Un mapache muy listo 6-pack Author: Vivienne Joseph ISBN: 9780790329093 Copyright Date: 2007 Grade Level: 2 Reading Level: I Strategy/Skill: Author's purpose, Drawing conclusions, Making inferences Genre: Realistic Fiction Theme/Topic: Environment, Family Classification: Fiction Fluency: Fluent

Overview

This narrative describes how Mr. Lees sets a trap to save his vegetables from a hungry raccoon.  Night after night, the wily raccoon manages to get the food out of the trap and escape.

Suggested Purposes

This text supports the comprehension strategies of making inferences, drawing conclusions, and understanding the author’s purpose.

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

• the narrative structure
• the way the raccoon outwits Mr. Lees
• the open ending
• the fact that the raccoon is never actually seen by the characters
• the raccoon “thought bubble” on page 12
• the indicators of time – at last, after a while, in the morning, that night, the next morning
• the use of a first-person narrator
• the relatively long sections of direct speech
• the poetic language on pages 2, 3, 6, and 8
• the irregular verbs – heard, hid, lay, ran, woke
• the verbs that involve doubling the final consonant – slammed, stopped
• the verbs that involve dropping the final “e” – dancing, shaking, using
• the use of onomatopoeia (page 2)
• the image of the raccoon dancing (pages 3 and 6)
• the use of personification (page 8)
• Possible challenges
  • the ideas of the raccoon and the branches “dancing” and the wind “singing”
  • the reasoning behind Mr. Lee’s solution to the problem (on page 11)
  • the reason for the raccoon “thought bubble” on page 12

For more information please see our Lesson Plan