Text Type: Fiction/Fantasy
Page Count: 20
Word Count: 1,841

Book Summary
Morty and his friends are determined to go to Adventure Rocks Mouse Camp this summer. However, it's expensive, so Morty and his friends will need to raise the money to attend. When they decide to sell lemonade and treats to their friends and neighbors, they soon learn that they didn't make enough treats. Find out what happens when they get greedy and forget about being fair and honest.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

• Visualize

Objectives

• Use the reading strategy of visualizing to understand the text
• Analyze the problem and solution in text
• Identify and understand the use of adjectives
• Understand the use of personification

Materials

• Book -- Morty's Roadside Refreshments (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Problem and solution, adjectives, personification worksheets

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

Vocabulary

• Content words: brochures, bustling, calculation, integrity, inventory, quipped, suspended, ultimate

Build Background

• Ask students to share information about a time when they needed to save or earn money for something they wanted very badly. Invite them to share what they were saving for, what they did to earn the money, and whether they were able to earn enough.
• If students have not read other Morty books, explain to them that Morty and his family are mice who live their lives much as humans do. Morty's personality and mistakes help readers to learn an important lesson in every story.

Preview the Book

Introduce the Book

• Give students their copy of the book. Guide them to the front and back covers 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 (genre, text type, fiction or nonfiction, and so on) and what it might be about.
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title, author's name, illustrator's name).
• Preview the table of contents on page 3. Remind students 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 any answers 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 the words used in the text and what a person already knows about a topic.
• Read page 3 aloud to students. Model how to visualize.
  Think-aloud: Whenever I read a book, I always pause after several pages to create a picture in my mind of the characters, setting, or action. This helps me understand and enjoy the book. For example, on page 3, the author used words such as canyons and zip lines to describe the poster the mice are looking at. I also read the headline on the brochure, "Summer won't be complete until you Take it to the Limit at Adventure Rocks Mouse Camp." I pictured young mice rock climbing and hiking in the canyons. I also pictured the fascinated and excited looks on Morty and his friends' faces.
• Reread page 4 aloud to students, asking them to use the words in the story to visualize. Invite them 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: Problem and solution

• Create a chart on the board with the headings Problem, Possible Solutions, Consequences, and Solution. Review or explain that a problem is a conflict that needs to be worked out or solved. A solution is the process of working out the problem. Tell students that in fictional writing, an author usually poses a problem to one or more characters and that the rest of the story evolves around solving the problem.
• Write the following phrase on the board under the heading Problem: Want to play but have homework. Model identifying possible solutions and consequences for the problem.
  Think-aloud: I know that when a problem arises, I can react to it in different ways. If I want to play, I know that I also have to get my homework done. One possible solution might be to play first and then do homework. That would ensure that I have time to play. However, I might not have enough time, or I might be too tired to get my homework done. Another possible solution to this problem is to do homework first and then play. This way, I know I'll have enough time to get my homework done. However, there might not be enough time left over to play. I've identified two possible solutions to the problem and thought of positive and negative consequences of each. Since getting homework done well is more important, my solution would be to do homework first and then play.
• Model filling in the chart on the board with the information for this problem.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Write the content vocabulary words on the board or chart paper. Tell students that they can look for base words, prefixes, and suffixes or other word endings to help break a long word into smaller chunks. Then they can use what they know about syllables and vowels (one vowel sound per syllable) to figure out a word's meaning.
• Remind students to look for clues to a 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 bustling on page 12. Read aloud from the beginning of the paragraph. Ask students whether they can think of a word that means the same as bustling based on the context of those sentences.
• Remind students to check whether an unfamiliar word makes sense by rereading the sentence in which it occurs. Reread the sentence, replacing bustling with growing or booming. Ask students whether either word makes sense.
• Remind students that they may also look at the illustrations for clues to a word's meaning.
• For tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read the book to find out more about Morty's quest to earn money, stopping after every few pages to visualize the events, problem, and solution.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Have students read to the end of page 8. Encourage those who finish early to go back and reread.
• Model visualizing.
  Think-aloud: On page 7, I read how Morty and his friends planned to sell lemonade and treats. I pictured Morty and his friends sitting around the kitchen table with excited looks on their faces as they made their plans. I pictured them taking notes about all of the supplies they would need to make their treats.
• Invite students to share with the rest of the class what they visualized while reading.
• Write the following problem from the story on the board: Morty and his friends need $1,150 to go to summer camp. Introduce and explain the problem and solution worksheet. Ask students to write Morty's problem on their worksheet. Evaluate possible solutions aloud, including the solution from the book (sell lemonade and treats), and discuss a positive and negative consequence of each one. Write the information on the chart on the board under the headings Problem, Possible Solutions, Consequences, and Solution. Have students write the information on their worksheet.
• Have students read to the end of page 11. Ask them to write Morty's new problem on their worksheet (they are running out of treats). Have them cite examples from the text that identify the mice's solution (adding more water to the lemonade and cutting the treats into smaller and smaller pieces). Ask them to share any other possible solutions for this problem.
• Point out the Evaluation column on their worksheet. Explain the meaning of an evaluation (a statement of judgment). Encourage students to fill in the Evaluation column with their opinion about whether Morty and his friends made a good decision.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 15. Have them visualize the information in the text as they read. Invite students to share what they visualized.
• Ask students to identify a new problem Morty faces (he feels bad about being dishonest with people). Have them fill out the first three columns of their worksheet (Problem, Possible Solutions, and Consequences). Ask them to circle the possible solution they think would be best for Morty.
• Remind students to look for the solution Morty chooses as they read and to fill in the Evaluation column on their worksheet.
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Encourage them to continue to visualize 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 each word and figure out its meaning.

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 14, I read how Morty felt terrible about his actions and how tears had welled up in his eyes. I pictured Morty hanging his head down, tears filling up his eyes and slowly spilling down his cheeks.
• Independent practice: Ask students to explain how the strategy of visualizing helped them understand and enjoy the story. Invite them to share an additional visualization they made while reading.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Review with students the last problem they wrote on their worksheet (Morty felt bad about being dishonest). Discuss Morty's solution for feeling badly (he decided to make it up to the people he was dishonest with). Have students cite examples from the text that identify this solution (Morty and his friends used their earnings to buy more supplies, they gave away free lemonade and treats the following Saturday, and so on.)
• Independent practice: Have students complete their problem and solution worksheet by filling in the Evaluation column for this last problem and solution.
• Enduring understanding: In this book, you read about how Morty allowed his desire for what he wanted to outweigh being a person of integrity. Now that you know this information, why is it important to not compromise your character to reach a goal?

Grammar and Mechanics: Adjectives

• Write the following sentence on the board: There were crispy cheese squares in the kitchen. Ask students to identify the nouns in the sentence (squares, kitchen). Point to the word squares. Ask students to identify how the squares are described (crispy, cheese).
• Review or explain that adjectives are words that describe nouns or pronouns. An adjective tells which one, how many, or what kind. Point out that more than one adjective can describe a noun.
• Write the following sentences on the board: Fred grabbed three brochures. The noisy friends sat quietly. They had 13 wrinkled dollar bills.
• Read each sentence, one at a time. Ask students to count the number of adjectives in each sentence (1, 1, 3). Ask them to hold up the same number of fingers as there are adjectives in each sentence.
• Have individual students come to the board and circle the adjective(s) in each sentence. Then have them underline the noun that each adjective describes.

      Check for understanding: Have students identify and circle all the adjectives on pages 7 and 8 in their book. Have them underline the noun each adjective describes. Discuss the results as a group. Ask volunteers to identify whether the adjectives describe which one, how many, or what kind.

• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the adjectives worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Word Work: Personification

• Ask students to think about the mice in the story and discuss what they do that normal mice don't do. Tell them that the author used personification, in this case giving human characteristics to animals. Personification sometimes gives human characteristics to objects, too. Point out that many fantasy stories contain examples of personification.
• Have students turn to page 3 and read the first sentence. Discuss how a mouse checking out library books is an example of personification.

      Check for understanding: Assign pairs of students to various pages throughout the text. Ask them to circle examples of Morty and the other characters behaving as humans instead of mice. Discuss the purpose that personification serves in a fantasy story, especially one with a moral like the Morty stories.

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

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their book independently. Additionally, allow partners to take turns reading parts of the book to each other.

Home Connection

• Give students their book to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends. Have students practice visualizing the story with someone at home and then compare the pictures they each created in their mind.

Fantasy Writing Connection
Review the definition of a fantasy story with students. Have students write their own story about a character who learns that it is important to not compromise one's character to reach a goal.

Math Connection
Have students turn to page 20, and read the Math Minute together. Have student pairs work to figure out how much money the mice ultimately earned by reviewing the text, drawing pictures, and showing their calculations.