lesson 9 teacher’s guide a way home

Number of Words: 3,493

L E S S O N 9 T E A C H E R ’ S G U I D E

A Way Homeby Daphne Booth

Fountas-Pinnell Level XRealistic FictionSelection SummaryOmar’s mother sends him to live with his aunt and uncle. Omar is not happy about living in a new place without his mom. His uncle helps him understand why his mother made her decision, and Omar tries to fi nd happiness in his new home.

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Characteristics of the Text Genre • Realistic fi ction

Text Structure • First-person continuous narrative in 11 sectionsContent • Moving to a new place and missing family.

• Unexpected discoveries about family• Playing an instrument

Themes and Ideas • Change can be diffi cult.• People don’t always say what they mean when they are sad.• Learning more about people can change your opinion of them.

Language and Literary Features

• Long stretches of descriptive language for setting and characters• Figurative language used for description: a kind of sound soup• Rhetorical question: ”Ever hear of knocking?”

Sentence Complexity • Sentences with parenthetical material; sentences with multiple items in a series • Longer complex sentence patterns including dialogue

Vocabulary • New vocabulary words readers must derive from context: rigid, extracurricular, muttered• Musical terms: allegretto, presto, andante, sotto voce

Words • Many multisyllable words: permeated, experimented, immaculately• Many compound words: sidewalk, childhood

Illustrations • Color illustrations on many pagesBook and Print Features • 17 pages of text; many whole pages of text

• Sentences continue over to the next page© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.

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Expand Your Vocabulary

affectionately – fondly or lovingly, p. 3

dampened – to make damp or wet, p. 16

exhaustion – extreme fatigue, p. 4

intricate – having many parts, p. 14

sultry – very humid and hot, p. 3

A Way Home by Daphne Booth

Build BackgroundHelp students use their knowledge of moving to a new place to visualize the story. Build interest by asking questions such as the following: What might be some problems for someone moving to a new place? Have you ever moved to a new place? How did you feel? Read the title and author and talk about the cover illustration. Tell students that the story is realistic fi ction, so the story takes place in the present and the action of the story could actually take place in real life.

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:

Pages 2–3: Explain that this is a story about a boy, Omar, who moves to his aunt and uncle’s home in a new town. The family also includes a foster son, David. Suggested language: The smell of fl owers hangs in the sultry summer air of Omar’s new home, Fairdale. What is the difference between the hot air of a place like the desert and sultry air of a city like Fairdale?

Page 4: Have students locate the word rudimentary. Suggested language: The text says Omar once had an electronic musical keyboard. What does it mean that he mastered the rudimentary skills quite easily? What would some of those skills be?

Page 6: Have students locate the term bachelor’s degree in the last paragraph on the page. Ask: Omar’s mom wants to earn a bachelor’s degree. What does she have to do?

Page 16: Have students read the italicized musical terms. Explain as necessary that terms such as allegretto (“moderately fast”), presto (“very fast”), and andante (“at a walking pace”) are musical instructions relating to tempo, or the speed at which a musical passage is played. The instruction sotto voce refers not to tempo but to a hushed singing tone.

Now go back to the beginning and read to fi nd out how Omar adjusts to his new home.

2 Lesson 9: A Way HomeGrade 6© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company


ReadHave students read silently while you listen to individual students read aloud. Support their problem solving and fl uency as needed.

Remind students to use the Visualize Strategy as they read. Tell them to look for details and descriptions to help them visualize the action of the story.

Discuss and Revisit the TextPersonal ResponseInvite students to share their personal responses to the text.Suggested language: What do you think was the most diffi cult aspect of Omar’s situation?

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

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

• Omar moves to a new place and is not happy.

• Omar misses his mother and is angry about her decision.

• Omar understands why his mother made her decision and tries to fi nd things to make him happy in a new place.

• It helps to fi nd positive things in a new situation.

• When people are sad, they sometimes act out in anger.

• People are often more complicated than they seem to be.

• The author includes many descriptions to help readers visualize the story.

• The language sounds realistic, the way a teenage boy would speak.

• The author describes Omar’s and David’s pasts so the reader can know that David once tried to run away and can understand why Omar might enjoy piano.

© 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 and demonstrate pausing

and phrasing while reading in partners. Remind students to emphasize the characters’ feelings by emphasizing punctuation appropriately as they read.

• 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. Explain that understanding a word’s origin can help students learn and remember a word’s meaning. For example, the English word intricate (p. 14: Marcos slowed and then stopped the car before a tall set of wrought iron gates bent into intricate patterns of swirls and curls) is derived from the Latin for “entangled.”



Writing about ReadingCritical ThinkingHave students complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 9.9.

RespondingHave students complete the activities at the back of the book, using their Reader’s Notebook. Use the instruction below as needed to reinforce or extend understanding of the comprehension skill.

Target Comprehension SkillCause and Effect

Target Comprehension Skill Remind students that stories include events that are

related to each other and that one event can cause another event to happen. Model how to add details to the Graphic Organizer, using a “Think Aloud” like the one below:

Think Aloud

When Uncle Marcos takes Omar to see the house Omar’s mother grew up in, Omar is shocked to realize his mother grew up in a grand home. The fi rst event is the cause, and the second event is the effect.

Practice the SkillEncourage students to identify other examples of cause and effect 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 their personal knowledge to reach new understandings.

Assessment Prompts• What is the meaning of affectionately on page 3?

• On page 12, Omar remarks that David doesn’t have to knock when entering their room. How is this an instance of the author’s use of irony?

• How are the last two paragraphs on page 15 important to the story?



Critical ThinkingRead and answer the questions.

1. Think within the text How does David try to make Omar feel

at home?

2. Think within the text Why is Omar living with his Aunt Elizabeth and

Uncle Marcos?

3. Think beyond the text What was the effect on Omar of seeing the

house in which his mother grew up?

4. Think about the text Do you think Omar’s mother makes a wise

decision by sending her son to live with relatives? Why or why not?

Making Connections Think of a time when you were the new person in a group situation. Explain the situation, and describe how you adapted to it.

Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.

A Way HomeCritical Thinking

Critical Thinking© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Grade 6, Unit 2: Common Ground

Name Date Lesson 9

B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 9 . 9

11

David shows an interest in Omar’s music.

Omar’s mother wants him to enjoy childhood.

Omar learns that his mother’s childhood was diffi cult, even

though her family lived in a big house. He starts to understand

where she came from.

I can understand why she does it. She wants her son to experience a

carefree life, but I don’t think it’s fair to Omar to have to be away from

his mother.

Possible responses shown.

09.09_6_246260RNLEAN_Crtl Thk.in11 11 6/15/09 1:51:26 PM

English Language DevelopmentReading Support Pair advanced and intermediate readers to read the story softly, or have students listen to the audio or online recordings. Remind them that Omar tries to adjust to a new home and to living without his mom.

Vocabulary The story includes some musical vocabulary that might be unfamiliar. Explain the meaning of expressions such as allegretto, presto, andante, and sotto voce (page 16). Discuss why these musical terms are used by all languages.

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: Who is telling the story?

Speaker 2: Omar

Speaker 1: Who does Omar live with?

Speaker 2: his aunt and uncle and their foster son, David

Speaker 1: What does Omar begin to play?

Speaker 2: the piano

Speaker 1: Why is Omar sad?

Speaker 2: He misses his mom.

Speaker 1: What does Omar plan to do with the maps?

Speaker 2: He plans to go back to Chicago to live with his mom.

Speaker 1: Why does Omar become angry at the dinner table?

Speaker 2: He is upset about his mom’s decision and his sadness turns to anger.

Speaker 1: How did visiting his mom’s old house help Omar?

Speaker 2: He understands why his mom sent him to live with his aunt and uncle.



Name Date

A Way HomeThinking Beyond the Text

Think about the questions below. Then write your answer in two or three paragraphs.

Remember that when you think beyond the text, you use your personal knowledge to reach new understandings.

What is the author of this story showing about the nature of happiness? How much do you think happiness depends on home and family? Support your answer with specific examples.


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Critical ThinkingRead and answer the questions.

1. Think within the text How does David try to make Omar feel

at home?

2. Think within the text Why is Omar living with his Aunt Elizabeth and

Uncle Marcos?

3. Think beyond the text What was the effect on Omar of seeing the

house in which his mother grew up?

4. Think about the text Do you think Omar’s mother makes a wise

decision by sending her son to live with relatives? Why or why not?

Making Connections Think of a time when you were the new person in a group situation. Explain the situation, and describe how you adapted to it.

Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.

A Way HomeCritical Thinking

Name Date

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



1414

221

Student Date Lesson 9

B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 9 . 1 3

Running Record Form

A Way HomeA Way Home • LEVEL X

Behavior 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

ˆcat 1

Word told Tcat 1

page Selection Text Errors Self-Corrections

6 Omar spread open the map of Chicago and found the

neighborhood where he and his mother used to live. He saw

their old street and the site of the nearby health clinic they

frequently visited. He wasn’t all that fond of his old stomping

grounds – they never stayed in any one place long enough for

him to feel sentimental about them. What he missed was their

familiarity and the feeling of knowing just where he belonged.

Next he found the college campus where his mom was now

living and earning her bachelor’s degree.

Comments: Accuracy Rate (# words read

correctly/93 × 100)

%

Total Self- Corrections



lesson 9 teacher’s guide a way home

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