Prereading Strategies

	Identify and understand character and characterization.
	Visualize to understand character and characterization.

GENRE STUDY

Realistic Fiction

A Day's Work is realistic fiction. Explain that in realistic fiction, the characters are like real people, and the events and actions in the story could happen.

PREVIEW AND PREDICT

Have students preview the selection title and illustrations, and discuss the topics or ideas they think this selection will cover. Encourage students to use lesson vocabulary as they talk about what they expect to learn.

Generate Questions Have students write their questions in their strategy response logs. Students will answer their questions in the Strategy Response Log activity on p. 185.

SET PURPOSE

Read the first page of the selection aloud to students. Have them consider their preview discussion and read on to find out what happens to Francisco and his grandfather.

Remind students to read to understand characters and to visualize as they read.

STRATEGY RECALL

Students have now used these
before-reading strategies:

preview the selection to be
aware of its genre, features,
and possible content;
activate prior knowledge about
that content and what to expect
of that genre;
make predictions;
set a purpose for reading.

Remind students that, as they read, they should monitor their own comprehension. If they realize something does not make sense, they can regain their comprehension by using fix-up strategies they have learned, such as:

use phonics and word structure to decode new words;
use context clues or a dictionary to figure out meanings of new words;
adjust their reading rate—slow down for difficult text, speed up for easy or familiar text, or skim and scan just for specific information;
reread parts of the text;
read on (continue to read for clarification);
use text features such as headings, subheadings, charts, illustrations, and so on as visual aids to comprehension;
make a graphic organizer or a semantic organizer to aid comprehension;
use reference sources, such as an encyclopedia, dictionary, thesaurus, or synonym finder;
use another person, such as a teacher, a peer, a librarian, or an outside expert, as a resource.

After reading, students will use these
strategies:

summarize or retell the text;
answer questions they or
others pose;
reflect to make new information
become part of their prior
knowledge.

AudioText

"A Day's Work"
by Eve Bunting

Student Edition
Unit 2, pp. 178–191

This Snapshot is a story that could really happen.
It is realistic fiction.

Francisco and his abuelo (grandfather) shivered in the early morning air. They were waiting to be chosen to work for the day. Trucks and vans drove by the parking lot.
Francisco's grandfather had just moved from Mexico. He came because Francisco's father had died, and Francisco and his mother were alone. Francisco was with his abuelo today to translate from Spanish into English for him.
A van marked "Benjamin's Gardening" drove up. Francisco ran to be first in line. He motioned toward his grandfather and showed Benjamin his excitement. He called, "You will get two for one."
Ben told Francisco and his abuelo to climb in the back. He would pay them $60 for their work, he said.
Abuelo, in Spanish, said that he didn't know a thing about gardening. He was a carpenter. But Francisco told him gardening is easy. When the van stopped, Ben said they were to weed a big bank of land. He would come back for them at 3:00 p.m.
Francisco pulled up a spiky plant and showed Abuelo. "Just do this," Francisco said. They left the flowers where they were. They worked fast and hard in the hot sun. They had the lunch and water Mama had packed. Francisco thought of how proud she would be. Sixty dollars could buy many things.
He and Abuelo finished pulling all of the weeds. They sat down to wait for Ben.
When he came, he looked at the bank and was shocked. He grew angry and slammed his cap against the van. They had pulled out the good plants and left the weeds!
Abuelo knew something was very wrong. He told Francisco with anger and sadness that the man had hired them on a lie. They knew nothing about gardening.
He told Francisco to tell Ben that they would come back the next day and do the job right. So Francisco told Ben what his grandfather had said. If they came early the plants would survive. They would replant them all and pull out the weeds they had left.
Ben said he would pick them up the next morning. Abuelo let Ben know they wouldn't accept money until they finished the job. And Ben told Francisco that he could use a good man for more than one day's work as a gardener.
Abuelo already knew the most important things about life, Ben said.



	Close
	Activate Prior Knowledge Have students talk together about their experiences, or their families' experiences, as immigrants to the United States. They can use this discussion to think about what will happen to the characters in the story. Consider having students read the selection summary in English or in students' home languages. See the Multilingual Summaries in the ELL Teaching Guide, pp. 47–49.

"A Day's Work"by Eve Bunting

"A Day's Work"
by Eve Bunting