Family Times
Daily Questions
Prior Knowledge
Plot and Character
Vocabulary
Suffixes
Predictions
Guided Comprehension
Cause and Effect
Point of View
Independent Reader
Punctuation Takes a Vacation
Additional Resources
Study Skills:
Genre : Humorous Fiction
Vocabulary Strategy: Word Structure
Comprehension Skill: Character and Plot
Comprehension Strategy: Prior Knowledge
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Question of the Week:
How do we meet the challenges of learning?
Daily Questions:
Many of the descriptions of Mrs. Granger make her seem larger than
life. Why do you think this is?
How do you think Nick will describe his first class with Mrs. Granger to his
friends or family?
What is a challenge facing the students in Mr. Wright's class?
Activate Prior Knowledge
Challenges of a New School Year
1. New Teacher
2. New classroom rules
3. New school
4. More homework
5. New students
Ways to Meet Challenges
1. Understand his or her
expectations
Plot
The plot is the pattern of events in a story.
A plot includes
1. a problem or conflict
2. rising action, as conflict builds
3. a climax, when the problem or conflict is faced
4. a resolution, when the problem or conflict is solved
Problem or
conflict
Rising Action
Climax
Resolution
Character
•Characters are people or animals in a
story.
•Characters show you what they’re like
by what they say and do and how they
treat each other.
WRITE ACTIVITY (STUDENT BOOK PAGES 18-19)
1. Read “Homework Help.” As you read,
make a story map like the one above.
2. Write a new resolution for
“Homework Help.” Use your story
map and your own knowledge of
homework to help you.
acquainted
guaranteed
VOCABULARY WORD LIST
assignment essential
expanded
procedures reputation
worshipped
Introduce Vocabulary
Predict a definition and write a sample
sentence for each word. Underline the word
in each sentence, then verify its meaning in
the dictionary. Check all sentences to be sure
that all words are used correctly. Rewrite any
sentences that are incorrect.
acquainted
Made aware; informed
Assignment
Something assigned,
especially a piece of work
to be done.
Essential
Absolutely necessary;
very important
Expanded
Made larger; increased
in size; enlarged
Guaranteed
Made certain that
something would happen
as a result
.
procedures
Ways of proceeding;
method of doing things
Reputation
What people think and say
the character of someone
or something is
Worshipped
Paid great honor and
reverence to
More Words to Know
Cameo: a semiprecious stone carved so that
there is a raised design on a background,
usually of a different color
Shutdown: a stopping; a checking of
Sidetrack: to draw someone’s attention away
from something
Practice Lesson Vocabulary:
Is it guaranteed that every student will love a
new challenge?
Are students acquainted with other students in class?
Have students expanded their vocabulary if they have learned
and use new words?
Mrs. Granger has a _________as a strict teacher.
One thing that is _________ for success in school is good study skills.
The class received a homework _________ in spite of Nick’s delaying
question about dictionaries.
Classroom __________ are important for keeping order.
Vocabulary Strategy (Pg. 20)
Suffixes: -tion, -ation, -ment
Word Structure: When you come to a longer word you don’t know, see if it
ends with –tion, -ation, or –ment. These suffixes are added to verbs to turn
them into nouns that mean “the act or state of __________________” or
result of _______.” For example, development means “the act of
developing” or “ the result of developing.” You may be able to use the suffix
to help figure out the unknown word’s meaning.
1. Cover the suffix –tion, -ation, or –ment.
2. Look at the base word. Do you know what it means? (Try this with
assignment.)
3. Add the meaning of the suffix. Remember, the part of speech will
change.
4. Reread the sentence to see if your meaning makes sense.
As you read “Becoming a Word Wizard,” look for base words that end in –
tion, -ation, or –ment. Use the suffixes to help you figure out the
meanings of the words.
Genre: Humorous Fiction
Has characters and action
that make you laugh.
Examples:
How do Nick and Mrs.
Granger meet the
challenge of getting to
know each other?
Preview and Predict
Preview the selection title and
illustrations and discuss the topics or
ideas you think the selection will
cover. Use selection vocabulary
words as you talk about what you
expect to learn.
Guided Comprehension:
Use context clues to determine the meaning of monopoly on pg 25, paragraph 2,
sentence 3.
What kind of teacher is Mrs. Granger?
What do you learn about Mrs. Granger from the simile “Mrs. Granger seemed like a
giant”?
What happened to the students that Mrs. Granger caught chewing gum?
Nick receives a letter from school before school starts. Has this ever happened to
you? How did this make you feel?
How does Mrs. Allen’s reaction to Mrs. Granger’s letter compare to Nick’s
reaction?
What does the author tell you about Nick on p. 29, and how does it help you predict
how Nick and Mrs. Granger will get along?
Have students use their knowledge of the suffix –ment to figure out the meaning
of assignment on p. 31, paragraph 3.
Guided Reading Continued:
Why did the author tell us about Nick’s success with delaying questions?
Reread the last paragraph on p. 31. What do you think Nick will do next?
Use what you know about Mrs. Granger’s character to tell whether Nick’s question will
prevent her from giving a homework assignment. Explain your answer.
Text to Self: The characters in this story learned to overcome their problems with each
other. Does this remind you of an experience you’ve had with someone you did not get
along with at first?
Cause and Effect (TM 27)
• An effect is what happens and a cause if why it happens.
• Clue words such as if and then sometimes signal causes and
effects
• An effect may have more than one cause and a cause may have
more than one effect.
Have students identify a cause-and-effect relationship in the story.
Point of View
The perspective from which an author tells a story is called point of view. Who
the author chooses to tell the story determines what we learn about the
characters and their actions.
•In first-person point of view, a character tells a story and uses the pronoun I or
we.
•In third-person point of view, the narrator tells the story and describes the
events. The narrator uses the pronouns he, she, they, or it.
•Authors sometimes mix points of view within a story.
Reread p. 29. Write responses to these questions.
1. Who is the narrator of the story?
2. How would the story be different if it were told from Nick’s point of view?
SUMMARY
The story is about Kate, a fifth
grader with dyslexia. After being tested and
diagnosed, Kate had to give up going to camp
with her friends over the summer, and instead
worked on improving her reading. Her effort
paid off when she excelled at the school
spelling bee.
Comprehension Questions:
What did you learn about Kate’s character through her
interactions with Mr. Harper? (Pgs. 3-7)
How did you feel when you read about Kate having to
stay home from camp? (pgs. 12-13)
Think about challenges in your own life. How does this
help you understand what Kate was going through?
(Pg. 16)
What do you think the climax, or high point, of the
story is? The resolution, or outcome? (Pg. 19)
SUMMARY
Students from Miss Jacobson’s
class present three reports on education in
the United States in 1725, in 1830, and in
1925. The class learns about the history of
public education in this country.
Comprehension Questions:
What do you notice about Ben’s character? (pg. 3)
Why did Lizzie and Haley tell so much about Katie’s
chores at home? (pg. 6)
How did the boy’s education differ from a girl’s in
Connecticut in 1725? (pgs. 7-9)
What state first passed a law requiring public education?
What was that law? (pg.12)
How did public education change between the 1720s and the 1830s? (pg. 15)
Why was education in the South different from education in New England?
(pgs. 17-18)
SUMMARY
A new teacher arrives and the fifth grade
class gets a lesson in what it feels like
to walk around in somebody else’s skin. Some
of the class big shots learn what it’s like to be
treated like a nobody, and one student who
has been looked down on by the class gets a
chance to feel like somebody.
Comprehension Questions:
What was the first thing that the new teacher did? (pg. 4)
According to Ms. Liang, what have scientists discovered?
(pg. 7)
What flashback does the narrator have in class when she’s trying to think of
something to write? (pg. 11)
Why did Ms. Liang tell students not to sign their names on their first writing
assignment? (pg. 13)
What was the topic for Ms. Liang’s second writing assignment? (pg. 16)
What is the name of the poet who wrote the poem that Ms. Liang put on the
board? (pg. 19)
Preview the story “Punctuation Takes a
Vacation.
What do you think this story is about?
What is bothering Mr. Wright? Why?
Who is upset and why?
What makes this a happy ending?
Reading Across Text
Which character do you think is a stronger, more confident person, Mrs. Granger
in Frindle or Mr. Wright in Punctuation Takes a Vacation?
Understanding setting,
Understanding setting, plot and theme
Interactive Elements of a story