Butterfly Unit: Shared Reading Plan

Kendra Cooper

Book Information:
Book: Gotta Go! Gotta Go!
Author: Sam Swope
Illustrated by: Sue Riddle
Level: Kindergarten/1st Grade

Introduction:
Gotta Go! Gotta Go! is a theme related book within the Butterfly Unit. This book tells
the life cycle of a butterfly and the migration pattern of the monarch. It is a fictional story about
a “creepy crawly bug’s” journey to Mexico. On her journey south, she meets some friends along
the way and transforms from a caterpillar into a butterfly. Upon reaching Mexico, the creepy
crawly bug finally rests, until spring arrives; then it is time to make the trip home.
This book is an excellent shared reading book because of the repetitiveness and the sing-
song nature of the text. Repeated phrases include, “teeny-tiny creepy crawly bug,” and “I gotta
go! I gotta go! I gotta go to Mexico!” These repeated phrases allow for students to read along
and participate in the story. The common phrases engage the students while listening, encourages
them to predict the next line of text, and promotes language development.

Focus 1 - Alphabet Knowledge

Standard/Indicator:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.1.D:
Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

Activity to Teach Alphabet Knowledge: Shaving Cream Letters

Alphabet knowledge is a critical component in literacy development. Letter recognition is

one of the key fundamentals that young children are developing in their early education years. A
strong understanding of the alphabet allows students to begin to read and write. Gotta Go! Gotta
Go! is an excellent book that promotes letter recognition and the following activity is a fun way
to engage students in writing letters of the alphabet. Each student receives a plastic tray at their
seat with a dollop of plain, unscented shaving cream on it. Students can smoosh the shaving
cream around to make their “board” and then can begin to practice writing upper- and lower-case
letters in the shaving cream using their finger. The focus letters for this activity are the letters
“Gg,” “Cc,” and “Mm” as they relate the most to the shared reading story. While students are
writing, they are encouraged to talk to each other and share things that start with the letter they
are writing (such as “creepy crawly” for the letter ‘C’ or “Mexico” for the letter ‘M’). This
sensory play activity is fun and engaging way for students to practice forming letters.

Focus 2: Phonological or Phonemic Awareness

Standard/Indicator:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.2:
Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.2.E:
Add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new
words.

Activity to Teach Phonological Awareness: Muffin Tin Syllables

Phonological and phonemic awareness are important parts of literacy development. Once
students have accomplished letter recognition, they move onto being able to distinguish letter
sounds and syllables within words. These skills are building students into strong readers and this
activity is a fun game that helps students begin practicing recognizing syllables. In order for
students to have fun and enjoy this activity it is crucial to have previously introduced syllables to
them and how to decipher how many there are in each word. A quick introduction to syllables
would be to use the “clap it out” method and playing “I Spy” as a class. Each student can “spy”
something in the room, the students will take turns guessing, and once it has been guessed the
class will clap out the syllabus of the objects they spy. Once students have gotten the hang of
figuring out how to find syllables, they are ready for this game.

This activity can be completed individually, in small groups, or as a whole class. In any
variation, every student receives a muffin tin that has pictures of objects/places in the story Gotta
Go! Gotta Go! in each hole and 22 buttons (the number of buttons will vary for the number of
syllables of differing words). For a 12 muffin pan images to include would be: caterpillar,
butterfly, ant, grasshopper, bird, forest, river, trees, sun, city, farm, and eggs. These images
would be face up in the tin. On the back of each image are dots corresponding the correct
number of syllables (for example: caterpillar would have four dots on the back). For individual
completion, the student would say the image allowed and decide how many syllables are in each
word, then place that number of buttons in the tin. As a small group or class, the teacher would
say what the image is and have the class repeat it, then the students would place their buttons in
their own tin. The game continues until all the images have been used and then the students can
self-check and make corrections if needed. This activity provides students with a fun and
engaging way to decipher syllables, while also incorporating fine motor skills and integrating
math skills by counting.

Focus 3: Sight Words

Standard/Indicator:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.3.C:
Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does).

Activity to Teach Sight Words: Sight Word Centers; Specifically, “Go Fish”

Sight words and sight word recognition are a crucial part in reading. Sight words make up
roughly 75% of written text. Students should be exposed to these words frequently to ensure that
they will commit them to memory. Creating “Sight Word Centers” is an innovated way to have
students exposed to sight words frequently. Each center contains an activity that deals with
specific sight words. For example, the previously mentioned “Shaving Creaming Letters” can be
modified in that students would write the sight words in the shaving cream and say the word
aloud. Another center would be “Sight Word Tic-Tac-Toe” in which students correctly read
aloud a sight word before making their mark. Next is a sight word matching game. With a
partner, students must find the pairs of the sight words.

Finally, the last center would be “sight word go fish.” This game works like regular go
fish, except students are fishing for sight words. This activity works best when students are in
pairs. 20 Dolch sight words from Gotta Go! Gotta Go! that are included in this game are: “all,”
“am,” “and,” “at,” “ate,” “but,” “for,” “go,” “he,” “in,” “on,” “out,” “said,” “saw,” “so,” “the,”
“was,” “who,” “will,” and “with.” Each word is written on cards twice for a total of 40 cards.
Each student receives an initial 5 cards with sight words written on it. Together they play, taking
turns to ask each other if they have ____ word. If their partner does, that student asking gets the
match; if their partner does not have the word, the student draws a card from the deck. The
students play until all the words are matched. Collectively, these sight word centers help to build
students’ recognition of these fundamental words that will improve their reading and language
skills.

Day 4: Analogizing Words

Standard/Indicator:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.3.D:
Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ.

Activity to Teach Analogizing Words: Decoding and Encoding with Water Balloons

This fun, outdoor activity is an engaging strategy to help students read new words by
using words they already know. The words from Gotta Go! Gotta Go! that are used within this
game are; “bug,” “way,” “was,” “met,” and “had.” The possible new words that students can
make from those words are; “bat,” “bay,” “bet,” “bad,” “wet,” “mug,” “mat,” “may,” “mad,”
“hug,” “hat,” “hay,” and “has.” The first letter (phonemes) of each word is written on individual
laminated pieces of paper and hung on a fence or wall. In this activity these letters are; B, W, M,
and H. Then, on water balloons, the phonograms are written. These include; UG, AY, AS, ET,
and AD. At the mimimun there should be three ‘AT’ balloons, three “AY” balloons, two “ET”
balloons, two “AD’ balloons, two “UG” balloons, and one“AS” balloon. However, there should
be a variety and enough water balloons for each student to throw at least once, possibly twice if
the class is small and there is time permitting.

To play, students will pick a balloon from the basket and come up to the letters hanging
on the wall. They hold their phonogram balloon next to the phoneme and say the word aloud that
they are making. For example, if a student were to grab a “UG” balloon, they could make the
words “mug” or “hug.” These words were created from the book word “bug.” Once the student
creates and says the word correctly, they move a few feet back (this should be marked with tape
or a cone) and can then throw their balloon at the letter they used. This game is a great way to get
students excited for learning new words and helps to develop the skills they need to read
unfamilair words. In addition to building encoding and decoding skills, students also are working
on their gross motor skills by throwing the water balloons. They are also working on social
emotional skills in waiting for their turn to throw a balloon.

Focus 5: Phonics

Standard/Indicator:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.3:
Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

Activity to Teach Phonics: Vowel Sound Recognition

Vowels are key letters that we need in order to spell words. This activity focuses on
students recognizing vowel sounds within words that are in Gotta Go! Gotta Go! Each vowel (A,
E, I, O, U) has two words that go with the sound, except “e” which has three words. These words
are; “after, last, creepy, head, met, Mexico, wings, gotta, long, bug, and full.” All the words used
will focus on short vowel sounds, except “creepy” which focuses on the long “e” sound. To
complete the activity, students will sit at their seats and each will receive a set of vowel
“puppets” (see picture).

To play this game, the teacher will say each word aloud, emphasizing the focus vowel.
Then, the students will hold up the correct vowel puppet. Next, as a class, the students will say
the vowel aloud and then make the sound that the vowel makes. The game continues the same
for all the words. This activity is fun way to get students to become aware of vowels and the
sounds that they make.
Conclusion:
Gotta Go! Gotta Go! is a great shared reading book that can be used to teach many
aspects of literacy development. The plot of the book is informational in telling the migration
path of monarch butterflies through a fictional story. Furthermore, it can be used to teach
alphabet knowledge, phonological/phonemic awareness, sight words, analogizing words, and
phonics. All these components work together to develop the students into strong readers.
Additionally, many of the activities incorporate movement and multi-modalities, which help to
strengthen other areas of child development including fine and gross motor and sensory learning.
Together, the all aspects of the whole child are enriched to produce the best, well rounded
students.