Guiding Comprehension

Realism and Fantasy

• Inferential

In what ways is A Day's Work a realistic story so far?

Possible response: The people in the story do and say things like people I know.

then… use the skill and strategy instruction
on p. 183.

If… students have difficulty telling how the story is realistic,

Realism and Fantasy

Draw Conclusions • Inferential

How do you think Francisco feels as he jumps into the van after getting the job for his grandfather and himself?

Possible responses: Proud of himself, sure of himself.

Compare and Contrast

• Critical

Text to Text In what ways is A Day's Work like other realistic stories you have read?

Responses will vary; check that students' responses cite details that support their judgment that these stories are realistic.

SKILLS
STRATEGIES IN CONTEXT

Realism and Fantasy

TEACH

Remind students that although realism is fiction, the people and events in the story seem real. A realistic story tells about something that could happen.
Point out that details in the story show whether or not it is realistic and in what ways.

MODEL The first thing I
want to do is look at the details. Francisco runs through the crowd and starts talking to the driver of the van, a young man with a mustache and a baseball cap. They talk about the work to be done and the pay, and then they drive off. These things could happen, and the characters talk and act like real people. This is a realistic story.

PRACTICE AND ASSESS

Have students think of some details that would make this story a fantasy. To assess, check that students' ideas could not happen and are not realistic.
To assess, use Practice Book 3.1, p. 66.

Practice Book 3.1 p. 66

with | without Answers

"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
	Careers Do you like digging in the dirt and planting flowers and vegetables? Then you might like to be a gardener when you grow up. You can go to school to become a Master Gardener. Master Gardeners often work for their state's government, answering questions about plants, bugs and pests, gardening, and landscaping. They run 4-H Club programs for children and help teachers with gardening programs in the schools. To become a Master Gardener, you have to be a good gardener, of course, but you also have to be comfortable speaking in public and working with all kinds of people; to read and write well; and to give people information they can understand and use. To get your certificate as a Master Gardener, you have to take classes and pass an exam. Then you can get paid for digging in the dirt and planting flowers and vegetables!

"A Day's Work"by Eve Bunting

"A Day's Work"
by Eve Bunting