Discuss Problem/Solution Worksheet 1. Students may have different ideas. This is appropriate as long as they can support their ideas with references from the book.
Say: I want you to work in pairs to discuss the following: How do the characters' personalities contribute to the problems they encounter in the story? How do the characters' personalities help solve the problems they encounter? 

Word Work
Action Verbs
Discuss with students that action verbs are the words in text that show action, i.e., what happened. 

Put the following sentences on the board. Have students take turns identifying the action verbs. Note how some action verbs are stronger than others and what effect they have on the writing. 

Thomas played with the truck.
Amy watched a movie.
I am going to the park.
Joe screamed in horror.
Linda shrieked with happiness. 

Adverbs
Explain that adverbs help add "color" to action verbs. Point out that adverbs help describe the action verb, and that they can come either before or after the verb in a sentence. Draw students' attention to these examples on page 4: the examples whispered ominously and quickly realized. 

Introduce Worksheet 2. Have students refer to the text and work in pairs to identify the adverbs and action verbs they help describe. List findings on the board and discuss when they are finished. 

Learning Through Visual Devices
Have students look at the illustrations. Go over each illustration and have students discuss the emotions on the characters' faces. Discuss the ways in which facial expressions tell us how a person is feeling, and how an illustrator might choose which expression to use for the characters in various parts of the story. Have students look at each illustration again and read the text. Ask students if there is another way they might have illustrated the book. 

Writing Link
Have each student write about a problem he or she had in school and how he or she solved it. Encourage them to use action verbs and adverbs to add excitement to their writing. Prior to writing, have them brainstorm the problem/solution using specific action verbs and adverbs that may work in their piece. 

Assessment

• Review completed problem/solution worksheets to assess if students understood the reading.
• Have students write sentences using selected vocabulary words to demonstrate their understanding of word meaning.
• Review students' completed adverbs worksheets to assess whether they can identify adverbs and the action verbs they describe.