Scott Foresman Reading Street

Reader Response

Open for Discussion Personal Response

MODEL I can visualize an older house full of library books. Miss Franny Block, the librarian, is sitting by her desk. She's telling Opal about the bear. Winn-Dixie is lying down by Miss Franny's feet.

Comprehension Check Critical Response

Responses will vary, but should describe a scene from the story and give reasons the scene is prize worthy. Author's Purpose
At first, Miss Franny is afraid of Winn-Dixie because she thinks he is a bear. At the end, she becomes his friend after the dog "smiles" at her.
Sequence
Students should recognize that choices a and c are less important details that are not needed in a summary of the story. Summarize
Possible responses: odd,
strange, weird, unusual.
Vocabulary

Look Back and Write For test practice, assign a 10–15 minute time limit. For assessment, see the rubric on TR23.

Summarize

Have students summarize Because
of Winn-Dixie using the story's illustrations.

Retell

Have students retell Because of Winn-Dixie.

then… use the Scoring Rubric for Retelling below to help move them toward fluent retelling.

If… students have difficulty retelling the story,

Check Retelling

Summarize Imagine you are writing a summary of Because of Winn-Dixie for a book cover. In four or five sentences, tell the most important events.

Check Retelling Have students use the story's illustrations to guide their retellings. Model how to retell the beginning of the story before students do their own retellings. For more ideas on assessing students' retellings, see the ELL and Transition Handbook.

Have them use a student-friendly search engine and the keywords Kate DiCamillo to find out more about the author.

Online Student Edition Snapshot Response with answer key (pdf)

Look Back and Write Winn-Dixie is a dog with talent. What is that talent? Look back at page 32 and then write about Winn-Dixie's talent.

This author has won prizes for her books. Why? Find a part of this story you think could win a prize.

Think about the sequence. What happens to Miss Franny's feelings about Winn-Dixie from the beginning of the story to the end? Why do her feelings change?

When summarizing a story, you only include important details. Which two of the following statements would you leave out of a summary of the story? Why?

b. Miss Franny Block is afraid of Winn-Dixie because she thinks he is a bear.

c. Amanda Wilkinson returns a book to the library.

a. The Herman W. Block Memorial Library is a little old house full of books.

Miss Franny Block describes the bear as having a peculiar smell. What other words might she have used in place of peculiar? Use a thesaurus. Remember that some synonyms will not be appropriate to describe the bear's smell.

Open for Discussion In your mind's eye, see the Herman W. Block Memorial Library. Tell about that place and what happened there.

Reader Response

Read these
books by Kate
DiCamillo.

As a child, Kate DiCamillo was often sick. When Kate was five, a doctor said warm weather would
be better for her health. She and her mother moved
to a small town in Florida. The people were friendly, and Kate loved the way they talked. “I also had a dog
I loved. I spent a lot of time dressing Nanette up—in
a green ballet tutu and then later as a disco dancer.”

The Tiger Rising

The Tale of Despereaux

After college, Ms. DiCamillo moved to Minneapolis
and got a job at a bookstore. She lived in a tiny
apartment and never had enough money. "I wrote
Because of Winn-Dixie because I was homesick for
Florida. Also, my apartment building didn't allow dogs.
So I made up one to keep me company." She got up
at 4:00 every morning to write before going to work.
Since then, Ms. DiCamillo’s life has really changed.
She has now written three award-winning books.

She bought a new home and a new
car. And she no longer has to work
at the bookstore. “I couldn’t have
imagined in my wildest dreams
what’s happened to me!”