Morty and the Suitcase Caper

Morty and the Suitcase Caper
Level Q

About the Book

Text Type: Fiction/Fantasy
Page Count: 20
Word Count: 1,563

Book Summary
Morty and the Suitcase Caper is the story of a young mouse who has mixed feelings about visiting his grandparents. He wishes he could bring along his toys so he won't be bored. Morty finds a way to bring his toys but realizes that his selfish solution comes with a cost. Illustrations support the text.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

Visualize

Objectives

Use the reading strategy of visualizing to better understand text
Analyze the main character in a text
Understand the use of possessive nouns
Understand the use of figurative language (similes)

Materials

Book -- Morty and the Suitcase Caper (copy for each student)
Chalkboard or dry erase board
Analyze characters, possessive nouns, simile worksheets

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

Vocabulary

Content words: aromas, exiled, impatiently, mischievous, permeating, quivering, scurried

Before Reading

Build Background

Ask students to think about a time when they visited a friend or family member they hadn't seen for some time. Invite them to share their experiences. Ask them the following questions: Does the person live nearby or far away? What is it like when you visit him or her? Who do you go with? What do you like best about visiting this person? Is there anything you don't like?

Preview the Book

Introduce the Book

Give students their copy of the book. Guide them to the front and back covers of the book and read the title. Have students discuss what they see on the covers. Encourage them to offer ideas as to what type of book it is and what it might be about.
Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Visualize

Explain to students that good readers often visualize, or create pictures in their mind, while they are reading. Visualizing is based on the words in the text and what a person already knows about the topic.
Read page 3 aloud to students. Model how to visualize.
Think-aloud: Whenever I read a book, I always pause after a few pages to create a picture in my mind of the information I've read. This helps me better understand what I read. For example, on page 3, the author uses words such as scurried and panicked to describe how Mother was moving around. I also read the words hotel and suitcase, which makes me think that someone is going on vacation. I pictured Mother walking quickly between rooms, gathering things for the trip. I pictured her stopping suddenly to try to remember what she was going to do next.
Read page 4 aloud to students. Ask them to use the words in the story to visualize the events. Have them share what they visualized.
As students read, encourage them to use other reading strategies in addition to the targeted strategy presented in this section. For tips on additional reading strategies, click here.

Introduce the Comprehension Skill: Analyze characters

Explain to students that authors try to make their characters believable and interesting so readers feel as though they know and understand them. Readers learn about characters in a story through their thoughts, actions, and words.
Tell students that authors often make their main characters dynamic--he or she changes over time in some way because of experiences or a lesson learned.
Ask students to turn to page 5 in their book. Read pages 5 and 6 of the story aloud to students while they follow along.
Model how to analyze a character based on thoughts and words.
Think-aloud: As I read page 5, I read about all the nice things that Morty's grandparents do for him and his siblings when they come to visit, such as playing hide-and-seek, going fishing, and making cookies. Yet Morty feels as if this is not enough to keep him entertained. He even describes the week as feeling like "a lifetime in prison," and he would "count the hours until he could leave the farm." Based on Morty's thoughts and words, he seems to be ungrateful.
Ask students to identify other clues from the story that show Morty was being ungrateful.
Introduce and explain the analyze characters worksheet. On the board, create a two-column chart with the heading Morty. Label the first column Traits and the second column Clues. Write ungrateful under the Traits heading, and phrases that support this trait under the Clues heading. Have students record the information from the discussion on their worksheet.

Introduce the Vocabulary

Write the content vocabulary words on the board or chart paper. Point out to students that all the words are multisyllabic words and explain how to use word attack strategies to help them read the words. For example, have students find the word impatiently on page 3. Suggest to students that they can look for base words, prefixes and suffixes, and other word parts to help them say a difficult word (such as im-patient-ly).
Remind students to look for clues to the word's meaning in the sentence that contains the unfamiliar word, as well as in sentences before and after. For example, point out the word aromas on page 6. Read aloud the first two sentences in the first paragraph. Ask students what these sentences are mostly about (dinner, something cooking on the stove). Ask them to use that information to think about what might seep out of the house. Have them identify a word that means the same thing as aromas, based on the context of those sentences (smells).
Remind students that they should check whether unfamiliar words make sense by rereading the sentence in which they appear. Reread the sentence on page 6, replacing aromas with smells. Ask students if the word makes sense in that sentence.
For additional tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

Have students read the book to find out more about Morty's trip to his grandparents' farm, stopping after every few pages to visualize the events or the setting of the story in their mind.

During Reading

Student Reading

Guide the reading: Review the events so far in the story. Have students read to the end of page 11. Encourage those who finish early to go back and reread.
Model visualizing the scenes for students.
Think-aloud: On page 10, I read how Morty begins to pack his toys in his suitcase. The author describes how Morty first looks out for his mom. I pictured Morty peering his head out the bedroom door, becoming very still as he listens for sounds of his mother coming close to the room. I pictured how he quickly runs to his suitcase and begins to shove all of his clothes into one large, crumpled pile under his bed.
Invite students to share with the rest of the class what they visualized while reading.
Review the discussion about Morty's character from the Introduce the Comprehension Skill section. Reread the last paragraph on page 11. Discuss with students what Morty's actions tell about his character (selfish, mischievous). Have students record the information from the discussion on their analyze characters worksheet.
Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 16. Have them visualize the information in the text as they read. Invite students to share what they visualized as they read.
Have students reread the second paragraph on page 16. Ask them to work with a partner to write on their worksheet what Morty's words tell about his character (honest) and the clues that support this trait (he tells his grandpa what he did, he always tells the truth). When they have finished, discuss their responses.
Have students read the remainder of the book. Ask them to continue to visualize and think about the traits of the main character as they read the rest of the story.

Have students make a question mark in their book beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. Encourage them to use the strategies they have learned to read the word and figure out its meaning.

After Reading

Reflect on the Reading Strategy

Ask students what words, if any, they marked in their book. Use this opportunity to model how they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
Think-aloud: On page 18, I read how Morty swallowed hard as he offered to give up his spending money to buy his sister new clothes. It sounds as though Morty feels guilty about what he did. I pictured Morty talking to his grandpa with his head hung low and his eyes to the floor.
Ask students to explain or show how the strategy of visualizing helped them understand and remember the story. Invite them to share additional pictures they made in their mind as they read.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

Discussion: Review how Morty changed over the course of the book. Share and discuss the clues from the text that support students' descriptions of Morty.
Independent practice: Have students reread pages 17 through 20. Have them write on their analyze characters worksheet what Morty's words and actions tell about his character (kind, guilty) and some clues that support this trait (he lets his sister wear his favorite shirt, he uses his money to buy his sister new clothes, he teaches his sister to inline skate, he reads his sister a story).
Enduring understanding: Once Morty realized how his actions affected the rest of his family, he regretted what he had done. He learned that his selfish actions had consequences. Now that you know this information, what have you learned about how thinking only of yourself can have consequences?

Build Skills

Grammar and Mechanics: Possessive nouns

Direct students to page 3 and read aloud the second sentence, pointing to the words brothers and sisters. Ask a volunteer to explain whose brothers and sisters the sentence is referring to. Explain that the word Morty's shows that the brothers and sisters are connected with Morty.
Review or explain to students that words like Morty's are called possessive nouns. A possessive noun is formed by adding an 's to the end of a word to show ownership, or possession.
Direct students to page 6. Have them find the possessive word in the first paragraph (everyone's). Ask for volunteers to explain what belongs to everyone in that sentence (tummy). Repeat this process with the word dad's in the second paragraph.

Check for understanding: Have student pairs locate and circle all the possessive nouns in the book. Have them underline each noun that belongs to the possessive noun in the sentence.

Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the possessive nouns worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Word Work: Similes

Have students turn to page 4. Read the following sentence aloud: Now, in third grade, it amazed him that a mouse could drive three hours and end up in the middle of nowhere where time moved as slow as a tortoise.
Circle the phrase slow as a tortoise. Explain to students that this is an example of a simile. Authors use similes to make their writing more vivid and enjoyable by comparing one thing with another. For example, instead of just saying time moved slowly, the author compares time with a tortoise. This helps readers to create a clear and enjoyable mental image. Explain or remind students that similes usually include the word as or like.
Have students turn to page 6. Have them locate the simile in the first paragraph (like a lifetime in prison). Ask students to explain what the author is comparing (the week at his grandparents' with a lifetime in prison).
Check for understanding: Ask students to work with a partner to create their own simile. Have them write it on a separate piece of paper. Invite them to share their simile with the class.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the simile worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Build Fluency

Independent Reading

Allow students to read their book independently or with a partner. Encourage repeated timed readings of a specific section of the book.

Home Connection

Give students their book to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends. Have students share with someone at home their analysis of the main character in the story.

Extend the Reading

Narrative Writing Connection
Have students write about a time when they felt or acted selfishly. Students should show how their thoughts or actions affected others negatively and/or why they regretted the outcome.

Social Studies and Math Connection
Have students research the types of farms that exist in their area or state. Have them identify the crops grown or animals raised there. Morty's grandparents' farm was a three- hour drive from the city. Have students calculate how far the nearest farm is from their school.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

consistently draw or tell about the mental pictures they create as a visualization strategy
analyze the main character of a story by examining his or her thoughts, words, actions, and changes over time during discussion and on a worksheet
identify, form, and correctly use possessive nouns during discussion and on a worksheet
identify and understand how authors use similes to form more vivid pictures in readers' minds during discussion and on a worksheet

Comprehension Checks

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