should I create to sort this picture?
Sort through the remainder of the picture cards, creating enough headings to classify all of
the pictures. Write the headings on the board and place the pictures beneath the appropriate
heading. Invite volunteers to place pictures under one of the headings. (Accept all answers that
students can justify).

Introduce the Vocabulary

While previewing the book, reinforce the vocabulary words that students will encounter. For
example, while looking at the picture on page 8, you might say: Count the bees on this page.
How many are there? Thats right, there are six bees. Point to the word six in the sentence.
It starts with the letter Ss.

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Level

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Counting Bugs

Lesson Plan (continued)

Remind students to look at the picture and the letters with which a word begins or ends to figure
out a difficult word. For example, point to the word four on page 6 and say: I am going to check
the picture and think about what would make sense to figure out this word. The word in the
sentence describes the bugs. The picture shows four spotted bugs on a leaf. When I look at the
first part of the word, it starts with the /f/ sound. The word spotted starts with the /sp/ sound, so
that cant be the word. The word four, however, does start with the /f/ sound, and there are four
bugs in the picture. The sentence makes sense with this word. The word must be four.

Set the Purpose

Have students create their own visualizations as they read. Remind them to classify information
about the different bugs they see.

During Reading
Student Reading
Guide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Have a volunteer point to the first word
on page 3 (One). Point out to students where to begin reading on each page. Remind them to
read the words from left to right.
Ask students to place their finger on the page number in the bottom corner of page 3. Have
them read to the end of page 5, using their finger to point to each word as they read. Encourage
students who finish before others to reread the text.
Read page 5 aloud and model visualizing.
Think-aloud: On page 5, I read the following sentence: Three bugs. Even though the book has
a picture, I still create one of my own. In my mind, I see grasshoppers. The book says only three,
so I picture three grasshoppers. They are green, with long legs that they scratch back and forth
to make noise. I like the sounds that grasshoppers makeits almost like music. This is what I see
when I visualize my own picture for this page.
Cover the picture on page 6 and read the words aloud to students. Have students close their eyes
and create a mental picture as you read. Pass out a separate sheet of paper and have students
draw a picture of their visualization. Uncover the picture on page 6 and have students discuss
with a partner how their mental picture compares with the picture in the book.
Review the classified information from the earlier discussion. Ask students to think about how
they would classify the pictures if they did not use the patterns on the animals. Assign students
to groups and have them create a new classification system. Invite groups to share their ideas.
Pass out individual copies of the picture card worksheet and a blank sheet of paper to each
student. Have students cut out the pictures and refer to the instructions to classify and sort the
pictures on a separate sheet of paper
Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 8. Have them draw one more
picture of what they visualized as they read. Remind students that their visualization should
be what they see in their mind and that it may or may not match the picture in the book. Invite
volunteers to share their visualization.
Place pictures cut from an extra copy of the book in a pocket chart or along the chalkboard
ledge.
Think-aloud: I can classify the bugs in this book, just as I classified the picture cards earlier. This
picture shows three caterpillars with stripes, and this picture shows six bees with stripes. I can
place both these pictures in a group called striped bugs. This picture shows four bugs with many
spots. I can put this picture in a group called spotted bugs. What other pictures belong in the
spotted bugs group?
Assign students to groups and have groups classify the bugs in the book. Invite each group to
come to the board and sort the bugs by writing their group names on the board and placing the
pictures under the appropriate heading.
Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to visualize and think about how
they would classify the different types of bugs.
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Level

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Counting Bugs

Lesson Plan (continued)

Have students make a small question mark in their book beside any word they do not
understand or cannot pronounce. These can be addressed in the discussion that follows.

After Reading
Ask students what words, if any, they marked in their book. Use this opportunity to model how
they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.

Reflect on the Reading Strategy

Think-aloud: The sentence on page 10 says So many bugs! I know that means there are more bugs
than in any of the previous pictures. When Im outside, I often see big groups of ants moving
around. I see in my mind a whole crowd of ants, swarming over an anthill and over the dirt
and grass. They are busy moving and grabbing food to take to their home. When I look at the
picture in the book, I see that the bugs arent antstheyre ladybugs. There are a bunch of them,
though, and they are swarming over a tree, not an anthill. In some ways, my visualization is
similar to the picture in the book, and in some ways it is different. Whats important is that when
I make my own mental picture, I am able to better remember and enjoy what I am reading.
Guide students in discussing the visualizations they created as they read the book. Lead a
discussion of how their pictures compare and contrast with the pictures in the book. Ask students
to share with a partner what they learned about the importance of making their own mental
images as they read.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

Discussion: Review the classifications that students used to sort the bugs in the book. Point out
that objects can be sorted in many different ways. Guide students in classifying the bugs in the
book by color.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the classify information
worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.
Enduring understanding: In this book, you counted many different bugs. What did you learn about
bugs in this book? Are they all the same? Did classifying the bugs help you learn more about
them?

Build Skills
Phonological Awareness: Initial consonant /s/ sound
Say the word six aloud to students, emphasizing the initial /s/ sound. Have students say the word
aloud and then say the /s/ sound.
Have students hiss like a snake. Point out that the sound is similar to the /s/ sound. Draw a picture
of a snake on the board, with the snake curved in an Ss shape, and have students copy the
picture on a separate sheet of paper.
Check for understanding: Say the following words, one at a time, and have students hold up their
picture of a snake every time they hear a word that begins with the /s/ sound: seven, bug, sip,
many, ant, so, sad, count, and see.

Phonics: Initial consonant Ss

Write the word six on the board and say it aloud with students.
Have students say the /s/ sound aloud. Then run your finger under the letters in the word as
students say the whole word aloud. Ask students to identify which letter represents the /s/ sound
in the word six.
Trace your finger along the snake drawn on the board, and ask students what letter the shape
resembles. Explain that this snake makes the /s/ sound and looks like the letter Ss.
Have students practice writing the letter Ss on a separate sheet of paper while saying the /s/
sound. Then have them transform the letters into snakes while continuing to say the /s/ sound.
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Level

aa

Counting Bugs

Lesson Plan (continued)

Check for understanding: Write the following words that begin with the /s/ sound on the board,
leaving off the initial consonant Ss: son, say, sub, set, and sit. Say each word, one at a time, and
have volunteers come to the board and add the initial Ss to each word.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the initial consonant Ss
worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Grammar and Mechanics: Nouns

Show students pictures of people, places, and things. Have students identify each picture. Tape
each picture to the board and write the word beside it. Explain that nouns are special words that
name a person, place, or thing. Point at the words on the board and explain that these are all
examples of nouns.
Have students turn to page 4 in the book. Ask them to identify the objects in the picture
(butterflies, bugs, and flowers are all possibilities). Record these words on the board and point
out that they are all nouns because they name things.
Read the sentence on page 4 aloud with students. Have students point to the word in the
sentence that is a noun (bugs). Remind them that the word two does not name a person, place,
or thing; therefore, the word two is not a noun.
Ask students to look around the room and search for nouns. Encourage them to search for
people and places, not just things. Call on students and have them point to what they found and
identify the noun. Or, students can point to what they found, and the rest of the class can try to
guess the intended noun.
Check for understanding: Have students work with a partner to identify all the nouns in the book,
using both pictures and sentences. Call on pairs to share one noun they found. Record the nouns
on the board.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the nouns worksheet. If time
allows, discuss their responses.

Word Work: Number words

Have students turn to page 4. Read the page aloud. Ask students to point to the word that shows
the number of bugs (two).
Place the bug toys or photos that were used in the beginning of the lesson at the front of the
class. Arrange a grouping of bugs and have students count them. Write the number on the board
in symbol form and word form. Repeat the process, using a different number each time and
recording the information on the board.
Underline all of the number words on the board. Explain that words that describe numbers are
called number words.
Ask students to think of number words that are not already listed on the board. Call on random
students to come to the board and draw the number. Then, write the number word beside the
number that the student drew.
Have students locate and circle all number words found in the book.
Check for understanding: Write the following sentence starter on the board: I see ______ bugs. Have
students complete the sentence using a number word of their choosing and say the sentence to a
partner. Have partners continue using number words in oral sentences.

Build Fluency
Independent Reading
Allow students to read their book independently. Additionally, partners can take turns reading
parts of the book to each other.

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Level

aa

Counting Bugs

Lesson Plan (continued)

Home Connection
Give students their book to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends. Have them
classify information about the bugs with someone at home.

Extend the Reading

Informational Writing and Art Connection
Ask students to choose a bug they like. Have each student roll a die and draw his or her bug that number
of times. After students conclude drawing, have them count the number of bugs in their picture. Write
the following sentence on the board: I see (number word) bugs. Have students write and complete the
sentence at the bottom of their page using the number word that describes their picture.

Math Connection
Pass out tokens or counters to students (or for extra fun, use plastic bugs). Write a number on the board,
such as 4, and have students work with a partner to count out four objects. Write a second number on
the board, such as 5, and have students count out the correct number of objects in a separate group.
Instruct students to put the two groups together and report to you how many counters (or bugs) they
have altogether. Record the addition equation on the board that represents what the students just did,
for example, 4 + 5 = 9. On a separate sheet of paper, guide students in drawing a representation of the
math. On one side, draw a circle with four stars (or bugs) in it. On the other side, draw a circle with five
stars (or bugs) in it. Beneath them, draw a large circle with all nine stars (or bugs). At the bottom page,
have students copy the math equation from the board. Continue with different variations of addition
problems.

Assessment
Monitor students to determine if they can:

consistently visualize to understand text

accurately classify information during discussion and on a worksheet
consistently discriminate initial consonant /s/ sound during discussion
correctly identify and write the letter symbol that represents the /s/ sound
during discussion and on a worksheet
correctly understand and use nouns during discussion and on a worksheet
properly use number words during discussion

Comprehension Check
Retelling Rubric

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