Guiding Comprehension

Cause and Effect • Literal

How did Reba Jo's hat end up in the well?

The wind blew it off her head.

then… use the skill and strategy instruction on p. 97.

If… students have difficulty identifying the sequence of events,

Sequence

Predict • Critical

What do you think will happen next?

Possible response: The horned
toad might try to help Reba Jo get her hat.

Students can search an online encyclopedia or the Internet to
find factual information about
story elements. Suggest they
use a student-friendly search
engine and keywords based
on story details such as cowgirls,
horned toads, or vultures for their
search. Be sure to follow
classroom rules for Internet use.

Sequence • Literal

What did Reba Jo do after her hat fell off?

She looked into the well and started to cry.

SKILLS

STRATEGIES IN CONTEXT

Sequence

TEACH

To understand the story, readers need to understand the sequence, or order, in which things happen.
Some stories use clue words, such as first, next, and finally.
Use p. 96 to model identifying sequence.

MODEL I read that as Reba
Jo whirls her lasso, a wind
blows her hat off her head
and into the well. The word
as tells me these actions happen at
the same time, and I can picture the
wind blowing something away. The
next paragraph tells me Reba Jo
goes to the well, looks in it, and starts crying. That order makes sense. After she loses her hat, she looks for it in the well, gets upset, and starts crying.

PRACTICE AND ASSESS

Have students read the first two paragraphs on p. 97 and tell what happens next in the story. (A horned toad appears and asks Reba Jo what is wrong. She tells him she lost her hat.)
To assess, use Practice Book
p. 36.

Practice Book p. 36

with | without Answers

"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
	Context Clues Help students use context to figure out regionalisms. For example, peck of trouble (p. 97, paragraph 2) means "a lot of trouble." Encourage students to record U.S. regionalisms and their meanings in language journals, word lists, or computer files of English vocabulary. Sequence List the story events to this point in random order on the board. Work with small groups of students to review the text and illustrations and put the story events in the order in which they occurred.

"The Horned Toad Prince"by Jackie Mims Hopkins

"The Horned Toad Prince"
by Jackie Mims Hopkins