Guiding Comprehension

Text Structure • Inferential

How is Saruni moving toward his goal of getting a bicycle?

He is saving money to buy the bicycle and is practicing by riding his father's bicycle.

Cause and Effect • Inferential

How do the heavy March rains change what Saruni does?

The ground is too muddy for people to go to market. Saruni helps his mother do chores and prune the coffee trees. He also continues to practice riding Murete's bicycle.

Compare and Contrast

• Critical

Text to Self How is Saruni's life like your life? How is it different?

Accept all reasonable answers. Possible similarities: Saruni, like many children, saves for and dreams of owning a bicycle. Possible differences: the weather is different; people make their livings and shop differently.

STRATEGY SELF-CHECK

Story Structure

Tell students to examine the structure of the story to help them summarize and to increase their understanding.
Explain to students that stories are often told in a sequence. The beginning often introduces the characters and setting, as well as a problem. The events that follow show how the character attempts to solve the problem. The end tells whether or not the character was able to solve the problem.
Explain that maps and graphic organizers are tools to help keep track of events. Remind students that they began this process when they started to fill out the chart. Tell them that their graphic organizers should include only events and characters that are important to the story and help "move it along."

SELF-CHECK

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

Did I identify the setting, character(s), and the problem found in beginning of the story?
Did I examine the middle to help explain how the problem was approached?
Did I identify the structure of the text?

then…
revisit the skill lesson on
pp. 116–117. Reteach as necessary.

If… students have difficulty identifying literary elements or story structure,

Character and Setting

Story Structure Have students continue to fill in their graphic organizers to help them identify structure.

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

"My Rows and Piles of Coins"
by Tololwa M. Mollel

Student Edition
Unit 1, pp. 120–134

Realistic fiction is about things that could really happen. Has anything like what happens to Saruni ever happened to you?

I help Yeyo, my mother, on market day. Today she gave me five coins and said, "Saruni, you have been a big help."
I fingered the coins and looked for something to buy. I saw many snacks and toys, and then I saw bicycles. I excitedly ran to them. One was red and blue. I could help Yeyo more if I had that bike. I could run errands if I had a bike. Then I heard a gruff voice shout, "What are you looking at, boy? Get away from my bikes!"
Just then I decided to save all my money until I could buy that bike. I twisted my coins in a cloth. At home, I unwrapped the coins and took out the rest of my money. I arranged all the coins in stacks and counted them. Every week I earned more coins, and every week I stacked and counted them.
At the same time my father, Murete, was teaching me to ride his bicycle. Every night he held it steady as I got on. At first, it wobbled and I could not ride straight. I was learning to ride, but I came dangerously close to crashing when I tried to ride with extra weight on the bike. To carry goods to market on the bike, I had to be able to ride with a load on the back.
Soon I had many coins. Before long I felt like a rich man who could afford a bike. I took my coins to the bike man and pointed to the red and blue bike. He laughed meanly, "You do not have enough coins to buy that bike." Then he laughed at me. I was deeply saddened.
Later Yeyo asked what troubled me. She was surprised that I wanted a bike so I could help her. She said that someday I would own a bike. The next day, Murete came home on an orange motorbike. Murete said that he did not need his bike and would sell it to me. I ran and got my coins. Murete gave me the bike and Yeyo the coins. Then Yeyo handed me the coins. "Am I to keep the coins and the bike?" I asked.
Yeyo and Murete nodded yes. "You are a great help to us!"
Now I put bundles of goods on the bike and walk it to the market. And I think about when I can buy a cart for my bike to pull.

From My Rows and Piles of Coins by Tololwa M. Mollel. Text copyright © 1999 by Tololwa M. Mollel. Reprinted by permission of Clarion Books, a division of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.



	Close
	Access Content Direct students' attention to the word pruned in the final paragraph on p. 127. Tell students that the verb to prune refers to cutting the leaves or branches of a plant or tree in order to keep it healthy and help it grow. PRACTICE LESSON VOCABULARY Students orally respond yes or no to each question and provide a reason for each answer. *Were Saruni's coins arranged* in a special way?** (Yes, they were placed in piles, and the piles were placed in rows.) *Is it important to keep your hand steady* when you are writing?** (Yes, otherwise no one will be able to read your writing.) *Do you think Saruni's bicycle wobbled* after he became a good rider?** (No, he would have learned how to keep the bike steady.) 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.

"My Rows and Piles of Coins" by Tololwa M. Mollel

"My Rows and Piles of Coins"
by Tololwa M. Mollel