Summary

Will Wendell and Floyd make it to school on time? Maybe, if they use the secret shortcut.

Scholastic Inc.

Reading Strategies ~ Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey

Making Predictions:
Before reading the book The Secret Shortcut, look at the illustration on the cover and discuss:

• What is a shortcut?  Why would you need one?
• Have students make predictions about the place that the characters might be trying to go using the secret shortcut.
• Point out that the word “Secret” in the title is italicized.  Discuss with students why the author might have made that word look different from the rest of the words in the title.

Questioning: What do you wonder?
Will Wendell & Floyd get to school on time?  Will they make it out of the jungle alive?  Make a list of what students are wondering about the story prior to reading.  After reading the story, go back to the list and discuss these wonderings.

Visualizing
The book The Secret Shortcut is a wonderful story to work on visualizing.  Mark Teague uses very entertaining descriptive language in this story.  Visualizing enables students to construct meaning by creating pictures in their minds as they hear the story. 

Visualizing Activity:
Fold a piece of paper into 6 sections

Read the story without showing students the illustrations.  Stop 6 different times and have students draw pictures of what they’re visualizing.  All the students’ pictures may not show the same scene- that’s okay.  If you stop for the first time on the page where Floyd arrives at Wendell’s house early in the morning, for example, some students may draw that scene, some may draw the space aliens, and some may draw the pirates on the loose.  Remember not to show them the pictures.  After you finish the story, share and discuss students’ drawings/visualizations.

Vocabulary Building
The story The Secret Shortcut has rich vocabulary that may need to be discussed and clarified for students.  Some of the vocabulary in the story that students may not be familiar with:

• Plague- any cause of trouble or annoyance: uninvited guests are a plague; a sudden destructive influx or injurious outbreak: a plague of locusts, a plague of accidents

• Culvert- a drain or channel crossing under a road or sidewalk

• Thicket- a thick or dense growth of shrubs, bushes, or small trees

• Boulders- a large, mounded mass of rock lying on the surface of the ground or embedded in the soil

• Bank- the slope immediately bordering a stream

• Echo- a repetition of sound produced by the reflection of sound waves from a wall, mountain, or other obstructing surface

• Meandered- taking a winding or indirect course

• Quicksand- a bed of soft or loose sand saturated with water and having considerable depth, yielding under weight and therefore tending to suck down any object resting on its surface

• Gorge- a narrow cleft with steep, rocky walls, often a stream runs through

• Clearing- a tract of land, as in a forest, that contains no bushes or trees

Making Connections
Text-to-self connections are made when the reader is reminded of a similar experience they’ve had in their own lives.  This helps them better understand the characters’ motives, thoughts, and feelings.
Some text-to-self connections that can be made during The Secret Shortcut might be about being late, making excuses, friendship, or being lost.  Discuss with students how they solved the problem in their own lives. 

Text-to-text connections are made when the reader is reminded of another book, magazine, poem, or even song- anything that is written.  

Other stories and poems for making connections:

*The Troll Bridge Troll  by Patricia Rae Wolff - A troll tries to prevent Trigg from crossing the bridge on the way to school, only to be outwitted by the boy’s riddles

*My Big Lie by Bill Cosby - Little Bill gets in big trouble when he tells a fib to explain why he has come home late for dinner

*David Gets in Trouble by David Shannon - When David gets in trouble, he has excuses right up until bedtime, when he realizes he really is sorry

*True Story (from Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein) 

*Lyin’ Larry (from Falling Up by Shel Silverstein)

*Today Is Very Boring (from The New Kid on the Block by Jack Prelutsky)

*Kevin the King of the Jungle (from Something Big Has Been Here by Jack Prelutsky)

*A Remarkable Adventure (from Something Big Has Been Here by Jack Prelutsky)

Sequence of Events
When students are asked to retell a story, the ability to determine which events are important and to retell them in the sequence that they happened is important.  Discuss the sequence of events in the story (you may want to list these on a chart).  Have students make a map of Wendell & Floyd’s secret shortcut to school.  Brainstorm the important details that have to be included, assign specific sections of the map to individual students.
 

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

The Secret Shortcut is the third Mark Teague book that we have included in our Cougar Collection, and he never lets us down when it comes to fantastic children’s literature!   

In The Secret Shortcut, Wendell and Floyd take us on a wild adventure as they search for the quickest way to get to school.  After three days of arriving late, their teacher demands that they start getting to school on time…”or else”  Thus begins Wendell and Floyd’s journey, through the thicket to the jungle and then to the swamp, desperately trying to get to school before the last morning bell. 

Before you begin reading The Secret Shortcut, make sure to preview these words and their meanings with your students…

• preposterous - making little or no sense

• plague - a large number of destructive pests

• culvert - a drain or waterway crossing under a road or railroad

• thicket - a thick usually small patch of shrubbery, small trees, or underbrush

• meander - to follow a winding or complicated course

• gorge - a narrow passage, ravine, or steep-walled canyon

* Teaching Organization *
Herding Cats 

As we travel along with Wendell and Floyd, it’s the ORGANIZATION of their story that carries us along on their incredible journey.  Ruth Culham explains that a piece of writing “with strong organization begins with a clear purpose that creates anticipation in the reader.”  And that is certainly the case in The Secret Shortcut.  We quickly realize Wendell and Floyd’s dilemma, and anxiously follow along as they make their way to school that Thursday morning.

Lesson Idea for Organization:  “On the Map”

In this idea, adapted from a Focus Lesson in Scholastic’s Using Picture Books to Teach Writing with the Traits, students will create a map to use as a graphic organizer that will guide the organization of their own story. 

1. Read The Secret Shortcut aloud.
2. After reading, work with the class to create a list of all the things that happen to Wendell and Floyd on the way to school. 
3. Either on their own, or with a partner, have students create a NEW map that plots out a new secret shortcut for the main characters.  Encourage them to be creative about the obstacles they might encounter along the way by pointing out different things they could face – volcanoes, traffic lights, stray dogs, quicksand, etc.  Allow them to use construction paper and crayons or markers, and to add detail to the maps so that this prewriting activity can be engaging and motivating.
4. Next, have students share their maps and verbally explain the route of their own secret shortcut.  They may even need to number each of their obstacles to help them get organized for the writing portion of the activity.  (Note:  You may stop here for younger students who are not ready to write their own stories yet.  You may also have younger students create a list of the obstacles on their map, if they’re not ready to write complete sentences yet.)
5. Finally, have students write their own “Secret Shortcut” stories to accompany their maps.   You might ask students to write at least 3 sentences per event to encourage details in their story. 

Additional Ideas:

·      Use this story as an opportunity to teach your students about Sequencing and Transition Words, like first, second, before, finally, soon, at the same time, etc.  The use of those types of words will improve the flow of the story.

·      In an effort to teach students about paragraphs, ask them to begin a new paragraph each time they use a Sequencing or Transition word.  This will help to move the story along nicely, and will connect each event to the next.

·      Geography Connection:  Connect your shortcuts to a geographical area that you’re studying at the time.  Pull in geographical terms or items you would find in a rainforest, the desert, the ocean, or a continent like Australia!  Then instruct your students to create maps that lead Wendell and Floyd through your particular geographic region. 

(See the Organization chapter of 6+1 Traits for more teaching ideas!)
 

Wow! Could these little guys use some instruction in Character Education!  They obviously did not go to school at Kemp Elementary!

At the beginning of the story, Wendall and Floyd obviously did not show respect for learning and punctuality because they were late to school the first 3 days.  They could not be trusted to use self-control to go directly to school without getting distracted and off course. They did not accept the responsibility of getting to school on time and were not accountable for their actions.  Although their stories were very creative, they lacked an understanding of the difference between fantasy and reality, which resulted in a lack of honesty when questioned by their teacher.  The boys did, however, show incredible creativity, great initiative, and perseverance in trying to find new ways to get to school every day.  They were very self-reliant, never asking for help or advice to solve their problem of persistent tardiness.  Hopefully, they will soon learn that Character Counts!
 

• Mark Teague provides a step-by-step walk through the illustration process of one of his picture storybooks at this website.  Share the photographed steps with your students and then revisit the final product - Detective LaRue, our 2004-2005 Favorite!

• Read the transcript from a recent interview of Mark Teague by students and teacher to learn more about his writing and illustrating process.

• Or go to the website Reading Rockets to watch a video clip of Mark Teague talking about his books.

• After reading the book, have the students view the Reading Rainbow program, The Secret Shortcut (PRO 796.58 SEC).  The video highlights orienteering and maps.  Students (or the teacher) can then use Neighborhood Map Machine to create a map of their community including important buildings, places, etc.  Identify two locations on the map and have the students draw a "secret shortcut" between them.

• Make a copy of the school's floor plan.  Have the students work in groups to find at least two "secret shortcuts" from their classroom to the cafeteria, the media center, and specials!  Next have the students count their footsteps for each shortcut and then compare the three to find out which one is really a shortcut!

• Look for shortcuts from the school to neighborhoods or other landmarks on the satellite map on Google!  Go to Google - click on Maps - search for "865 Corner Road Powder Springs GA 30127" -  Click on Satellite at the top right corner.  You can now use the directional arrows and the + and - sliding scale to zoom in and out.  You should be able to spot the school!  Let the students locate their neighborhoods and then look for shortcuts to the school!