Scott Foresman Reading Street

Literature
in Reading

Examine features of a myth.
Practice a test-taking strategy.
Compare and contrast across texts.

PREVIEW

Have students preview "Catch It
and Run!" and tell what they think the story will be about. Remind them to use the illustrations to help them. After they preview, ask:

What event in nature do you
think this myth will be about? (fire)

Link to Reading

Help students use a library database to locate other myths. Have them write a brief summary of a myth of their choosing to share with the class.

Whole Group Discuss the Question of the Day.

Group Time
Differentiated Instruction

"Catch It and Run."
See pp. 304f–304g for the
small group lesson plan.

Reading

Language Arts
Use pp. 329e–329h and
329k–329m.

Whole Group Use pp. 329a
and 329j.

Grouping Options

MYTH

Use the sidebar on p. 322 to guide
discussion.

Before people could write, they
told stories. These stories are
known today as myths. Myths
often explain events in nature.
In myths, characters are often
animals or personifications of
natural forces such as wind or rain. The plot is usually simple and revolves around one or perhaps a few events linked to the characters. The setting is usually generic.
Have students take notes about the animal characters of "Catch It and Run!" as they are reading. Direct them to pay particular attention to how the characters look or act. Then discuss in what ways the characters are representative of animals of that kind.

AudioText

People had no fire and were cold and hungry all winter.

Activate Prior Knowledge Have students discuss what they know about coyotes, deer, chipmunks, frogs, and squirrels. In their discussion, direct them to think about what these animals look like and how they behave.

The animal characters
act like people. They
can talk and think.

Myths often explore
events in nature.

Myths are old stories
that have been told
orally for generations.

Genre

Myth

from When the World Was Young
retold by Margaret Mayo
illustrated by Richard Downs

Look in the library for
other myths about nature.
Share these stories with
your class.

Link to Reading

Explain the problem that has been introduced.

Summarize

Now Coyote, who is wise, knew about fire, and
one year, at winter’s end, when he saw how cold and
miserable the people were, he decided to steal some
fire and give it to them. But how would he do it?

The author capitalizes
each animal’s name.
This way, one character
represents all the
animals of that kind.
As you read, look for
how the author uses
that one character
to show why all the
animals of its kind
look a certain way.

A long, long time ago, all fire belonged to three
Fire Beings who kept it hidden in their tepee, high on a
mountaintop. They would not share the fire with anyone
and guarded it carefully, night and day. So, when winter
came and the fierce winds howled and snow covered the
earth, men, women, and children had no way of warming
themselves. No fire. No hot food. Nothing at all.

tepee

a house made of animal skins, shaped like a large cone, that
early Native American Plains Indians lived in

Fire

Fire often occurs on its own in nature, from lightning or
volcanic eruptions. The dry, dense underbrush is ignited. We're
not exactly sure how and when people learned to "capture and tame"
fire, but we think it began many, many years ago when somebody
brought a lit branch from a natural fire back to their campsite. The fire had to be watched closely day and night because people did not
know how to start it again. In fact, because of this, when people
moved from place to place, they carried lit branches with them.
Fire can be destructive, but people soon realized its importance. It
provided warmth, it often kept wild animals away, it was used for
cooking, and, because of its light, it was a way an entire group could
come together to plan hunting trips or tell stories at the end of the
day. Soon people learned to start their own fires by rubbing sticks
together or chipping flint stones to create sparks.