Guiding Comprehension

Vocabulary • Context Clues

Use context clues to find the meaning of the word skillet in the second paragraph on p. 22.

Clues: made of iron, used to cook a pie; shown in picture on p. 23. Meaning: a type of cooking pan.

then… use the vocabulary strategy instruction on
p. 23.

If… students have difficulty using context clues to determine the meaning of skillet,

Context Clues

Details • Literal

Where does Amanda find the gooseberries to make her pie?

She finds the gooseberries growing on bushes near town.

Cause and Effect • Inferential

Why do Amanda's brothers whoop and slap their sides?

They think it is funny that
Amanda's pie is burnt and hard
as a rock.

VOCABULARY STRATEGY

Context Clues

TEACH

Explain to students that they can help themselves understand unfamiliar words by using context clues.
Tell students to scan for context clues within a sentence, a paragraph, or even among visual elements such as drawings or photographs.
Read the first two paragraphs on p. 22. Model using context clues to determine the meaning of skillet.

MODEL The first sentence tells me that Amanda wants to bake a pie, but she does not have a pan. Then she pokes around a big box of stuff looking to find something. Clearly, she is looking for something she can use to bake the pie. She finds a skillet made of iron. I know that many cooking pans are made out of iron. The picture of the skillet on p. 23 also looks like a type of cooking pan. All of these clues help me figure out that a skillet is a type of cooking pan.

PRACTICE AND ASSESS

Have students use context clues to determine the meaning on p. 22 of crust. (the outside part of a pie) Students should note that the crust is to be filled with gooseberries and that the crust is rolled out flat.

"Boom Town!"
by Sonia Levitin

Student Edition
Unit 1, pp. 16–35

Historical fiction is a made-up story that takes place in the past. Can you tell when this Selection Snapshot took place? What clues can you use?

A stagecoach carried Ma, my brothers, Baby Betsy, and me, Amanda, to California. Pa was already here. He was working in the gold fields. Every day he swung a pick and panned for gold. Ma said that she wasn't going to raise her family in a gold field. So we lived in town, and Dad stayed in the fields.

Town was little more than a couple of cabins. It was a small, lonely place. Every day was the same. I fetched water and helped clean and cook. I helped with the mending. We always had something that needed to be sewed. We worked hard all week. But we all looked forward to the weekend. That's when Pa came home.

One day I had a hankering for pie. Now, we didn't have a proper oven or pie tins. But I found a skillet. I put the pie in that old frying pan and baked it in the wood stove. Pa really liked it. He took some back to the fields. Guess what happened. The next weekend Pa came home with coins. He did not strike gold. He had sold pieces of my pie! Soon we had a business going. I made pies, and Pa sold them.

One day, a peddler stopped by. I bought some pie tins and a bucket. I told the peddler that people in town needed lots of things. We didn't have a store. So he opened one. He did real well too.

Then one day a man came to town looking for someone to wash his clothes. But our town did not have a laundry. I told him he could make a lot of money if he opened one. And that's just what he did.

Then a cowboy came by. He was tired and wanted to rest for a spell. He needed a place to keep his horse. But we didn't have a stable in town. I told him he should open one. And that's just what he did.

Well, more and more people came to town. Soon the town had a hotel and a cafe. Then a bank opened. The town even built a school. Pa took over my pie business. Now he stays in town baking pies. I help him when I'm not in school. Our town is no longer a small, lonely place. It's a lively boom town!



	Close
	Activate Prior Knowledge Direct students' attention to the third paragraph on p. 22 to find the list of ingredients that Amanda uses to bake her pie. Explain that in the past, all dishes were made "from scratch" out of raw ingredients. Invite students to share recipes for special dishes they or their parents prepare at home that are made from scratch. Plants The gooseberry grows well in the wild but also grows in gardens. People in northern Europe have long eaten ripe gooseberries and used them to make jellies, preserves, and pies. Not all plants still grow as well in the wild as gooseberries do. In fact, due to continuous farming, certain plants no longer grow at all in the wild. For instance, people have grown corn for so many years that it no longer grows on its own.

"Boom Town!"by Sonia Levitin

"Boom Town!"
by Sonia Levitin