Build Background

• Write the following on the board: Tokyo, Beijing, and Bangkok. Ask students if they have heard of any of these cities and to share what they know.
• Ask students what types of things a person might notice about a place he or she has not been to before (food, buildings, customs, clothing, language, transportation, and so on). Provide books, travel posters, and/or postcards with information on each of the three cities. Invite students to preview the information and share what they learned from the text and photos.
• Create a KWL chart on the board and hand out the KWL worksheet. Review or explain that the K stands for information we know, the W stands for information we want to know, and the L stands for the information we learned. As various topics are discussed, fill in the first column (K) on the board with information students know about the topic.
• Ask students what they would like to know about Tokyo, Beijing, and Bangkok. Write their questions on the board under the second column (W). Separate the questions on the chart by city.

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 and what it might be about.
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title, author's name, illustrator's name).

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Ask and answer questions

• Discuss how having prior knowledge about the topic, and asking and answering questions while reading, can help readers understand and remember the information in a book.
• Direct students to the table of contents. Remind them that the table of contents provides an overview of the information in a book and how it is organized. After previewing the table of contents, use it to model asking questions.
• Think-aloud: I can use the table of contents to think of questions I would like to have answered about Tokyo, Beijing, and Bangkok. For example, Chapter 2 is titled "Tokyo: City of Electric Lights." I wonder if this statement means that the city has a lot of buildings that all light up at night. I'll have to read the book to find out. I'll write that question on the chart.
• Have students look at the other chapter titles. Write any questions they have based on the covers and table of contents in the W column of the class KWL chart.
• Have students preview the rest of the book, looking at illustrations, photos, and captions. Show students the glossary. Write any additional questions they might have on the class KWL chart.
• 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: Make inferences

• Explain that not all the information in a book is directly stated. Sometimes readers need to make inferences by using prior knowledge and the details in the story to understand ideas or events in the book. Explain that an inference is a conclusion drawn by connecting clues in text to information that a person already knows. Making inferences allow readers to understand the text on a deeper level.
• Write the following sentences on the board: I sit with my friend, Meg, every day at lunch. We both bring our lunches from home. We bring different types of food each day: sandwiches, soups, salads, vegetables, and fruits. However, I notice that Meg always brings juice to drink. Whenever I offer to trade my milk for her juice, she always makes a face and says "no thank you."
• Create a two-column chart on the board with the headings Text and Prior Knowledge. Model making inferences.
• Think-aloud: I know that authors do not directly state all the ideas in a story and that I must make inferences to understand the story completely. In the story on the board, Meg always brings juice for lunch. Whenever her friend offers to trade her milk for the juice, Meg says no. She also makes a face at the offer of milk. I know that when I make a face at something, it is generally because I do not like it. If I do not like something, I would not want it if it were offered to me. Based on these clues from the story and what I know, I infer that Meg does not bring milk for lunch because she doesn't like it.
• Ask students to identify information from the sentences on the board that supports the inference. Write this information under the heading Text on the chart. Ask students to identify information from prior knowledge shared during the discussion that supports the inference. Write this information under the heading Prior Knowledge on the chart.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Ask students to tell the word that people use when they are leaving (goodbye). Explain that people say goodbye differently in other languages, even though the meaning is similar.
• Write the following content vocabulary words from the book on the board: sayonara, zai jian, and sawatdi. Practice saying the words aloud with students (sah-yoh-NAR-ah, z-eye gee-en, sah-WAT-dee). Have students explain what they know about these words. Explain that they are all different ways of saying goodbye.
• Give pairs of students a piece of paper. Have them write the three vocabulary words on their paper and practice saying the words aloud to their partner.
• Write the countries Japan, China, and Thailand on the board. Tell students that each of the vocabulary words matches with one of the countries on the board. Identify to students the corresponding country for each word. Have them write the name of the country under the appropriate word (sayonara: Japan; zai jian: China; sawatdi: Thailand).
• Have students locate each word in the book's glossary and invite them to read the definition for each word. Invite students to share ways to say goodbye in other languages (Spanish: adi—s; German: auf viedersehen; Italian: ciao; French: au revoir; and so on).
• For tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read to find out more about Cali and Wanda Lou's travels to Tokyo, Beijing, and Bangkok.
• Introduce and explain the ask and answer questions worksheet. Remind students to find answers to their questions while they read and write them under the appropriate heading on their worksheet.

During Reading 

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Have students read to the end of page 8. Remind them to look for information that will answer questions about each city on the KWL chart. Encourage students who finish early to go back and reread.
• Model answering a question and writing the answer in the third column (L) on the class KWL chart.
  Think-aloud: I wanted to know why Tokyo is named the "city of electric lights." Although the book did not specifically answer this question, I did read that Cali and Wanda Lou saw a lot of tall buildings and neon signs. I know that neon signs require electricity. Since Wanda Lou saw many neon signs, the city might look as though it is filled with electric lights. So far I have learned lots of information about the sites to see in Tokyo. I wonder what types of food people in Tokyo eat. I will write this question on the class KWL chart.
• Have students write answers to their questions under the appropriate heading on their ask and answer questions worksheet. Invite them to share the information they learned and the questions they generated as they read the book. Record shared responses and additional questions on the class KWL chart.
• Ask students to use information in the text and their prior knowledge to infer whether Wanda Lou went on her trip with anyone else besides Cali (she went with a parent or another adult that she knows). Have students identify information from the text that supports their inference. (The illustration on page 6 shows Wanda Lou holding the hand of an adult while on the plane.) Have them share information from their prior knowledge that supports their inference. (Wanda Lou appears to be a child. Children usually travel with an adult.)
• Introduce and explain the make inferences worksheet. Have students write the information from the discussion on their worksheet.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 14. Have them write answers they found while reading under the appropriate heading on their ask and answer questions worksheet. Invite them to share the information they learned and the additional questions they generated as they read the book. Write this information on the class KWL chart.
• Based on the information in the book and their prior knowledge, ask students what they can infer about how Wanda Lou felt about losing Cali in Beijing and write it on their make inferences worksheet (sad, worried).
• Have students identify information from the text and prior knowledge that supports their inference and write this information on their worksheet. (Text: She came running when Miss Chang found Cali. She hugged and kissed Cali. Cali got wet from Wanda Lou's tears, indicating that Wanda Lou was crying; Prior knowledge: Whenever I lose something that is important to me, I feel sad and worried. When I find what I've lost, I feel relieved and happy.)
• Discuss the information students wrote on their make inferences worksheet. Allow students to make corrections to their worksheet as necessary.
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to look for answers to their questions and to use the information they learned to make inferences.

    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.
• Think-aloud: I wanted to know what types of food people eat in Tokyo. I learned about two types of food on a Japanese menu: tempura and sushi. Tempura is fish or vegetables that is battered and fried. Sushi is made with squid, eel, and octopus.
• Ask students to share questions they raised while reading, and ask them what questions were answered (or not answered) in the text. Have students write answers they found while reading under the appropriate heading on their ask and answer questions worksheet.
• Reinforce that asking questions before and during reading, and looking for the answers while reading, keeps students interested in the topic. It also encourages them to keep reading to find the answer to their questions and helps them understand and remember what they have read.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Ask students to reread page 18. Ask what can be inferred about why people live along the canal (it is convenient for business and transportation). Have students identify information from the text that supports their inference. (Klongs transport people through the canals. Vendors transport their goods from house to house.) Have students identify information from their prior knowledge that supports their inference. (Streets in cities can often be crowded. It might be less crowded and easier to get around by traveling down the canal. Also, many people order goods that ship directly to their home. Therefore, the vendors on the canal that come directly to people's homes and businesses provide a convenience for the people who live there to get what they need.) Have students write the information from the discussion on their make inferences worksheet.
• Independent practice: Have students complete the make inferences worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.
• Enduring understanding: In this book, you learned about some of the cultures and customs of three different places around the world. Now that you know this information, do you think people in other countries are more similar to or different from each other?

Build Skills 

Grammar and Mechanics: Compound Sentences

• Write the following sentence on the board: They bowed when they greeted each other, and they spoke in a language I didn't understand. Ask students to identify two separate sentences within this longer sentence. (They bowed when they greeted each other. They spoke in a language I didn't understand.)
• Point out that the original sentence is an example of a compound sentence. Review or explain that a compound sentence is a sentence consisting of two or more simple sentences separated by a comma and a conjunction.
• Review with students examples of conjunctions (and, but, for, or, nor, so, and yet). Write these examples on the board. Ask students to identify the conjunction that joined the two parts of the original sample sentence (and).
• Discuss why the author chose to join two sentences of similar content together (compound sentences with conjunctions help writers make their writing more fluent).
• Write the following sentence on the board: The menu was written in Japanese, but she could tell from the pictures that they served sushi made with squid, eel, and octopus. Ask a volunteer to come to the board to identify and circle the conjunction (but).
• Have students identify the two sentences the conjunction connects (The menu was written in Japanese. She could tell from the pictures that they served sushi made with squid, eel, and octopus.). Discuss how the conjunction and comma connect the two sentences, taking the place of the period and capital letter S in the second sentence.
• Point out the list of three things at the end of the sentence (squid, eel, and octopus). Explain that although this list contains a comma followed by the conjunction and, the word octopus does not create a sentence by itself. Explain that the pattern of a comma followed by and is also used at the end of a list.

    Check for understanding: Have students locate compound sentences in the book. Ask them to underline these sentences in their book and circle each conjunction and comma. When students have finished, discuss their answers.

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

Word Work: Suffix -ful

• Write the following sentence on the board: My teacher gave me some helpful suggestions for my science project. Point out the word helpful. Ask students to explain the meaning of the word.
• Write the suffix -ful on the board and discuss its meaning (full of). Have students identify the word's part of speech (adjective). Erase the suffix -ful from the end of the word helpful. Ask students to explain how the meaning and part of speech of the word changed (the word became a verb that means to make something easier to do).
• Have students locate the word with the suffix -ful on page 7 (beautiful). Ask students to explain the meaning of the word.
• Have students cover the suffix at the end of the word. Ask them to explain how the meaning and part of speech changed. Point out that the base word, beauty, ends with the letter ­y, which needs to be changed to i before adding the suffix.

    Check for understanding: Have students locate the word with the suffix -ful on page 12 (careful). Ask them to write the part of speech and meaning of the word at the bottom of the page. Have students identify and write the base word of careful along the side of the page. Then have them write the part of speech and meaning of the base word next to this word.

• Independent practice: Have students complete the suffixes worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

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 ask someone at home to share what they know about Toyko, Beijing, and Bangkok.

Extend the Reading 

Writing and Art Connection
Have students choose one of the countries Wanda Lou visited: Japan, China, or Thailand. Have them research their topic, identifying how their own culture and traditions are similar and different from those of the country they researched. Have them write a report that identifies similarities and differences between the following: clothing, food, language, customs, and music/art. Invite students to read their reports aloud in a class presentation.

Social Studies and Math Connection
Have students identify the locations of Tokyo, Beijing, and Bangkok on a map. Have them use a map scale to determine the total distance of Wanda Lou's trip from Tokyo to Bangkok.

Assessment 

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• consistently use the strategy of asking and answering questions during discussion and on a worksheet
• accurately use the text and prior knowledge to make inferences during discussion and on a worksheet
• recognize and understand compound sentences during discussion and on a worksheet
• correctly identify the meaning and part of speech for words with and without the suffix -ful during discussion and on a worksheet

Comprehension Checks

• Book Quiz
• Retelling Rubric

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