Text Type: Fiction/Realistic
Page Count: 24
Word Count: 2,479

Book Summary
Miltie Math-head Takes the Mound is a continuation of Miltie Math-head, in which Milton leads his football team to victory using his mathematical abilities. This event causes Miltie's ego to swell and his teammates to overestimate his abilities to lead their baseball team to victory in the final game. Luckily, his friend Dan helps him realize his true strengths before it's too late. Illustrations support the text.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

• Make, revise, and confirm predictions

Objectives

• Use the reading strategy of making, revising, and confirming predictions to understand the text
• Analyze characters in the text
• Understand the use of a dash as punctuation
• Identify similes

Materials

• Book -- Miltie Math-head Takes the Mound (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Prediction, analyze characters, dash, similes worksheets

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

Vocabulary

• Content words: abysmal, calculations, computations, decimals, dibs, earned-run average, ego, lowest common denominator, mound, statistician, substitution, thousandth place, ratio, ump, umpire, windup

Build Background

• Ask students if they have ever played or watched a baseball game. Invite them to share what they know about the game, such as the positions on the field, how the game is played, and so on.

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 of book, author's name, illustrator's name).
• Ask students to turn to the table of contents. Remind them 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 all answers that students can justify.)

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Make, revise, and confirm predictions

• Explain to students that good readers often make predictions about what will happen in a book based on the series of events and what the characters say, do, and think in the story. As they read the story, readers revise or confirm their predictions based on what they learn from reading. Before reading a book, readers can use the title and illustrations as the basis for making predictions.
• Model using the title and cover illustrations to make a prediction as you preview the book.
  Think-aloud: Let's look at the front cover. I see a boy throwing a ball. There is another child in front of him wearing a glove. It looks as if that child is going to catch the ball the boy is throwing. Behind them I see other children with gloves and bats. They appear to be catching and hitting balls. It seems as though the children are playing baseball. The title of the book is Miltie Math-head Takes the Mound. I wonder if the mound is what the boy is standing on and if the boy is Miltie. If so, it seems as though Miltie might be the pitcher on the baseball team. I predict that Miltie is a great pitcher who helps his team win games. I'll have to read the book to confirm or revise my prediction.
• Create a four-column chart on the board with the headings Make, Revise, Confirm, and Actual. Model writing a prediction in the first column, Make. (For example: Miltie is a great pitcher who helps his team win games.)
• Discuss with students that the reasons behind their predictions are what make their predictions valuable.
• Introduce and explain the prediction worksheet. Have students preview all the illustrations in the story. Invite them to make a prediction before they begin reading and record it on their worksheet in the Make column.
• 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 characters

• Explain that there are many ways to learn about a character in a story. One way is to examine a character's words or thoughts. Another way is to examine the actions of the character. Explain to students that an author uses a character's words, thoughts, and actions to give the reader insight into a character's personality, relationships, and motivations, and the conflicts he or she may face.
• Ask students to turn to page 4. Read the first page of the story aloud while they follow along silently.
• Model how to analyze a character based on his or her actions.
  Think-aloud: As I read page 4, I found out that Miltie is a math whiz. He used this ability to help his football team win the championship game. It also says that he is not very big, yet he took out a large linebacker. Based on these clues, Miltie appears to be intelligent and determined. This information provides insight into Miltie's personality.
• Have students read the first paragraph on page 5. Discuss what these actions reflect about Miltie's personality (self-centered, full of himself).
• Introduce and explain the analyze characters worksheet. Have students record the information from the discussion on their worksheet.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Cut out the illustrations on pages 6, 7, and 11 from the book. Write the following vocabulary words on the board: mound, windup, ump, statistician, and earned-run average.
• Show students the illustration from page 7. Point out the boy facing the person holding the bat who has just thrown the ball. Ask students to explain what the boy is doing (he is pitching the ball to the batter). Point out the raised surface on which the boy is standing, and ask students if they know the name of the place where the pitcher stands in baseball. Point to the word mound on the board.
• Ask students if they have ever been to a professional baseball game or if they have ever watched one on television. Invite them to share what they remember about how pitchers move their bodies before they release the ball to the batter. Invite volunteers to demonstrate the actions of a pitcher. Point to the word windup on the board.
• Have students turn to the glossary and read the definitions for mound and windup. Have them compare them to the definitions that were discussed.
• Show students the illustration from page 11. Ask them to explain what they know about the words ump and umpire. Ask if they think that the words mean the same thing. Point to the word ump on the board and explain that an ump (umpire) is the person who officiates the game, decides whether the pitch is a ball or a strike, and tells whether the runner is safe or out. Ask students to identify the umpire in the picture. Then have them turn to the glossary or a dictionary to read the definition of ump (umpire).
• Show students the illustration from page 6. Ask them to explain what the boy might be doing by holding up fingers as if he is counting. Point to the word statistician on the board and ask volunteers to tell what they think this word means. Discuss the different numbers that are kept track of in a baseball game, such as the score for each team and batting averages.
• Point to the words earned-run average on the board. Ask volunteers to explain what they think it means. Demonstrate how to break the word down into three separate words, drawing clues from each word to find out what the words might mean together.
• Have students turn to the glossary and read the definitions for statistician and earned-run average. Have them compare these definitions to the definitions that were discussed.
• Have volunteers use the words mound, windup, ump, statistician, and earned-run average to predict the events that occur in Miltie Math-head Takes the Mound. Invite them to share their predictions with a neighbor.
• For tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read the book, making predictions about what will happen in the story based on what the characters say, do, and think. Remind them to revise or confirm their predictions as they learn more about the events of the story.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Review the events so far in the story. Have students read to the end of page 10. Encourage those students who finish early to go back and reread.
• Model making, revising, and confirming a prediction.
  Think-aloud: I predicted that Miltie is a great pitcher who helps his team win games. As I read, I learned that his team was definitely treating him like a hero and gave him a lot of support. However, it appears that Miltie may not be a great pitcher. I inferred this information because his friend describes his pitches as slow when he says Jimmy could have sprinted from the pitcher's mound to home plate faster than Miltie's pitch. Although this may just be this character's opinion, I'm revising my prediction to Miltie practices very hard and improves his pitching before the big game. I will write this prediction on my chart next to my original prediction in the Revise column.
• Based on this information, why might Miltie be considered overly confident or boastful? (He calls his pitches "heat" when they clearly are not, and he brags about his pitching.) Have students record the information from the discussion on their analyze characters worksheet.
• Check for understanding: Encourage students to use the information they've read and discussed to revise or confirm their prediction. Have them write their new prediction under the heading Revise on their worksheet. Remind them that if their first prediction has been confirmed or has not yet been proven, they may write another prediction in the Make column of their worksheet. Model for students how to think through whether or not their predictions were confirmed, and if not, why not. Help them to think about whether or not their reasons for their prediction were valid.
• Have students read to the end of page 13. When they have finished reading, have them share their predictions and the outcome of their predictions. Remind them to revise or confirm their predictions and write what actually happened.
• Ask students to explain how Miltie's personality has changed at this point in the story and write this in the Traits section on their analyze characters worksheet. Then have them write clues that support their answers from the text on their worksheet ("clearly, I'm not a pitcher or a ballplayer..."; Miltie then darted away so we wouldn't witness his blubbering; and so on).
• Have students share their responses from the text. Discuss how events in the story caused a change in Miltie's personality. Ask students to predict whether Miltie's personality will continue to evolve.
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Encourage them to continue to make, revise, and confirm their predictions 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 the words and figure out their 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: I predicted that Miltie practices a lot and improves his pitching before the big game. My prediction did not turn out to be correct. I learned that Miltie continued to pitch for the team but began to suffer a terrible losing streak. Therefore, he asked his friend Dan to be the pitcher and he stayed on as the manager. Miltie used his math skills to help his team during the championship game. I will write this information next to my prediction under the heading Actual.
• Ask students to share their predictions about what they thought might happen in the story. Ask them to compare their predictions with what actually happened in the story and to share any predictions that were confirmed. Reassure students by explaining that predicting correctly is not the purpose of this reading strategy.
• Ask students to explain how the strategy of making, revising, and confirming predictions helped them understand and enjoy the story.
• Independent practice: Have students complete their prediction worksheet. Invite them to share their predictions, reasoning, and revisions, and to tell how their predictions related to the actual outcome of the story.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Review the characteristics of Miltie that students identified from the first page of the story and those written in the first column on the board (heroic, determined, intelligent). Review the other character traits on the board identified as Miltie's (self-centered, egotistical, full of himself; less confident, embarrassed).
• Independent practice: Have students complete the analyze characters worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.
• Enduring understanding: In this story, Miltie loses perspective about his true talents, which puts a strain on his team. Now that you know this information, why is it important to be aware of your strengths as well as your weaknesses?

Grammar and Mechanics: Dash

• Review or explain that a dash (--) is a punctuation mark used to indicate a break or omission. It is also used to clarify information within a sentence.
• Direct students to page 16 in the book. Write the following sentences on the board: Then I saw Miltie's eyes get all squinty. He was doing calculations--I told you that boy had a brain! Ask students how the dash is used in this instance (to clarify why Miltie's eyes got squinty).
• Direct students to page 14. Write the following sentence on the board: I knew Miltie could grasp it--eventually. Ask students how the dash is used in this instance (to add a thought to the end of the sentence).
• Review or explain that hyphens are used in compound adjectives, such as Miltie Math-head. Point out that hyphens are shorter in length and are used to connect two words. Remind students not to confuse a dash with a hyphen.
• Direct students to page 6 in the book. Write the following sentence on the board: Most people know Dan-the-Man Dugan--that's me--for my powerful arm. Ask a volunteer to come to the board and circle the two dashes (after the words Dugan and me). Ask students how the dash is used in this instance (to clarify that Dan-the-Man Dugan is the narrator). Point out the hyphens in the nickname Dan-the-Man.
• Check for understanding: Have students find and circle the dash used on pages 17, and have them explain how the dash is used in the instance (to clarify which letter).
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the dash worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Word Work: Similes

• Have students turn to page 14. Read the last paragraph aloud while students follow along silently. Write the following phrase on the board: as plump as a stuffed turkey just before Thanksgiving. Have students explain what is being compared in this sentence (a slowball to a plump turkey). Have them identify the signal word (as).
• Review or explain that a simile makes a comparison by using the words 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 students turn to page 19. Read the last paragraph aloud while students follow along silently. Ask students to identify the simile. Write the following on the board: as slowly as one of his pitches. Have students tell what is being compared in this sentence (Miltie's walking pace to his slow pitches). Have them identify the signal word (as).
• Check for understanding: Have students work in pairs to create their own similes. Have them write them on a separate piece of paper to share with the class.
• 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 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 also take home their prediction worksheet and explain to someone the process of making, revising, and confirming predictions.

Writing and Art Connection

Have students use their completed analyze characters worksheet to review Miltie's character traits. Have them choose the trait they find to be the most admirable. Instruct them to write a paragraph discussing why they chose the trait and why it is an admirable characteristic to possess. Have them relate it to themselves, stating if they have or would like to have this trait and why.

Math Connection

Explain to students that batting average is an important statistic used in the game of baseball. Batting average is a measure of a player's performance. The higher the number, the better the performance. Provide students with a variety of baseball cards. Have students choose 5 to 6 cards and use the information on the cards to calculate each player's batting average: number of base hits (H) divided by number of times at bat (AB), rounding the number to the thousandth place. Have them use these calculations to rank the players from best to worst based on batting average.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• consistently make reasonable predictions and then modify and/or confirm those predictions during discussion and on a worksheet
• analyze the words, thoughts, and actions of the main character; identify changes in a character's personality during discussion and on a worksheet
• correctly identify the use of dashes as punctuation; distinguish dashes from hyphens during discussion and on a worksheet
• identify similes in the book and tell what is being compared during discussion and on a worksheet

Comprehension Checks

• Book Quiz
• Retelling Rubric