Guiding Comprehension

Author's Purpose

• Inferential

Question the Author Preview the story. Why do you think the author wrote it? What clues tell you this?

To entertain. I know this story is a fantasy, and it is about animals. The pictures make the story funny.

then… use the skill and strategy instruction on
p. 231.

If… students are unable to determine why the author wrote the story,

Author's Purpose

Allusion • Critical

Text to Text On p. 231, the author refers to a bet between Hare and a tortoise. What story does this remind you of? What kind of story is it? In one or two sentences, tell what happens in that story.

The Tortoise and the Hare;
a fable; the hare bets a tortoise
he can beat him in a race and
decides he can take his time
running the race because the
tortoise is so slow. The hare
loses because he falls asleep
and is too far behind to catch
up.

Character • Inferential

What is Hare like?

Possible responses: clever;
bad with money.

SKILLS

STRATEGIES IN CONTEXT

Author's Purpose Predict

TEACH

Explain to students that before we read, it is a good idea to look through the selection and try to figure out what it will be about and what the author's purpose for writing was.
Tell students that understanding author's purpose, or the reason an author has for writing, helps us figure out which reading strategies we should use to understand the selection better.
The four main reasons an author has for writing are to persuade, to inform, to entertain, and to express ideas and feelings.

MODEL Before I read, I
looked at the title and the
illustrations. I know this is
an animal fantasy, and the drawings are funny. I think the author wrote this story to entertain. It will be a funny story.

PRACTICE AND ASSESS

Have students predict a message
they will read about in this story.
Remind them to use details from
pp. 230–231 to support their ideas.
To assess, check that their ideas
make sense and are supported by
details from the story.

"Tops & Bottoms"
by Janet Stevens

Student Edition
Unit 2, pp. 228–245

An animal fantasy is a story with animal characters that behave like people. Look for ways that Bear and Hare act like people.

Bear and Hare were neighbors, but their lives were very different. Bear had great wealth and lots of land, but he was lazy and did not plant his fields. Hare was just the opposite. He had no land and was poor. The only things Hare had a lot of were family and energy.
One day Hare had a clever idea. He went to Bear and offered to be business partners. If Bear agreed, Hare would plant Bear's fields, do all the work, and give Bear half the crop. Bear could continue sleeping while Hare worked. This sounded like a truly great idea to Bear, so he agreed.
Hare asked Bear if he wanted the top or bottom of the crops. Bear asked for the tops. Then he went to sleep. Hare and his family got right to work. They planted seeds and made sure the growing plants had water.
When it was time for the harvest, they woke up Bear. "You get the tops and I get the bottoms," Hare said. So he and his family pulled up all the ripe carrots, beets, and radishes. They kept the vegetables and gave Bear the leaves that were on top.
Bear became angry. He said that Hare had cheated him. "Next time I will take the bottoms," he said.
Hare agreed, and he and his family got right to work. They planted seeds and made sure the growing plants had water. Again Bear slept while the crops grew. When it was time for the harvest, Hare went to Bear to wake him up. "You get the bottoms and I get the tops," Hare reminded him. So Hare and his family picked the ripe crops of broccoli, lettuce, and celery. They took the vegetables and gave Bear the roots on the bottom.
Again Bear became very angry and said that Hare had cheated him. "Next time I will take both the tops and the bottoms," he growled.
Hare agreed, and he and his family got right to work. They planted seeds and made sure the growing plants had water. This time Bear was half-awake when it was time for the harvest. Hare and his family were already busily picking the ripe crops of corn. "You get the tops and the bottoms of the cornstalks," Hare said. "We keep the ears of corn, because they are in the middle."
Now Bear was very, very angry. He said that Hare would never cheat him again. But Hare had another clever idea. The Hare family had earned money from the crops they had sold. They would be happy to buy some of Bear's fields.
Bear thought about their offer. He agreed to sell some of his fields.
Now Hare and his family grow crops on their own land, and Bear grows crops on his own land.
Bear learned not to sleep again through a season of planting and harvesting. And though they get along as neighbors, Bear learned another valuable lesson. He would never be partners with Hare again!



	Close
	Understand Idioms Point out the idiom to be in bad shape at the bottom of p. 231. Explain that it means that things are not going well. Point out the context in which it is used to illustrate the meaning. (The Hare family lost their land and money, so now they are poor.) Read students these examples: Mr. Bene owns a home and a business. Mr. Dowde lost his job and had to move out of his house. Ask students, Which person is in bad shape? (Mr. Dowde) Climate Some crops do better in certain climates than others. Oranges, for example, do well in regions such as Florida or Southern California, where temperatures rarely fall below freezing, and there is a lot of sun and rain. (Orange growers in California often have to irrigate, or water, their orange groves because there is not enough water naturally for oranges to do well.) Corn, on the other hand, does well in the Midwestern United States, where summer nights are warm and summer days are hot, and there is consistent rainfall. Many of the crops mentioned in the story, such as potatoes, lettuce, broccoli, and squash, will do well just about anywhere, with little care.

"Tops & Bottoms"by Janet Stevens

"Tops & Bottoms"
by Janet Stevens