Primary teachers can use the picture story book First Day Jitters by Julie Danneburg [Charlesbridge Publishing, 2000] to talk to students about being nervous about a new school, a new class, or a new teacher. They then use the story to teach students the questioning comprehension strategy.
In the story, Sarah is apprehensive about her first day at a new school and tries to stay home. Mr. Hartwell gets her out of bed and out the door. The story ends by revealing that Sarah is Mrs. Sarah Jane Hartwell, the teacher. Many primary students can relate to the feeling of being scared about starting something new and become engaged in the story facilitating their ability to learn a reading comprehension strategy.
Reading Comprehension Lesson Objective
Students will demonstrate comprehension by composing a teacher-like question about the story First Day Jitters by Julie Danneburg.
First Day Jitters Comprehension Lesson Materials
- First Day Jitters by Julie Danneburg [Charlesbridge Publishing, 2000]
- Chart paper
- Markers
- White Board
- Dry erase markers
Introduce First Day Jitters with a Class Discussion
The teacher begins the lesson by building background knowledge about the story. She talks to the students about how they felt about starting school this year. She discusses what it would be like to go to a new school and meet new kids.
As the class talks the teacher writes the words and phrases they generate on chart paper. She ends the discussion by asking if they think teachers get nervous about the first day of school.
How to Teach the Questioning Comprehension Strategy
The class previews the book by looking at the pictures and using them to predict what the story will be about. The teacher will read the book aloud asking questions to facilitate comprehension. The class will discuss the plot and surprise ending and revisit the discussion about being nervous.
The teacher will tell the class they are going to get a chance to be teachers. She will talk to them about how a teacher asks questions during a story to make sure kids understand and remember what they are reading.
The teacher will write the question words who, what, where, when, why and how on the board. She will tell the students that these words are questions starters and model how to use a question word to ask a question about the story.
The class will work in small groups or pairs to generate a question that can be answered by the story. The teacher will use verbal prompts to guide the students to come up with a question about First Day Jitters.
Summarize the Questioning Strategy
The teacher will review the story and remind the students how teachers can be nervous just like kids. She will then tell the class that kids can create teacher-like questions just like teachers.
She will go over the question words with the students and ask them how they can use the words to think of questions. They will write how to come up with teacher-like questions in their reading journals.
The teacher will have the students continue to generate teacher-like questions while they read. The students will make up questions about science or history and during small group reading time. Teachers can assign the students to create teacher-like questions for homework assignments and even use the students’ questions on assessments.
Megan Sheakoski - Megan Sheakoski is a teacher, mom and writer whose ideas have been featured in college text books, graduate courses, on websites and on ...
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