Guiding Comprehension

Compare and Contrast

• Inferential

How has Amanda's life changed from the beginning of the story?

Possible response: She is no longer bored; she is in business with her father making pies; she plans to go to school.

Activate/Use Prior

Knowledge • Critical

Text to Self How does the town in which Amanda lives remind you of where you live?

Although answers may vary, encourage students to draw connections between aspects of economic life in Amanda's town and where they live.

Summarize When students finish reading the selection, provide this prompt: Imagine that a friend has asked what Boom Town is about. In four or five sentences, explain its important points.

STRATEGY SELF-CHECK

Activate/Use Prior Knowledge

Remind students that good readers make connections between what they are reading and what they already know.
Encourage students to use what they know to help them better understand what they read.
Ask students to make connections between the content of Boom Town and what they already know about life in their community.
Use Practice Book 3.1, p. 7.

SELF-CHECK

Students can ask 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?

then… revisit the skill and strategy instruction on pp. 12–13.

If… students have difficulty activating and using prior knowledge,

Activate/Use
Prior Knowledge

Practice Book 3.1 p. 7

with | without Answers

"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 fact that a new school was built in Amanda's community. Have students discuss why the new school is important for Amanda and other students in her community. Then have students identify and discuss businesses and institutions in their community that enrich the quality of life for children. PRACTICE LESSON VOCABULARY Have students provide oral responses to each question. When Pa came home from the gold fields every week, he had coins in his pockets. What are coins? (Coins are a type of money.) What is a laundry? (A laundry is a place where people wash clothes.) BUILD CONCEPT VOCABULARY Review previous concept words with students. Ask if students have met 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