I will be reading my books in the same order Neuman & Wright state to do so in the article. I will start with Clean up!, next will be Michael Recycle, then The Great Kapok Tree, and last will be Be a Friend to Trees. This order will help each text go off of each other by learning new vocabulary words. For example, Clean up! Talks about recycling and humans littering on the beach which ruins our beaches and hurts the animals in the ocean. The next book in the set will be Michael Recycle which also talks about these vocabulary words as well (recycling and littering). Another way the books go off of each other is because first we learn about how people littering can affect our environment. The first two books in the text set talk about this and a solution to littering is by cleaning up and recycling. The next two genres are informational books. These books state the importance of trees and everything they do for us. We will discuss how humans taking down too many trees can affect our planet and living things. 

The text set is designed to retain knowledge on academic vocabulary by incorporating books that go off of each other and to also retain knowledge on the overall topic of humans impacting our environment/ solutions to help. I will break up the lesson starting with the topic of littering and recycling. We will then transition into how cutting down our trees affects our environment in many ways and a solution for cutting down trees. At the end of reading these books, we will talk about different types of solutions to help our environment other than recycling. 

Recycle- Taking materials ready to be thrown away and changing them into reusable materials. 

It can also mean to lower the amount of garbage that is thrown away. 

Clean up!  Page 40. "Dispose of your trash properly. Separate it carefully by recycling". 
Michael Recycle: Page 7 "You've got to recycle. You've got to act soon! Before all your trash reaches up to the moon". 
Page 10 "Clean up and recycle- how hard can it be?"
Page 11 " They recycled their paper, their plastic and cans, and even old junk like used pots and pans!"

Littering- Trash or garbage that is not thrown away properly and is left lying where it doesn’t belong. 

Examples: in the ocean, on the beach, in a parking lot, playground etc. 

Clean up! talks about trash/ plastic on the beach through out the story, we will talk about how that is called littering. 
Michael Recycle: Page 16 " Look at our town. It gleams and it glitters. Now nothing's wasted and nobody litters!" 

Earth- The planet that we live on. 
Michael Recycle: Page 5 " He bounced off the earth with a thump and a bump". 

The Great Kapok Tree: Page 6 "The roots of these great trees will wither and die, and there will be nothing left to hold the earth in place" 

Depend- To rely on someone or something. 

The Great Kapok Tree: Page 14 "Before him stood the rain forest child, and all around him, staring, were the creatures who depended upon the great Kapok tree". 

The Great Kapok Tree: Page 5 " You see, all living things depend on one another". 

Be a friend to Trees: Page 6 "Other living things depend on green plants for food". 
Be a friend to Trees: Page 14 "Many people depend on water that is stored underground". 

Oxygen- The air we breathe and need it to live. 
The Great Kapok Tree: Page 10 "Senhor, do you know what we animals and humans need in order to live? Oxygen. And, Senhor, do you know what trees produce? Oxygen". 

Be a Friend to Trees: Page 16 "One of them is oxygen. It is the gas that our bodies need. It is the gas that all animals need. Each time we breathe, we take oxygen out of the air. Trees and other green plants keep putting oxygen into the air. They give off oxygen as they make their food". 

Be a friend to Trees: Page 20 "Much of the oxygen that people and animals need comes from trees". 

Cherry , L. (1990). The Great Kapok Tree . HarperCollins Publisher . 

Lauber, P., & Keller, H. (2002). Be a friend to trees. Scholastic.

Neuman, S.B., & Wright, T.S. (2013).  Supporting content-rich vocabulary through book reading.  All About Words.  Teachers College Press, NY, NY.  pp. 62-82 

Patterson, E., & Colombo, A. (2008). Michael Recycle. IDW Publishing . 

West, J.M., Wright, T.S., & Gotwals, A. (2021).  Supporting scientific discussions: Moving kindergartners’ conversations forward.  The Reading Teacher, 74(6), 703-712. Doi: 10.1002/trtr.1977.

Question 1: Why do you think they haven’t seen a whale in a very long time? 

Question 2: Seeing all the garbage on the beach, what would you do if you were Rocket? How would you help the beach?

Michael Recycle:

Question 1: What does it mean to litter? 

Question 2: What are some items that you could recycle? 

The Great Kapok Tree:

Question 1:Does anyone know what the word oxygen means? If so, what is oxygen? 

Question 2: Why do the animals depend on the Kapok tree? What do they use the tree for?

Be a Friend toTrees:

Question 1: Can someone give me a reason why trees are so important to our planet?

Question 2: What are some ways we can help keep our planet safe? We know we can recycle, what are some other ways other than recycling? 

I will use the 3 C's described in West et al by having students connect with the text. I want students to think of these questions like they are the character in the book. The authors state "encourage children to provide specific evidence from experiences to support their ideas during discussion" ( West et al., 2021). I will ask questions like what can you recycle? Having them think of times they have recycled or what they would do if they were Rocket to help clean up the beach? I want the students to think of their experiences and connect to the stories. This incorporates coherence and making connections. 

Clarification will be incorporated by asking questions and repeatedly going over vocabulary by conversations, activities, and videos.