Scott Foresman Reading Street

Model Fluent Reading

Tell students that often poets use line breaks to show readers where to pause. Then read "Ants" aloud, pausing at the end of each line. Have students picture in their minds what each line describes.

Model Fluent Reading

As you read "The Sure-Footed Shoe Finder" aloud, have students listen for
the sense of the poem. What is it
saying? How does this shoe-finder contraption actually work?

Discuss the Poem
"The Sure-Footed Shoe Finder"

Sequence • Literal

After you put one shoe in the
shoe finder, what does the
machine do?

It uses the first shoe's scent to
find the missing shoe and then retrieve it.

Humor • Critical

Why is this poem funny? What human behaviors or attitudes
does it poke fun at?

Possible responses: It is funny because it describes something
that is impossible. It pokes fun at how people lose things and want a "quick fix."

Discuss the Poem "Ants"

Imagery • Critical

What does your imagination "see" as you read this poem?

Possible responses: ants marching in a line; ants working together to carry objects

Theme • Critical

What important lesson can people learn from ants?

Possible responses: It is best to work together; teamwork gets things done.

Imagery

Explain that imagery is language
that appeals to any of the five senses—sight, smell, hearing, taste, or touch. Writers use imagery to help readers feel as if they have stepped into the world of the poem. In "Ants," for example, the words dead leaves and dead crickets appeal to the reader's sense of sight. They help the reader "see" two objects that ants commonly carry.

Unit 2

Reading Poetry

	Listen and respond to poems.
	Identify how meaning is conveyed through word choice.
	Read poetry fluently.
	Connect ideas and themes across texts.

by Andrea Perry

One and one and one and one
     Dead leaves
     Dead crickets
One ant alone can't pick it
     up
     can't drag this meal to our busy nest
But one and one and one and one
     Together we tow
     Together we know
any time of day this is so:
One and one and one and one
     is the best way
     to get things done

by Marilyn Singer

How many times has this happened to you?
You're late for the school bus and can't find a shoe.
It might take you hours unless you have got
The Sure-Footed Shoe Finder there on the spot!

Just lift up the lever and open the gate,
then toss in the shoe that is missing its mate.
With a beep and a clang and a stagger and lurch,
the Shoe Finder's off on its shoe-finding search.

The powerful Foot-Odor-Sensitive Vent
tracks down your sneaker by matching its scent,
and mere seconds later the shoe is retrieved.
You won't miss the school bus! Now aren't
you relieved?

Most of our customers happen to choose
our standard shoe model for footwear they lose, although the new jumbo Shoe Finder can trace
even those snow boots you children misplace!



	Close
	Have students practice reading aloud "The Sure-Footed Shoe Finder" in groups of four, each student reading one stanza. Point out that, like a television commercial, students' readings must communicate the "product" in a clear and convincing way. When students have finished, have them listen to the AudioText of the poem and compare and contrast their readings with the CD recording. AudioText Have students write their own "one plus one (plus one plus one)" poems. To get students started, ask: "What things are better when they come in sets of two or more? Why?"