Guiding Comprehension

Draw Conclusions • Critical

Why would the grandfather leave a place he loved so much?

He missed his homeland too much to stay in the United States.

Cause and Effect • Inferential

Why did the grandfather buy a large house in the city?

Possible response: His daughter was accustomed to life in a big city because she had been raised in San Francisco. He wanted her to be comfortable.

Sequence • Inferential

Tell in order the important events in this story so far.

Possible response: The narrator's grandfather left Japan as a young man. He traveled in North America. He returned to Japan to marry. He came back and settled in California. He had a daughter. His daughter grew up. He took his family back to Japan with him.

then… use the skill and strategy instruction on
p. 77.

If… students have difficulty recalling important story events in order,

Graphic Sources

SKILLS

STRATEGIES IN CONTEXT

Sequence
Graphic Organizers

TEACH

Remind students to use clue words to help them keep track of story events.
Point out that a time line will help them organize story events in time order. Model creating a time line.
Work with students to add other story events to the time line.

MODEL I look back through the story for clues to when things happened. I read that the grandfather left Japan as "a young man," so I'm going to write that on the first line. It says that "after a time" he went back to Japan and got married. Then he returned to San Francisco, where he and his wife had a baby girl. I write these events in that order on the time line.

PRACTICE AND ASSESS

Have students look at the time line and answer questions such as these: Did the grandfather buy a house in Japan before or after his daughter was born? (After; he returned to Japan when his daughter was "nearly grown.")

Update Graphic Organizer Have students review the Tchart they began before reading the story. (See p. 70.) Have them add ideas based on what they've read so far.

If you want to teach this selection in two sessions, stop here.

"Grandfather's Journey"
by Allen Say

Student Edition
Unit 1, pp. 70–81

In historical fiction, which is set in the past, some details are factual while others are made up or are loosely based on history.

Grandfather left Japan when he was a young man. He took a steamship and did not see land for three weeks, until they docked in the New World. On his own, he traveled through the United States. He saw many beautiful sights. He was amazed by rocks in the desert that looked like enormous sculptures. He was bewildered and excited by huge cities with factories and towering buildings. He met many new people of all types.
He liked California best. He loved the sunlight, the mountains, and the seacoast. He returned to his homeland and married his childhood sweetheart. Together they moved near San Francisco Bay and had a baby girl. But, as she grew older, Grandfather began to think of his own childhood in Japan. He longed for the mountains and rivers of his childhood. Finally, when the daughter was nearly grown, the family moved back to Japan. They moved to a city near his childhood village.
The daughter fell in love, married, and had a son. When the boy was young, he loved to go to his Grandfather's house to hear his stories about California. Grandfather wanted to go back to visit the mountains and rivers he remembered.
But World War II came. The grandparents' city was bombed, and they returned to the village of their childhood. Grandfather died before he could go to see California.
When the grandson was a young man, he left Japan to see California for himself. He grew to love his new country and stayed until he had a daughter of his own. But then he began to miss the mountains and rivers of his own childhood. He went back to Japan, but now he lives in the United States. Sometimes, though, he cannot still his homesickness for Japan. When he returns there, he grows homesick for the United States. Now he feels that he understands his grandfather, and he misses him.



	Close
	Sequence/Graphic Organizers In a group, have students draw pictures to represent important story events. Shuffle the pictures and let the group work together to put them in order. Creative Thinking Have students pretend to be the daughter writing a letter to a friend she left behind in San Francisco. Extend Language Students can infer meaning by breaking a word into its smaller parts. Childhood (p. 76, paragraph 1) can be broken into child + hood. The suffix -hood means "the state of," so childhood means "state of being a child." Have students analyze songbirds (p. 76, paragraph 2) and homeland (p. 76, paragraph 3) the same way. PRACTICE LESSON VOCABULARY Students orally respond to each question. *1. Is a towering* tree tall or short?** (Tall) *2. Would you be amazed* by a barking dog or a talking frog?** (Talking frog) 3. If you were bewildered by a question, would the question be clear or confusing? (Confusing) BUILD CONCEPT VOCABULARY Review previous concept words with students. Ask if students have come across any words today in their reading or elsewhere that they would like to add to the Traveling America Concept Web, such as train and riverboat.

"Grandfather's Journey"by Allen Say

"Grandfather's Journey"
by Allen Say