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Tommy Saves the Fourth of July

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    Default Tommy Saves the Fourth of July



    Tommy Saves the Fourth of July




    Book Summary
    In Tommy Saves the Fourth of July, Tommy and his friends witness a disappointing and dangerous sight. All of the fireworks for their town's Independence Day celebration are accidentally set off--and all at once! Still hopeful, they ask Tommy's robot, RK-5, to transport them to China, where the best fireworks in the world are made, so they can try to save the town's celebration. Fireworks safety is highlighted in the story. Illustrations support the text.


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    Default Re: Tommy Saves the Fourth of July

    ONLY FOR TEACHERS

    Book Summary
    In Tommy Saves the Fourth of July, Tommy and his friends witness a disappointing and dangerous sight. All of the fireworks for their town's Independence Day celebration are accidentally set off--and all at once! Still hopeful, they ask Tommy's robot, RK-5, to transport them to China, where the best fireworks in the world are made, so they can try to save the town's celebration. Fireworks safety is highlighted in the story. Illustrations support the text.

    About the Lesson

    Targeted Reading Strategy

    * Visualize

    Objectives

    * Use the reading strategy of visualizing
    * Analyze the elements of fantasy and reality
    * Understand the use of quotation marks
    * Recognize and form proper nouns

    Materials

    * Book -- Tommy Saves the Fourth of July (copy for each student)
    * Chalkboard or dry erase board
    * Fact file, fantasy and reality, proper nouns worksheets

    Indicates an opportunity for students to mark in the book. (All activities may be completed with paper and pencil if books are reusable.)

    Vocabulary

    Content words: independence, display, explosions, troublemakers, organized, invented, guards, fierce-looking, realized, dangerously, motioned, symbol, delivering, emergency

    Before Reading

    Build Background

    * Ask students if any of them have read other Tommy Tales and, if so, to share some of their favorite Tommy Tale adventures. Ask how Tommy and his friends are transported to different places (by his robot, RK-5).
    * Talk about why this type of book is considered a fantasy (a robot can't transport people through time in real life).
    * Ask students to close their eyes and visualize, or picture in their mind, a fireworks display. Ask them to share what they see.

    Preview the Book

    Introduce the Book

    * Give students a copy of the book and have them preview the front and back covers and read the title. Have students discuss what they see on the covers and offer ideas as to what kind of book this is and what it might be about.
    * Invite students to preview the rest of the book by looking at the illustrations.
    * Discuss what the illustrations tell about the book. Ask students what they think Tommy Saves the Fourth of July is about, based on what they see in the illustrations.

    Introduce the Strategy: Visualize

    * Explain that good readers often visualize, or picture in their mind, events and information in the story as they read.
    Think-aloud: Whenever I read a story, I always pause after several pages to create a picture in my mind of what the author is describing. This helps me keep track of everything, and it also helps me make sure I understand what is happening. I know that good readers always do this when they read, so I am going to try to visualize as I read this story.
    * As students read, they should use other reading strategies in addition to the targeted strategy presented in this section. For tips on additional reading strategies, click here.

    Introduce the Vocabulary

    * Remind students of the strategies they can use to work out words they don't know. For example, they can use what they know about letter and sound correspondence to figure out the word. They can look for base words, prefixes, and suffixes. They can use the context to work out meanings of unfamiliar words.
    * Model how to apply word-attack strategies. Direct students to page 9. Have them find the word guards in the second paragraph. Model how they can use context clues to figure out the meaning of the unfamiliar word. Explain that the sentences before the word tell about the children running toward the factory gate. The picture on the page shows two men holding back fierce looking dogs. Tell students that these clues make you think that the word guards means people who watch over and protect something. Have students follow along as you reread the sentence on the page to confirm the meaning of the word.
    * Remind students that they should check whether a word makes sense by rereading it in the sentence.
    * For additional teaching tips on word-attack strategies, click here.

    Set the Purpose

    * Have students read the book to find out how Tommy saves the Fourth of July. Remind students to stop and visualize what is happening in the story as they read to help them remember and understand what they're reading.

    During Reading

    Student Reading

    * Guide the reading: Have students read to the end of page 7. Ask students if they stopped to visualize, or create a picture in their mind, of any of the images the author described in the book.
    * Think-aloud: When I read about the town's fireworks going off all at once, I paused to picture in my mind how that would look. I envisioned a big blue sky filled with brightly colored lights setting the sky ablaze. I pictured bright red, purple, green, and yellow lights exploding into shapes of falling stars, and smoke filling the air around them.
    * Have students share pictures they visualized while reading.

    Tell the students to make a small question mark in their books beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. These can be addressed in the discussion that follows.

    After Reading

    Reflect on the Reading Strategies

    * Ask students what words they marked in their books. Use this opportunity to model how they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
    * Have students share any other questions they had while they were reading. Ask how using the strategy of visualization helped them understand and remember what they read.
    * Think aloud: When I read about the fire spreading quickly toward the fireworks factory, I paused for a moment to visualize the scene. I pictured in my mind the bright yellow, red, and orange blaze racing across the land, jumping quickly from tree to tree, with the factory building not too far away. This helped me understand what I had read and remember that part of the story.

    Teach the Comprehension Skill: Fantasy and reality

    * Discussion: Review Tommy's problem with students. (His town's fireworks display was ruined.) Ask students how the story ended. (The owner of the factory sent a shipment of new fireworks to the town, thanking Tommy for saving his building from the fire.)
    * Introduce and model the skill: Explain the difference between fantasy and reality. Write fantasy and reality on the board. Tell students that reality describes something that actually exists in real life--something that is true and can be proven. Explain that a fantasy is something that is imaginary or not real. Tell students that when an author writes a fantasy story, he or she writes a tale portraying imaginative characters, settings, or events, but that most fantasy stories also include elements of reality.
    * Ask how Tommy Saves the Fourth of July is a fantasy. Write the examples on the board under the word fantasy. (Tommy's robot, RK-5, transports them to China; the children disappear in a cloud of blue smoke, etc.) Point out that the author writes about an imaginary character (RK-5) who can transport people in time and space (the children are transported to another country, they disappear in a cloud of blue smoke, etc.). Remind students that these events cannot happen in real life, so they are considered fantasy.
    * Ask students to list events from the story that can happen in real life. Write the examples on the board under the word reality. (The careless actions of Bobby and Billy cause a dangerous situation, China makes the best fireworks in the world, lightning strikes a tree and starts a fire, etc.) Point out that the majority of the events in the story are things that can happen in real life, but because the story contains many imaginative fantasy elements, Tommy Saves the Fourth of July is considered a fantasy book.
    * Discuss with students the dangerous nature of fireworks and how Tommy and his friends were wise to be safe. Explain that reality can sometimes be dangerous and that it is important to be aware of safety concerns. Have students turn to page 10 and follow along as you read aloud. Point out the good choices Tommy and his friends made, such as letting the guards and firemen do their jobs while they stood at a safe distance. Tell students that these are all things that could happen in real life. Pose the following alternate plot: Tommy and his friends race over to the fire and put it out, saving the factory from destruction. Point out that this alternate ending would have elements of fantasy in it because it is never safe for children to interact with fire, and the children didn't have the necessary equipment or experience to put out the fire. The only good choice is to leave such a dangerous job to professionals.

    Check for understanding: Have students underline the sentences in the book that identify reality (things that could happen in real life). Allow time for students to share their findings aloud.

    * Independent practice: Have students complete the fantasy and reality worksheet. Discuss their responses when they have finished.

    Build Skills

    Grammar and Mechanics: Quotation marks

    * Write the following on the board: "What was that?" asked Tommy. Ask students if they can tell which words are being spoken. Explain that quotation marks are the punctuation marks around dialogue in text. Discuss the difference between what is being said aloud by the character (What was that) and what is not (asked Tommy).
    * Direct students to page 5 in the book. Read the first sentence aloud as students follow along. Ask students to identify the words being spoken (We must do something. We have to have fireworks for Fourth of July.) and which words are not being spoken (said Tommy).
    * Discuss the different words used in the text to depict dialogue. Remind students that these words come directly before or after the quotation marks to show that the character is speaking.

    Check for understanding: Ask students to circle words used in the text to show that a person is speaking (said, called, asked, replied, shouted, explained). Ask them to tell which of the words show that the words should be read in a normal voice (said, asked, replied, explained) and which of the words should be read in a louder voice (called, shouted). Ask them to think of other words that depict dialogue that they might see in other books (yelled, thought, etc.).

    * Extend the discussion: Have student volunteers read the dialogue aloud and act out the parts of Tommy and his friends.

    Word Work: Proper nouns

    * Review or explain that a noun is a person, place, or thing. Ask students to turn to page 5 and give examples of nouns from the text (fireworks, show, robot, etc.).
    * Review or explain that a proper noun is the name of a specific person, place, or thing. A proper noun always begins with a capital letter. Write examples from page 5 on the board. Start with the nouns and then change them to proper nouns. (Common noun: boy. Proper nouns: Tommy, Bobby, Billy. Common noun: girl. Proper nouns: Lucy, Kim. Common noun: country. Proper noun: China. Common noun: holiday. Proper noun: Fourth of July.)
    * Have students turn to page 12 and find an example of a proper noun. Remind them not to confuse a proper noun with the capital letter used at the beginning of a sentence. Ask students which proper noun is found on page 12 (Mr. Yip).
    * Check for understanding: Repeat the exercise above with page 14 (Fourth of July, Tommy, China, Sam).
    * Independent practice: Have students complete the proper nouns worksheet. When they have finished, discuss their answers aloud.

    Build Fluency

    Independent Reading

    * Allow students to read their books independently or with a partner. Encourage repeated timed readings of a specific section of the book. Additionally, partners can take turns reading parts of the book.

    Home Connection

    * Give the students their books to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.

    Expand the Reading

    Writing Connection

    * Have students write about a time when they found themselves in a dangerous situation. Have them tell about the choices they made, whether other people were involved, what their choices were, and whether they made safe choices.

    Social Studies Connection

    * Provide print and Internet resources for students to research how fireworks are made. Have them find out how fireworks work, how different designs are made, and how different colors appear.

    Assessment

    Monitor students to determine if they can:

    * use the reading strategy of visualizing to better comprehend the text
    * analyze fantasy and reality in discussion and to complete a worksheet understand the use of quotation marks
    * recognize and form proper nouns in text and to complete a worksheet

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