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DURING READING
Guiding Comprehension
14 Target Skill Story Structure • Inferential
Review the story's structure. Are you surprised that Surani gets a bicycle?
Possible responses: I am not surprised because the story shows him working hard from the beginning. I am surprised because I knew it would take him a long time to save the money.
15 REVIEW Realism and Fantasy
• Critical
Text to Self Do you think that what happened to Saruni at the end of the story could happen in real life? Does it remind you of anything that happened to you or one of your friends?
Possible response: I think that could happen in real life. I know sometimes parents reward kids for working hard and thinking of others.
Monitor Progress
then… use the skill and strategy instruction on
p. 133.
If… students have difficulty determining whether the story is realistic,
REVIEW Realism and Fantasy
SKILLS
STRATEGIES IN CONTEXT
Realism and Fantasy REVIEW
TEACH
  • Stress that while both fantasies and realistic stories are made up, only realistic stories are based on things that could actually happen. Encourage students to cite other examples of realistic stories and fantasies to help them comprehend fully the distinction between the two.
  • Model how a reader determines
    that this is a realistic story.
Think Aloud MODEL When I think about the events of the story, I find that each event is an example of something that could actually happen. The setting seems very realistic, as do the actions of the characters. All of this helps me understand that the story is an example of realistic fiction.
PRACTICE AND ASSESS
  • Have students recall the events of the selection.
  • Have them draw real-life comparisons to specific events that take place in the story.
Strategy Response Log
Summarize When students finish reading the selection, provide this prompt: Imagine that you want to tell a friend what My Rows and Piles of Coins is about. In four or five sentences, explain its important points.
My Rows and Piles of Coins

"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.

Copyright © Pearson Education.

 
   
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ELL
Understanding Idioms Direct students' attention to the idiomatic phrase cut the engine on p. 132. Explain that this phrase means "to turn off an engine."