Text Type: Fiction/Fantasy
Page Count: 24
Word Count: 2,229 

Book Summary
Saved by the Stars recounts another adventure for Miguel as he dives into one of The Great Gallardo books. This time he travels into the story of Black Beauty and takes on the role of the horse! He is in a race against time, running through the night to save his mistress's life. When he stumbles, exhausted, and his rider's glasses are broken, he must trust his instincts to find his way home. Illustrations support the text.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

• Visualize

Objectives

• Use the reading strategy of visualizing to understand the text
• Analyze point of view in the text
• Identify and understand the use of semicolons in the text
• Understand the use of similes

Materials

• Book -- Saved by the Stars (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Visualize, vocabulary, similes 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: adrenaline, balance, crease, dead end, exhausted, galloped, lifeline, navigate, night vision, reins, sense of direction, shale, traversed

Build Background

• Show students a copy of the novel Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. Ask whether they have read the book and, if so, to share what they remember about the story.
• Ask students whether they have read any of the other adventures Miguel has experienced in his great-grandfather's old books: The Great Gallardo's Books, level U; Yellow Brick Roadies, level U; Sister Sleuth and the Silver Blaze, level V; Miguel in the Secret Garden, level W. Discuss what they remember from the stories.

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).
• 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 in the text and what a person already knows about a topic.
• Read page 4 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 organize the important information and understand the ideas in the book. For example, on page 4, the author describes how Miguel and his friends were racing their bikes toward a field. I pictured Miguel, Leo, and Trevon pedaling hard, shouting at each other as they raced down the street. I pictured them getting increasingly frustrated with each other as they skidded to a stop. Miguel must have felt really horrible when the map on his hand began to disappear. I'm sure that he knew his friends would blame him for getting lost.
• Reread page 4 aloud to students, asking them to use the words in the story to visualize. Introduce and explain the visualize worksheet. Have students draw on the worksheet what they visualized from the text on page 4. Invite students to share their drawings.
• 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 point of view

• Write the following on the board: I pedaled hard, glancing down at a map drawn on the palm of my hand. I'd been sweating, and as the sun set, I could barely make out the lines and street names.
• Ask students to turn to page 4. Read the first page of the story aloud while they follow along silently. Ask students to identify how the two passages are different.
• Explain that the two examples represent two different points of view: first person and third person. Point out that the text on page 4 of the story is written in third-person point of view. Explain that it's called third person because it is written using the pronouns he, she, and/or it, as though the narrator or author is watching and reporting the actions of the characters. Point out that the passage written on the board is the same text from page 4 written in first-person point of view. Explain that first-person point of view is written using the pronouns I, me, and my, as though the main character is the author or narrator reporting his or her own actions and thoughts to the reader.
• Have a volunteer come to the board and circle all of the pronouns that show that the passage is written in first-person point of view (I, my, I'd). Have students refer back to page 4 and circle all of the pronouns that show that the text is written in third-person point of view (his, He'd).
• Model how to analyze point of view.
  Think-aloud: As I read page 4, I noticed that the pronouns being used were his and he'd. I know that these pronouns are used when the author is telling a story in third-person point of view. The point of view an author chooses to use affects the manner in which the story is told. I'm going to keep reading to see whether the story continues in third-person point of view or whether I can identify other pronouns to show that any part of the story has changed to a different point of view.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Cut out the illustration on page 13. Write the words exhausted, navigate, and traversed on the board. Explain that thinking ahead about these vocabulary words will help students understand the problems Miguel faces in the story.
• Show students the illustration from page 13. Have students describe what they see in the illustration. Point to the horse galloping down a trail through pine trees. Point to the rider on his back. Ask students whether they know a word that describes when a person has moved through an area (traversed).
• Have students turn to the glossary, and ask a volunteer to read the definition for traversed.
• Invite students to describe facial and body clues in the illustration from page 13. Explain that these clues might help them guess the feelings of the characters. Have students turn to the glossary, and ask a volunteer to read the definition for exhausted.
• Ask students to identify the word on the board that describes the ability to find one's way over a long distance (navigate). Have students turn to the glossary, and ask a volunteer to read the definitions for navigate. Ask students to think about the vocabulary words (exhausted, navigate, traversed) and predict what might happen in this next adventure for Miguel.
• Introduce, explain, and have students complete the vocabulary worksheet for one of the following words: exhausted, navigate, traversed. When students have finished, discuss their answers.
• For tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read to find out more about Miguel's adventure into the story of Black Beauty. Remind them to stop after every few pages to visualize the most important information and draw on their worksheet what they visualized about it.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Have students read from page 5 to the end of page 11. Encourage those who finish early to go back and reread. Have students draw what they visualized during one or more events of the story on their visualize worksheet.
• Model visualizing.
  Think-aloud: On page 11, I read about Miguel running through the night as Black Beauty to save his owner's life. I pictured the late orange sun fading away as they wound through a thick, dark pine forest. I pictured Black Beauty's eyelids drooping with exhaustion and his strong leg muscles rippling with exertion. I pictured John digging his heels into Black Beauty's sides and skillfully steering him with the reins, encouraging him to press on.
• Invite students to share their drawings of what they visualized while reading. Have them explain their drawings aloud.
• Ask students whether they have noticed a shift in the author's point of view, from third person to first person. Have them identify when the change took place (at the beginning of page 10, when Miguel became Black Beauty). Have them explain how readers know that the point of view has changed (the pronouns changed from he and his to me and my). Discuss why the author may have chosen to change the point of view.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 15. Have them visualize the information in the text as they read. Ask students to draw what they visualized on their visualize worksheet. Invite students to share what they visualized.
• Remind students that books written in the first-person point of view give an insight into the feelings and thoughts of the main character. Ask students to identify the thoughts and feelings of Miguel as Black Beauty (scared he would let his owner down, loyalty to his owner, in pain and exhausted, and so on).
• 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 17, I read about the doctor losing his glasses. I pictured the man squinting without his glasses on his face. I pictured him dropping quickly to his knees, feeling around on the rocky ground for the small frames. I also envisioned the expression on his face changing from excitement to despair as he realized that the lenses had fallen out after finding his glasses.
• Ask students to explain how the strategy of visualizing helped them understand and enjoy the story. Lead a discussion about the different settings in the story (stable, pine forest, rocky ravine, and so on). Point out how these different settings create very different pictures in a reader's mind.
• Independent practice: Have students complete the visualize worksheet. If time allows, have them share their drawings.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Review the difference between authors writing in first-person and third-person points of view. Talk about how this book contains examples of both, and ask volunteers to read sentences from the text that illustrate the use of each. (Third-person: Miguel swallowed and glanced down at his sweaty hand; Oh, how he longed to make a wish; and so on. First-person: I whinnied and neighed--swished my head and tail; Soon cold blackness overtook my body, but the white-hot pain remained; and so on). Write the examples on the board under the appropriate heading as students cite them.
• Have volunteers come to the board and circle the pronouns in each sentence that helped them identify the correct point of view.
• Have students review the text to locate the page on which the author changes back to third-person point of view (page 22). Ask a volunteer to read the last sentence written in first-person point of view. (There, I found Trevon and Leo staring at me.) Ask another volunteer to read the first sentence on page 22 written in third-person point of view. ("Oh, nothing," Miguel said.) Discuss the clues that tell the reader that the author changed back to third-person point of view (change in the use of pronouns). Point out that if the story were still being told in first-person point of view, the sentence would read, "Oh, nothing," I said.         
• Enduring understanding: In this book, you read about Miguel's extraordinary effort as Black Beauty to save his owner's life. It was important to Miguel that Beauty live up to her reputation. Now that you know this information, why do you think it is important for people to establish and maintain a reputation?

Grammar and Mechanics: Semicolons

• Direct students to page 17. Ask a volunteer to read the first paragraph on the page. Point out the sentence divided by a semicolon and write it on the board: "I lost my glasses in the fall; I can't see a thing!" Point out that the two clauses on either side of the semicolon could stand on their own as separate sentences: I lost my glasses in the fall. I can't see a thing!
• Review or explain that a semicolon (;) is a punctuation mark indicating a separation of two clauses that can stand on their own as separate sentences.
• Check for understanding: Have students locate the semicolons on pages 16 and 19. Have volunteers identify the two separate sentences that could stand on their own if the semicolons were replaced by periods. (Page 16: I turned my head at movement in the trees. The pain stopped me.) (Page 19: I had no idea where to go. I couldn't remember the way John and I came.)
• Independent practice: Using either a blank sheet of paper or the inside back cover of their book, have students write their own sentence containing a semicolon. When finished, have them exchange their sentence with a partner. Have the partners write the two independent sentences from the original sentence.

Word Work: Similes

• Write the following phrase on the board: The boys slid out to a stop under a darkened streetlamp, crashing into one another like dominoes. Have students explain what two things are being compared in this sentence (the boys crashing into one another and dominoes).
• Review or explain that a simile makes a comparison between two objects using the word like or as. Write the words like and as on the board. Tell students that these words are often signals that they are reading a simile. Have them identify the signal word from the example on the board (like).
• Have students turn to page 13. Read the first paragraph aloud while students follow along silently. Ask students to identify the simile (...pain shot up my rear leg, as if the tendons were about to snap like rubber bands). Write the simile like rubber bands on the board. Have students tell what is being compared in this simile (the snapping of tendons to the snapping of rubber bands). Have them identify the signal word (like).
• Check for understanding: Have students work in pairs to create and write their own simile on a separate piece of paper. Invite them to share their similes aloud.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the similes 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 each created in their mind.

Fantasy Writing Connection
Review the definition of a fantasy story with students (a story in which the imagination makes the impossible seem possible). Have students write their own story about a character that travels into the events of a familiar story. Have them first brainstorm which story their character will become a part of, what adventure their character will experience, and what the setting is like. Encourage them to have their character become a different character for the adventure, as Miguel became Black Beauty.

Science Connection
Supply books and links to Internet websites for students to research horses. Have them find out about the anatomy of a horse, what makes horses such great runners, and what helps them build the stamina needed for distance and speed.