Guiding Comprehension

Character • Inferential

What kind of a person is the boy? Why do you think so?

Possible response: He's curious because he wants more knowledge. He has asked many people for help, so he doesn't give up easily. But he's getting upset because it says that his "head buzzed."

Predict • Critical

Reread what the carpenter says on p. 53. Predict what may happen next. Explain your answer.

Possible response: The boy will find the carpenter a wife. Students should explain that their predictions are based on the structure of the story. Each time the boy meets a new person, he is told that he may have something in exchange for something that he then gets from another person.

Summarize • Inferential

How would you summarize the events so far? How does this summary make the boy's problem clear?

Accept all reasonable summaries from students. The summaries should help students understand that the boy's problem is tied to his quest for knowledge.

STRATEGY SELF-CHECK

Summarize

Remind students that good readers summarize what happens as they read a story. Explain that a proper summary includes only the important events in the order they happened. Then ask students to use clue words to list in order the important events of what they have read so far. (Possible response: First, a boy goes to the Grand Master to find knowledge. Then the Grand Master asks for a carpet. Next, the boy goes to a carpetmaker who asks for thread. Then the boy goes to a spinner who asks for goat hair. Later he goes to a goatkeeper who asks for goats. Then the boy finds a goatseller who asks for a pen. Finally, the boy goes to a carpenter who asks for a wife.)

Students can use the sequence of events to help them write a summary of the selection so far. Have them check that their summaries include the important events in order.

SELF-CHECK

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

Did I list the important events?
Did I list these events in the order in which they occurred?
How does my list help me summarize?

then… revisit the skill lesson on pp. 42–43. Reteach as necessary.

If… students have difficulty listing events in order or summarizing,

Sequence

Story Structure Provide the following prompt: Fill in and review your story sequence graphic organizers. Explain how your graphic organizers increase your understanding.

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

"What About Me?"
by Ed Young

Student Edition
Unit 1, pp. 46–59

A fable is a story that teaches a lesson, or moral. What moral does this Selection Snapshot teach?

A young boy wanted knowledge. He asked the Wise One for it. In return, the Wise One wanted a carpet. So the boy went off to get a carpet. He asked a carpetmaker for one, but the carpetmaker needed thread. He told the boy to get him thread, and he would make a carpet. The boy went to the spinner. He told her that he needed thread for the carpetmaker. To make thread, the spinner needed plenty of goat hair. She told the boy to get her some, and she would make thread.

The boy found a man who raised goats, but he had none at the time. He told the boy to get him goats, and he would give the boy goat hair. The boy found a seller of goats, but the goats kept wandering away. The seller needed a pen to keep them from straying. He told the boy to get him a pen, and he would give the boy some goats. The boy asked for help from a carpenter, but the carpenter wanted help too. He wanted to find a wife. Then he would build a pen. The boy went in search of a wife for the carpenter. He asked a matchmaker, but she wanted knowledge in return. He explained that he too wanted knowledge. But he couldn't get it without getting all the other things first. She sent him away.

Many months later the boy was in a busy marketplace. There he saw a merchant who looked very unhappy. The sad merchant said that he had a daughter who would not get married. The boy went to see the daughter. She would not marry anyone but the carpenter she loved. She secretly loved the very carpenter who had promised to build a pen. At last, the boy had found the carpenter a wife.

After the wedding, the carpenter built the pen. The seller gave the boy goats. The man who raised goats gave the boy goat hair. The spinner gave him thread for the carpetmaker, who made a carpet. Now the boy had a carpet for the Wise One. Now he would get knowledge.

To his surprise, the Wise One said that the boy already had knowledge. It came from his experiences. The boy also received help from others because he had helped them. These were the great lessons of the Wise One.

What About Me? by Ed Young. Copyright © by Ed Young, 2002. Published by arrangement with Philomel Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. All rights reserved.



	Close
	Access Content Direct students' attention to the word pen on p. 52. Make sure students understand that pen means "a place to confine animals," in addition to its more common definition as "a writing implement." As an alternative activity, you may wish to have students determine the alternate definition of pen by examining how the word is used. PRACTICE LESSON VOCABULARY Students orally respond yes or no to each question and provide a reason for each answer. Does the boy want knowledge? (Yes, he wants to know something.) Does the Grand Master have plenty of knowledge? (Yes, the Grand Master knows a lot of things.) Why does the carpetmaker need thread? (He needs it to weave a carpet.) 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.

"What About Me?"by Ed Young

"What About Me?"
by Ed Young