Summary

Some kids spend their summer vacation at camp. Some kids spend it at Grandma's house. Wallace Bleff spent his out west...on a ride, a rope, and a roundup he'll never forget.

Random House Children's Books

Reading Strategies ~ Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey

This book has great opportunities for Visualizing.  Below you will find suggestions for using the Visualizing strategy. 

Before reading pages 1-3:  Comprehension Strategy – Visualizing

• Students will form pictures in their minds to enhance and clarify their understanding of a story.  Ask students to close their eyes and imagine they are inside a restaurant. Have them share what they smell, see, taste, and hear around them. Tell students that when they read, they can form similar kinds of pictures in their mind to help them visualize scenes.

During reading:

• Read pages 1-3 .  Reread page 1 and look at the chalkboard.  Why is the scene behind him changing? 

• Reread page 3.  What do you visualize in your mind when you read this page?  In this picture, what is especially strange or funny? Why?  What might the boy be seeing, hearing, tasting, or smelling? Have students look closely at the pictures as you read.  Ask “What do you think the boy sees, hears, smells, and tastes?”

After reading:

• What do you think the boy sees and hears when he imagines the train?

Before rereading the story:  Comprehension Strategy – Sequencing
The students will keep track of, identify, and understand the chronological order of events in a story.  Who Mixed Up Our Sentences?  Guided Reading the Four Blocks Way, chapter 13, pages 126-127. 

Show these sentences from the book. 

• I said not to worry.

• I thought for a minute, then I told him, “Okay.”

• But they carried me off to their cow camp instead.

• Our old cowboy quit.

• The Cattle Boss growled, as he told me to sit, we need a new cowboy.

• I wouldn’t be long.

•  So what do you say?

• Then I wrote to Aunt Fern, so she’d know where I’d gone.

• I’m trying to get to my aunt’s house,” I said.

•  We could sure use your help.

Work to achieve a consensus among the students as to what sentence should be first.  Number the sentence with a one that the majority of students say is first.  

Continue sentence by sentence until consensus is achieved as to the correct order of all the sentences.  

During reading

Have the book available for students to look at.

After reading

Compare the book with what the class thought. Lead the group to evaluate and correct their performance.

1. I said not to worry.

2. I thought for a minute, then I told him, “Okay.”

3. But they carried me off to their cow camp instead.

4. Our old cowboy quit. 

5. The Cattle Boss growled, as he told me to sit, we need a new cowboy.  

6. I wouldn’t be long. 

7. So what do you say? 

8. Then I wrote to Aunt Fern, so she’d know where I’d gone. 

9. I’m trying to get to my aunt’s house,” I said. 

10. We could sure use your help

Writing Strategies ~ 6+1 Traits of Writing by Ruth Culham

This story is a good example of the Ideas trait for two reasons:  originality and elaboration! 
·        Selecting Original Ideas – How often have we asked our students to respond to the topic, “What I Did on My Summer Vacation…”? The main character in this story takes that same writing task and comes up with a wildly imaginative response!  We can also give our students the creative freedom to express their own ideas, considering what their ideal summer trip would have been, or how an ordinary summer event could have turned into something much more interesting.  (See 6+1 Traits, pgs. 51 – 54 for more lessons on Selecting an Idea.)

·        Elaborating on Ideas – Ruth Culham explains that, “So often, though, student writers take the easy way out and summarize their ideas – ‘The trip was fun’ – which is one of the reasons their writing becomes so generic.”  The young boy in this story selected his idea – his summer trip out west – and fully elaborated, adding details and a sequence of events that allowed us to better visualize his fantastic summer vacation.  Encourage your students to really stretch their stories by adding details so that their audience can live their experiences with them!  (See 6+1 Traits, pgs. 59-64 for more lessons on Elaborating on Ideas.)

This month’s book is also a great example of Word Choice.
·        Natural Language – As the narrator shares his story, he uses many words phrases characteristic of a cowboy’s vocabulary!  He uses words like cow camp, cattle boss, wrangler, roping, riding, roundup, cattle, stampede, charging, and buckaroo to give us the feeling that he was an authentic cowboy, even for a while!  Teach your students that the use of vocabulary related to their topic will help their story really appeal to their readers! (See 6+1 Traits, pgs. 168-171 for more lessons on using Natural Language.) 

Finally, our August Book of the Month is a wonderful example of Sentence Fluency.
·        Establishing Flow, Rhythm, and Cadence – In this story, the young boy’s story is written with a rhyming pattern, making the lines flow smoothly together, and carrying us through the story from one event to the next.  He always uses complete sentences, but ends each sentence with words that create a fun, song-like pattern.  Just another fun way to keep your readers hanging on every word!  (See 6+1 Traits, pgs. 198-199 for more lessons on Establishing Flow, Rhythm, and Cadence.)
 

• Where would your ideal vacation spot be?  This website gives students an opportunity to preview locations for vacations across America and then share their selection with classmates by drawing a picture.

• Students can use the link to e-postcards to send an online buddy a postcard describing a real vacation they took or the ideal vacation they planned in the first activity.

• As a class or individually, have students fill in the blanks for a Summer Vacation Mad Lib and review parts of speech at the same time!

• In this postcard activity, students will design a postcard with an original graphic created on the computer.  They will have an opportunity to review word processing skills and friendly letter writing skills.

• Buster is traveling all over the United States.  Have the students use the clues to guess what state he is in.  The Postcards from Buster web site includes several activities that will tie in to the travel theme of the book.  Buster even has a blog!