El árbol de la urraca 6-pack Author: Dot Meharry ISBN: 9780790328126 Copyright Date: 2007 Grade Level: 2 Reading Level: J Strategy/Skill: Cause and effect, Fact and opinion, Forming opinions, making judgements Genre: Realistic Fiction Theme/Topic: Environment, School and Community Classification: Fiction Fluency: Fluent

Overview

Maddy and her friends are having trouble with a pesky magpie that seems to like their shiny possessions.  Using some clever problem solving, Maddy works out a way to keep her friends, and the magpie, happy.

Suggested Purposes

This text supports the comprehension strategies of determining cause and effect, forming and supporting opinions, and retrieving relevant information from a text.  It is a lively narrative that holds the readers’ attention through suspense and prediction and has a positive and satisfying ending.

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

• the themes of problem solving and cooperation
• the way Maddy resolves the situation successfully thinking of everyone involved
• the complex narrative structure
• the use of dialogue to reveal information slowly and keep the readers’ interest
• the indicators of time – the next day, that night, next morning, at recess, the next day
• the variety of word endings – ed, ing
• the large number of lively verbs – swooped, twinkled, warbled
• the doubled consonants – swoop, swooped
• the commas for phrasing
• the bright, colorful, and lively illustrations
• the adjectives – shiny, silver, silvery
• the replacement of an “e” with a “y” – shine, shiny
• the compound words – hairclip, classroom, earrings, teapot
• the possessive apostrophes – Dan’s, children’s, Maddy’s
• the blends – fl , br, ch, sh
• the digraph – bl
• the use of hyperbole – good idea!

For more information please see our Lesson Plan