Prereading Strategies

	Identify author's purpose to improve comprehension.
	Use story structure to determine author's purpose.

GENRE STUDY

Modern Fairy Tale

The Horned Toad Prince is a modern fairy tale. Remind students that a fairy tale is a short story with magical characters and events. Explain that, unlike traditional fairy tales, a modern fairy tale is set in the present.

PREVIEW AND PREDICT

Have students preview the story title and illustrations and discuss what they think the story will be about and why they think it's called a modern fairy tale. Encourage students to use lesson vocabulary words as they talk about their predictions.

Ask Questions Have students write a question about each of the characters pictured on pp. 92 and 93 in their strategy response logs. Students will answer their questions in the Strategy Response Log activity on p. 99.

Echo Reading, 111a

Writing

Grammar

Fluency

Compound Sentences, 111e

Think and Practice, 111i

Writer's Craft: Know
Your Purpose, 111g

Spelling

Fluency and Language Arts

SET PURPOSE

Direct students' attention to the picture of the girl on p. 92 and the picture of the horned toad on p. 93. Explain that a horned toad is really a horned lizard and can be found in the western United States, Mexico, and Guatemala. Ask students what they want to find out about the girl and the horned toad as they read.

Remind students to think about the author's purpose as they read.

AudioText

Access Content Lead a picture walk to get a sense of the setting of the Southwest: prairie (p. 94), vulture
(p. 95), cowgirl (p. 96). This story contains many words associated with the Southwest, including Spanish.

Consider having students read the selection summary in English or in students' home languages. See the Multilingual Summaries in the ELL Teaching Guide, pp. 26–28.

"The Horned Toad Prince"
by Jackie Mims Hopkins

Student Edition
Unit 1, pp. 92–105

Modern fairy tales are set in modern times. They are stories with magical characters and events.

Reba Jo was a young cowgirl. She loved to play her guitar while the prairie wind whistled through the sagebrush. Sometimes she raced her horse, Flash. But what she loved to do most was rope things. She lassoed cacti, fence posts, and any animal that got in front of her.
One day she rode Flash near a dry riverbed. She saw a vulture perched on a dusty old well, and she started to whirl her rope toward him. Just then the wind blew her hat off and dropped it into the well. She heard a voice ask if she needed help. She looked again and saw a big horned toad in the sand. Again the toad asked if she needed help.
He said he would get her hat for her if she would do three favors for him. He wanted to eat some chili, hear her play her guitar for him, and take a siesta in her sombrero. Reba Jo agreed. She lowered him in a basket to the bottom of the well, and he retrieved her hat. Then, without a thank you, she galloped away. The toad called after her to wait.
Around noon, she was home eating chili. The horned toad tapped at the door. When she saw who it was, she slammed the door in his face. He tapped again, and Reba Jo's father opened it. The horned toad told him why he was there. Her father told her, "If you strike a bargain in these parts, a deal's a deal."
He told the horned toad to come in. Reba Jo had to share her chili. Then she grabbed her guitar and played a lullaby. Just before the horned toad climbed into her hat for a nap, he asked her for a kiss. She shrieked.
He said that if she'd kiss him, he'd be on his way pronto. He gave her his word. So she kissed him.
As she was wiping off her lips, she looked up to see a handsome young caballero (cowboy) standing before her. He told her that many years ago, he had offended the great spirit of the riverbed. The spirit had turned him into a horned toad. He had needed a kiss from a cowgirl to break his spell.
Reba Jo asked him to stay, but he said he had given his word. "A deal's a deal," he said. And he went away forever.



	Close
	Students should set their own purposes for reading. Students may also choose to read something other than the main selection. For a list of titles related to lesson focus or topic, see TR9. Have students use the question on p. 93 of the student edition to set a purpose for reading. Students should think about the story structure of a fairy tale to help them answer this question as they read. Students may also use the chart to set purposes. If you started a chart on p. 90a, students can use it to set a purpose for their reading. They can take notes on how this story is like or unlike other fairy tales as they read. Unit Inquiry Project, 17 Cross-Curricular Centers, 88j–88k Strategy Response Log, 92, 99, 107 Self-Selected Reading, TR38–39 Independent Activities Place English language learners in the groups that correspond to their reading abilities in English. Group Time

"The Horned Toad Prince"by Jackie Mims Hopkins

"The Horned Toad Prince"
by Jackie Mims Hopkins