MR COYOTE MEETS MR SNAIL

Student: Susana Garca Muiz

Subject: Reading and Writing in English
AGE
10/11

TIMING: One session

AIMS
To anticipate content before reading
To encourage pupils to use reading strategies and creativity
To check comprehension while reading and after reading
To develop the habit of making connections with their experiences and events
happening in the world
To help pupils to understand the story more deeply

MATERIALS

Text: Mr Coyote Meets Mr Snail (photocopies)

Interactive White Board/Blackboard
Coloured cardboards
Coloured post it

ACTIVITIES
PRE-READING 10 minutes
1. What is the coyote trying to do?
PREDICTING
Teacher shows pupils this picture of the story
on the IWB and asks them: What is the
coyote trying to do? What do you think
it is going to happen?
2. Guess the main idea SKIMMING AND
PREVIEWING
Teacher projects the text on the IWB blocking
out everything but the title, pictures and first
lines of each paragraph. He/she may give pupils a photocopy of the text for reading in
pairs or they may look at the IWB. Then say the instructions to the pupils:
Skim the story to obtain the gist
Read the title, look at the illustrations and read the first sentence of each
paragraph. Let your eyes skim over the text during two minutes and try
to identify the main idea and the characters. Dont read the whole text!

After that pupils pair up to discuss what they think the main idea is and who are the
characters. Then the teacher writes on the board the main characters and their meaning
WHILE-READING - 15 minutes
3. Difficult words - GUESSING FROM CONTEXT
Teacher asks pupils to read the story in pairs using the context to
guess the meaning or unknown words. Teacher highlights the most difficult words on the
IWB and the words that the pupils ask about the meaning and teacher provides clues
about them. Teacher reminds them context clues can be found in other words nearby.
CREAK-BANGING-TO PECK- BENT- BEAK -SPOT BUSH BLINDNESS HOLD
WAGGING - CRAWLING
Teacher asks pupils to stop at the end of each paragraph to check comprehension and
difficult words, helping each others.
4. What do you think its going to happen? - PREDICTING
After reading the first eight paragraphs teacher asks pupils to stop and
think what they think its going to happen, encouraging the creativity
and the pupils imagination, listening closely to one another.
POST-READING
SCANNING

30

minutes

5. Tell your partner what happen

at the beginning, middle and end
of the story
6. Tell your partner three words
that were difficult to understand.
Does he/she know the meaning?
7. Tell your partner what you
would do if you were the coyote
8.
Roll
the
comprehension die

reading

Teacher cuts and glues the big

reading comprehension die and
asks one pupil rolls the die and
answers the question. Then the other
pupils roll the die in shifts and answer
the questions.

9. Making connections!
Text to self Text to text Text to world
Help the pupils to make connections with their experiences or events happening in the
world. The Coyote, the Raven and the Snail have attitudes quite usual

 Text to self: How do the ideas in this story relate to your own life and experiences?
What I have read reminds me when I
Text to text: How do the ideas in this story remind you another story?
These ideas are similar to the ideas in. because
Text to World: How to the ideas in this story makes me think about (Something
that its happen in the world around us or in the past)
Write the connections on links and form
chains with coloured cardboards. Each pupil has to
write at least one connection on a coloured piece of
cardboard and then he/she will form a chain in a poster
or a wall like this picture.

10. What message do you take away from

reading the text? Do you think the story has a
moral? Write and post it on the Reading post-it wall

RESOURCES
http://readingstrategies.wikidot.com/skimming
http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/makingconnections-30659.html
http://www.teachingmaddeness.com/2013/09/reading-strategies-connecting.html