Guiding Comprehension

Categorize • Inferential

What two categories of
vegetables are mentioned in
the story so far?

Categories: Bottom vegetables: carrots, radishes, beets/Top vegetables: lettuce, broccoli,
celery

Main Idea and Details

• Inferential

Reread pp. 240–241. What are these two pages about?

Hare has tricked Bear again.

then… use the skill and strategy instruction on
p. 241.

If… students have difficulty identifying main idea and details,

Main Idea and

Details

Illustrator's Craft • Critical

Look at the illustrations in the story. What humorous details does the author use in her pictures? What do they tell you about the characters or the story?

Possible response: Bear wears a tie and formal shoes, like a businessman, but the tie is loose around his neck and the shoes are untied, like a businessman who is relaxing. These details are funny, but they also show me how lazy Bear is.

SKILLS
STRATEGIES IN CONTEXT

Main Idea and Details

TEACH

Remind students that in order to understand what the whole story is about, we have to understand what each page is about. The facts and details help us do this.
Model using facts and details to tell what pp. 240–241 are about.

MODEL What are these two pages about? I think they're about Hare tricking Bear again. Bear says that Hare tricked him, so that supports my idea.

PRACTICE AND ASSESS

Have students identify at least one detail that tells more about what pp. 240–241 are about. To assess, check that the detail students have identified supports the main idea of the pages.

Humorous Detail

Tell students that sometimes authors who illustrate their own stories use details in the illustrations that are funny to tell us more about the characters and the story. We can use these details to better understand the story. Point out details, such as the tie and shoes on Bear, that tell us more about Bear or support the idea that he is lazy. Have students look for details in the illustrations that tell us more about Hare and his family.

"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!

"Tops & Bottoms"by Janet Stevens

"Tops & Bottoms"
by Janet Stevens