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DURING READING
Guiding Comprehension
3 Character • Inferential
How does Miss Franny feel about bears? How do you know?
She is terrified of bears. She is trembling and shaking.
4 Target Skill Sequence • Literal
When did a bear come into the Herman W. Block Memorial Library? What time words tell you when it happened?
It came into the library long ago. The words a long time ago tell you when it happened.
Monitor Progress
then… use the skill and strategy instruction on
p. 27.
If… students are unable to determine when the event happened,
Target Skill Sequence
Tech Files ONLINE
Students can search the Internet to find out more about how bears behave. Have them use a student-friendly search engine and use the keywords bear behavior. Be sure to follow classroom rules for Internet use.
Target Skill SKILLS
STRATEGIES IN CONTEXT
Sequence Summarize
TEACH
Read the second paragraph on p. 27. Have students find the time word clues once and a long time ago. Discuss how these clues help determine sequence. Then model how to summarize the sequence of events in this part of the story.
Think Aloud MODEL Now that I understand the sequence of events in this part of the story, I can summarize what is happening in my own words. Opal helps Miss Franny stand up and Miss Franny acts embarrassed. She says she will tell a story about something that happened a long time ago to explain her reaction to Opal's dog.
PRACTICE AND ASSESS
Have students work in pairs to find the sequence of events on p. 28 in order to write a short summary retelling what happens. To assess, make sure that summaries tell the main events in order and are written in students' own words.
Strategy Response Log
Answer Questions Have students review the questions they wrote at the beginning of the story. (See p. 22.) Provide the following prompt: Have your questions about the story been answered yet? If so, write answers to your questions. Then write a new question about the rest of the story.
If you want to teach this story in two sessions, stop here.
Because of Winn-Dixie

"Because of Winn-Dixie"
by Kate DiCamillo

Student Edition
Unit 1, pp. 22–33

This Snapshot is realistic fiction. It is about characters and events that are like people and events in real life.

Opal Buloni and her father, a preacher, have recently moved to a small town in Florida. Opal's mother has died, and Opal misses her. Soon after they arrive, Opal rescues a big, scruffy dog. She names him Winn-Dixie, after the grocery store where she found him. She convinces her father to let her keep him. She is lonesome.
Winn-Dixie goes everywhere with Opal. He even goes to the Herman W. Block Memorial Library. Opal spends many hours inside reading. She teaches Winn-Dixie to stand on his hind legs and watch her through the window. She gets to know Miss Franny Block, the tiny, old librarian.
One day, while Opal is selecting a book, Miss Franny screams. Opal finds her sitting on the floor behind her desk. She has just seen a bear at the window! Opal tells her that she is positive that it was Winn-Dixie, her dog. Miss Franny breaks a rule and lets him come inside.
Then she begins to tell a story. She recalls Florida when it was wild and woolly. She says she doesn't want to appear prideful, but her daddy was a very rich man. When she was about Opal's age, he gave her her own library. One day she was reading when she saw a shadow. She didn't look up until she noticed a strong, peculiar smell. Then she saw a huge bear right in front of her. She was scared but decided to fight. She threw a big book at the bear, and it went away. But it took the book, she says. And for years she was teased that a bear was somewhere reading a book. Miss Franny stops and says that this was long ago. Most of her friends are gone now.
Miss Franny looks at Winn-Dixie. He sits up and shows her his teeth. She thinks he is smiling at her. Opal says that's one of his talents. She says that maybe she and Miss Franny and Winn-Dixie can all be friends. Miss Franny says that would be grand.
Just then Amanda Wilkinson walks in. She asks for a difficult book to read. She brags that she is an advanced reader. Then she asks why a dog is in the library. Miss Franny looks at Opal and winks. Opal knows that she has made a friend.

Because of Winn-Dixie. Copyright © 2000 by Kate DeCamillo. Reprinted by permission of Candlewick Press, Inc., Cambridge, MA.

Copyright © Pearson Education.

 
   
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Extend Language Point out familiar contractions in the phrases
"That's a dog" or "I'm positive." Help students understand that ma'am
is also a contraction and it means "madam," a polite term used to
address, or speak to, a woman. Reinforce the idea that the apostrophe
in a contraction indicates the omission of one or more letters.
Encourage students to record familiar and unusual contractions and their
meanings in language journals, word lists, or computer files of English
vocabulary.
Target Skill Sequence/Summarize If students have difficulty identifying the sequence of events and using sequence to write a summary, have them work in pairs to continue adding main events to their time lines. Remind them to reread the story if they are having trouble understanding what has happened so far. Partners can work together to write a summary of the story so far and share it with others.
ELL
Strategic Intervention
PRACTICE LESSON VOCABULARY
Students orally respond to each question.
  1. 1. If you are positive that you know something, do you have any
    doubts or are you sure? (You are sure.)
  2. 2. If you are selecting a coat, are you picking it out or putting it
    away? (You are picking it out.)
  3. 3.  If a person recalls a story, does this person have a good
    memory or a bad memory? (The person has a good memory.)
BUILD CONCEPT VOCABULARY
Review previous concept words with students. Ask if students have come across any words today in their reading that they would like to add to the Diversity Concept Web, such as friend and ma'am.
Develop Vocabulary