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Gary Paulsen

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ISBN 13: 978-0-66363-989-2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 14 13 12 11 10 Resources Gary Paulsen

ASSESSMENT AND PROGRESS MONITORING Monitoring Student Progress Writing an Opinion (Pre-Assessment Prompt) Writing an Opinion (Post-Assessment Prompt) Rubric: Elements to Include in an Opinion

LESSON RESOURCES Frontloading Lesson 1: Gary Paulsen Author Profile Notes/Thinking Frontloading Lesson 2: Mind Map Mind Map (completed sample) Frontloading Lesson 3: Facts/Questions/Responses Frontloading Lesson 4: Character’s Experience Lesson 2: The American Revolution Lesson 4 The Thirteen English Colonies Lesson 5: Checkpoint 1: Reader’s Notebook Entry Lesson 6: Model Response for Checkpoint 1 Sharing Writing Homework Lesson 7: People Watcher’s Sheet Recent Reading Lesson 9: Reporter’s Sheet Wounds, Woods Runner Lesson 10: Checkpoint 2: Reader’s Notebook Entry Lesson 12: Book Discussion Group: Discussion Guide War Orphans, Woods Runner Lesson 13: Pattern Picker’s Sheet Lesson 14: Book Discussion Group: Discussion Guide New York City, Woods Runner Lesson 15: Prisoners of the British, Woods Runner Lesson 16: Checkpoint 3: Reader’s Notebook Entry Treatment of Prisoners of War, Woods Runner Lesson 17: Book Discussion Group: Discussion Guide Lesson 18: Gary Paulsen Lesson 19: Book Discussion Group: Discussion Guide Resources Gary Paulsen

Lesson 20: Final Reflection: Gary Paulsen Passage #1 Passage #2 Topic Overview Form Monitoring Student Progress 1/2

Monitoring Student Progress

Student Name/I.D. Number

Pre-Assessment Introduce the topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer’s purpose. Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details. Link opinion and reasons using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., consequently, specifically). Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented. Week 1: Checkpoint 1 Introduce the topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer’s purpose. Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details. Link opinion and reasons using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., consequently, specifically). Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented. Week 2: Checkpoint 2 Introduce the topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer’s purpose. Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details. Link opinion and reasons using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., consequently, specifically).

Monitoring Student Progress

Student Name/I.D. Number

Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented. Week 4: Checkpoint 3 Introduce the topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer’s purpose. Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details. Link opinion and reasons using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., consequently, specifically). Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented. Post-Assessment Introduce the topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer’s purpose. Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details. Link opinion and reasons using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., consequently, specifically). Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented.

Writing an Opinion

Read the passage below to learn about Brennan Cole, the main character in Canyons, by Gary Paulsen. When you finish reading, write a response to the prompt below. Brennan Cole lived in El Paso, Texas, and each afternoon after school he ran. He did not run from anything and did not run to anything, did not run for track nor did he run to stay in shape and lose weight. He ran to be with himself . . .

He did not know his father. He lived alone with his mother and when he was home—which was less and less as he approached fifteen and his mother spent more and more time working to live, working to be, working to feed and clothe her only son—the two of them existed in a kind of quiet tolerance. She did not dislike him so much as resent the burden she thought he was; and he did not dislike her so much as want to relieve her of the burden. He was still too young for fast-food jobs but he mowed lawns for a lawn care service, working for an old man named Stoney Romero, who paid him in cash and did not ask questions nor give answers except to aim Brennan at yards with a mower. Brennan did not make much, but he fed himself and bought clothes for school and special shoes. For his running, he thought now, turning on Yandell Street headed for the apartment over the house where he and his mother lived. I need money only for shoes for running. It is all I need to do—to run is all there is. When I am running it is all, everything. Nothing matters. Not the father that I do not know or the mother that does not know me or the school that I hate or money or not money—all of that disappears when I run. — pages 1 & 2

What is your opinion of Brennan and how he responds to all of the problems in his life? Write a response in which you give your opinion of Brennan and how he responds to his problems. Begin by clearly introducing the topic and stating your opinion. Be sure to give reasons for your opinion and include facts and details from the reading that support your reasons. Organize the reasons in a logical way. Use words, phrases, or clauses to link your opinion and reasons. Provide a concluding statement related to the opinion you present.

Writing an Opinion

Read the passage below to learn about Manny Bustos, the main character in The Crossing by Gary Paulsen. When you have finished reading, write an essay in response to the question below: So now he rolled out when the sun warmed the cardboard of his lean-to, wiped his mouth with a finger, and stood to begin moving for the day. Another day in Juarez. But this time, it would be different. This day, he would change it all; he would leave. He would cross to the north to the United States and find work, become a man, make money, and wear a leather belt with a large buckle and a straw hat with a feathered hatband. Hunger was instant, had never gone. He went to bed hungry, slept hungry, awakened hungry, had hungered every moment of every day, and could not remember when he did not have hunger. Even when he was small, a baby in the back of the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow where his unknown mother had left him in a box and the sisters had tried to feed him, there was hunger. It was almost a friend, the hunger, if something could be a friend and be hated at the same time, and he set out now to find the first food of the day. He tucked the T-shirt into his torn pants and ran his fingers through his hair. It did almost no good – his hair was wiry and thick and full and resisted any attempts at straightening – but it was an automatic gesture, and he jammed in the loose ends when he put the baseball cap on. Across the front of the cap it said Ford. Manny moved through the alley in back of the church and made for the back of the Two-by-Four bar and café… — from The Crossing by Gary Paulsen

What bothers Manny about his life? How does he respond to these problems? Write a short essay in which you identify Manny’s problems and his response to them. In your essay, be sure to include details from the reading that tell you about his troubles and his response.

From THE CROSSING by Gary Paulsen. Scholastic Inc./Scholastic Press. Copyright © 1987 by Gary Paulsen. Reprinted with permission. Flannery Literary Agency: “The Crossing” from The Crossing by Gary Paulsen. © Gary Paulsen. Used by permission.

Rubric: Elements to Include in an Opinion

Element Yes No

Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped.

Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details.

Link opinions and reasons using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., consequently, specifically).

Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented.

Gary Paulsen Author Profile(continued)

Born May 17, 1939, Gary Paulsen is one of America’s most popular writers for young people. He is a master storyteller who has written more than 175 books and some 200 articles and short stories— many of them award-winning survival stories. Gary Paulsen grew up poor and lonely in a grubby apartment in the small town of Thief River Falls, Minnesota. His parents were brutal to each other, so he often slept in the basement near an old coal-fired furnace. As a young boy, Paulsen spent much of his time on the streets. He sold newspapers, trying to scrape together a little money. Occasionally he’d live with aunts or uncles, then run away to live in the woods, trapping and hunting game to survive. Paulsen says that books saved his life. First reading them, then writing them. One bitter evening, wandering the streets of the small Minnesota town where he lived, a thirteen-year-old Gary Paulsen stopped in the library to warm up. The librarian noticed him, called him over, and asked if he wanted a library card. She handed him the card with his name on it and gave him a book. Later that night back at home—in a broken-down apartment in the bad part of town—Paulsen took the book, a box of crackers, and a jar of grape jelly down to the basement to a hideaway he’d created behind the furnace. He sat in the corner reading his new book. It took him forever to read. He was such a poor reader that, by the time he’d finish a page, he had forgotten what he’d read on the page before and would have to go back. That first book took him over a month to finish, hunched over the pages late at night. That night at the library marked the first of many nights that the librarian would give Paulsen a book. She hand selected books that she thought would interest him—Westerns, mysteries, survival tales, science fiction. He would take the books home and hide in the basement to read. Afterwards, he’d bring the books back to the librarian and they’d talk about what he read. Paulsen always left the library with more books. The librarian wasn’t just giving Paulsen books; she was giving him everything. She gave him the first hint he’d ever had in his entire life that there was something other © Al Grillo, AP Images

Gary Paulsen Author Profile

than his angry parents screaming at each other in the kitchen. She handed him a world where he wasn’t going to be beaten up by the school bullies. She showed him places where it didn’t hurt all the time. He read terribly at first but as he did more of it, the books became more a part of him and within a short time they gave Gary Paulsen a life, a look at life outside of himself that made him look forward instead of backward. Years later, after he’d graduated from high school, joined the army, gotten married, had children, and began a career as an electronics engineer, books once again changed the course of Paulsen’s life. This time, instead of reading them, he knew he wanted to write them. Since then, Gary Paulsen has written every day and has told many stories. He has told stories of love and death and cold and heat and ice and flame, stories sad and stories happy and stories of laughter and tears and places soft and hard, of dogs and the white-blink of arctic ice, stories of lost dreams and towering storms, and things quick and hot and slow and dull, stories of graves and horses, pigs and kings, war and the times between wars, stories of children’s cheeks, stories of rage and spirit and spit and blood and bodies on fences and hay so sweet you could eat the grass. There are authors who invent stories and those who live their stories. Gary Paulsen has lived what he writes about. He writes from his life, from what he sees and hears and smells and feels, from personal inspection at zero altitude. But the force behind it, the thing that pushes him to write, that wakes him at night with story ideas, that makes the hair on the back of his neck go up when a story works, that causes his breath to stop and hold with a sentence that comes right, and that makes coming to the computer or the pad of paper every morning with a cup of tea and a feeling of wonderful newness and expectations, that engine that drives him to write is love. Paulsen personally wants just two things. He wants to write, and he wants as many young readers as possible to see what he writes. That’s it. To write and to have readers.

From: http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/paulsen.html http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/26/books/26paul.html http://www.randomhouse.com/features/garypaulsen/about.html Paulsen, G. (ed.) 2003. Shelf life: Stories by the book. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Notes/Thinking

Notes Thinking

Author Study: Gary Paulsen Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc., or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved. Mind Map Where? Who? Frontloading Lesson 2 The American Revolution What? • Activating and Building Background Knowledge When? Why? 1/1

Author Study: Gary Paulsen Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc., or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved. Mind Map (Completed Sample) Spain France & Soldiers from England the King of against colonists those Patriots— American side 13 colonies along the East coast Where? Who? Hessians soldiers— & German Americans many Native British army, from the Soldiers England to the King of colonists loyal Loyalists— English side Frontloading Lesson 2 a war that signaled the beginning The American Revolution of the United States What? • Activating and Building Background Knowledge

government their own Wanted soldiers and English food, clothing, High taxes for side—Patriots American When? soldiers the English protection of Liked the were fair and taxes English laws Loyalists English side— 1775 or 1776 Why? 1/1

Author Study: Gary Paulsen Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc., or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved. Facts/Questions/Responses Facts Frontloading Lesson 3 Questions • Recording and Responding to Important Ideas Responses 1/1

Author Study: Gary Paulsen Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc., or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved. Character’s Experience Events described in the text Character’s experience feelings, responses, or reactions to the events Frontloading Lesson 4 —thoughts, • Analyzing the Character’s Experience Text evidence reader’s understanding of the character’s experience that supports the

1/1

The American Revolution

1 The American Revolution was the war that marked the beginning of the United States. For many decades before New Hampshire Massachusetts the war, this part of North America was New York

ruled by England. Along this Eastern Rhode Island coast, there were thirteen colonies or Pennsylvania Connecticut New Jersey areas where English settlers lived. Each Delaware colony followed the laws made by the Maryland Virginia English government. North Carolina

2 Many of the people in the colonies South Carolina were unhappy. Some colonists felt that Georgia the English government only wanted The thirteen English colonies money from them. It seemed like the English were forcing the colonists to pay taxes on everything: food, cloth, and tea—everything that they needed. Many colonists also hated paying for the English soldiers who had been sent to protect them from the Native Americans. They thought that they could protect themselves.

3 Some colonists hated the idea that a king from across the ocean could be in charge of their lives. They thought that they should have their own government. These people called themselves Patriots, and they formed militias, small unofficial armies, to protect themselves.

4 Some colonists disagreed with the Patriots. They believed that the English government was good, and that the laws and taxes were fair. They believed that the English soldiers provided good protection. These people were loyal to the King and to their English heritage. They came to be called Loyalists.

5 In 1776, the Patriots declared that they wanted to break away from England and have their own country. They wrote a Declaration of Independence. In this paper, they stated

The American Revolution

that the colonies would have their own government and would no longer send tax money to England. In response, the British sent their army to fight the colonists. The American Revolution began. (Note: Opinions vary on the start date of the war. Some people consider the battles at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, in April of 1775, as the beginning of the war.)

6 On the American side were the Patriots, along with soldiers who came from France and Spain.

7 On the English side were the British army, the Loyalists, and many Native Americans. The British also hired some German soldiers to help them. These soldiers were called Hessians.

8 The fighting was brutal. More than 25,000 people died. At least another 25,000 were wounded. Soldiers burned cities, fields, and villages. No one was safe from their guns.

9 The war ended in 1783, when the Patriots won. They signed a treaty with the English king that gave the United States all of the land east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes (except for Florida, which was part of Spain). This was the beginning of the United States. Everyone who lived in that area was now an “American.”

10 Some people were not happy, however. Many Loyalists returned to England or went to Canada so that they could continue being British citizens. Many Native Americans who lived in this area did not recognize the United States as their country, either. They continued to fight for their own independence.

The Thirteen English Colonies

New Hampshire Massachusetts New York

Rhode Island Pennsylvania Connecticut New Jersey Delaware Maryland Virginia

North Carolina

South Carolina

Georgia

Checkpoint 1: Reader’s Notebook Entry

At the end of chapter 3, Samuel has seen smoke from the top of the ridge. He is afraid that something has happened to his parents, so he begins the 8-mile run back to the cabin. Reread the following passage, and, when you finish, write an entry in your Reader’s Notebook in response to the prompt below. He started running down the side of the ridge. Not a crazy run, but working low and slipping into the game trails, automatically looking for a turn or shift that would take him more directly home. Home. An attack on his home. An attack on his mother and father? And he had not been there to help. Deep breaths, hard, and deep pulls of air as he increased his speed, moccasins slapping the ground, rifle held out in front of him to move limbs out of the way as he loped through the forest. The green thickness that once helped him now seemed to clutch at him, pull him back, hold him. An attack. And he had not been there to protect his parents. — Woods Runner, pages 21–22

What is Samuel worried about? How does he respond to these concerns? Write your opinion of Samuel and how he responds to these concerns. Be sure to introduce the text and state your opinion. Give reasons that explain your opinion, and use facts and details from the reading to support your opinion. Organize your reasons in a logical way to support your thinking, and use words, phrases, and clauses to link your opinion and reasons. Provide a concluding statement about the opinion you present.

Model Response for Checkpoint 1

In this chapter of Woods Runner, my opinion of Samuel and how he responds to his challenges is that he is smart. I think he is smart because he knows about the woods, and he uses what he knows to help him solve problems. He uses what he knows about the woods when he sees the smoke. He knows that it couldn’t be from an ordinary fire in the woods. Therefore, he is smart to decide that somebody might have attacked his house and set fire to it. And he is smart because he uses what he knows about how to travel in the woods to try and solve his problem of not knowing about his parents. It says he ran working low and slipping into the game trails, automatically looking for a turn or shift that would take him more directly home. This helps him get home faster to check on his parents. Even the way he runs is smart. He takes deep pulls of air so he can run faster and get home sooner. Everything that Samuel does from the time he sees the smoke shows how smart he is and how he uses what he knows to solve his problems.

Sharing Writing

1. Decide who will go first.

2. Have that writer read his or her response aloud.

3. Partners should listen to the writer’s essay.

4. When the writer finishes reading, the listeners should tell the writer if they heard a general statement to introduce the text and the opinion. If so, have the writer underline the introductory statement.

5. The listeners should tell the writer if they heard the writer identify the reasons that support the opinion. The writer should put a star next to the words that show these reasons.

6. The listeners then identify the facts and details that support the opinion. The writer should circle the words that present these facts and details.

7. The listeners should identify words, phrases, and clauses that connect the opinion and reasons. The writer should highlight the language that makes connections.

8. The listeners should identify a concluding statement. The writer should put a dot by the concluding statement.

9. Finally, listeners should tell the reader if he or she organized the essay in a logical way.

10. Repeat the steps above for the other writers in the group.

Homework

Name ______Date ______

At the end of chapter 4 in Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen, Samuel’s parents have probably been killed. Samuel is now an orphan. He is alone.

In the space below, write a prediction about what Samuel might do next. What will he do? How will he live?

Remember that for all of his 13 years, Samuel has lived in the woods in a cabin with his parents. He has always known that “civilization” existed but its problems have never affected him before. Samuel has never gone to any cities or even to any big towns.

After you write your prediction about what Samuel will do, write down why you think he will do these things. Remember to use evidence from the text to support your predictions.

Now that Samuel is an orphan, I think that he will ______.

Based on what I have learned about Samuel, I think he will do these things because ______.

From learning about life in the forest, I think he will do these things because ______.

People Watcher’s Sheet

Name ______Date ______Title ______Pages ______

People Watchers watch people. They are interested in what people do, what they think, and the kinds of people that they are. They report what they see, and they tell what they think—but when they tell their thoughts, they explain what they saw (or read) to prove that they are right. There is a People Watcher in all of us.

In order to complete a People Watcher’s Sheet, list your observations on the left and your insights about what this shows about this character on the right:

Character’s Name:

Observations Insights What does the character do? What does the What does this reveal about the character’s character say? What does the writer tell you personality? about the character’s thoughts? 1.

Recent Reading

Name ______Date ______

My Ratings Title What It Was About (1–5/low– My Reasons high)

Reporter’s Sheet

Name ______Date ______Title ______Pages ______

Reporters report the news, keeping their readers informed about events. Reporters summarize. They don’t tell everything; they just report the most important information. Their reports are short and very, very clear.

Reporters tell who, what, when, and where. They report the facts.

In order to write a brief report, list the main events from the reading in the spaces below; then, use your notes to rewrite these main events into complete sentences. You can use the back side of this page, if needed.

Main Points: 1.

Report

Wounds, Woods Runner

Wounds

Untreated battle injuries often led to gangrene, which causes the body to literally rot away, turning first green, then black, from infection that travels rapidly. Because antibiotics were unavailable in the eighteenth century, amputation was the usual treatment. Due to the horrific odor of gangrene, surgeons could smell the patient and make an accurate diagnosis. If the patient was not lucky enough to benefit from amputation, maggots would be introduced into the wound in an attempt to aid healing. They would eat away the infection. Barring the surgical removal of body parts or the use of parasites, doing absolutely nothing and letting the patient die was the only option at the time.

Checkpoint 2: Reader’s Notebook Entry

At the end of chapter 10, Samuel has joined Coop and the other men who are walking toward the east. He has learned that the British and Indian raiders have taken his parents captive. Samuel is very weak, so he is holding on to the ox’s yoke in order to try to keep up with the other men. Reread the following passage. When you finish, write an entry into your Reader’s Notebook in response to the prompt below. Samuel walked in silence, hanging on to the wooden shaft tied to the ox. It was midmorning and the sun fell through tall trees on either side of the trail, so they seemed to be walking in a lighted green tunnel. Now and then, insects caught sunlight and flashed white like small lamps. Any other time, Samuel would have been taken by the beauty of it. But now he could not stop thinking of what Coop had started to say. Why hadn’t the raiders killed his parents? And would they do it now? I’m way behind them, he thought, six, maybe seven days. Dragging along with an ox. God only knows what’s happening to them. I have to go faster. — Woods Runner, page 72

What is bothering Samuel? What does he do in response? Write your opinion about what is bothering Samuel and how he responds to his concerns. Be sure to introduce the text and state your opinion. Give reasons that explain your opinion, and use facts and details from the reading to support your opinion. Organize your reasons in a logical way to support your thinking, and use words, phrases, and clauses to link your opinion and reasons. Provide a concluding statement about the opinion you present.

Book Discussion Group: Discussion Guide

Talk about this section of the book:

1. Have your Reporter summarize the incidents and events.

— What was interesting?

— What was scary?

— What was surprising?

2. Have your People Watcher share observations and insights.

— What has the main character done that is surprising or interesting?

— What kind of person is he?

— What are the other characters like?

— How are these characters similar to the characters in Woods Runner?

3. Just talk.

— When did this book take place?

— Where did it take place?

— What has been the most interesting part?

— What has been the most confusing part?

— What do you think will happen next?

War Orphans, Woods Runner

War Orphans

Children orphaned by war, as countless were during the Revolutionary War, suffer from nightmares and sleeping problems, headaches, stomachaches, anger, irritability and anxiety. Severely traumatized children may become withdrawn, appearing numb and unresponsive and sometimes becoming mute. When the danger and devastation end, children can show remarkable resilience and recovery if they are in a safe and stable environment where they are cared for and nurtured. After the Revolutionary War, however, many orphans, if they were not taken in by other family members, grew up in institutions. Formal adoptions were very rare.

Pattern Picker’s Sheet

Name ______Date ______Title ______Pages ______

Some people see patterns. They look at the world and notice things like the fact that red flowers attract hummingbirds more than other flowers, that people who yawn often cause others to yawn, that some writers always write about similar main characters.

Pattern Pickers look for similarities, and they point them out. This helps them organize and understand the world.

As you read a new section of the book, look for things that are similar to what you have read or heard before. List at least three similarities in the left column below.

In the center column, explain the pattern briefly. In the right column, give examples of other places where you have heard/read this pattern.

Pattern Explanation Examples

Book Discussion Group: Discussion Guide

Talk about this section of the book:

1. Have your Reporter summarize the incidents and events.

— What was interesting?

— What was scary?

— What was surprising?

2. Have your People Watcher share observations and insights from this section of the book.

— What has the main character done that is surprising or interesting?

— What kind of person is he?

— What are the other characters like?

— How are these characters similar to the characters in Woods Runner?

3. Have your Pattern Picker explain the patterns that have emerged in this section of the book.

— Which patterns had you already identified on the class chart?

— Which are new?

4. Just talk.

— What was the most interesting part of this section?

— What was the most confusing part?

— What do you think will happen next?

New York City, Woods Runner

New York City

New York was the main city where prisoners of the British troops were held. By the end of 1776, there were over five thousand prisoners in New York and, since the population of the city was only twenty- five thousand, more than twenty percent of the people within city limits were captives. At that time, there was only one prison in New York, so the British held their prisoners in warehouse buildings or on Royal Navy ships anchored in the harbor. Although these ships were built to hold 350 sailors, the British kept over one thousand prisoners at a time on board. The only latrines were buckets, which soon became full and spilled into the prisoners’ sleeping quarters. Disease was rampant. At first, an average of five or six prisoners died on these ships every day. In the end more American soldiers died in prison than in actual combat.

Prisoners of the British, Woods Runner

Prisoners of the British

During the war, at least sixteen British hulks— ships that had been damaged and abandoned—lay in the waters off the shores of New York City as floating prisons. Over ten thousand prisoners died of intentional neglect—starvation and untreated disease. Their bodies were tossed overboard into the harbor or buried in shallow graves at the shoreline by fellow prisoners.

Checkpoint 3: Reader’s Notebook Entry

At the end of chapter 17, Samuel knows where both his parents are being kept prisoner. His father is in a sugar mill with lots of other prisoners. His mother is being forced to work as a maid in someone’s home. Every night, Samuel’s mother takes food to his father at the sugar mill. Abner has her tell Samuel’s father to meet him at midnight, near the guard at the door. After the escape, the men, including Samuel, join Samuel’s mother and head for Matthew’s boat. Reread the following passage and. When you finish, write an essay in your Reader’s Notebook in response to the prompt below. They came to a small rise out of the moist lowlands and he pulled up there, on the back or western side, and stopped. “No fire,” he said softly. “Cold camp. Father, you eat until you’re full. Mother and Annie, hold it down a little, just a taste. I’m going to go check the back trail. Wait here for me.” He trotted back the way they had come, stopping often to listen, smell, absorb. He didn’t feel completely safe until he had gone half a mile and had not seen or heard anything. Then he moved back to where he’d left them and found them sitting back against trees, his father and Annie wrapped in his blanket roll, already dozing. “We’re clear,” he whispered to his mother, his rifle across his lap. “Get some sleep.” — Woods Runner, page 149

What is Samuel concerned about? How does he respond to these concerns? Write your opinion of Samuel and how he responds to his concerns. Be sure to introduce the text and state your opinion. Give reasons that explain your opinion, and use facts and details from the reading to support your opinion. Organize your reasons in a logical way to support your thinking, and use words, phrases, and clauses to link your opinion and reasons. Provide a concluding statement about the opinion you present.

Treatment of Prisoners of War, Woods Runner

Treatment of Prisoners of War

Prisoners were given only one cup of water a day belowdecks. The rations, issued only in the morning and only half those received by British soldiers, were largely inedible—leftover food from England that was old, stale, and in many cases, rotten. It was not until the nineteenth century that supplies for captives were expected to be provided by their captors; during the Revolutionary War, their own army, government and families attempted to provide for the prisoners.

Book Discussion Group: Discussion Guide

Talk about this section of the book:

1. Have your Reporter summarize the incidents and events.

— What was interesting?

— What was scary?

— What was surprising?

2. Have your People Watcher and Pattern Picker share observations and insights.

— What has the main character done that is surprising or interesting?

— What kind of person is he?

— What are the other characters like?

— How are these characters similar to the characters in Woods Runner?

Brainstorm topics that would be interesting or helpful to future readers of your book.

1. Look at the charts from Lesson 15.

— Which ideas received the most stars?

2. Reflect on the reading for today.

— What new topics might be interesting?

3. What other topics might be interesting to learn about?

Write a list of at least three topics to turn in by the end of the lesson. Include the names of the group members who will be learning about which topic.

Gary Paulsen

1 Gary Paulsen was born May 17, 1939. He was the only son of his parents. When his father, a professional soldier, fought in World War II, Paulsen and his mother rarely saw him. After the war, the family moved often because of his father’s work, and both of his parents became abusive drunks.

2 Gary Paulsen’s parents fought all of the time, and there was never enough money for food and clothing. At an early age, Paulsen began to work in order to pay for his own things. One night, he passed the local library on his way home from a cold evening of selling newspapers. The library was warm inside, so he went in and was surprised when the librarian gave him a library card and asked him if he wanted a book.

3 He took the book home and returned it a few days later. The librarian gave him another book, and then another and another, and Paulsen found himself, for the first time, reading books. He loved it. He was able to retreat from his parents’ fights by going to the basement of their apartment house to read. He read everything he could find.

4 He was not a good student, though. Because he moved so much and had so little money, school was hard. He had trouble making friends, and he spent his time working. Often, he was just too tired to pay attention. His parents were disappointed and they fought about who was to blame for Paulsen’s failures.

Gary Paulsen

5 When Gary Paulsen was 14 years old, he ran away from home. He didn’t have any money or any place to live, so he joined a carnival and travelled from city to city until he began to live on his own. Sometimes, he lived on the streets; other times, he would spend time with aunts and uncles, working on their farms.

6 Over the years, Gary Paulsen worked as a ranch hand, truck driver, construction worker, and sailor. He joined the Army and learned about electronics, but he found that he didn’t like that work. He then worked for a magazine, and learned how to write.

7 Gary Paulsen loved writing. He thought it might be the right job for him, so he quit his job in California and moved back to Minnesota, where he rented a cabin and spent a winter writing his first novel.

8 He and his family continued living in Minnesota, and Paulsen often had to trap animals, both so his family could eat and so that they could sell the fur to make money. He spent a lot of time in the woods by himself.

Gary Paulsen

9 Paulsen found peace in the woods. It was quiet, and it was dangerous. He learned to see the beauty of nature and also to respect its challenges. He learned how to keep warm, how to find food, how to survive.

10 He kept writing, though, and after years of having no money, he finally wrote his first successful book,The Foxman, in 1977. Nine years later, he won an award for his book, Dogsong, and a year later, he published his most famous book, Hatchet.

11 During that time, Paulsen got interested in dog sledding. He and his dogs raced the Iditarod, a 1200- mile race in Alaska. This race is long and difficult, and each day of racing is more than 18 hours long. Finally, Paulsen developed problems with his heart and had to quit racing.

12 Since that time, Gary Paulsen has continued to write books. He has written books about history and about modern times. Many people love his writing.

13 He presently has a home in New Mexico, where he loves the warm winters. For part of each year, he and his wife sail around the world on their sailboat. Life is good.

From: http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/paulsen.html http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/26/books/26paul.html http://www.randomhouse.com/features/garypaulsen/about.html

Book Discussion Group: Discussion Guide

Talk about this section of the book: 1. Have your Reporter summarize the incidents and events. — What was interesting? — What was scary? — What was surprising? 2. Have your People Watcher and Pattern Picker share observations and insights. — What has the main character done that is surprising or interesting? — What kind of person is he? — What are the other characters like? — How are these characters similar to the characters in Woods Runner? 3. Talk about the crisis point and the end of the book. — How did the main character handle the most difficult situation in the book? — Could he have handled it better? How? — What do you think of the ending of the book? — If there were another chapter or two, what would happen? Would the book be better if Paulsen had actually written another chapter or two? Why? 4. Talk briefly about your research. — What have you learned? — What do you still want to know? — What will you read next?

Final Reflection: Gary Paulsen

If a friend, a fifth-grader who was not in this class, asked you to tell him or her about Gary Paulsen, what would you say? • How would you describe Gary Paulsen? • How would you describe the books Gary Paulsen has written? • How would you describe Gary Paulsen’s writing?

Passage #1

When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem’s fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury. His left arm was somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh. He couldn’t have cared less, so long as he could pass and punt. When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that . . .

— page 4

Permission citation for this passage is provided in Lesson 20 in the teacher edition.

Passage #2

They hunted deer every year and normally John would start getting excited two or three days before season. He’d clean and reclean his rifle, look more and more to the woods, and start losing sleep. This year was different. Normally they would get up at three in the morning and do chores and the milking so they could be in the woods by first gray light; and they would do that for the entire two weeks of deer season or until they got a deer. But this year, that was all changed. His grandfather wasn’t going to hunt this year. “I’ll stay home and do the chores,” he’d said one morning, sitting in the yellow glow of the kerosene lamp on the kitchen table, his hands folded in front of him on the oilcloth. “It’s time you hunted alone.” And John had nodded but it was wrong, too wrong. They always hunted together, they always did everything together. John had started hunting deer when he was ten, first without a gun, just going with his grandfather. Then when he was eleven, he took a shotgun and got his first deer and he had taken deer every season since, using a rifle after the first year. He was now thirteen.

— pages 6 & 7 Permission citation for this passage is provided in Lesson 20 in the teacher edition.

Topic Overview

Name ______Book Title ______Date ______

Topic ______

Our group thought that the people who read this book would like to know about this topic because:

Before I started my research, here’s what I knew about my topic:

During my research, I read:

Based on my research, here’s what I can tell readers about this topic: