Mariel McAllister

The Best Job for Scooter

1.1 Integration of Learning Outcomes:
Students will be able to draw conclusions based on clues they find within the text by completing a
Drawing Conclusions graphic organizer.
1.2 Standards:
PACC.1.3.2.B: Ask and answer questions such as who, what, where, when, why, and how to
demonstrate understanding of key details in a text
PACC.1.3.2.G: Use information from illustrations and words, in print, or digital text, to demonstrate
understanding of characters, setting, or plot.
1.3 Anticipatory Set:
This week we have discussed many amazing animals. We have talked about avalanche dogs and
miniature horses. My favorite this week was when we learned about Officer Buckle and his dog Gloria.
What did you all think about Gloria? She truly was an amazing dog! Today we are going to read about
another amazing dog, his name is Scooter.
1.4 Procedures:
Before:
o Show the book to the class and read the name of the author and the title of the book. Do a picture
walk through the book and explain the concept of this book. This book is about a dog named
scooter who is looking for the perfect job for him. What do you think is the perfect job for
you? Show the picture on page 2 and explain that every other puppy has a home, except scooter.
Then stop in page 4 to show that Scooter has managed to get a job as a guard dog. Do you think
scooter will make a good guard dog? Then show the picture on page 6 when Scooter tries to be
a police dog. What do you think happens to scooter while hes a police dog based on the
picture? The next page to pause at is page 10 where scooter goes to a farm to herd sheep. Why
do you think Scooter wont make it on the farm? The final stopping pages are pages 13 and 14
where Scooters owner is worried about finding him a home but the Simms family come to the
rescue. Do you think scooter would make a good house pet? Preview some of the more difficult
vocabulary such as, guard, officer, attention, commands, and herd when they appear in the text
during the picture walk. Remember when reading that this type of herd is different than when
you hear something when we hear it is spelt h-e-a-r-d, but this word is spelt h-e-r-d (could be
written on the board to give them a visual).
During:
o Have the children read out loud independently and walk around and monitor. While you are
monitoring listen for quality comprehension. When the students are all finished ask them to
discuss their favorite part of the book. I really enjoyed how the Halls were not giving up on
finding Scooter a new home. What was your favorite part, and could you tell us the page
number so that we can all find it in our texts? After everyone has had a chance to answer pass
out the Drawing Conclusions graphic organizer which already has the What I Think section
filled in and ask the students to help fill in the My Clues section. Our first idea is that Scooter
would not be a good watch dog this we saw on pages 4 and 5 in our text. (open the text up to
that page) I think this because scooter just laid on the floor of the store. Can anyone find
another reason why Scooter did not make a good guard dog? Next have the students fill in the
next two prompts with at least two clues from the story.
After
1

o Once the graphic organizer is completed ask the students to share their clues within the group
each giving at least one clue. Where in the story did you find that clue? Can everyone turn to
that page and see where we found that information? I too filled out a graphic organizer and I
think that Scooter did not make a good police dog because he wasnt very good at listening to
commands. I found this information on pages 7 and 8. Could we all turn to those pages and
may I have a volunteer to read the paragraph to me?
1.5 Differentiation:
This lesson is being taught to a specific guided reading group and there are no differentiations needed
with this 5 student group.
1.6 Closure:
After the graphic organizer is completed the students will share their clues with each other and I will use
the book to help them see where the clues were found. We will do a quick recap of the story and then I
will ask the students one. What job did scooter end up with and who did he end up living with? Once
we have finished summarizing where Scooter found his perfect job. I will collect the graphic organizers
and ask the students to complete the Comprehension work sheet on the last page of their packet for
homework.
1.7 Formative and Summative Assessment:
Formative: First I will monitor the children while they read aloud and listen for comprehension. Then I
will listen to the students talking about how they filled out the drawing conclusions chart and what
clues they found within the text to support their ideas. If the students are having trouble finding clues to
support their ideas I will modify the lesson for those who struggled by working with the students on all
of the prompts instead of just the first idea. For the students who did well I would give them a text with
more details and have them fill out the same type of graphic organizer but instead of having all of the
What I Think prompts filled out they will have to come up with one on their own and find clues.
Summative: The students homework will serve as the summative assessment. I will use how they
answer the comprehension questions to determine if the students need another lesson on drawing
conclusions from the text to support ideas.
1.8 Materials:
The Best Job for Scooter ( 6 books)
A board to write on
The drawing conclusions graphic organizer
The comprehension worksheet
1.9 Technology:
N/A
2.0 Reflection on Planning:
I was handed this lesson in a neat little package from the Houghton Mifflin Leveled Readers series. The
book tied in neatly with the theme of the week which was Amazing Animals. We focused specifically on
dogs. Planning the lesson was pretty simple because the supporting materials such as the graphic
organizer and the comprehension worksheet were already made for me based on the level of the text.
The teacher also already had the groups paired up so there was no differentiation needed. If I could have
used the Smart-board instead of the white board I think I would have liked to add in a technology
portion which could have been as simple as having the book projected so that the students could
highlight the paragraphs in which they found the clues for their graphic organizer.
2.1 Reflection on Instruction:
N/A
2.2 Citations:
Fadus, R., Gott, B., & Houghton, M. (2004). The Best Job for Scooter. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin
2

The Best Job for Scooter. (2004). In Leveled Reading: Teacher's Guide (pp. 1-8). Houghton Mifflin
Company.