Cualquier excusa 6-pack Author: Marie Langley ISBN: 9780790328041 Copyright Date: 2007 Grade Level: 2 Reading Level: K Strategy/Skill: Drawing conclusions, Main ideas Genre: Realistic Fiction Theme/Topic: School and Community Classification: Fiction Fluency: Fluent

Overview

This is a lively and entertaining play about a boy who forgets his homework.  His friends try to resolve the problem by thinking of the best excuse. Their teacher appears to have the best excuse, tricking them all in the end.

Suggested Purposes

This text supports the comprehension strategies of noting details in illustrations and drawing conclusions.  This is a good text for studying a narrative in play format and how a script is written and performed.

Text Features (Focus on only one or two per session.)

• the theme of being honest
• the relationship between the characters and the way they each try to resolve the problem
• the conventions of a play – the list of characters, the scene instructions, the stage directions (written in the present tense and in italics)
• the detailed and humorous illustrations
• the commas to support phrasing
• the contractions – she’d, you’ll, I’m, don’t, that’s, hadn’t, I’ve, what’ll, haven’t
• the content words
• the word endings – ing, ed, ly
• the exclamation marks for emphasis
• the colloquial language – cool, this’ll be boring
• The compound words – butterflies, grandchildren, homework, spaceship, otherwise, somewhere
• the onomatopoeia – shhh!, wow!
• the hyperbole
• the lively and descriptive past-tense verbs – trampled, stampeded, snatched, carried, hovering, swooped, kidnapped

For more information please see our Lesson Plan