Text Type: Fiction/Fantasy
Page Count: 24
Word Count: 2,895                        

Book Summary
Word Smith, Private I, is back with another mystery story filled with alliterations, hyperboles, rhyming, similes, and idioms. Ben Brannoor enters Word Smith's office claiming that someone or something is stealing rhymes out of his greeting cards and replacing them with un-rhymes. Not only are rhymes stolen from greeting cards, but also from advertising slogans and song lyrics. Word Smith and Ben Brannoor work together to track down the rhyme thief. 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
• Compare story using reality/fantasy
• Identify quotes within quotes
• Identify homophones

Materials

• Book -- Word Smith, Private I: Rhyme Crime (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Prediction, reality/fantasy, quotes within quotes, homophones worksheets
• Discussion cards

      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: alliteration, antonym, cadence, embossed, haiku, idiom, linguistic, palindrome, rhetorically, scansion, similes, superlative, synonym

Build Background

• Ask students to discuss whether they have heard of any of the following famous private investigators: the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, or Sherlock Holmes.
• Ask students whether they have read the other Word Smith book called Word Smith, Private I. Discuss what they remember about the story.
• Ask whether students have read any books or seen any movies about private investigators with investigations, surveillance, or witness interviews. Discuss what they know about hired detectives.

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 (genre, text type, fiction or nonfiction, and so on) 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).

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 make, revise, or confirm 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.
• Show page 5 to students. Model how to make predictions.
  Think-aloud: When I look at page 5, I see a man dressed in a plaid suit with a bowtie. He is dressed like a college professor. It looks as if he has opened a door and is entering a room. I know the title of the book includes the name of a private investigator named Word Smith. Could the man be entering his office? Is the man there for help with a problem in his classroom?
• 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: The man who entered through the door has come to seek help from Word Smith.)
• Introduce and explain the prediction worksheet. Invite students 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: Reality/fantasy

• Discussion: Help students understand the concepts of reality and fantasy by using familiar examples. Explain that reality is a real event that occurs and fantasy is a creation of the imagination. For example, rainbows are reality, but leprechauns and pots of gold are fantasy.
• Ask students if they have read the book or seen the movie The Wizard of Oz. Give a brief description of the movie that will reveal both reality and fantasy parts of the movie. Say, The Wizard of Oz is a movie about the adventures of a young girl and her dog in a land far away. The young girl's house is struck by a tornado, and she is transported to the Land of Oz. Along the way she runs into good and bad witches, talking trees, and all sorts of imaginative creatures. Finally, she ends up back at home in her bed and realizes it was all a dream. If students wish to contribute to the description of the movie, allow their remarks.
• Think-aloud: In the movie, the girl lives in a place called Kansas. She lives with her grandparents and has a dog named Toto. I know that all of these things could really happen. There really is a state called Kansas, and some kids really do live with their grandparents. I will write all of these things under the Reality heading. In the movie, a tornado carries away the little girl and her dog inside of her house --over the rainbow to the Land of Oz, where her house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East. I know that a tornado can really happen. I will write this under Reality. I know that the other parts cannot really happen. I will write house flies over rainbow, house lands in Land of Oz and house lands on Wicked Witch of East under the Fantasy heading.
• Ask volunteers to tell parts of the movie they remember and to decide if they belong under the Fantasy or Reality heading.
• Introduce and explain the reality/fantasy worksheet. Tell students that as they read, they will need to decide which parts of the book are reality-based and which are fantasy-based.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Write the following words from the content vocabulary on the board: alliteration, palindrome, and similes. Read the words aloud with students. Ask them to share what they might know about the meaning of each word.
• Give students a piece of paper and have them divide it evenly into three boxes. In each box, have write a different vocabulary word. For each word, have them write a definition, give an example, or draw what they know about the word.
• Write the following sentence on the board: Sometimes snakes slithered past. Ask students what they notice about the sentence. (The first three words begin with the letter s). Explain that this sentence is an example of alliteration, or two or more words in a row that begin with the same letter. Invite students to share other examples of alliteration that they wrote on their paper.
• Write the following words on the board: radar and racecar. Ask a volunteer to spell the word radar both forward and backward. (r-a-d-a-r and r-a-d-a-r) Ask a volunteer to spell racecar the same way. (r-a-c-e-c-a-r and r-a-c-e-c-a-r). Ask students what they notice about the words (they are spelled the same way both forward and backward). Explain that these words are examples of palindromes-- words or sentences that read the same forward and backward. Invite students to share other examples of palindromes (eye, level, and so on).
• Write the following sentences on the board: "My father has a mind like a computer" and "She was as busy as a beaver." Ask students what they notice about the two sentences (in both sentences, something is being compared to something else with the word like or as). Explain that these sentences are called similes, descriptive comparisons of two unlike things as being similar, usually by using the word like or as. Invite students to share other examples of similes that they wrote.
• Point out the glossary at the back of the book. Review or explain that a glossary and a dictionary contain lists of words and their definitions.
• Have students check their definitions with the ones in the glossary. 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. Tell students to also keep in mind which parts of the book are reality and fantasy.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Have students read from page 3 to the end of page 7. Encourage those who finish early to go back and reread.
• Model making and confirming predictions.
  Think-aloud: Before reading, I predicted that the man who entered through the door had come to seek help from Word Smith. This prediction can be confirmed. The man, Ben Brannoor, owns a greeting-card business that is having problems selling cards. Ben Brannoor's greeting cards that normally rhyme all have plain sentences in them. He thinks that someone is stealing the rhymes from his greeting cards, and he needs Word Smith's help. Show students that they put a check mark under the column titled Confirm because this prediction was correct. I also read that the police said they couldn't do anything because nothing had been stolen. Could someone be taking the rhymes from the cards and using them as their own? I will write this prediction under the Make column.
• Invite students to share the outcomes of what they predicted while reading. Have them explain their predictions aloud.
• Based on the information read so far, ask students to revise any predictions they have made. Have students write the information from the discussion on their prediction worksheet.
• Check for understanding: Encourage students to write any new predictions under the Revise heading on their worksheet and what actually happened under the Actual heading. 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. Reassure students by explaining that predicting correctly is not the purpose of this reading strategy. The purpose is to learn how to think ahead in the story based on the information you have read so far. Invite students to share their prediction and any confirmations or revisions of predictions.
• Have students turn to page 3 and reread the first paragraph. Ask what part or parts of the paragraph are based in reality (raining, eating lunch, solving crimes). Ask what part is based in fantasy (specializes in cases involving the 26 letters of the alphabet and all forms of the words and phrases they form). Have students write these on their Reality/Fantasy worksheet under the appropriate headings.

      Have students turn to page 5 and reread the last paragraph. Have students underline the line of text they think is fantasy-based (someone or something has taken the rhyme out of all the greeting cards). Ask volunteers to share what they believe should be written under the Reality heading of their worksheet from the paragraph just read.

• 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. Remind them to continue thinking about the important events of the story and whether these events are fantasy-based or reality-based.

      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.

• 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.

Reflect on the Reading Strategy

• Think-aloud: On page 5, I read about the rhymes missing from the greeting cards. I predicted that someone was taking the rhymes and would use them as his or her own. This prediction is not correct. Eleanor Elizabeth, or 'e.e. cunning,' did steal the rhymes and intended to use them in the Poetry Triathlon as her own, but she ended up not even needing them.
• Independent practice: Have students complete the prediction worksheet. If time allows, have them share their predictions with a partner. Ask students to explain or show how the strategy of making, revising, and confirming predictions helped them understand and enjoy the story.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Review the characteristics of reality and fantasy. Have students read aloud the examples they wrote in the Reality and Fantasy sections of their worksheet. Have students reread page 8 and discuss what they would add to the fantasy side of their worksheet (word-murder, billboard advertising changed). Share responses.
• Independent practice: Have students complete the reality/fantasy worksheet by filling in other events they read in the story. If time allows, discuss their responses.
• Enduring understanding: In this story, a woman becomes selfish and steals rhymes to better herself. She later realizes that what she did was wrong and that many things need the rhymes more than she does. Now that you know this information, what will you do if you are in a situation where you witness someone stealing? How will you handle yourself and what choices would you make?

Grammar and Mechanics: Quotes within quotes

• Write the following sentence on the board: " 'The full moon in June makes me want to swoon.' " Ask a volunteer to come to the board and circle the single quotation marks. Explain that the single quotation marks are used for a quotation enclosed inside another quotation. In this case, someone is repeating a sentence that he or she read somewhere.
• Have students turn to page 12. Ask them to find the words within the single quotations 'htimS dorW.' Ask a volunteer to explain why the words 'htimS dorW' are within single quotation marks (because Word Smith is reading the glass on his front door).
• Check for understanding: Write the following sentence on the board: "Your phrase, Smith, is: It's so cold ?" Have students rewrite the sentence on a separate piece of paper and correctly insert the single quotation marks where they belong. ('It's so cold ?' ") Check individual answers for understanding.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the quotes within quotes worksheet. Discuss answers aloud after students finish.

Word Work: Homophones

• Review or explain the meaning of homophones. Remind students that homophones are words that sound the same, have different meanings, and are spelled differently.
• Say the words by and buy. Ask a volunteer to spell the two words. Have another volunteer give the meaning of the words. (B-y is when you pass something, and b-u-y is when you purchase something.) Have a volunteer decide which word fits best in this sentence: Today I decided to ___ a new winter coat. (buy)
• Say the words pane and pain. Ask a volunteer to spell the words. Have another volunteer give the meaning of the two words. (p-a-n-e refers to a window pane and P-a-i-n is when someone is bothersome or you get hurt). Have a volunteer use each word in a sentence. (I replaced the pane in my upstairs window because it was broken. I had a pain in my side after I ran the race.)
• Write the words break and brake on the board. Ask a volunteer to give the meaning of the word break and to use it in a sentence (to separate into pieces; My cookie started to break as I dipped it into my milk). Ask another volunteer to give the meaning of the word brake and to use it in a sentence (to stop; and A car pulled out in front of me, so I had to apply my brake.)
• Check for understanding: Write the words wait and weight on the board. Have students write the meaning of the words and use them in sentences on a separate piece of paper. As time allows, monitor student responses.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the homophones worksheet. Discuss answers aloud after they are finished.

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 read a story and practice making, revising, and confirming predictions with someone at home.

Fantasy Writing Connection
At the end of this story, Word Smith defeats Eleanor Elizabeth, better known as 'e.e. cunning,' at the Poetry Triathlon. The rhymes are given back, and e.e. admits she was wrong for stealing them for her own selfish purposes. Have students create their own ending to the story. Have them start their story with the scene at the Synonym Bun Cafe. Will Word Smith prevail, or will the rhymes be wasted after all?

Social Studies Connection
Supply books and links to Internet websites for students to learn more about private investigators and hired detectives. Have them visit the Department of Labor website and research the duties and lifestyles of private investigators. Give students index cards and instruct them to write the facts they learn on the cards, along with any other interesting information they discover. Lead a round-table discussion in which students share their findings and discuss the details.

Skill Review
Discussion cards covering comprehension skills and strategies not explicitly taught with the book are provided as an extension activity. The following is a list of some ways these cards can be used with students:

• Use as discussion starters for literature circles.
• Have students choose one or more cards and write a response, either as an essay or a journal entry.
• Distribute before reading the book and have students use one of the questions as a purpose for reading.
• Cut apart and use the cards as game cards with a board game.
• Conduct a class discussion as a review before the book quiz.