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DURING READING
Guiding Comprehension
7 Main Idea and Details
• Inferential
Reread pp. 22–23. Identify the main idea and one supporting detail.
Main idea: Everyone is being mean to Ikarus because he is different. Supporting detail: The other kids either ignore him or make mean comments.
8 Draw Conclusions • Inferential
Look again at p. 23. How does the narrator know what Ikarus feels? Why do you think so?
Possible response: She gets made fun of too. She says that people talk about her. She expects the kids to point at her too.
9 Summarize • Literal
Who is the main character in the story, and what has happened to him so far?
Ikarus, a boy with wings. He has been treated badly by everyone around him because of his wings.
Target Skill STRATEGY SELF-CHECK
Answer Questions
Have students think about what they have read so far and write two or three questions they have about the story. Encourage them to write one cause question and one effect question or to consider multiple effects of one cause. Then have them look for their answers in the text or think about what they have read and what they already know to answer their questions.
Students should use their questions and answers to write a short summary of the selection so far. Have them check that their summaries consider causes and effects in the story.
SELF-CHECK
Students can ask themselves these questions to assess ability to use the skill and strategy.
  • Can the answers to my questions be found in the text?
  • Do the questions and answers help me better understand what I have read?
  • Do my questions help me identify causes and effects in the story?
Monitor Progress
then… revisit the skill lesson on pp. 12–13. Reteach as necessary.
If… students are unable to identify causes and effects in what they have read,
Target Skill Cause and Effect
Strategy Response Log
Answer Questions Look back at the questions you wrote for p. 16. Can you answer any of the questions? Write the answers.
If you want to teach this selection in two sessions, stop here.
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 Point out that the word mean (p. 23) has more than one meaning. Students
may know that it means "to signify" in relation to a word. (They probably know the question
what does ___ mean?) Explain that in this context, it is an adjective, and it means "not nice."
PRACTICE LESSON VOCABULARY
Students orally respond true or false to each question and change the false statements to true statements.
  1. 1. Looping around is the same thing as hanging around in one place. (False, looping around is the same thing as going in circles.)
  2. 2. If you are glaring at people, you are looking at them angrily. (True)
  3. 3. If you complained about something or someone, you were happy. (False, you were unhappy.)
BUILD CONCEPT VOCABULARY
Review previous concept words with students. Ask if students have met any words today in their reading or elsewhere that they would like to add to the Concept Web.
Develop Vocabulary