12 teacher’s guide bettina and the talent show

Number of Words: 541

L E S S O N 1 2 T E A C H E R ’ S G U I D E

Bettina and the Talent Showby Dale Lundberg

Fountas-Pinnell Level MRealistic Fiction Selection SummaryAll the students in Bettina’s class are excited about the talent show, except for Bettina. She doesn’t think she has any kind of talent at all. But her teacher, Mr. Enrico, has an idea for her. The night of the big show, Bettina recites a poem in a clear and strong voice. Then, to her surprise, Bettina wins fi rst place!

Characteristics of the Text Genre • Realistic fi ction

Text Structure • Organized chronologically• Problem presented on fi rst page

Content • Talent show at school • Wide variety of talents described

Themes and Ideas • Typical childhood experiences and talents• Speaking well in front of an audience is a talent.• It can take courage to take risks.

Language and Literary Features

• Conversational language • Mostly third-person narrator, with some second person interior narration of thoughts: She

was good at soccer. You couldn’t play soccer at a talent show. • Character’s attributes shown by what she does, thinks, and says

Sentence Complexity • Split dialogue and questions in dialogue; Example: “I will play the fl ute,” he said. “What will you do?”

• Variety in sentence length, with some long and complex sentences; One day, Mr. Enrico told his students that they would be having a talent show.

Vocabulary • Some content-specifi c words introduced: karate, fl ute, fl at notes, poem, presentationWords • Many two- to three-syllable words such as presentation, excitement, creative, sprinkled

Illustrations • Realistic illustrations of school life, such as a classroom, a school bus, and a stage• Illustrations match and extend the text.

Book and Print Features • Twelve pages of text, illustrations on every page • Captions under pictures provide information.

© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.

Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

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Bettina and the Talent Show Dale Lundberg

Build BackgroundHelp students use their experience with different kinds of talents to visualize the story. Build interest by asking questions such as the following: What is a talent? What kinds of talents do you and your friends have? Read the title and author and talk about the cover illustration. Tell students that this story is realistic fi ction, so the characters are going to act like real people.

Introduce the TextGuide students through the text, noting important ideas, and helping with unfamiliar language and vocabulary so they can read the text successfully. Here are some suggestions:

Page 3: Explain that this is a story about a girl named Bettina. Her class is going to have a talent show and she must fi gure out what her talent is. Suggested language: Turn to page 3. Here is a picture of Bettina’s teacher, Mr. Enrico, telling his class about the upcoming talent show. The kids in the class were ready to erupt in excitement. How do the students feel about the talent show? What about Bettina? Why do you think she is unhappy?

Pages 4–5: Explain that Bettina and her best friend Alex are on the bus going home from school that day. They are talking about the talent show. Bettina admits that she can’t think of a talent she has. Alex tries to help. He said: “Don’t worry, Bettina. We’ll think of something.” Why do you think Bettina is worried about the show?

Page 7: Draw attention to the illustration on the page and explain that the children are practicing for the show in different ways. Which talent looks the most creative to you? Why?

Now turn back to the beginning of the story and read to fi nd out what happens to Bettina at the talent show.

certifi cate – an offi cial piece of paper that is given for an achievement

charts – forms that show information, p. 6

creative – able to imagine new ideas, p. 7

educational – an object or experience that teaches you something

erupt – burst suddenly, p. 3impressive – done with great skillpresentation – a description or

performance, p. 12report – n. tell about something

Target Vocabulary

2 Lesson 12: Bettina and the Talent ShowGrade 3© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

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ReadHave students read Bettina and the Talent Show silently while you listen to individual students read. Support their problem solving and fl uency as needed.

Remind students to use the Visualize Strategy and use story details to picture what is happening as they read.

Discuss and Revisit the Text Personal ResponseInvite students to share their personal responses to the book.Suggested language: How do you think Bettina felt after she was given the fi rst place award? How would you feel?

Ways of ThinkingAs you discuss the text, help students understand these points:

Thinking Within the Text Thinking Beyond the Text Thinking About the Text

• Bettina has to decide what to do for the talent show.

• She does not think she has any talents.

• Her teacher gives her an idea: to read aloud a poem.

• At the talent show, she is awarded fi rst prize for her poem presentation.

• Talent can take many forms.

• Sometimes people need help to see themselves clearly.

• The dialogue in the story sounds very realistic, the way children really sound.

• The ending is a surprise because Bettina wins fi rst place.

• The author’s attitude is that talent can take many forms and they are all of equal value.

© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.

Choices For Further Support• Fluency Invite students to choose a passage from the text to act out. Remind them to

pay attention to the punctuation of the split dialogue and to say the conversations as if the characters were really speaking.

• Comprehension Based on your observations of the students’ reading and discussion, revisit parts of the text to clarify or extend comprehension. Remind students to go back to the text to support their ideas.

• Phonics/Word Work Provide practice as needed with words and word parts, using examples from the text. Remind students that they can take apart words with common prefi xes or suffi xes to fi nd the base word. For example, the word excitement on page 3 has the base word excite and the suffi x –ment. Ask students for other examples of words with the base word excite such as excited or exciting.



Writing About ReadingCritical Thinking Have students complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 12.7.

RespondingHave students complete the activities at the back of the book. Use the instruction below as needed to reinforce or extend understanding of the comprehension skill.

Target Comprehension Skill Story Structure

Target Comprehension Skill Remind students that they can think about a story

character or a problem faced by the character by looking at what happens in the story. Model the skill, using this “Think Aloud”:

Think Aloud

Bettina has a problem. She doesn’t think she has a talent, so what will she do at the class talent show? How does she solve her problem? Her teacher gives Bettina an idea. At the talent show, Bettina recites a poem. When she wins fi rst prize, Bettina realizes that she had a talent all along!

Practice the SkillHave students write two sentences telling what they learned about Bettina from what she does in the story.

Writing Prompt: Thinking Beyond the TextHave students write a response to the prompt on page 6. Remind them that when they think beyond the text, they use what they know and their own experience to think about what the characters do and why they act as they do.

Assessment Prompts• In the last sentence in the dialogue on page 8, fi nd the word that means almost the

same as idea.

• Tell one word that best describes Bettina.

• What is page 6 mainly about?



Critical ThinkingRead and answer the questions.

1. Think within the text What are some of the things

Bettina is good at?

Possible response: Bettina is good at playing soccer and making charts. She’s

also good at reading.

2. Think within the text What kinds of talents do the

other students at Bettina’s school have?

Possible response: Lisa can sing. Roger can dance, and Alex plays the fl ute.

3. Think beyond the text Do you think Bettina should

have won the talent contest?

Responses will vary.

4. Think about the text What is the main problem in the

story and how does it move the plot along?

Bettina doesn’t know what she can do for the talent show. The plot

shows her trying to fi nd something she can do for the show.

Making Connections Bettina in Bettina and the Talent Show reads a poem for the show. Think about a time when you had to perform in front of others. What did you do? How did people respond to you?

Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.Read directions to students.Critical Thinking© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Name Date

Grade 3, Unit 3: Learning Lessons9

Lesson 12B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 1 2 . 7

Bettina and the Talent Show

Critical Thinking

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English Language DevelopmentReading Support Give English learners a “preview” of the text by holding a brief small-group discussion with them before reading the text with the entire group.

Idioms/Cognates Explain the meaning of the term sprinkled with some fl at notes (page 11) making sure that students understand the meaning of the musical terminology. Also, you can mention the Spanish cognates for the following target vocabulary words: report/ reporte; presentation/ presentación; erupt/ erupcionar; educational/ educacional; certifi cate/ certifi cado; impressive/ impresionante; examined/ examinó.

Oral Language DevelopmentCheck student comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches your students’ English profi ciency level. Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the student.

Beginning/Early Intermediate Intermediate Early Advanced/ Advanced

Speaker 1: What is the girl’s name in the story?

Speaker 2: Bettina

Speaker 1: Where does the story take place?

Speaker 2: at her school

Speaker 1: What does Bettina have to do?

Speaker 2: perform at the talent show

Speaker 1: What is Bettina’s talent?

Speaker 2: Bettina reads a poem aloud.

Speaker 1: What happens at the end of the talent show?

Speaker 2: Bettina wins fi rst place in the show.

Speaker 1: Why does Bettina win fi rst place at the talent show?

Speaker 2: She wins fi rst place because speaking well in front of a crowd is a real talent.



Bettina and the Talent ShowThinking Beyond the Text

Write a paragraph answering the following questions:

On the last page of the story, Bettina wins first prize at the talent show for reading a poem aloud. Why do you think she was given this prize? Why didn’t Bettina know that she had this talent? Use details from the story in your answer.

Name Date



Critical ThinkingRead and answer the questions.

1. Think within the text What are some of the things

Bettina is good at?

2. Think within the text What kinds of talents do the

other students at Bettina’s school have?

3. Think beyond the text Do you think Bettina should

have won the talent contest?

4. Think about the text What is the main problem in the

story and how does it move the plot along?

Making Connections Bettina in Bettina and the Talent Show reads a poem for the show. Think about a time when you had to perform in front of others. What did you do? How did people respond to you?

Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.

Name Date

Lesson 12B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 1 2 . 7


Critical Thinking



1414108Behavior Code Error

Read word correctly ✓cat 0

Repeated word, sentence, or phrase

®cat

0

Omission —cat 1

Behavior Code Error

Substitution cutcat 1

Self-corrects cut sccat 0

Insertion the

cat 1

Word told Tcat 1

page Selection Text Errors Self-Corrections

8

9

10

Bettina went to talk to Mr. Enrico. He said, “Hello, Bettina.

What do you plan to do for the show?”

“I don’t think I have any talents,” Bettina said.

“Well, I don’t know about that,” said Mr. Enrico. “I have a

plan.”

At last, it was the night of the big show. Everyone was waiting

for it to begin. Lisa Larken was first to go on. She was going to

sing.

Lisa’s song was very nice, but she forgot some of the words.

Comments: Accuracy Rate (# words read

correctly/83 × 100)

%

Total Self- Corrections

Student Date Lesson 12

B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 1 2 . 1 1

Running Record Form

Bettina and the Talent Show LEVEL M




12 teacher’s guide bettina and the talent show

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