Scott Foresman Reading Street

	Build vocabulary by finding words related to the lesson concept.
	Listen for generalizations.

forged heated metal until it is very soft and then hammered it into shape

mentor someone who advises and shows you how to do or be something

ornamental as decoration

then… review the lesson concept. Place the words on the web and provide additional words for practice,
such as
wrought
and sketches.

If… students are unable to place words on the web,

Check Vocabulary

Whole Group
Introduce and discuss the Question of the Week. Then use pp. 60l–62b.

Group Time

Reading

Differentiated Instruction

this week's Leveled Readers. See pp. 60f–60g for
the small group lesson plan.

Whole Group
Use p. 85a.

Language Arts
Use pp. 85e–85h and
85k–85m.

Grouping Options

Set Purpose

Read the title aloud and have students set their own purpose for listening. Have students listen for generalizations as you read.

Creative Response

Have students work together in pairs to pick out all the details that tell what kind of person Simmons is and enact a short scene illustrating his character. Drama

Activate Prior Knowledge Before students listen to the Read Aloud, have them share what they know about blacksmiths and working with iron and other metals.

Access Content Before reading, share this summary: Philip Simmons is an African-American blacksmith who learned his trade from a former slave and is still working and inspiring youngsters today, in his nineties.

Homework Send home this week's Family Times newsletter.

Build Concepts

FLUENCY

MODEL CHARACTERIZATION As you read "Catching the Fire," use different tones

of voice when you read any dialogue. For example, when you read Simmons's
dialogue in paragraph 4, use a different tone of voice than that which you use
to read the selection.

LISTENING COMPREHENSION

After reading "Catching the Fire," use the following questions to assess listening
comprehension.

What generalization can you make about Simmons's gates?(They are all
works of art.) Generalize
What details in the selection tell us what kind of person Simmons is?
(Possible responses: Worked seventeen-hour workdays; still rises at
6 A.M.; starts working before breakfast; still works on his anvil; is a role
model and mentor to young people.) Facts and Details

BUILD CONCEPT VOCABULARY

Start a web to build concepts and vocabulary related to this week's lesson and
the unit theme.

Draw a Unique Interests Concept Web.
Read the sentence with the word forged again. Ask students to pronounce
forged and discuss its meaning.
Place forged in an oval attached to Actions. Explain that forged is related to
this concept. Read the sentences in which ornamental and mentor appear.
Have students pronounce the words, place them on the web, and
provide reasons.
Brainstorm additional words and categories for the web. Keep the web on
display and add words throughout the week.

Philip Simmons caught the blacksmith fever when he was thirteen years
old. Since then the artist has forged more than five hundred pieces of
ornamental wrought iron. Most of his gates, fences, and railings decorate the
coastal city of Charleston, South Carolina. Several of his finest works are in
museums.

To touch a Philip Simmons gate is to touch the past. His craft is over five
thousand years old. In 3,500 B.C., Egyptian smiths shaped metal with
hammer and fire. In Sierra Leone, West Africa, smiths have worked with
brass and copper since the thirteenth century.

From 1670 until 1863, thousands of West Africans were enslaved on the
coast of South Carolina. Some were blacksmiths who passed the tradition on
to their offspring. One descendant, a former slave, showed Philip Simmons
how to work iron.

Like his ancestors, Mr. Simmons can hammer life into a dead lump of iron.
But he is the first African American smith known to forge animal figures. His
fish and sly-eyed snakes look as lively as he feels. "I like action!" he
declares in his musical Low Country speech.

For over eighty years, action has guided Philip Simmons's life and art. Born on June 9, 1912, he claims he retired in 1987. Yet he remains excited about his craft. After a lifetime of seventeen-hour workdays, he still rises at 6 A.M.

Mr. Simmons often wakes with an idea for a new gate. "I see it finished
completely in my mind," he says. Before breakfast, he rolls a squeaky chair
up to his office desk and sketches the design.

And he will still play "the old blacksmith tune" on his anvil, especially for
young people. Youngsters are drawn to his friendly face and teasing ways.

"You are a role model and a mentor," a young fan wrote to him. "You are
showing us we can do anything!" said another.

Philip Simmons began his career as an untrained boy. Now he is called the
Dean of Blacksmiths by professional smiths across the country. His
memories show that skill and patience take years of work. They also prove
that everyone can achieve both. An honored artist, teacher, and
businessman, Philip Simmons is the working person's hero.

by Mary E. Lyons