Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Sunisa Lee won a gold medal at the 2020 Olympics.
Is this picture upside-down? No! This is Sunisa Lee. She is a gymnast. She is doing a backflip. After the flip, she landed on a balance beam.
Go, Suni!
Pages 2-3: Shutterstock.com (Background); Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images (Split)
Flip Out!
Is that picture upside down? Take a close look at gymnast Sunisa Lee doing a backflip.
From the March/April 2023 Issue
Lexiles: 400L
Guided Reading Levels: F
Vocabulary: gymnast, balance beam
Featured Skill:
Key Details,
Topic:
Social Studies,
Common Core Standards
TEKS Standards
About the Article
English Language Arts Focus
Key details, Labels
Social Studies Focus
Sports and culture
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Essential Question
The essential question of this issue is What can sports teach us? The articles below connect to this theme.
- Picture This!: “Flip Out!,” p. 2
- Background Builder: “Sports for All,” p. 8
- Big Read-Aloud: “Ready, Set, Race!,” p. 10
- Fiction: “The Terrible Turtles,” p. 24
- Mini History: “The Story of Sneakers,” p. 30
- Poetry: “Brand-New Ball,” p. 32
Through the above genres, students will discuss:
- What sports do people play? What equipment do they use?
- Why do we play sports?
- What is it like to be on a team?
- How can we try our best?
IMPLEMENTATION SUGGESTIONS
Whole Class
- Our Picture This! feature provides an amazing photo, labels for children to read and understand, and knowledge- building facts. Read “Flip Out!” as a whole class. Have a discussion about getting information from pictures and the nonfiction feature: labels.
Writing Block
- After reading and discussing the article, you can return to it later for your writing block. Have children color and label their own “Cookie Monster Rock” diagram using our skills page.
1. BEFORE READING
Preview Vocabulary (3-5 minutes)
- Play the online vocabulary slideshow. This article’s featured terms are gymnast and balance beam.
Preview Vocabulary (3-5 minutes)
Preview Visuals/Text Features (7-10 minutes)
- Take a close look at the photo. Ask children to share what they notice. Help them see that we get information from pictures as well as text.
- Let children know that labels point to parts of the picture and tell us more about it. Have children find the labels and follow the arrows with their fingers. Read the labels together.
2. READ THE MINI ARTICLE (15-30 MINUTES)
- Gauge the readability of this text for your class. Students can whisper read, you can read aloud, or you can invite individual students to read portions of the text.
- Have a discussion about what children learned from both the picture and the words in the article. Why does Suni look upside down? What is really happening here?
3. AFTER READING: FOCUS ON SKILLS (10 MINUTES)
Writing Focus: Key Details/Labeling (15 minutes)
- Have children answer questions about a Backflip Diagram. Use the activity to encourage children to engage with information given by labels.
ELA Focus: Parts of Speech (20 minutes)
- Explore sports vocabulary and practice separating nouns and verbs with the Sort and Score activity. (This page also goes with other stories in the issue.)
ELA Focus: Key Details/Labeling (15 minutes)
- This version of the Backflip Diagram page will allow you to give the same content at a lower skill level.
Text-to-Speech