Comprehension Genre Realistic Fiction is a made-up story that could have happened in real life. MAIN SELECTION • My Diary from Here to There • Skill: Make Inferences Generate Questions Make Inferences As you PAIRED SELECTION read, fill in your Inferences • “Immigrants in the Northeast” Word Web. • Text Feature: Primary Sources 1ZcS 1ZcS SMALL GROUP OPTIONS 7\TS`S\QS • Differentiated Instruction, pp. 207M–207V 1ZcS 1ZcS Read to Find Out What benefits does Amada get from keeping a diary? Comprehension GENRE: REALISTIC FICTION Have a student read the definition of Realistic Fiction on Student Book page 180. Students should look for characters and activities that are like people and things in real life. STRATEGY 180 GENERATE QUESTIONS Tell students that asking themselves good questions as they read will help them to check their understanding of the story and focus on important ideas. D]QOPcZO`g Vocabulary Words Review the tested vocabulary words: SKILL overheard, border, opportunities, citizen, unions, strikes, and MAKE INFERENCES boycotts. Remind students that making an inference is coming to an informed Story Words Students may be unfamiliar with these words. conclusion about a character or the Pronounce the words and give meanings as necessary. plot of a story based on clues provided escalators (p. 184): mechanical staircases that continually move up or by the author and on their own down experiences. hummingbird (p. 184): a tiny bird whose wings move so fast they make a humming sound immigration (p. 197): the movement of people from their native country to live in another country 180 Main Selection Main Selection Student pages 180–181 Preview and Predict Ask students to read the title, preview By Amada Irma Pérez the illustrations, and note questions and Illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez predictions about the selection. What kinds of things is the family doing? Set Purposes FOCUS QUESTION Discuss the “Read to Find Out” question on Student Book page 180. Remind students to look for the answer as they read. Encourage students to set their own purposes for reading. Point out the Inferences Word Web in the Student Book and on Practice Book page 47. Explain that students will fill it in as they read. Read My Diary from Here to There Use the questions and Think Alouds to support the comprehension strategy and skill. 181 On Level Practice Book O, page 47 As you read My Diary from Here to There, fill in the Inferences Word Web. Clue Clue If your students need support If your students can read the Inference to read the Main Selection, Main Selection independently, use the prompts to guide have them read and complete comprehension and model the graphic organizer. Remind Clue Clue how to complete the graphic students to use self-monitoring organizer. Encourage students and self-correction strategies to read aloud. when reading. Clue Clue If your students need alternate selections, choose the Inference Leveled Readers that match their instructional levels. Clue Clue 27=1 C 2 / BSQV\]Z]Ug How does the information you wrote in the Inferences Word Web help you to generate questions about My Diary from Here to There? Story available on Listening Library Audio CD Approaching Practice Book A, page 47 Beyond Practice Book B, page 47 My Diary from Here to There 181 Main Selection Student page 182 Develop Comprehension 1 STRATEGY GENERATE QUESTIONS Teacher Think Aloud I can better understand the beginning of the story if I ask myself questions about what I’ve read. For example: To whom is the girl talking? She is writing in her diary. How do I know that? The story opens with the words Dear Diary, and the illustration shows the girl writing. Why did the author choose to write the story this way? I guess the author can develop both plot and character this way. As the reader, I learn not only about a change that may be happening in the girl’s life, but about her feelings as well. 182 182 Main Selection Student page 183 Develop Dear Diary, I know I should be asleep already, but I 1 just can’t sleep. If I don’t write this all down, I’ll burst! Tonight aft er my brothers—Mario, Víctor, Héctor, Raúl, Comprehension and Sergio—and I all climbed into bed, I overheard Mamá and Papá whispering. Th ey were talking about 2 MAKE INFERENCES leaving our little house in Juárez, Mexico, where we’ve lived our whole lives, and moving to Los Angeles in the What can you tell about the girl’s United States. But why? How can I sleep knowing we feelings from reading this diary might leave Mexico forever? I’ll have to get to the bottom 2 entry? What clues help you make this of this tomorrow. inference? (One clue is that she says she can’t sleep. Another is that she says she’ll burst if she doesn’t write down how she is feeling. Inference: She is nervous and worried because she does not know all the details about something she overheard. She says she must get to the bottom of it the next day.) 183 &-- STRATEGIES FOR EXTRA SUPPORT Question 2 MAKE INFERENCES Idioms Help students make inferences by explaining the expression “I’ll burst!” Discuss what feelings the girl might be feeling. Clarify the meaning of the idiom get to the bottom of. Read the last sentence on Student Book page 183 aloud. Mime the literal meaning of get to the bottom with digging motions. Discuss with students the fact that the girl won’t really be digging tomorrow. Explain that this idiom means “find out more about.” Check understanding by asking students what the girl wants to find out. My Diary from Here to There 183 Main Selection Student page 184 Today at breakfast, Mamá explained everything. She said, “Papá lost his job. Th ere’s no work here, no jobs at all. We know moving will be hard, but we want the best Develop for all of you. Try to understand.” I thought the boys would be upset, but instead they got really excited about Comprehension moving to the States. “Th e big stores in El Paso sell all kinds of toys!” 3 STRATEGY 3 “And they have escalators to ride!” DICTIONARY “And the air smells like popcorn, yum!” Am I the only one who is scared of leaving our home, Use a dictionary or other resource to 4 our beautiful country, and all the people we might never find the origin of the word escalators. see again? (It comes from putting two words My best friend Michi and I walked to the park today. together: the Latin word scala, We passed Don Nacho’s corner store and the women at meaning “steps,” and elevator. It was 5 the tortilla shop, their hands blurring like hummingbird wings as they worked the dough over the griddle. first used by the Otis Elevator Company At the park we braided each other’s hair and promised in 1899.) never to forget each other. We each picked out a smooth, heart-shaped stone to remind us always of our 4 COMPARE AND CONTRAST friendship, of the little park, of Don Nacho How do the girl and her brothers feel and the tortilla shop. I’ve known Michi since we were little, and I don’t think I’ll about the move? (She says she is afraid ever fi nd a friend like her in California. of all the changes, but her brothers “You’re lucky your family will be together over there,” are excited about them.) In what ways Michi said. Her sisters and father work in the U.S. I can’t do you think she is different from her imagine leaving anyone in our family behind. brothers in general? (She is probably less adventurous than they are. She seems more attached to her home and friends.) 6 184 Cross–Curricular Connection KEEPING A DIARY Tell students that the author kept a diary as a young girl, just as Amada does. Ask students to discuss how some of the author’s own life and times may be reflected in the story. Encourage students to share their own experiences with diaries. Then have students think about how recording personal thoughts in a diary might help a person to preserve memories, clarify ideas, or even solve a problem. Have students choose a character from a favorite story and create several diary entries that the character might have made in response to key events in his or her life. Have students include details and descriptions from the story itself. You may wish to have students act out their diary entries. Encourage them to use pantomime to help bring the words to life. 184 Main Selection Student page 185 Develop Comprehension 5 SETTING What details about her town does the girl describe in her diary? (Her neighborhood includes a park, a corner store, and a tortilla shop. The women make tortillas with swift hand movements.) How do these details help the reader understand the girl’s attachment to her town? (They help us to picture the town in our minds and to get an idea of what her daily life is like.) Have students evaluate the content by identifying whether the setting is realistic. 6 DRAW CONCLUSIONS How can the reader tell that the girl is still writing in her diary? (Suggested answer: At the top of the page, the girl 185 begins by saying, “Today at breakfast.” Later she says, “Michi and I walked to the park today.” So, she is writing down the events of the day.