I would use this text in 1st grade. The lexile is 930L, which would be above grade level and good for interactive read a-louds. The text is clear and organized making it slightly complex. There are multiple paragraphs on each page that directly enhance the understanding of content, making it very complex, but I will not be focusing on that for the 1^st grade level. There are graphics that enhance the understanding of the text making it moderately complex, like the flag on page 8. The conventionality is moderately complex. There is some language that is more figurative language, such as “buck and chug.” The vocabulary is very complex. There are words like “mimics,” “souvenirs,” and “chariots” that would need to be taught explicitly, along with content specific words like Beale Street and frontiersmen. The sentence structure is moderately complex with parenthesis and hyphens. The purpose and meaning of the text is slightly complex. The text goes from one letter to the other to explain important parts of Tennessee. It is stated at the beginning of the book “Come inside- to Tennessee, its people, places, and history. Turn the pages-so much to see.” Start with an “A” and end with “Z.” The text does not require students to use some background knowledge to understand the text, but it does help them understand it. I would say it is moderately complex. For example, if students know how what a mockingbird is they can better understand the idea of the word “mimics.” There are no references to other text or culture, making it slightly complex. 

I would use this text as an interactive read aloud. My goal for the text would be for students to better understand where they live and the history of the state. In the first read,

I will complete and interactive read aloud with this text. For the first read, I would ask them questions about the text. I will point out big parts of history and have them make connections to the text asking them about Knoxville, Nashville, clogging, and other parts of the text. We will note our findings on an anchor chart for the following readings. For the second read, we will go through with the vocabulary. I will explicitly teach vocabulary, such as mimics, souvenirs, and chariots that the students may not know with vocabulary cards that will go on the wall for later lessons. I will quickly explain content specific vocabulary, like blues, Beale Street, and Appalachian Mountains as we read. I will pull from the background knowledge we talked about in the previous read to help them understand the vocabulary. This book also has rhythm and beat in it. For example, one of the lines says " I is for the Iris. Some think it's kind of weird: our state flower has no hair, but yet it has a beard." I could ask students why they think the author chose to make the words have a beat and rhythm. This would also be a great opportunity to model porosity to the students. In the third, we will talk about the illustrations and how those illustrations help us understand the text on a deeper level. At the end of the lesson, we will talk about what we learned about Tennessee with a shared writing about what is important about Tennessee. They will come up with the sentences, and I will write them. Once we are done, they will go to their seats to write their own sentence about what is important about Tennessee from the book we read and support it with an illustration like the book.

I would use this book as an interactive read aloud. I would read the story the first time to help them understand what they read. I would point out the vocabulary presented in the text that may need to be clarified like "abuelo" and "abeula." I would also be sure to model fluency by changing my voice with dialogue and pausing at commas. I would then read the text a second time. This time, I would ask questions as I read like "how do you think the character feels as she gets on the plane," "how does the character feel when she goes to school," and "how does the character feel when she meets someone of the same culture." I will ask them questions about the character's feelings throughout the book and how the character's feelings changes based on the events that happen in the book. As I ask them these questions, they will turn and talk to a partner. Once we have read the book twice, we will to a shared writing about how the character felt in the beginning, middle, and end of the book and why she felt that way.

I would use this as a shared reading with a large book in the front of the classroom, with the rest of the class on the carpet. I will use this as an echo read, since some of the words may be difficult for some students to read. We will focus on the |f| sound. There are many |f| sound words in the book, like "falling," "Fletcher," "fluttered," and "filled." I will have the students echo those words, so they can hear the |f| sound. The book also has dialogue, so it would be a great book to model fluency with the dialogue by changing voices. I can also pause at the punctuation.

I would like to use this text to show students how to monitor comprehension and use text features. I would use this text as a choral shared reading. Each student will have a copy of the text. We would not read every page of the text. We would focus on page 8 and 20 about the Bell Witch Cave and Shiloh National Military Park. We will read the main part of the text together and talk about what we learned. Then, I will ask them about the large background picture on each page. For example, I will ask them if they have ever seen a sign like the one on page 8 before and ask them what they think that is showing. I will explain the sign shows that it is a historical sight. We will then look at the small pictures on each page along with the captions and text boxes to see what other information we can learn from the text. I will then ask them to look at the pages and tell me where these places are in Tennessee to see if they can figure it out on their own with the map text feature. I will explain how much more you can learn from the text by using the text features.

I would use this book as an interactive read aloud. Throughout this book, the character is trying to solve the problem of being known just for her beautiful hair. For the first read, I am just going to read the book to give them a feel for the book and what happens. When I do the second read, we are going to make a T-chart together to show what Melissa did in order to solve her problem and if it worked or not. I will let the students come up and write on the paper/board as we go through the book. At the end, we will discuss how her problems all worked together to support the meaning of the story.

I would do an interactive read aloud with this text. I would like to use this book along with science standards about plants. I will read this text the first time going over vocabulary. I will create vocabulary cards for "organisms," "aphids," and "pollinators," and hang those around the room to help with the text and future science lessons. I will teach the word "miracle" with the frayer model. Before the second read, we would make a KWL chart as a class documenting what we already know about plants. I would read the book again, I would point out parts that I felt would be interesting like where it mentions that plants can die from over-hydration. I would model my thinking and show that is interesting and we should write that down under the column we learned from the book. At the end we could discuss things we still wonder about plants that the book may have not covered and we may not know. We can write that under the "want to know" column, and we could research those questions with other books that we read.

I would teach this book as an interactive read aloud. The overall goal of this book would be to have students pick out the multiple meanings or messages of this text, which are help those in need, don't judge a book by its cover, and be thankful for what you have. Each time we would read the book, I would ask questions that would help students understand and see these messages. For example, in the first read, I would ask questions like "what did Lilly do to help the man and why," in the second, "how did Lilly feel about the paper man at the beginning of the story vs. the end of the story and what did she learn at the end of the story," and, in the third, "what did Lily's mom tell her she needed to be thankful for and why." Students will talk with partners during each read aloud, and we will discuss as a group at the end to determine the new lesson we learned after each reading and why we determined it was the lesson. We will create a anchor chart together to compare each days reading to the others. At the end of the lesson, students will be given the writing prompt "How does the author show these lessons in the story?" Students will be able to use the anchor charts we created together to formulate their answer.

Since this text is not really complex, I would use this text to see where students are at with their phonics. There are many different phonic rules in the text such as the |oo| in "food," the |ea| in "seals," and lots of blends like in the word "sled." I would have students read in a small group. All of the students would read on their own, but the one I was listening to or leaned over next to, so they would know I was listening to them, would read a little louder. This way I could see what each student was struggling with, so I could help them in later lessons.

I will use this as a shared reading. There will be a large copy for everyone to be able to see. I will use both echo reading. I will use the echo reading to help students practice fluency and prosody with the dialogue in the text. They make inferences about what will happen next as they read the book. I will model my thinking as we move through the book. For example, when I read that Papa takes the ladder to the mountain, I will have the students infer what will happen next. I will also have them infer what Papa will do once he realizes the moons too big to bring home in order to makes the student infer and problem solve. I will do this throughout the story as we read.

I will use this as an interactive read aloud. The first time we read the text, we will talk about the concept of "owling." We will also discuss the figurative language in the text such as, "an echo came threading through the trees" and "the snow below it was whiter than milk in a cereal bowl," to help them get a better understanding of the text. They will talk with partner about what they think the figurative language means and what clues in the story make them think that. In the second reading, they will connect their background knowledge to the book with guidance. I will ask questions to make the students make connections to the world and their background knowledge as well as teaching them to wonder about the topic of the book. "The texts says they went owling at night. Why do you think that? What do we know about owls at night?" "Why do you think they went owling in a forest? Where do owls live?" "Why do you think they went in the snow? Do owls come out more in the winter?" At the end of the lesson, we will create an anchor chart of more things they wonder about owls and research them in the nonfiction books about owls.