The Sorcerer’s Apprentice K
Focus Question:
What is the apprentice’s problem, and how is it solved?
Book Summary
Text Type: Fiction/Fantasy
The sorcerer’s apprentice is not allowed to cast any spells until she finishes magic school. But
when the sorcerer’s away, she breaks that rule and casts a spell to speed up her chores …
and things don’t go as planned! The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is a fun poem filled with colorful
illustrations and an engaging storyline. It can be used to teach students how to make, revise,
and confirm predictions as well as to identify the problem and solution in a story.
Guiding the Reading
Lesson Essentials
Before Reading
Instructional Focus
Build Background
Make, revise, and confirm predictions
Identify the problem and solution in a story
Describe information provided by a glossary
Identify initial consonant br-blends
Understand and use past-tense verbs
Identify and use antonyms
• Ask students to think about a chore or job they
must do (at home or in the classroom) that
they dislike. Invite students to share their ideas
with a partner. Invite volunteers to share their
conversation with the whole class.
• Have students imagine other ways their chores
could get done without them completing the
chores themselves. Encourage them to be creative
in their answers. Invite students to share their
ideas with the class.
Materials
Book: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
(copy for each student)
Make, revise, and confirm predictions;
initial consonant br-blends; past-tense
verbs worksheets
Discussion cards
Book quiz
Retelling rubric
Introduce the Book
• Give students their copy of The Sorcerer’s
Apprentice. Guide them to the front and back
covers, and read the title. Have students discuss
what they see on the covers. Encourage them to
offer ideas as to what type of book it is (genre,
text type, and so on) and what it might be about.
• Show students the title page. Discuss the
information on the page (title of book, author’s
name, illustrator’s name).
Vocabulary
Boldface vocabulary words also appear
in a pre-made lesson for this title on
VocabularyA–Z.com.
Introduce the Reading Strategy:
Make, revise, and confirm predictions
• Words to Know
Story critical: cast (v.), fetch (v.),
pleading (adj.), salute (n.), snicker (v.),
sorcerer (n.)
Explain to students that engaged readers make
predictions about what will happen in a story while
they are reading. Point out that engaged readers use
information from the text, the illustrations, and prior
knowledge to make their predictions. Explain that
while they are reading, engaged readers monitor
their predictions and revise them as new evidence
is given in the story. Point out that once they have
finished reading, engaged readers confirm if their
predictions were correct or if they were disproven.
Read pages 3 through 5 of the story together with
students. Model how to complete the make-reviseand-confirm-predictions worksheet.
• Academic vocabulary: cause (v.), study (v.),
through (adv.)
Introduce the Comprehension Skill:
Problem and solution
• Explain to students that story plots often
include problems that characters face as well
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The Sorcerer’s Apprentice K
Guiding the Reading
Text Features: Glossary
(cont.)
as how a solution is reached. Have students recall
Little Red Riding Hood. Ask students what problem
Little Red Riding Hood faced in the story. After
students have determined the problem, have
students explain how the problem was solved.
• Have students reread pages 3 through 5 of the
story. Ask students what problem the apprentice
faces on these pages. Have students think of
possible solutions to the problem and share their
ideas with a partner.
Explain that a glossary helps readers learn the
definitions of words in a book. Have students work
in small groups to review the glossary on page 16. Ask
students: How are the vocabulary words arranged in a
glossary? What is the definition of the word pleading?
On which page can you find the word snicker? What
part of speech is sorcerer? Have students review other
vocabulary words in the book and discuss in groups
where they would be found and how they know.
Invite volunteers to share their thoughts with the
rest of the class.
Vocabulary
Skill Review
Have students turn to the “Words to Know” box on
the copyright page. Discuss each word with students.
Then, have students turn to the glossary on page 16.
Explain that the glossary provides definitions for the
vocabulary words in the book. Point out the use of
each content word and academic vocabulary word
in the book, and then use each word in a different
model sentence. Have students work in groups to
create posters for these words. Have them include
on each poster the word and its part of speech, the
definition, the word in an example sentence, and
a picture illustrating the meaning of the word.
• Model for students how you revise predictions
while reading. Have students reread their initial
prediction from the make-revise-and-confirmpredictions worksheet.
Think-aloud: After reading pages 3 through 5, I
predicted that the apprentice would not remember
the correct spell, so it wouldn’t work and the broom
would not be able to bring water from the well.
After reading pages 6 through 7, I realized that my
prediction was not correct. The spell did work and
brought the broom to life, which then brought
water from the well. However, the broom is going
slower than the apprentice would like. My new
prediction is the apprentice will cast another spell to
speed up the broom, and this will solve her problem.
I will continue reading to see if this prediction is
correct or if I will have to revise it again.
• Ask students to revise the prediction they made
after reading pages 3 through 5 and make a new
prediction after reading pages 6 through 7.
• Review the problems that the apprentice is facing
in the story with students. Ask students what the
apprentice has tried to solve the problems. Draw
a T-chart on the board, and label the columns
Problems and Solutions. Invite volunteers to share
ideas for each side of the T-chart. Record student
responses on the board.
• Point out that many stories have problems that the
characters must work through to find solutions for
and this helps to move the plot along. Ask students
to pay attention to the different solutions the
apprentice tries as the story continues.
Set the Purpose
• Have students read to find out more about the
apprentice’s problem and the solution to that
problem. Write the Focus Question on the board.
Invite students to look for evidence in the book
to support their answer to the question.
• Have students make a small question mark in their
book beside any word they do not understand or
cannot pronounce. These can be addressed in a
future discussion.
During Reading
Text-Dependent Questions
As students read the book, monitor their understanding
with the following questions. Encourage students to
support their answers by citing evidence from the book.
• What is the first problem the main character faces?
(level 2) pages 3–5
• What does the broom do after the apprentice casts
a spell on it? (level 1) pages 6–7
• Why does the apprentice cut the broom in half?
(level 1) page 8
• What new problem does the apprentice face after
the broom is cut in half? (level 2) pages 10–12
• What happens once the sorcerer returns? (level 2)
pages 13–15
• What lesson does the sorcerer’s apprentice learn
in the story? (level 3) multiple pages
After Reading
Ask students what words, if any, they marked in
their book. Use this opportunity to model how they
can read these words using decoding strategies and
context clues.
Skill Review
Graphic Organizer:
Make, revise, and confirm predictions
Review the make-revise-and-confirm-predictions
worksheet that students completed. Have students
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The Sorcerer’s Apprentice K
Guiding the Reading
back, bump, brother, blue. Discuss the difference
between words that begin with b and words that
begin with br.
(cont.)
share their work in groups. Invite volunteers to
share with the rest of the class. Discuss with the class
which predictions were confirmed, which predictions
had to be revised, and how the story was the same
or different than they thought it would be. Point
out that the act of making predictions is the most
important thing, not proving the predictions are
correct. Remind students that making, revising, and
confirming predictions is an effective way to stay
focused and engaged while reading a story.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and
have students complete the initial-consonantbr-blends worksheet. If time allows, discuss their
answers.
Grammar and Mechanics: Past-tense verbs
• Read the following phrase aloud: And out the
door he dashed. Review with students that verbs
are action words. Have students identify the verb
in the sentence. Write dashed on the board.
• Explain that when we describe something that
happened in the past, we change the verb to its
past-tense form. Point out that, most times, we
add the letters -ed to create a past-tense verb,
as in the example on the board (dashed).
• Have students work with a partner to reread the
story to find and circle all the past-tense verbs
that end with -ed. Invite volunteers to write
these verbs on the board.
• Check for understanding: Have students work with
a partner to create a list of five past-tense verbs.
Have students create a short skit acting out these
action verbs to share with the class.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and
have students complete the past-tense-verbs
worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.
Comprehension Extension
Discussion cards covering comprehension skills and
strategies not explicitly taught with the book are
provided for extension activities.
Response to Focus Question
Have students cite specific evidence from the book
to answer the Focus Question. (Answers will vary.
Example: The apprentice’s problem is that she needs
to mop the muddy floor, but she doesn’t want to do
it. She decides to cast a spell on her broom so it can
bring water from the well. However, this solution
does not work as well as the apprentice would like
because she thinks the broom is taking too long.
She then decides to cut the broom in half and in half
again to make more brooms to speed up the work.
This ends up causing a new problem because the
brooms are bringing too much water. In the end, the
sorcerer returns and solves the problems by casting
a spell to turn the four brooms back into one and
return all the water to the well.)
Word Work: Antonyms
• Review or explain that a word that means the
opposite of another word is called an antonym.
• Write the following sentence on the board: Soon,
all the brooms marched to the well, the same as
four strong men. Guide students in brainstorming
an antonym for the word strong (weak).
• Put students into small groups, and give each group
the following three words: happy, slow, and dry.
Have students work together to come up with
antonyms for each word, and then encourage them
to use each new word in a sentence about the
story. Invite volunteers from each group to share
their antonyms and sentences with the class.
• Check for understanding: Write the words clean,
worried, and mad on the board. Have students
come up with an antonym for each word and share
their ideas with a partner. Invite partners to share
their antonyms with the class. Ask the class to give
the thumbs-up sign if they agree that the given
word is an antonym of the first word.
Comprehension Checks
• Book quiz
• Retelling rubric
Book Extension Activities
Build Skills
Phonics: Initial consonant br-blends
• Write the word broom on the board, and say
it aloud with students.
• Have students say the /br/ sound aloud. Then, run
your finger under the letters in the word broom
as students say the whole word aloud. Ask students
to identify which letters represent the /br/ sound
in the word broom.
• Have students practice writing the br letter
combination on a separate piece of paper while
saying the /br/ sound aloud.
• Check for understanding: Place students into small
groups. Give each group two notecards: one that
has b written on it and one that has br written on
it. Say the following words aloud, and have groups
hold up the notecard that matches the beginning of
each word: bring, bat, broth, both, barn, brought,
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Connections
• See the back of the book for cross-curricular
extension ideas.
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