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DURING READING
Reader Response
Open for Discussion Personal Response
Think Aloud MODEL When the characters complain about their problems because the sky is too low, I'd have the sound of someone hitting their head. I'd also have a ball bounce onstage and then disappear.
Comprehension Check Critical Response
  1. The narrator talks at the beginning of the play, at the beginning of Scene II, and at the end of Scene III. The author includes a narrator to explain events.Target Skill Author's Purpose
  2. Possible response: The author wanted us to think about nature and the effects of our actions on it. Target Skill Author's Purpose
  3. Possible response: Pushing Up the Sky is a play about people having problems because the sky is too low. They all work together to push up the sky.
    Target Skill Summarize
  4. Possible responses: props, scenery, costumes, scene, act Target Skill Vocabulary
TEST PRACTICELook Back and Write For test practice, assign
a 10–15 minute time
limit. For assessment,
see the Scoring Rubric at the right.
Retell
Have students retell Pushing Up the Sky.
SUCCESS PREDICTOR
Monitor Progress
then… use the Retelling Cards and the Scoring Rubric for Retelling on
p. 321 to assist fluent retelling.
If… students have difficulty retelling the selection,
Check Retelling Rubric
 
ELL
Check Retelling Have students use illustrations and other text features to guide their retellings. Let students listen to other retellings before attempting their own. See the ELL and Transition Handbook.
Write Now
Look at the Prompt Explain that each sentence in the prompt has a purpose.
  • Sentence 1 presents a topic.
  • Sentence 2 suggests students think about the topic.
  • Sentence 3 tells what to write—a skit.
Strategies to Develop Conventions
Have students
  • skim two or three plays or skits and discuss the conventions. (Dialogue does not appear in quotes. Speakers' names and stage directions are set apart.)
  • read a skit aloud.
For additional suggestions and rubric, see pp. 329g–329h.
Writer's Checklist
  • Focus Do all sentences tell what a character says or does?
  • Organization Are characters' speeches arranged so that actions take place in order?
  • Support Do characters' speeches give important information or move the plot along?
  • Conventions Are play conventions used correctly?
Retelling: SUCCESS PREDICTOR
Reader Response
Open for Discussion Stage directors use sound effects and movements to help a play seem real for the audience. What sound effects and movements would you put into this play to help it seem real?
1.
When does the narrator talk in this play? Why do you think the author includes a narrator? Think Like an Author
The author's purpose is the writer's reason for writing. Give one important purpose the author might have for writing Pushing Up the Sky. Author's Purpose
If someone asked you what Pushing Up the Sky is about, how would you summarize it for them? Think about the problem the tribes have and how they solve it to help with your summary. Summarize
Narrator is a word that often appears in plays. What other words in the story are "play words"? Vocabulary
4.
2.
3.
Look Back and Write How does this play explain something in nature? Write what it is and how the people explained it. Use details from the play to support your answer.
Meet author Joseph Bruchac on page 413.
TEST PRACTICE
Write Now: Skit
Prompt
Correct use of
conventions (spelling,
capitalization,
punctuation, grammar)
makes a skit easy to
read.
Writing Trait
Pushing Up the Sky tells about people
working together to do something important.
Think about a real or imaginary time when
a group worked together.
Now write a skit about that time.
Narrator
sets the
scene.
Student Model
Student Model
Writer uses
conventions for
skits: characters'
names are
capitalized and
followed by
colons. Stage
directions are
underlined and
in parentheses.
Use this model to help you write your own skit.
 
   
Close  
Scoring Rubric
Look Back and Write
Top-Score Response A top-score response will use details from the play to tell what the play explains and how the people in the play
explain it.
Example of a Top-Score Response The play tells how stars were formed. The sky was too low. The Snohomish people used sticks to push it up. The sticks poked many holes into the clouds. Light shines through the holes at night. These bright holes in the sky are the stars.
For additional rubrics, see p. WA10.
Scoring Rubric    Narrative Retelling
Rubric 4 3 2 1
Connections
Makes connections and generalizes beyond the text
Makes connections
to other events, stories, or experiences
Makes a limited connection to
another event, story, or experience
Makes no
connection to
another event, story, or experience
Author's
Purpose
Elaborates on author's purpose
Tells author's purpose with some clarity
Makes some connection to author's purpose
Makes no
connection to
author's purpose
Characters
Describes the main character(s) and any character development
Identifies the main character(s) and gives some information about them
Inaccurately identifies some characters or gives little
information about them
Inaccurately
identifies the characters or gives no information
about them
Setting
Describes the time and location
Identifies the time and location
Omits details of time or location
Is unable to identify time or location
Plot
Describes the problem, goal, events, and ending using rich detail
Tells the problem, goal, events, and ending with some errors that do not affect meaning
Tells parts of the problem, goal, events, and ending with gaps that affect meaning
Retelling has no sense of story
Selection Test To assess with Pushing Up the Sky, use Selection Tests, pp. 45–48.
Fresh Reads for Differentiated Test Practice For weekly leveled practice, use pp. 67–72.
Retelling Plan
  • Week 1 Assess Strategic Intervention students.
  • This week assess Advanced students.
  • Week 3 Assess Strategic Intervention students.
  • Week 4 Assess On-Level students.
  • Week 5 Assess any students you have not yet checked during this unit.
Use the Retelling Chart on
p. TR16 to record retelling.