Houghton Mifflin Community Ties Level 3.1  

A Fruit and Vegetable Man

By Roni Schotter

Before reading

To build prior knowledge, lead a class discussion about the jobs the students see at the market. I like to have this discussion just before they go home for the day and remind the students to notice what are the people doing if anyone goes to the grocery store / market that evening. I encourage my students to go shopping with their mom / auntie / grandma / papa and notice what the workers do at the food store. Revisit the conversation the next day hopefully with more information gathered from the students. (I also take pictures of the people at the grocery doing the various jobs to add to the discussion.) Generate a list of the jobs in the food store.  

Jobs in the Food Store:

• Stocking shelves

• Working the register

• Answering questions

• Working behind the counter (deli)

• Putting prices on goods

• Checking the stockroom

Tell the students that the next selection is about a man who does many of these jobs himself. Have them discuss why this would be hard work. Have the students think about how a market works, what it is like to work in one, and the people who go to the market.  

Comprehension strategy – Questioning and monitoring thinking 

During reading Information for the teacher to read: HOW TO DO PROVE IT!

Guided Reading the Four Blocks Way book pages 64-66

Prove It!

Prove It! can be used with story or informational text. Before reading, the teacher leads the students through the text, asking them to make predictions and then read a section to see which predictions were accurate, make new predictions, read some more and predict some more. Children are encouraged to use pictures, headings, graphs, charts and other visuals to make these predictions and they are asked to tell Awhy they think so@ for each prediction. Here is an example of a Prove It! activity based on the book, Wagon Wheels by Barbara Brenner (~~)

Wagon Wheels is a fairly easy, four-chapter historical fiction novel. We would do the reading across four days and do the Prove It! activity each day. We begin our Guided Reading Block Prove It! activity by having children look at the cover picture and the title and make predictions about what the book is going to be about, just based on these. We number each prediction so we can talk about it more easily later. Here are some of their predictions which we write down on a chart or overhead. 

1. It=s about a man and three boys.

2. The boys are his sons.

3. The boys are his sons.

4. They are traveling west in a wagon.

5. It happened in the old days. 

We then look at the table of contents and read the titles of the four chapters and make some more predictions based on them. Here are those predictions: 

6. There=s going to be some Indians.

7. They will move somewhere.

8. They are going to get a letter.

9. There is a dugoutClike in baseball. 

These are vague predictions but that is fine. Remember that the comprehension strategy we are working on is predicting/anticipating. The children would not know how the Indians, letter and dugout fit in, but they are wonderingCand that is anticipating and that helps comprehension.

Next, we would explain to the children that we are going to read the first chapter, AThe Dugout,@ today and that we want them to look at all the pictures in the first chapter only and come up with some more predictions. We give them a timeCtwo minutesCand then ask them to close their books and give us new predictions. If we give them too long or let them keep their books open while predictions are being made, the fast readers will read all the text so that they can make the right predictions. This ruins the activity for everyone and gives the fast readers an unfair advantage. So, we have a two-minute, books closed rule! After two minutes, with their books closed (and dying to open them!), the children made these predictions: We label these with the chapter title and number them. 

10. They cross the river in the wagon.

11. They meet another man.

12. They dig a huge hole.

13. They get down in the hole.

14. The man can play the banjo. 

Now, the children read the chapter. Their purpose is to decide which of the predictions is true and to prepare to Prove it! by reading aloud the part that let them figure it out. They read it in whatever format (ERTY, Partners, Three Ring Circus, Pick A Page, etc.) the teacher has decided will provide the right amount of support for everyone.

After reading, the teacher asks, AWho has a prediction they think is true and can read a part that proves it?@ The children respond enthusiastically:

ANumber 10 is true. It says, We crossed the river, wagon and all.@

@Number 11 is true. It says, a man was waiting on the other side. >I am Sam Hickman,= he said.@

ANumber 7 is not true. The dugout is not like in baseball. It is where they live. It says, We got our shovels and we dug us a dugout. And later it says, Pretty soon the dugout felt like home.@ 

The children continue to prove or disprove the predictions. The teacher puts a check next to those that are true and either crosses out the untrue ones or changes them to make them true, if only a small change is necessary. Number 9 becomes: 9. There is a dugout that they live in.

When the children have finished, the predictions for this chapter have all been marked with a check, crossed through or changed into true statements. Some of the overall predictions have been checked or changed but many are left for the remaining chapters.

Next, the teacher asks them what important things they learned that they hadn=t been able to predict from the pictures. The children share some of the important events, including:

ATheir mama died on the trip from Kentucky.@

AThey moved from Kentucky to someplace in Kansas.@

The teacher then leads them to find the name of that Asomeplace in Kansas@ and pronounce ANicodemus.@ The children continue to add what they found out from their reading and the teacher leads them to the text to clarify as needed. The lesson ends with the teacher and the children pulling down the map and tracing their probable route from Kentucky to Kansas. The children marvel that they went all that way in a wagon, without any motels or restaurants!

The next three days of the lesson continue in much the same way. By the fourth chapter, they are much faster at making predictions and their predictions are more precise.

25. The letter was from the Daddy.

26. The three boys went out to be with their Daddy.

27. They slept outside at night and built a fire.

28. They saw wolves and snakes out there.

29. They found their Daddy.

Prove It! is a wonderful prediction activity that leads to active reading by the children. It is important to carry out the steps of Prove It! each time you do it so that children will learn to anticipate what they need to read for.  
 
 
 

Houghton Mifflin Community Ties Level 3.1  

A Fruit and Vegetable Man

By Roni Schotter 

Guess The Covered Word

Buyers and sellers filled the  

market with activity. Al’s  

designs were made to create  

mountains of fruit. By adding  

apples as accents to the  

oranges, Al made a colorful  

display.

Houghton Mifflin Community Ties Level 3.1  

A Fruit and Vegetable Man

By Roni Schotter 

Before reading

Complete Guess The Covered Word 

During reading

Go back and read the story looking for details that support these statements:

1. Ruby’s motto is, “I take care.” What and who does he care about in his store?

2. Ruby is getting old.

3. Ruby works very hard.

After reading

Discuss answers. Use the text to justify your answers. Fill in this graphic organizer: 

Ruby takes care of…

Ruby is getting old…

Ruby works very hard…