Schema: stories that teach a lesson, folktale, stranger danger
The story is written as a modern day folktale featuring the Boo Hag from the Gullah culture of South Carolina. The Boo Hag is a legendary spirit or shape-shifter that wants to live in another person’s body, or it is also described as riding a person [...]
Schema: sticks, playing with sticks
Text-to-Text Connections: Over in the Meadow, an old rhyme about the animals in a meadow; the rhyme goes something like, “over in the meadow in the sand and the sun lived an old mother turtle and her little turtle one…” See the lyrics at: http://www.songsforteaching.com/folk/overinthemeadowlyrics.htm
Also a connection with the Gingerbread Man [...]
Schema: making tamales, admiring jewelry
Text-to-Self Connections: taking something without permission, not wanting to get caught, getting together with relatives for the holidays, seeing something and then remembering something you forgot about
Predicting: Predict what Maria is going to do when her mother leaves to answer the phone.
Drawing Conclusions: What conclusion does Maria come to about the [...]
Schema: beginning a new school year, going to a new club, church, or class
Text-to-text Connections: Miss Mingo and the First Day of School by Jamie Harper; First Grade, Here I Come by Nancy Carlson
Text-to-Self Connections: leaving parents to go to school, being afraid to try something new; what connection did Jake make with the book [...]
Schema: origami, making a wish
Author’s Purpose: to share the experience of learning about Christmas in Japan.
Mental Images: The mother describes the lights and trees in California to her son.
Organizational Strategy: Flashback: the book begins with the narrator telling the reader that he had not been back to the pond since he was not old enough [...]
Schema: Christmas trees, theme of the White House Christmas tree
Author’s Purpose: Gloria Houston and her family grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina; the historical fiction story depicts what life was like in the early 1900’s during World War I.
Characterization: Characterize the mother in the story and use example from the text as [...]
Schema: runt, Wilbur in Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
Drawing Conclusions: When we draw a conclusion we should be able to go back and find evidence in the text to support it. When Turk concludes that Runt has been right about being chosen to be a dinner is a great place to talk about drawing [...]
Schema: Frankenstein, Halloween, having a new baby in the family
Point of View: The story is told from a monster family’s point of view. From the parents’ point of view, Frankie is the scariest of all of the family.
Voice: The voice of the book is that of the monster parents until the end. Then we can [...]
Schema: text-to-text connections with Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Parody: copying someone’s style in a humorous way, making a spoof of something
Goodnight Goon is a parody of Goodnight Moon.
Compare and Contrast:
Similarities: same story pattern, same room design, same color of P.J.’s, both have snacks in their rooms, both have rocking chairs, both have red headboards, [...]
Schema: visiting pumpkin farms, tricking someone
Text-to-self connections: choosing a pumpkin, playing dunking for apples, biting a donut on a string, not wanting to play with a girl if you are a boy
Predicting: Why to you predict Andy is hiding from Delores in the pumpkin patch?
Maybe he is afraid of her, maybe he wants to jump [...]
