Henry and Mudge: The First Book

Transcription

1 TEXT STUDY Henry and Mudge: The First Book BY CYNTHIA RYLANT MAP Grade 2 Unit 3 UNIT Building Bridges with Unlikely Friends TYPE Literary Text (Lexile 420L) OVERVIEW RATIONALE OVERVIEW TEXT-DEPENDENT QUESTIONS ASSESSMENT FLUENCY This text was chosen because it is a brilliant narrative about a memorable, deeply emotional bond created between a boy and his dog. This book could be used along with a literary text such as The Fire Cat or an informational text such as Owen and Mzee to show how friendship crosses boundaries, bringing together Unlikely Friends. We have chosen to focus on the interaction between the text and the illustrations to tell a fictional story. We have also drawn out the way a boy and his dog respond to challenges, both the challenge of finding each other once and then finding each other again when they were separated. SUGGESTIONS FOR USE Henry and Mudge: The First Book by Cynthia Rylant is a 2-3 CCSS exemplar text. With a Lexile level of 420, it falls at the lowest level of the suggested reading range for the 2-3 band. Therefore, it is well within the reading range of a second grader. A teacher may want to initially have the students read it independently, following up with the teacher reading aloud. As all of the CCSS exemplars do, this story has layers and depth inviting multiple readings. COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS ALIGNMENT (a) Focus Standards Students will practice the following standards through the analysis of the text and the completion of the performance assessment: RL.2.7: Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot. Common Core. All rights reserved. commoncore.org/wheatley 1

2 W.2.2: Write explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section. (b) Additional Standards RL.2.3 L2.2 RF.2.4.a-c VOCABULARY Some words from this book may be unfamiliar to students or may be used in a different way than students have seen previously. Possible words for study include: floppy weighed drooled bullies milky soapy sniffing whined shone empty worried silent Common Core. All rights reserved. commoncore.org/wheatley 2

3 TEXT-DEPENDENT QUESTIONS Henry (pages 5 8) 1 According to pages 5 and 6, what was Henry s problem? Support your idea with evidence from the text. Henry was lonely. Henry needed someone with whom to play. He asked his parents for a brother. He asked his parents to move to a street with friends. He asked his parents for a dog. 2 How did Henry s parents respond to his requests for a new brother or a new street on which to live? His parents said, Sorry. They were actually saying no, without using the stronger word. 3 How did Henry s parents respond to his request for a dog? What was Henry expecting them to say to his dog request? The text says, Sorry, they almost said. The author had repeated the word sorry to mean no twice already in the story. Henry was probably expecting another sorry when he asked for a dog. The special emphasis of the italicized almost changes the outcome completely. His parents didn t say sorry, meaning they didn t say no. 4 How did the author want the reader to say almost on page 6? The author wanted the reader to emphasize the word, showing how there was hope that he would be able to have the dog. 5 How do the illustrations on pages 5 8 help the reader to understand Henry s loneliness? In the first illustration, Henry is imagining having brothers with whom to play ball. In the second illustration, Henry s backyard has one swing without a friend playing on it. In the third illustration, Henry is looking hopefully at his parents who are giving him their full attention. In the fourth illustration, the loneliness problem is almost solved. Henry looks very happy. 6 What did the parents consider before they said okay to the dog? They looked at their small family, without brothers and sisters for Henry. They looked at their neighborhood, without playmates for Henry. They looked at Henry s face. He had just been asking for playmates and had heard no s from his parents. His face was probably pleading at that point in the story.»» Note to teachers: This is a fine opportunity for text-based inference. Then they looked at each other. They were probably looking to make sure the other person was drawing the same conclusion: that getting a dog would be a solution for Henry s loneliness. Common Core. All rights reserved. commoncore.org/wheatley 3

4 7 How did Henry show his thankfulness to his parents? He hugged them. Mudge (pages 9 13) 8 How does the illustration support the text on page 9? The text is telling about Henry s search for a dog. Henry wants a dog that is not short, not curly, and doesn t have pointed ears. The illustration shows the many dogs in Henry s search. There are dogs with short legs, curly hair, and pointed ears. The illustration shows how many different kinds of dogs were seen in the search for the dog Henry wanted. 9 How did Henry know that Mudge was his dog? Mudge s ears were floppy and his fur was straight. Even though Mudge was short, he knew he would grow because he was just a puppy. 10 How did the author and illustrator work together on page 11 to show Mudge s growth? The author wrote about all the things that Mudge grew out of as he grew bigger. He grew out of his puppy cage and his dog cage. He went through seven collars. The illustration shows the varied sizes of collars as he grew out of each one and into a bigger one. 11 How does the author show you that Henry was fine with Mudge s huge size? After the text said how big Mudge had become 180 pounds and three feet tall Henry s response was, I m glad you re not short. On page 13, the illustration shows a happy Henry even though huge Mudge is sitting on him. Henry (pages 14 17) 12 According to page 14, what was Henry s problem when he walked to school alone? Henry was worried about many different things like tornadoes, ghosts, biting dogs, and bullies. Common Core. All rights reserved. commoncore.org/wheatley 4

5 13 How was Henry feeling as he walked? Give evidence from the text and illustration on page 15 to support your choice of emotion. Henry was feeling afraid. (Answers may vary slightly.) He walked fast. He looked straight ahead. He never looked back. The illustration shows Henry walking with a fearful look on his face as danger lurks around the tree: a fierce dog, a ghost, a tornado, and a bully. 14 What were the words used by the author to signal a change in Henry s walk to school? On page 15, the author wrote But now he walked to school with Mudge. The words but now signal a change in the way Henry walked to school. 15 After Mudge began to walk with him to school, how did Henry s life change? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer. Henry was no longer thinking about things that worried him. He thought about good things like vanilla ice cream, rain, rocks, and good dreams. Henry no longer walked fast because he was afraid of something behind him. He walked not too fast. Henry no longer trying to look straight ahead when he walked. The text said that he sometimes even walked backward. Henry was no longer afraid; now he was happy as he walked to school patting Mudge on the head. Mudge (pages 18 22) 16 What did Mudge love most about Henry s room? Why? Mudge loved Henry s bed. Mudge loved Henry s bed because Henry was in the bed and he loved Henry. 17 Tell about Mudge s routine for falling asleep. Mudge would climb into bed on top of Henry. He would smell his hair, his mouth, his ears, and his fingers. He would look around the room at all of the things he liked. He would look at Henry. He would lick Henry. Finally, he would fall asleep. Common Core. All rights reserved. commoncore.org/wheatley 5

6 18 Why was this Mudge section (pages 18 22) so important to the story? This part of the story shows evidence as to how much Mudge loved Henry. The last part, Henry, had shown how Henry s love for Mudge had changed Henry into a happier boy. These two story parts show that Henry and Mudge truly loved each other.»» Note to teachers: the author of this story is preparing the reader for the great sadness of separation that is coming in the next parts of the story. Without these past two sections, the reader would not sense the angst of the situation, in which Henry and Mudge are unable to find each other. Mudge (pages 23 27) 19 Why did Mudge leave home without Henry? It was a beautiful sunny day with birds flying and sweet-smelling grass. Mudge couldn t wait to explore it. 20 How did Mudge get lost? Mudge was exploring, going down one road and then another. He went through a field, across a stream, into some pine trees. When he ended up on the other side of the pine trees, he realized he was lost. 21 Which of his senses helped him to know he was really lost? His sense of smell proved to him that he was lost. He was too far away to smell Henry, his porch, and the street. His sense of sight proved he was lost. He didn t see anything or anyone he knew. 22 Compare the ending of the last section of the story to the ending of this section of the story. How are they similar and how are they different? The section endings are similar because it is time for Mudge to lie down and go to sleep. The section endings are different. In the previous part of the story, Mudge is lying down with Henry and enjoying his regular sleep routine. He smells Henry, looks around at the things he loves, licks Henry, and falls asleep with Henry in his bed. In this section, Mudge smells nothing familiar, he looks at nothing he knows, he whines, and lies down alone. Henry (pages 28 34) 23 What changed in Henry s mind about his missing pet, Mudge, from page 28 to page 29? Henry was talking about Mudge as if he had gone away on purpose. And when Henry called him, he didn t come. After Henry cried for an hour, he reminded himself that Mudge loved him and that he would not leave on purpose. He realized that Mudge had not run away from him he was lost. Common Core. All rights reserved. commoncore.org/wheatley 6

7 24 What is familiar about Henry s journey to look for Mudge? This is the same route taken by Mudge in the previous section of the text. Henry walked down one road and then another. He crossed a field and a stream. He ended up in a wooded area filled with pine trees. 25 How did the mood of the story completely change after Henry called one last time? Henry had been crying and feeling hopeless as he called Mudge in the pine trees. When the reader turns to page 34, the illustration of Mudge running, tongue hanging out and dirt flying, tells the reader Mudge has been found. The text says that Mudge woke up and came running. The mood changes from sadness and hopelessness to pure joy as Mudge runs toward Henry. Henry and Mudge (pages 35 40) 26 How did Henry and Mudge change after the time they were separated from each other? Henry and Mudge were always together when Henry was at home. Mudge was there when Henry woke up. They ate breakfast and supper together. When Henry was at school, Mudge waited. They didn t worry about losing each other again. They both dreamed of that time when they were separated.»» The dream made Mudge want to stay closer to Henry.»» The dream made Henry remember the fear he felt, and know it wouldn t happen again. Common Core. All rights reserved. commoncore.org/wheatley 7

8 PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT PART ONE In preparation for the writing assignment, review each of the questions focused on the complementary roles of author and illustrator in the telling of a story. You may want to make a class chart showing the examples from the text as discussed in the questions. PART TWO Give students the following writing task: Write an informative/explanatory paragraph to explain the way an author and illustrator work together to tell a story. In your paragraph, define what the author and the illustrator do to create the story. Use examples from Henry and Mudge to show how the words or the pictures help to tell the story. Be sure to provide closure to your paragraph. Review your work to make sure that you use correct punctuation, capitalization, and spelling in your final paragraph. (W.2.2, L.2.2) Give students the following guidance: Your response should: Explain how an author and illustrator work together to tell a story. Define the role of both the author and the illustrator. Use examples from Henry and Mudge to explain how the author and illustrator work together. Provide closure to your paragraph. Include correct punctuation, capitalization, and spelling in your final draft. Common Core. All rights reserved. commoncore.org/wheatley 8

9 TEXT FLUENCY Read the following text for the students, demonstrating the elements of fluent reading: accuracy, phrasing, expression, and appropriate rate. Be sure to accentuate the pivotal pronunciation of almost in the passage. Invite the students to practice the passage and perform it for a small group or class. PASSAGE (108 words) Henry had no brothers and no sisters. I want a brother, he told his parents. Sorry, they said. Henry had no friends on his street. I want to live on a different street, he told his parents. Sorry, they said. Henry had no pets at home. I want to have a dog, he told his parents. Sorry, they almost said. But first they looked at their house with no brothers and sisters. Then they looked at their street with no children. Then they looked at Henry s face. Then they looked at each other. Okay, they said. I want to hug you! Henry told his parents. And he did. (Rylant, pages 5 8) Common Core. All rights reserved. commoncore.org/wheatley 9