Build Background

• Invite volunteers to tell about features and traits they share with their parents or grandparents. Encourage students to explain what they know about how traits are passed from one generation to the next. Guide students to understand that some traits are dominant, and therefore more likely to occur, and some traits are recessive, and therefore less likely to occur. Give an example, such as brown eyes is dominant over blue eyes.

Preview the Book

Introduce the Book

• Give students a copy of the book. Ask them to preview 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 kind of book this 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).
• Direct students to the table of contents on page 3. Remind them that the table of contents provides an overview of what the book is about. Ask students what they expect to read about based on the chapter titles in the table of contents. (Accept all answers that students can justify.)

Introduce the Strategy: Make, revise, and confirm predictions

• Review or explain that good readers make predictions about what might happen in a book based on what the characters say, do, and think in the story. Remind students that as they read, they may need to revise or confirm their predictions based on what they learn from reading. Create a four-column chart on the board with the headings Make, Revise, Confirm, and Inference.
• Model making predictions using the illustrations.
  Think-aloud: On the front cover, I see a girl looking at herself in a mirror. Since the title of the book is The Mystery Twin, I predict that she might be trying to find her twin. On the back cover, I see two girls talking. I predict that the girls are twins because their profiles are similar. I will write my predictions on the board under the heading Make. I'm going to read the story to find out whether I need to revise my predictions or if my predictions can be confirmed.
• Introduce and explain the prediction and inference worksheet. Encourage students to make predictions based on the other illustrations in the story. Ask volunteers to share their predictions and explain their thinking about the prediction they made. Guide students to pay close attention as they read to what the characters say and do. Explain that the actions of characters provide hints about what might happen next in the story.
• Guide students as they read 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 an author often will leave ideas unsaid, such as what a character might be thinking. Explain that to get the most meaning from a story, readers connect the clues in the text to information already known to understand the actions of characters and the events of a story. Explain that figuring out what the author has left unsaid is called inferring, or making an inference.
• Discuss with students that people make inferences daily about the actions of others and the events of the day. For example, ask students what they can infer if a friend never chooses milk as a drink at lunch (the friend is allergic to milk or doesn't like milk). Explain that inferences people make can also lead to predictions about a future event. Ask students to predict the type of drink the friend will choose next time at lunch (something other than milk).
• Think-aloud: I know an author does not directly state all the ideas in a story and that I must make inferences to understand the story completely. I know that good readers do this, so I'm going to make inferences in this story as I read.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Reinforce the vocabulary words students will encounter in the text. Choose five or six vocabulary words from the list on page 1 of this lesson plan that students might find difficult. Use the words you've chosen as you page through the book with students, engaging them in conversation using the vocabulary words before they read.
• Model how to apply word-attack strategies. Have students find the word blustery in the first paragraph on page 4. Tell them they can look at the letters the word begins and ends with to help them sound out the word. Ask them to use context clues to figure out the meaning of the word. Invite a volunteer to read the first paragraph aloud. Point out one context clue (securing the windows against a storm) and ask students to find two more (just the wind; night like this). Ask students to tell what they think the word blustery means based on these clues.
• Explain that sometimes a context clue will be in the same sentence, but at other times they will have to read the whole paragraph to grasp the meaning. Have volunteers verify the meaning of blustery by looking it up in the glossary and in a dictionary. Have students follow along as a different volunteer reads aloud the sentence to confirm the meaning of the word.
• Have students turn to the glossary on page 22. Have volunteers read aloud the glossary words and their definitions. Have students turn to the pages indicated to read each glossary word in the sentence in which it appears. If time allows, have them find context clues in the surrounding sentences that confirm the meaning of each glossary word.
• For additional tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Before students read, have them make predictions about what will happen in the story. Remind them to revise or confirm their predictions as they read to learn more about the characters and the events in the story.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Remind students that examining the text and using prior knowledge helps readers make inferences about the actions of characters and the events of a story, and these inferences often lead to further predictions.
• Have students read pages 4 through 6. Ask them to look for the words or phrases that tell when and where the story takes place; information about how the characters think, feel, and act; and important events. Encourage students who finish before everyone else to reread for clues. Have them record predictions and inferences on their worksheet.
• Model making inferences and making, revising, and confirming predictions.
  Think-aloud: I predicted that Heather had a twin, and I used the information in the story to confirm that prediction. Based on the information in the story, I infer that the birth mother cared about her twin babies. This inference leads me to predict that the Altos will tell Heather about the note. I will write this on the board. I still don't know whether my prediction aboutt the girl on the back cover being the twin is correct. I'll have to keep reading to find out whether that prediction is correct.
• Check for understanding: Based on the information in the book and information they already know, invite students to explain the inference made (she worried about the best chance for them to be adopted, it was a difficult decision, she included a photograph). Have students explain why this inference might lead to the prediction that the Altos will tell Heather about the note (it was difficult to separate them, and if the tragedy had not happened the twins would likely still be together).
• Invite students to share what they predicted might happen in the first chapter. Encourage them to explain inferences they made and tell how they might revise their predictions before they read the second chapter.
• Have students read the remainder of the story. Remind them as they read to pause and think about predictions they've made. Point out that when a prediction is confirmed, they can revise their predictions about the rest of the story.

    Tell students to make a small question mark in their books beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. These can be addressed in the discussion that follows.

Reflect on the Reading Strategy

• Ask students what words, if any, they marked in their books. Use this opportunity to model how they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
• Have students complete their prediction and inference worksheet. Discuss how making, revising, and confirming predictions keeps readers actively involved in the story and helps them remember what they've read.
• Think-aloud: As I read and learned more about Amelia, I revised my prediction that the girls on the back cover were twins. I think that the information about Harry matched more closely with what I knew about Heather. I revised my prediction as I kept reading, which helped me stay interested in the story.
• Ask students to share their predictions about each chapter and explain why they made each prediction. Have them compare their predictions with actual events in the story.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Discuss the inferences students made while reading. Ask them to use story clues and what they already know to explain why they made each inference. Have them explain whether their inference led to further predictions.
• Independent practice: Ask students to reread the first paragraph on page 21. Ask what can be inferred from the reaction of Harry's family (Harry has been looking for a twin and finally might have found her, they liked Heather and her family and were pleased that the children may be related, and so on).
• Invite students to predict how the outcome of the story might have been different if Harry's family had not been thrilled to hear that Harry and Heather might be twins (the families might not have agreed to get the children's DNA tested, the families would not spend time together in the future, Harry and Heather may not have discovered the identity of their twin, and so on).
• Extend the discussion: Have students work in small groups to infer what the birth mother wrote in the letter that Mrs. Banks found. Remind them to use story clues and what they already know to recreate the letter. Invite groups to share their letters aloud.

Grammar and Mechanics: Adverbs

• Write the following sentence from the text on the board: They cautiously opened the door. Underline the word cautiously. Review or explain that an adverb is a word that describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Tell students that writers use adverbs to give readers more information about how or how much. Ask students to identify what the adverb cautiously is describing (the verb opened). Point out that adverbs can be used in several places within a sentence. Have volunteers suggest revisions to the sentence by moving the adverb to other positions within the sentence. (Cautiously they opened the door. They opened the door cautiously.) Guide students to realize that in each sentence, cautiously describes the verb opened.
• Circle the ending -ly in the adverb cautiously. Explain that many adverbs end in ­-ly. Ask a volunteer to underline the base word cautious. Have students provide other examples of base words in which an -ly ending is added to create a word that tells how an action is performed.
• Explain that in order to make some adjectives into adverbs, it is necessary to add more than -ly. Write the words happy and busy on the board. Explain that to make the adjective happy into an adverb, the -y first must be changed to an i before adding -ly. Write happily and read the word aloud with students. Invite a volunteer to use the word in a sentence. Have students explain how to change the adjective busy into an adverb.
• Check for understanding: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the adverbs worksheet. Discuss their answers.

Word Work: Apostrophes

• Invite students to share what they already know about using apostrophes to show possession. Write their examples on the board. Review or explain any additional rules for using apostrophes to show possession and add these to the list on the board. (If necessary, review the use of apostrophes in contractions.) 

Using Apostrophes to Show Possession

1. Add apostrophe -s to all singular nouns (dress's hem, book's cover).
2. When plural nouns do not end in -s, add apostrophe -s (children's toys, men's tools).
3. When plural nouns end in -s, add an apostrophe (girls' names, books' covers).
4. When two people possess the same thing, consider them as one (Abe and Cheryl's project).
5. When two people each possess the same things individually, each name has an apostrophe -s (Jake's and Tony's Detroit Tigers shirts).

• Ask students to turn to page 13. Ask how the apostrophes are used (contractions and singular possessive). Discuss the difference between apostrophes used in a contraction and apostrophes used to show possession (contractions stand for two words and possessives show ownership).
• Check for understanding: Challenge students to find examples of each rule listed on the board in books they find throughout the classroom. Allow time for students to share their findings in small groups. Encourage students to explain how each example fits the rule.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the apostrophes worksheet. Discuss student responses once everyone has finished working independently.

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their books independently or with a partner. Encourage repeated timed readings of a specific section in the book.

Home Connection

• Give students their books to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends. Have students discuss with someone at home the traits they possess for hair, eye color, and attached or unattached earlobes.

Writing and Art Connection
Review how to write an advertisement, providing newspaper ads as examples. Have students create the ad the Altos placed in newspapers. Encourage them to use the text to gather information that would be essential to include in the advertisement. Encourage students to plan their writing and then to draft, edit, and revise before preparing their final copies. Allow students to illustrate their ads and to share their work with the group.

Science Connection
Use this book and Reading A-Z Level X book What Makes You, You? to extend student background and conceptual knowledge of genetics. Discuss inherited and acquired traits. You might also introduce simple Punnett squares to explain dominant and recessive genes. Have students use the information learned to explain why Heather's twin had to possess attached earlobes.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• make, revise, and confirm predictions about fictional text while reading
• use story clues and prior knowledge to make inferences while reading
• understand and correctly use adverbs in sentences on a worksheet
• accurately use apostrophes in sentences on a worksheet

Comprehension Checks

• Book Quiz
• Retelling Rubric