Ricardo's Dilemma

Book Summary
Ricardo loves to play soccer. He is very good at the game, and his team is one of the contenders for the championship. One day, his class goes on a field trip to see the ballet. Ricardo is so impressed by the dancers' performance and ability that he decides to take ballet classes. The trouble is, he is afraid to tell his friends. In the end, Ricardo's ballet training helps him become a hero.

Lesson Objectives

Reading Strategies
Children should use a variety of strategies to determine word meaning and comprehend text. The targeted strategy for this lesson is: Asking does it make sense and does it sound right.

Children should listen to themselves as they read aloud quietly in the Student Reading section later in this lesson plan. When they come to an unfamiliar word, or they are unsure about the word they think it is, have them say it and listen to see if it makes sense in the context of the sentence they are reading.

Word and Print Skills
Word Work
Parts of Speech--Adjectives and Adverbs

Synonyms
Comprehension
You will likely address a number of comprehension skills as children work to understand the text. The targeted comprehension strategy for this lesson is: Looking for a problem/solution pattern.

In Ricardo's Dilemma, there is a problem. Have children listen for the problem and its solution. Ask them to keep the character's main problem in their heads until the end of the story. If children are focused on listening for something specific, they will be able to focus on interpretation and meaning. This helps children to understand the text and to pay attention to the story instead of just hearing the words.

Visual Learning
The illustrations in the story will provide the reader with clues about how Ricardo, the main character, is feeling. Each picture relates to children something important about Ricardo and the other characters. By having children pay attention to the facial expressions of the characters, they will be able to understand the characters emotions better.

Targeted Vocabulary Words
Content Words
strangely, incredibly, tiny, enormous, exuberant, whirling, gracefully