TEACHER'S GUIDE FOR:

Seven Cookies

By Lorena Iglesias Heydenburk
Illustrations by Ana Ochoa

Focus:

• counting down
• sequencing events
• using text and pictures to tell a story

Supportive Text Features:

• familiar words and concepts
• repetitive, patterned sentences

High-frequency Words: all, for, do, I, now, that, with

Concept Words: number words “one” through “seven”

Phonics Supplement

Getting Ready to Read

1. Introduce the concept and vocabulary by asking open-ended questions:
   • Tell me how you share food with other people.
   • What might a child do with a plate of freshly baked cookies?
   • Count down from ten to one.
2. Connect children’s past experiences with the book vocabulary:
   • Call children’s attention to the title. Read: “Seven Cookies.”
   • Ask them to predict what they would expect to see happen in the story.
   • Show the back cover and read the copy. Ask children what they think the girl will do with the cookies.
   • Have children suggest some words they might read in the story.
   • Give children the book and have them look at the pictures.
   • Ask them to tell what happens as they turn each page.
3. Remind children of the strategies they know and can use with unfamiliar words:
   • Ask them, “What will you do if you come to a word you don’t know?”
   • Encourage children to say the beginning sound of an unknown word and read on, returning to the word after completing the sentence.
4. Be aware of the following book and text features:
   • The book contains several high-frequency words as well as many familiar words.
   • There are repeated sentences and phrases throughout.
   • The child asks and answers her own questions.
   • The number words start with seven and decrease by one every other page.
   • There are exclamation points and question marks used throughout.
   • Ellipses are used to designate a pause in the text.
   • Children must use the pictures and text to understand the story.

Reading the Book

1. Set a purpose by telling children to read and find out what the girl did with the cookies.

2. Have children read quietly, but out loud. Each child should be reading at his or her own pace. Children should not read in chorus. Listen to children as they read by leaning close or bending down beside each child.

3. Look for these reading behaviors during children’s first reading:
   • Do they identify more words by sight?
   • Do they rely on the print and not just the pictures when reading?
   • Do they read with increased confidence?
   • Are they self-correcting to get meaning from the story?
   • Have they begun to cross-check by using language patterns and letter sounds?
   • Do they reread to check accuracy and meaning?
   • Are they using chunks of words rather than individual letters when sounding out?
   • Do they expect to get meaning from the text?
   • Do they make connections between the story and previous experiences?
   • Are they asking questions about the story?

4. As children read, suggest reading strategies if they are struggling: “Try saying the beginning of the word. Try looking at the picture for help.” Encourage children to take a guess or read past the unknown word.

5. Possible teaching points to address based on your observations:
   • Call attention to all the high-frequency words children have used.
   • Review how to find a known part in an unknown word.
   • Show children how to use analogies to move from the known to the unknown when encountering new words.
   • Work with suffixes and prefixes.
   • Review using grammar (syntax) to unlock words by considering the sentence structure or parts of speech in the sentence.
   • Explore the story grammar—characters, setting, problem, and so on.
   • Review how to determine what is important in a picture or sentence.
   • Model asking questions or making “I wonder . . .” statements to extend comprehension.
   • Review using punctuation marks to guide the meaning-making process. Call attention to the use of question marks, exclamation points, and ellipses.
   • Model how to revisit the text to find specific examples or ideas in the story.

After the First Reading

1. Have children confirm their predictions about what happened in the story.

2. Have children tell what the girl did and how she shared the cookies.

3. Reflect on why the girl shared the cookies, but saved one for herself.

4. Brainstorm ideas about other things the girl might share.

Second Reading

1. Have children reread the book in a whisper voice or to a partner.

2. This is a time for assessment. While they are reading, watch what children do and what they use from the teaching time. Alternatively, you might take a running record on one student as an assessment of the student’s reading behavior.

Cross-Curricular Activities

Art: Give each child a large, plain sugar cookie and let children decorate their cookies with colored frosting. When the cookies are finished, have children record their decorations by drawing the cookie on a sheet of paper.

Music: Have children play Musical Chairs and then brainstorm how to play a game called “Musical Cookies.” As an alternative, play the clapping game “Who Put the Cookie in the Cookie Jar.” Give each child a number from one to seven and use the numbers instead of children’s names as the game is played.

Science: Make cookies with children. Have them observe how the ingredients change as they are mixed together and then baked. Make a chart that shows the steps for making cookies and includes children’s observations as they engage in the process

Math: Use stickers or pictures of cookies to make cards that show from one to seven cookies each. Show children a card and ask them to tell you how many cookies are shown and how many would be left if one cookie were given away.    

Social Studies: Look at the snacks and treats enjoyed in a variety of cultures. Compare what children from different backgrounds might share with their families and friends.

Writing: Read the book IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE by Laura Joffe Numeroff. Have children draw pictures of their favorite parts of the story and then write captions underneath their drawings.    

SIETE GALLETAS

Guided Reading™: E        DRA: 6        Reading Recovery®: 7
16 pages, 86 words

The directions given for the introduction, first reading, and second reading of the English edition can be used with the Spanish edition of the book. To read the book successfully, children need the same kinds of support as their English-speaking classmates. Second language learners often benefit from acting out new words, seeing pictures, and talking about them using concrete examples.

The Spanish edition has many familiar words. The sentences are marked with question marks and exclamation marks and ellipses are used to designate a pause in the text. Some children may not have seen these in print or realized that in Spanish the question marks and exclamation points appear upside at the beginning of the sentence as well as at the end. Each set of sentences is repeated throughout the book.

The book language used may differ from children’s oral language. Comparing any differences will help children read and understand the story. Also help children understand that we often speak differently than we write, and that both ways of using language  are important.