Reading Level:
X

Word Count:
2,559

Pages:
22 

Text Summary
Andy prepares himself for a boring vacation with his grandparents when, on the way there, his mother claims that Grandpa used to parachute out of planes and fight wildfires. Andy doubts her tale, but when he finds an old photograph and encourages Grandpa to tell his amazing story, he changes his mind about what his grandparents can do. 

Lesson Objectives

Word Work
Figurative Language
Idiomatic expressions
Similes
Personification
Grammar
Quotes-within-quotes 

Content Vocabulary
abruptly, adorned, barrage, briefed, diminishing, donned, emphatically, extinguishing, flabbergasted, grueling, igniting, instinctively, maneuvered, preoccupied, pursed, relayed, resemblance, resilience

These words are printed in bold and included in the glossary. You may want to spend some time with these words and encourage students understand their meaning through context and glossary definitions. 

Comprehension
You will likely address a number of comprehension skills as students work to understand the text. The target comprehension strategy for this lesson is: analyzing character. 

Before Reading

Build Background
Ask questions to elicit prior knowledge and build background on the topic of wildfires and smoke jumpers.
Ask: What is a wildfire? What do you think it might be like to fight a wildfire? What kind of qualities do you think you’d need to be a good wildfire fighter? What is a smoke jumper? 

Introduce the Book
Give students their books and have them look at the cover illustration and read the title. Have them flip through the illustrations and make initial predictions about the story.
Ask: What do you see in the illustrations? What do you think this book is about? 

Read page 4 aloud. Ask students to make predictions about Andy based on this information. Give students worksheet 1 and have them complete the first column before reading the book.
Ask and say: Who are the characters you have met so far? Who do you think is telling the story? What impressions do you have about the narrator? What do you think might happen that could make the narrator change his point of view? I want you to write down your first impressions of the narrator in the first column. 

Set a Purpose for Reading
Tell students you want them to find out how the narrator changes. After they finish reading Chapter 2, they should stop and jot down what they have learned about him so far. Tell students that they will complete the worksheet when they finish reading. 

During Reading

Have students read the book independently. If you notice students reading beyond Chapter 2 without stopping to fill in the worksheet, encourage them to pause and retell the story in order to fulfill the reading purpose. If the book will be used as a consumable, you may ask students to mark or highlight words they have trouble with or places where they are confused. 

After Reading

Comprehending the Text
Reflect on Reading Purpose
Remind students of their purpose for reading and ask what they found out. Discuss how Andy's character changes his attitude through the story.
Ask: Who did the narrator turn out to be? What impressions did you have of him after reading Chapter 2? Did you like, dislike, or feel neutral about him at that point? How did Andy change at the end of the story? What made him change his attitude?  

Have students complete the worksheet by filling in the final column. Discuss their answers by comparing them to students' first and Chapter 2 impressions.
Ask and say: What can you learn about Andy from what he says on pages 19 and 20? Often writers build their characters by having them undergo some kind of change during the story. Do you think the technique of changing Andy’s attitude helps make the story more interesting? Explain. 

Other discussion questions may be:

• Where did this story take place?
• Can you retell some of Grandpa’s adventures as a smoke jumper?
• How does the mood of the story change when Grandpa begins telling his story? 

Word Work

Idiomatic Language
Have students find the words "pulling my leg" on page 6 and have them read the sentence in which it is found. Ask students what the expression means. Ask why they think the author chose to use this expression instead of simply saying "she must be kidding." Discuss how authors often use idiomatic language to create authentic characters who speak in an informal way. Have students look for other examples of this type of language in the book. Examples are: bored out of my mind, stop in my tracks, and captive audience. 

Similes
Have students find the phrase "it towered above me like some ancient wooden giant" on page 5. Review that a simile is when a writer compares two things using the words like or as. In this case, the tower is compared to a giant. Write the phrases, "Greg and I were crammed like sardines in the belly of the DC-3," (page 14) and, "the heat wrapped around us like a heavy blanket" (page 17) on the board. Have students explain what things these similes compare. 

Personification
Review with students what personification is. Provide an example from page 17: "Fingers of flame licked at the bark, igniting them one by one like they were candles on a birthday cake." Have students first identify the simile in the phrase, telling the two things being compared (trees and birthday candles). Then ask them how the flame is portrayed. Point out that the flame is given human qualities: it is described as licking the bark. Give out worksheet 2 and have students work with a partner to find other examples of personification. Some examples are: the wind whipped and tugged at my mouth; windows desperately encouraging the breeze to come in; smile played about his mouth. The paragraph on page 19 beginning, "Thankfully, Grandpa continued…" provides some excellent examples of personification. Students should think of their own examples of personification to add to the list. 

Hand out worksheet 2. Tell students to read the descriptions on the page. In the spaces below, they should rewrite the descriptions by personifying the action. You may wish to model an example before students begin working independently. 

Grammar
Quotes-within-quotes
Have students turn to the last paragraph on page 14. Ask them who is speaking. Explain to them that in a story, when one character tells his or her own story other characters will often speak during that story. In this case, the character Charlie is speaking in the story that Grandpa is telling. To indicate that we are reading speech-within-speech, two kinds of quotation marks are used. In regular, or direct, speech, such as the previous paragraph in which Grandpa begins, "However," regular double-quotation marks are used. But when someone else, such as Charlie, speaks during Grandpa's story, his direct words are put in single quotes, which look like apostrophes. In most cases when single quotes bump up next to double quotes, there will be a space printed in between the two for clarity. Have students look through the book and find other examples of quotes-within-quotes.

Writing Connection
Have students write a description that uses similes and personification. Help them choose a topic for their description. Then have them brainstorm ideas for similes and personification they could use. After they have completed their first draft, have them read through their work with a partner to see if they can improve their figurative language. 

Reading Independently
Invite students to reread the book independently or with a partner. They can also take the book home to read with their families. Invite students to read their figurative language descriptions. 

Assessment

• Monitor students' responses in the Comprehending the Text section to assess how well they understand the text.
• Review students' completed character analysis charts to determine how well they can analyze character and track character changes. Note if their descriptions are consistent with the information available at each point in the story.
• Review completed worksheet 2 to assess students' ability to understand and use personification.