¡Perr-fecto! 6-pack Author: Dot Meharry ISBN: 9780790328973 Copyright Date: 2007 Grade Level: 1 Reading Level: E Strategy/Skill: Making predictions, Summarizing Genre: Realistic Fiction Theme/Topic: Environment Classification: Fiction Fluency: Early

Overview

This fable is about a vain and gullible bird and a clever cat.  Its dramatic ending is sure to stimulate lively discussion.

Suggested Purposes

This book supports the comprehension strategies of:

• making and confirming predictions
• drawing conclusions
• making judgments

This text provides many opportunities for the students to practice their decoding and cross-checking strategies.  It’s a useful text for
monitoring the students’ integration of reading strategies and their comprehension at this level.

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

• the high-frequency words
• the initial consonant blends – cl, fl , pl, tr
• the digraphs -sh – she, washed; -th – that, the, feathers
• the verbs ending -ed – fluffed, jumped, liked, pleased, wanted, washed
• the forms of the verb “to fly” – flew, fly, flying
• the irregular past-tense verbs – could, flew, said, sang, saw
• the pronouns – he, she
• the play on words in “Purr-fect”
• the use of direct speech
• the use of the ellipsis to indicate a pause
• the feeling of anticipation
• the gory (but unspecified) ending
• the characterization
• the implied moral about the perils of flattery
• the visual language features – the changing perspective; the way the bird moves closer to the cat; the increasing dominance of the cat; the movement lines; and the recurring feather motif, especially the single feather on the title page and page 8

For more information please see our Lesson Plan