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The Gardener
Below-Level Reader
Gardening with
Grandpa
Gardening with Grandpa
Unit 3 Week 1
Target Skill CAUSE AND EFFECT
Target Skill TEXT STRUCTURE
LESSON VOCABULARY beauty, blooming,
bulbs, doze, humor, recognizing, showers,
sprouting
ELL Ask students to make sentences using a cause, a clue word, and
an effect. If students need more help, supply the causes, effects, and clue
words for them to apply.
SUMMARY In this story, a grandfather shows his granddaughters how to
garden. Students learn about planting and caring for a garden.
INTRODUCE THE BOOK
BUILD BACKGROUND Discuss with students whether they have ever seen
seeds or bulbs or have planted anything.
PREVIEW/USE ILLUSTRATIONS Have students look at the illustrations. Ask:
What do the pictures make you think about?
TEACH/REVIEW VOCABULARY Review vocabulary words with students, and
then play a game of hangman. As students guess the word, have them use it
in a sentence.
TARGET SKILL AND STRATEGY
Target Skill CAUSE AND EFFECT Remind students that cause is why something
happened, and effect is what happened. Remind students that clue words
such as because, so, and since can help determine cause and effect. Give
students ten events and ask them which event is a cause and which is an
effect.
ELL Ask students to make sentences using a cause, a clue word, and
an effect. If students need more help, supply the causes, effects, and clue
words for them to apply.
Target Skill TEXT STRUCTURE Remind students that text structure is the way a story
is told and that fiction usually tells things in sequence. Go over a story students have already read and map the chain of events. Remind them that as they read this selection, they should map out the chain of events in a graphic organizer.
READ THE BOOK
Use the following questions to support comprehension.
PAGE 5 What did Gramps tell the girls would happen if they planted a bulb
now? (Tulips would bloom in the spring.)
PAGES 7–8 What was the sequence for growing things in the garden?
(The girls ordered seeds and bulbs, planted them, and then plants grew.)
PAGE 9 Why was a Venus Flytrap a good plant for a garden?
(It caught insects.)
PAGE 11 Who got makeovers in this story? (the garden and the girls
who became gardeners)
TALK ABOUT THE BOOK
READER RESPONSE
  1. They were bored. They planted seeds and bulbs in Gramps’s garden,
    and they became interested.
  2. a hair makeover at the beginning, and a gardener makeover at the end
  3. Responses will vary but could include, light, water, beautiful plants,
    and tasty vegetables.
  4. It was fun to see that what they had planted had bloomed.
RESPONSE OPTIONS
WRITING Invite students to write postcards to their
friends describing Gramps’s garden.
TIME FOR Science
CONTENT CONNECTIONS
SCIENCE Have students grow bean plants from seeds in the classroom. Make a chart for students to track growth, sunlight, and watering.
 
   
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Cause and Effect
Cause and Effect
Vocabulary
Vocabulary