the astronaut and the onion by ann cameron illustrated by anna rich
TRANSCRIPT
Which person in the photo is the leader? How do you know?
Besides a teacher, who else
might be a good
mentor? Explain.
The Astronaut and the Onion
Strategy: Make inferences and analyze
Skill: Character
GenreRealistic Fiction
This story is called The Astronautand the Onion. Sometimes an authorconnects two things that are verydifferent. How might an astronautand an onion be connected?
Making an inference
You can make an inference, or informed guess, based on information you read or know.
Character
Authors provide clues to a character’s personality throughthe character’s thoughts and interactions with other characters.
Let’s start by reading pages 83 - 85.While we read we are going to lookfor character traits, or the way a character acts.
Gloria
wild and daring
testsherself
What waswild & daringabout Gloria’s
actions?
Use inferencesabout Gloria’s character traits
to fill in two boxes of the Character Web.
Topic SentenceWhat is the topic sentencein the fourth paragraph on
page 84?
Next to me there was a giant Berkbee’sBaby Food display.
What are some “TellMe Mores.”
Let’s read pages 86 - 89.
Look for a new character introduced at the endof page 87. Remembersome details about her.
What details about the woman’s appearance did Gloria notice?
She has sparkly
brown eyes.
Hair is shiny black ringlets.
Earrings that spin around like planets.
The Astronaut and the Onion
What parts of this story so far seem realistic, or like they could really happen?
• The parts of the story that seem realistic are _________.
• The parts of the story that seemrealistic are the activity in the grocery store is realistic and astronauts do orbitEarth in space stations.
Let’s continue reading pages 90 - 93.
Be prepared to makean inference about why you think Gloria shivers when she triesto imagine what Dr.Street saw. I think Gloria shivered
because __________.
Dr. Street
is realistic
believes intrying tosucceed
wants to helpby offering
advice
What do you learn about Dr. Street’s character traits on page 92?
What else?
Character
Gloria is daring.How is Dr. Street daring too?
Dr. Street was afraid in space. When has Gloria been afraid?
Gloria has a lot of energy.Does Dr. Street have a lot
of energy? Explain.
Let’s finish reading the story.
What does Dr. Street mean when she says, “Big things are really
little”? (p. 95)
Dr. Street talks about being able to succeed at things that seem difficult. Difficult things seem really big when you think you can’t do them. Once someone learns how to do something, it doesn’t seem like such a big thing anymore.