Build Background

• Supply recipes, cooking magazines, and cookbooks for students to explore. Discuss the many different types of recipes and foods that exist, such as casseroles, desserts, and breads.
• Ask students to share experiences of using a recipe to make or cook something.

Preview the Book

Introduce the Book

• Give students their 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 kind of book this is and what it might be about.
• Ask students if they think this book is fiction or nonfiction and to explain their reasoning.
• Show students the title page. Talk about the information on the page (title, author's name, illustrator's name).
• Ask students to turn to the table of contents. Remind them that the table of contents provides an overview of what the book is about. Ask students what they expect to read about in the book, based on what they see in the table of contents. (Accept all answers that students can justify.)

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Visualize

• Explain to students that good readers often visualize, or create pictures in their mind, while reading. Visualizing is based on what a person already knows about a topic. Explain that one way to visualize is to draw a picture.
• Model how to visualize using a drawing.
  Think-aloud: Whenever I read a book, I always pause after several pages to create a picture in my mind of the information I've read. This helps me organize the important information and understand the ideas in the book. For example, if I think of a pizza, I picture a round crust with melted cheese and small round pepperoni pieces on top. I will draw that on the board so that I remember what I pictured in my mind.
• Give each student a blank sheet of paper. Have them visualize a favorite food. Have them draw on paper what they pictured in their mind. Encourage students to 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: Sequence events

• Review or explain that writers present the events of a story in a particular order. Signal words are often provided to help readers identify the order of the events. Ask students to identify examples of signal words (today, first, next, then, last, dates, and so on).
• Model using sequencing words to describe the process of making a pizza.
  Think-aloud: I know that when I make pizza, there are steps I need to follow for the pizza to turn out the way I wanted. Since I don't make my own pizza dough, my first step is to take the dough out of the package. Next, I grease the pizza sheet. I like to use a cooking spray for this. Then, I roll out the dough so it is the size of the pizza sheet. I try not to make any holes where the dough is thin. Next, I open a can of pizza sauce. I use a spoon to spread a thin layer of sauce over the pizza. After that, I put a thick layer of mozzarella cheese over the sauce and a few pieces of pepperoni on top of the cheese. Last, I cook the pizza in the oven at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
• Ask students to share the steps they take to make a favorite food. Remind them that many foods need to be made with the supervision of an adult.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Write the following words from the content vocabulary: challenge, recipe, sweet potato, thoroughly, tradition. Explain that these are words they will need to know more about before they read Sweet Potato Challenge.
• Point to the word tradition. Share a tradition with students, emphasizing that it is a way of doing something that has been passed down from one generation to the next. Ask students to share similar stories from their families. After the discussion, ask volunteers to define the word tradition (a belief or a way of doing things, handed down from one generation to the next).
• Have students turn to page 7 in their books. Explain to students that this recipe is for a pie that is a tradition for one of the characters in the story. Explain that they are going to watch how to make this recipe, minus cooking the pie. After watching, the challenge will be to find out which group can most accurately make the recipe.
• Show students each of the ingredients, one at a time. Allow them to see and smell each ingredient. Ask students what they know about the ingredients used in this recipe.
• Model each of the steps for students, explaining words such as beat, thoroughly, and mixture. For the word thoroughly, show students the difference between a mixture that is and is not mixed thoroughly. Explain that for the purposes of this challenge, the pie will not be baked.
• Provide students with the supplies needed for the recipe. Allow each group a few minutes to organize how they will accomplish each step in the recipe. Then have each group make the pie.
• When the groups have finished, review the events of the activity with students. Remind them that the activity was a challenge. Have students think about the activity and explain how it was a challenge (it was hard, a contest, a test to see if they remembered what was modeled, and so on). Discuss the meaning of the words recipe, sweet potato, and thoroughly in the context of making the recipe.
• Have students write a brief paragraph recounting their experience making the sweet potato pie. Ask them to use the words challenge, recipe, sweet potato, thoroughly, and tradition in their description of the activity.
• For tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read the book to find out more about the Sweet Potato Challenge, stopping after every few pages to visualize the events of the story in their minds. Introduce and explain the visualize worksheet.

During Reading 

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Have students read to the end of page 9. Encourage those who finish early to go back and reread. Have students draw what they visualized about the steps taken so far to make each of the recipes.
• Model visualizing.
  Think-aloud: When I read about how Deon completed the first step of making the pie, I pictured how slowly and carefully I cracked an egg on the side of a bowl when I was making the pie. I remembered how careful I was not to let any shells fall in. I pictured the egg perfectly plopping into the large bowl. In my drawing for Sweet Potato Pie, I drew an egg getting cracked on the side of a bowl.
• Have students share the pictures of what they visualized while reading. Ask students to explain the similarities and differences between the ingredients and steps of the two recipes.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 13. Have them visualize the information in the text. Ask students to use their worksheet to add to their drawings of the steps to make Apple Sweet Potato Bake and Sweet Potato Pie. Remind them to add to their drawings as they visualize the information in the book and use their drawings to identify the sequence of following each recipe.

    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 each 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.
• Ask students to explain or show how the strategy of visualizing helped them understand and remember the story.
• Think-aloud: When I read about how Latanya arranged the marshmallows on top of the Apple Sweet Potato Bake, I pictured how I arrange pepperoni pieces on top of my pizza. I know that this is always the last step before I bake the pizza, just as arranging the marshmallows was Latanya's last step before putting the her dish in the oven. This helped me to understand what I had read and to remember that part of the book.
• Independent practice: Have students complete the visualize worksheet. If time allows, have volunteers share their pictures when finished.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Have students turn to the table of contents and point out the sequencing words used in the chapter titles (Step One, Step Two, and so on). Discuss how the numerical steps provided in the book helped the readers organize the order of events for making each recipe.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the sequence events worksheet. If time allows, discuss answers aloud.
• Extend the discussion: Ask students if they have ever been in a situation where someone challenged them to a contest. Ask if they accepted the challenge and how it made them feel to try their best. Relate their experiences to the feelings Deon and Latanya experienced in the story.

Build Skills 

Grammar and Mechanics: Quotation marks

• Write the following on the board: "No way," Latanya said. "Boys can't cook." Ask students to explain which words are being spoken. Explain that quotation marks are the punctuation marks around dialogue in text. Point out the placement of the comma and the quotation marks around the words. Discuss which words the character says (No way, Boys can't cook) and which words are not said (Latanya said).
• Direct students to page 5 in the book. Read the page aloud as students follow along. Ask students to raise their hand in the air while dialogue from a character is being read aloud (I challenge you to a contest, Let's both make cupcakes, and so on), and to lower their hand when a character is not speaking (Deon said, offered Deon, They slapped palms, and so on).
• Point out that different words were used on this page to signal dialogue (said, offered). Ask students to identify other words they've read that signal dialogue (asked, reminded, shouted, replied, and so on). Write these words on the board. 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 provide examples of dialogue. Model how to write each sentence using correct placement of the comma and quotation marks. Encourage students to come to the board to insert the comma and quotation marks in the correct place.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the quotation marks worksheet.

Word Work: Reading symbols, numbers, and abbreviations

• Direct students to the recipe on page 6. Point out that when reading recipes, readers will encounter many different symbols, numbers, and abbreviations. Ask them find the numbers and fractions that provide measurements (17, 2, 1/3, 1/4, and so on). Review or explain that when reading fractions aloud, the number is read as one-third or one-fourth.
• Point out that after each number, there is a measurement label (cup, teaspoon). Explain to students that sometimes they will find measurements spelled out, such as cups, teaspoons, and ounces. At other times, they will find the measurements abbreviated, such as c., tsp., and oz. Practice reading the numbers and abbreviations aloud (one 17-ounce can, one-third cup, one-half teaspoon, and so on).
• Direct students to the recipe on page 7. Point out the " symbol. Ask students to explain where they have seen this symbol previously (quotation marks, in math, and so on). Explain that when the " symbol comes after a number, it means inches. Have a volunteer read the line aloud for the ingredient associated with this symbol (one unbaked, ten-inch pie shell). Write both the symbol and the word (" and inches) on the board. Next, ask students to locate the step that tells how hot to make the oven (350 degrees). Ask a volunteer to come up to the board and write both the symbol and word (¡ and degrees).
• Check for understanding: Write the following on the board and ask volunteers to read them aloud:

1/2 c
1 tsp.
250°
15 oz.
12"
1/4 tsp.

• Independent practice: Give students the symbols, numbers, and abbreviations worksheet. Discuss their answers aloud when everyone has completed their work independently.

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 sequence the steps to make a favorite family dish.

Extend the Reading 

Writing and Art Connection
Explain to students that the dialogue in a play script is not written with quotation marks. Show students examples of a play or movie script. Point out that in addition to dialogue, a play also includes stage directions. As a class, have students use the dialogue from Sweet Potato Challenge to create a script for this book. Allow time for students to assign parts, rehearse, and perform their play.

Social Studies Connection
Provide print and Internet resources for students to research the origin of the sweet potato. Ask them to include examples of various dishes that are made using the sweet potato. Have them report these and any other interesting facts in an oral presentation.

Assessment 

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• consistently use the strategy of visualizing to comprehend the text during discussion and on a worksheet
• sequence events of a recipe during discussion and on a worksheet
• understand the use of quotation marks and dialogue words; use them within sentences
• understand and fluently read symbols, numbers, and abbreviations during discussion and on a worksheet

Comprehension Checks

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