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BEFORE READING
Prereading Strategies
OBJECTIVES
Target Skill Identify cause and effect.
Target Skill Use cause and effect to answer questions.
GENRE STUDY
Fantasy
Wings is a fantasy. Explain that fantasies are about things that could not happen.
PREVIEW AND PREDICT
Have students preview the selection title and illustrations and tell what they think the story will be about. Encourage students to use lesson vocabulary as they talk about what they expect to learn.
Strategy Response Log
Generate Questions Have students write their questions in their strategy response logs. Students will record their answers in the Strategy Response Log activity on p. 23.
SET PURPOSE
Allow students to read through the selection once simply to enjoy the story, then go back and reread for skill and strategy practice and instruction.
Remind students to look for causes and effects as they read.
STRATEGY RECALL
Students have now used these before-reading strategies:
  • preview the selection to be aware of its genre, features, and possible content;
  • activate prior knowledge about that content and what to expect of that genre;
  • make predictions;
  • set a purpose for reading.
Remind students to be aware of and flexibly use the during-reading strategies they have learned:
  • link prior knowledge to new information;
  • summarize text they have read so far;
  • ask clarifying questions;
  • answer questions they or others pose;
  • check their predictions and either refine them or make new predictions;
  • recognize the text structure the author is using, and use that knowledge to make predictions and increase comprehension;
  • visualize what the author is describing;
  • monitor their comprehension and use fix-up strategies.
After reading, students will use these strategies:
  • summarize or retell the text;
  • answer questions they or others pose;
  • reflect to make new information become part of their prior knowledge.
Audio CD AudioText
WINGS

"Wings"
by Christopher Myers

Student Edition
Unit 4, pp. 16–27

A fantasy is a story in which unbelievable things happen. What happens to make this Selection Snapshot a fantasy?

Ikarus Jackson is a new boy on my block. He has wings and can fly. I have seen him swooping down toward the ground and soaring up into the sky. I have watched him looping in big circles above the rooftops. Ikarus Jackson is wonderful.
Yet the kids at school didn't think so. They talked about him because he was different. They made fun of his wings, and they laughed at his hair and shoes. I felt bad for Ikarus because I knew how it felt to be singled out by the other kids.
They talk about me because I am quiet. This has made me feel lonely and sad, and I could tell that Ikarus felt the same way.
Even our teacher complained about Ikarus. He once sent Ikarus out of the room, saying the other students couldn't pay attention with him and his wings around.
In the schoolyard, kids pointed at Ikarus and made fun of him. I heard a snicker from one kid and a giggle from another. Soon everyone was laughing at Ikarus. They said his wings were useless.
At first, Ikarus struggled to keep from crying. Then he just looked up, flapped his feathers, jumped into the air, and began flying up higher and higher.
I thought people would be amazed, but their glaring looks told me differently. They said that Ikarus was nothing but a show-off.
Then Ikarus began drifting down toward the top of a building. His wings drooped, and his head was down. He sat on the roof with the pigeons until a police officer called for him to come down.
When kids saw the officer yelling at him, they laughed even louder. Ikarus dropped to the ground, hanging his head low.
I had to do something, so I yelled for everyone to be quiet. To my surprise, they stopped laughing. Ikarus came toward me, and I told him that I liked watching him fly.
For the first time, he smiled. Then he soared up again and swirled through the sky. I told everyone to look up and see my amazing new friend fly.

Updated from Wings by Christopher Myers. Published by Scholastic Press/Scholastic Inc. Copyright © 2000 by Christopher Myers. Reprinted by permission.

Copyright © Pearson Education.

 
   
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ELL
Access Content Review the genre with students and preview the illustrations. Have students share ideas about what they think this story will be about.
Consider having students read the selection summary in English or in students' home languages. See the multilingual Summaries in the ELL Teaching Guide, pp. 110–112.