Guiding Comprehension

Vocabulary • Context Clues

Use context clues to find the
meaning of the word coins on
p. 26.

Clues: coins jangled in Pa's pocket; Pa is paid for the pie and comes home with coins in his pocket. Meaning: a type of money.

Cause and Effect

• Inferential

Why do you think Ma does not want to open a bakery herself?

Possible responses: Amanda is the person who actually makes the pies; Ma is having a baby, so she is too busy to start a bakery.

Activate/Use Prior

Knowledge • Critical

Text to Self Amanda is a child who helps make money for her family. Have you ever sold anything to make money?

Accept all reasonable responses.

STRATEGY SELF-CHECK

Activate/Use Prior Knowledge

Have students review what they have read so far. Ask them to use prior knowledge to help confirm that Boom Town is a type of realistic story. (Possible responses: Amanda's experience of moving is like that of real children moving to a new place.)

Have students reread the last two paragraphs on p. 27. Ask them to explain how the actions described remind them of other businesses. (Students should explain that Amanda's business is like some small businesses where family members often pitch in to help.)

SELF-CHECK

Students can ask themselves these questions to assess their ability to use the skill and strategy.

Did I make any connections between what I just read and what I already know?
How does using what I know help me to be a better reader?
How can I use what I know to help me judge if I am reading a fantasy or a realistic story?

then… revisit the skill lesson
on pp. 12–13.

If… students have difficulty using prior knowledge to identify the story as realism or fantasy,

Realism/Fantasy

Answer Questions Look back at the questions you wrote for p. 16. Can you answer any of the questions? Write the answers.

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

"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 Remind students that Amanda is a young girl who begins a business. Then have students discuss the types of businesses they may have considered starting on their own. Have them also list the different types of jobs young people often perform for money, such as washing cars, mowing lawns, or babysitting. PRACTICE LESSON VOCABULARY Have students provide oral responses to each question. What did Amanda's brothers do when they fetched the water? (They got the water.) What is a skillet? (A skillet is a type of pan used for cooking.) While waiting for a pie to cool, Amanda does some mending. What did she do? (She fixes something.) 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 Concept Web.

"Boom Town!"by Sonia Levitin

"Boom Town!"
by Sonia Levitin