12 teacher’s guide walter and the food...

Number of Words: 1,046

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

Walter and the Food Fairby Linda Cernak

Fountas-Pinnell Level ORealistic FictionSelection SummaryWalter’s classmates are excited about the food fair at school. But Walter is not as excited! His taste in food is limited to hamburgers, cereal, and bananas. But by the time the food fair is over, Walter has tasted food from around the world and has discovered, much to his amazement, that unfamiliar foods can be quite a treat!

Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. Permission is hereby granted to individual teachers using the corresponding (discipline) Leveled Readers to photocopy student worksheets from this publication in classroom quantities for instructional use and not for resale. Requests for information on other matters regarding duplication of this work should be addressed to Houghton Miffl in Harcourt Publishing Company, Attn: Contracts, Copyrights, and Licensing, 9400 SouthPark Center Loop, Orlando, Florida 32819. Printed in the U.S.A. 978-0-547-30602-5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0940 15 14 13 12 11 10 09

If you have received these materials as examination copies free of charge, Houghton Miffl in Harcourt Publishing Company retains title to the materials and they may not be resold. Resale of examination copies is strictly prohibited.

Possession of this publication in print format does not entitle users to convert this publication, or any portion of it, into electronic format.

Characteristics of the Text Genre • Realistic fi ction

Text Structure • Third person narrative • Organized chronologically• Problem presented on fi rst page

Content • Food fair at school and names of foods and their countries of origin• Fear of unfamiliar food

Themes and Ideas • Fear of new things can be limiting.• Trying new things is rewarding.• It’s exciting to learn about world cultures.

Language and Literary Features

• Conversational language • Characters are revealed by what they say and do.

Sentence Complexity • Split dialogue• Compound and complex sentences with phrases• Thoughts within quotation marks: “I’d better eat a sandwich before I go to this food fair

because I’m sure I’m not going to want to eat any of the foods there,” thought Walter.Vocabulary • Many food names from around the world: dumplings, tacos, egg foo yung, paella,

chapatti, jerk chickenWords • Many challenging multisyllable words such as presentation, creative, impressive

Illustrations • Realistic illustrations of a classroomBook and Print Features • Twelve pages of text, illustrations on every page

• Word used for emphasis: “Walter, your taste in food is NOT very creative!”© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.

3_306025_AL_LRTG_L12_WalterandFood.indd 1 11/2/09 9:27:34 PM

Expand Your Vocabulary

advice – an opinion or suggestion, p. 5

feast – n. a meal with plenty of food, p. 5

ingredients – substances that make up a mixture, p. 8

mixture – something mixed or being mixed, p. 8

recipe– a set of instructions for making something, p. 8

Walter and the Food Fair by Linda Cernak

Build BackgroundHelp students think about their taste in food and willingness to try new foods. Build interest by asking questions such as the following: What kinds of foods do you like? Are you willing to try unfamiliar foods? Why or why not? 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 boy named Walter. His class is going to have a world food fair and he does not like to try new foods. Suggested language: Turn to page 3. Here is a picture of Walter and his best friend Heather on the school bus. They are talking about the food fair. Pairs of students were assigned to bring in a food from a different country and Walter and Heather had the country of China. Walter asks Heather: “Do you think they eat hamburgers in China?” Why do you think he asks that question?

Page 5: Draw attention to the illustration and read the caption: Walter liked hamburgers, cereal, and bananas. What do you think Walter’s problem might be in this story?

Page 8: Draw attention to the illustration. A classmate’s grandfather is going to help Walter and Heather make a food from China called egg foo yung dish. The recipe calls for many ingredients to go into the dish. What foods can you see that are used in the recipe for making egg foo yung?

Page 9: Point out the map of the world at the food fair. Do you think most of the students are excited about the fair? Why or why not? What about Walter? How do you think he feels?

Now turn back to the beginning of the story and read to fi nd out what happens to Walter at the food fair.

2 Lesson 12: Walter and the Food FairGrade 3© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

3_306025_AL_LRTG_L12_WalterandFood.indd 23_306025_AL_LRTG_L12_WalterandFood.indd 2 7/29/09 12:53:12 PM7/29/09 12:53:12 PM

ReadHave students read Walter and the Food Fair silently while you listen to individual students read. Support their problem solving and fl uency as needed.

Remind students to use the Visualize Strategy from the last page of the book and use story details to picture what is happening as they read.

Discuss and Revisit the TextPersonal ResponseInvite students to share their personal responses to the book.Suggested language: How do you think Walter felt at the end of the story? 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

• Walter’s class is holding an international food fair.

• Walter likes only a few foods and doesn’t like to try new ones.

• Walter and his friend Heather work with a classmate’s grandfather to make a dish from China called egg foo yung.

• By the end Walter has tasted food from around the world.

• Fear of new things can be limiting.

• Trying new things is rewarding.

• It’s fun and educational to learn about world cultures.

• The dialogue in the story sounds very realistic, the way friends really talk to each other.

• The author includes details about foods from around the world.

• The author’s attitude is that people shouldn’t be afraid of things that are new or different.

© 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 dialogues as if the characters were really speaking to each other.

• 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 sometimes the plural of words can be made by adding -s to the word, but that other plurals can require spelling changes. For example, on page 4, the word bananas is the plural form of the word banana and is formed by adding -s. But the plural form of country is formed by removing the -y and adding -ies to make countries. Have children fi nd the word countries on page 4.



Writing about ReadingCritical ThinkingHave students complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 12.9.

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 SkillStory 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

Walter has a problem. His class is having a food fair and he doesn’t like to try new food. How does he solve his problem? Walter helps make a dish from China called egg foo yung and discovers that it tastes good. He learns that many unfamiliar foods have familiar ingredients in them. That gives Walter the courage to try new foods at the food fair!

Practice the SkillHave students write two sentences telling how Walter changes from the beginning to the end of 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 happens in the story.

Assessment Prompts• In paragraph 1 on page 5, fi nd the word that means almost the same as large meal.

• Tell one word that best describes Walter.

• On page 9, what is the second paragraph mainly about?



English Language DevelopmentReading Support Pair English-speaking and English language learners so that they can check their understanding with each other.

Cultural Support Using a world map, help students fi nd the countries for each of the foods described at the food fair on pages 10-14 and talk about each food dish.

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 boy’s name in the story?

Speaker 2: Walter

Speaker 1: Where does the story take place?

Speaker 2: at school

Speaker 1: What is Walter’s class doing?

Speaker 2: having a food fair

Speaker 1: What is Walter’s problem?

Speaker 2: He doesn’t like to try new foods.

Speaker 1: What happens at the food fair?

Speaker 2: Walter learns that unfamiliar foods can taste good.

Speaker 1: What new foods does Walter taste at the fair?

Speaker 2: He tastes tacos, paella, and chapatti.

Critical ThinkingRead and answer the questions.

1. Think within the text At the beginning of the story,

what does Ms. Perry want her students to do?

Possible response: Ms. Perry wants her students to bring in food from other

countries for a food fair.

2. Think within the text Why wasn’t Walter looking

forward to the food fair?

Possible response: Walter didn’t like to eat new and different kinds of foods.

He only liked to eat his favorite foods.

3. Think beyond the text If you were taking part in a

food fair like the one at Walter’s school, which country

would you want to learn about? What are some types of

food eaten by people in that country?

Responses will vary.

4. Think about the text How do Walter and Heather solve

the problem of fi nding a food from China?

Possible response: They ask Lu Chen, a student at their school who is from China.

Making Connections In Walter and the Food Fair, Walter learns that trying something new can be fun and interesting. Think of a time when you had fun doing something you thought you wouldn’t like. What problems did you have? What did you learn?

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 Lessons11

Lesson 12B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 1 2 . 9

Walter and the Food Fair

Critical Thinking

3_246239RTXEAN_L11-15CT.indd Page Sec1:11 3/6/09 11:41:29 PM user-043 /Volumes/118/HS00117/work%0/indd%0/Critical_Thinking/3_246239RTXEAN_U03L11-15CT



Name Date

Walter and the Food FairThinking Beyond the Text

Write a paragraph answering the following questions:

What do you think Walter learned from taking part in the food fair? What would you have learned? Use details from the story to support what you say.



Critical ThinkingRead and answer the questions.

1. Think within the text At the beginning of the story,

what does Ms. Perry want her students to do?

2. Think within the text Why wasn’t Walter looking

forward to the food fair?

3. Think beyond the text If you were taking part in a

food fair like the one at Walter’s school, which country

would you want to learn about? What are some types of

food eaten by people in that country?

4. Think about the text How do Walter and Heather solve

the problem of fi nding a food from China?

Making Connections In Walter and the Food Fair, Walter learns that trying something new can be fun and interesting. Think of a time when you had fun doing something you thought you wouldn’t like. What problems did you have? What did you learn?

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 . 9

Walter and the Food Fair

Critical Thinking



1414007Behavior 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

10 Walter peeked at the foods on the tables. He thought that some

of them looked pretty horrible. There were pots with strange

fish in them, thick stews with rice, and chunks of meat on

sticks. Bowls had funny-looking vegetables in them, and

pieces of chicken were sprinkled with some brown stuff. One

dish had bread that looked like pancakes.

“Doesn’t it smell good in here?” asked Heather, looking at all

the good food.

“I guess so, but Heather, there aren’t any hamburgers!” wailed

Walter. Walter looked around him and thought, “I’m sure to go

hungry today.”

Comments: Accuracy Rate (# words read

correctly/97 × 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 3

Walter and the Food FairRunning Record Form

Walter and the Food Fair LEVEL O



12 teacher’s guide walter and the food...

Documents