LESSON 11 TEACHER’S GUIDE
Sasha’s Mission
by Lillian Rose
Fountas-Pinnell Level Y
Historical Fiction
Selection Summary
Sasha is a servant to the Romanovs when revolutionaries force the
tsar’s abdication and imprison the royal family. Sasha is determined
to help Anastasia through heroic action.
Number of Words: 3,229
Characteristics of the Text
Genre
Text Structure
Content
Themes and Ideas
Language and
Literary Features
Sentence Complexity
Vocabulary
Words
Illustrations
Book and Print Features
• Historical fiction
• Introduction gives historical background
• Events in chronological order; several references to the past
• Third-person omniscient narrator reveals characters’ thoughts
• Russian revolution; abdication of Romanov tsar Nicholas II
• Romanov family; imprisonment in Alexander Palace
• Life of Russian peasants during WWI and Russian Revolution
• Loyalty in the face of danger
• War is devastating for rich and poor alike
• Descriptive and sensory language
• Figurative language; similes
• Some dialogue
• Complex sentences; embedded clauses; introductory participial phrases
• Dashes; italics for character’s thoughts
• Words and names associated with Russian history: tsar, tsarina, revolutionaries,
duchesses; Romanov, Nicholas II
• Multisyllable words
• Compounds; base or root words with affixes or inflected endings
• Realistic illustrations aid visualization and support the text.
• Sixteen pages of text, seven with illustrations
• Table of contents
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
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Sasha’s Mission
by Lillian Rose
Build Background
Have students use their knowledge about revolution to build background for the story.
Build interest by asking questions such as the following: What kinds of things happen in a
revolution? Read the title and author and talk about the cover illustration. It shows Sasha,
a servant of the royal family, tying Anastasia’s sash. Explain that this book is historical
fiction. Its characters and events are set in a real period of history.
Introduce the Text
Guide 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: Point out that page 3 provides important historical background. Read
aloud the first sentence: “In 1914, much of the world was at war.” What war began
in 1914? Yes, World War I. Explain that tsar, comes from the Latin word Caesar,
meaning “emperor.” Call attention to the word revolutionaries in the last sentence.
Suggested language: In 1917 in Russia, revolutionaries overthrew the government
and imprisoned the tsar and his family in their palace. The tsar was forced to
abdicate, to give up his throne.
Pages 4–5: Sasha is a servant to the tsar’s family. Sahsa has to carry out a difficult
mission in this story. As you begin to read, think about how war and revolution
can cause turmoil in people’s lives. What kind of turmoil might servants experience
during a revolution? What kind of turmoil might rich people experience?
Page 6: Turn to page 6. Here and in the following pages you will learn some real
information about the Romanov family. Remember that historical fiction is based
on real information about the past. What impression does the illustration on page 7
give of the Romanov family?
Page 15: Read aloud the sentence containing the word provisions. Why would
provisions be especially hard to get during wartime?
Now go back to the beginning and read to find out what Sasha’s mission is and if
she succeeds in carrying it out.
Expand Your Vocabulary
abdicate – formally relinquish
power, p. 3
revolutionaries – militants in the
struggle for revolution, p. 3
provisions – necessary supplies,
especially food, p. 15
Grade 6
2
tsar – an emperor who ruled
Russia before the revolution of
1917, p. 3
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Read
Have students read silently while you listen to individual students read aloud. Support their
understanding of the text as needed.
Remind students to use the Summarize Strategy
as they read. Suggest
that they pause after each chapter and in their own words tell about the important parts
that they have just read.
Discuss and Revisit the Text
Personal Response
Invite students to share their personal responses to the story.
Suggested language: How do you think Sasha felt as she saw Anastasia rush away with
the map in her hand? Why do you think that Anastasia reacted this way?
Ways of Thinking
As you discuss the text, help students understand these points:
Thinking Within the Text
Thinking Beyond the Text
Thinking About the Text
• When Sasha worked in the tsar’s
palace, she became close friends
with Anastasia.
• Friendship can overcome class
barriers.
• Illustrations contrast the life of
the tsars and peasants in Russia
at the time of the Revolution.
• Revolutionaries took over the
palace in 1917 and forced the
Tsar Nicholas II to give up his
throne.
• Being a good friend sometimes
means facing danger.
• The book ends with Sasha’s
completing her mission.
• The author weaves in details
about conditions in Russia at the
time of the Revolution in 1917.
• Sasha worried about the tsar’s
children, especially Anastasia.
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
Choices for Further Support
• Fluency Invite students to act out a scene from the story in a readers’ theater. Remind
them to use inflection to distinguish the dialogue from the narration.
• 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 prefixes and suffixes are added to
base words and roots to change their meanings or parts of speech. Have students
tell the meaning of each of these words and identify the base word: illness (page 8),
breathless (page 9), imprisoned (page 12), unfolded (page 13), enraged, rechecked
(page 14), likeness, exchange (page 15).
Grade 6
3
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Writing about Reading
Critical Thinking
Have students complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 11.9.
Responding
Have 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 Skill
Understanding Characters
Remind students that authors reveal what a
character is like through his or her actions, thoughts, words, and descriptive details about
that character. Model how to add details to the Graphic Organizer, using a “Think Aloud”
like the one below:
Think Aloud
The chart lists one of Sasha’s most admirable character traits, loyalty.
What details show that Sasha is loyal? First, Sasha is loyal to her family.
She knows she must find a way to help with their finances. Second, she
is loyal to the tsar’s family. She wants to offer them help or comfort.
Third, she is so loyal to Anastasia that she goes on a dangerous mission
to help her. Add those three details to the chart.
Practice the Skill
Encourage students to share another book they have read in which a major character
exhibits great loyalty.
Writing Prompt: Thinking Beyond the Text
Have 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
• How is the last paragraph on page 10 important to the book?
• The second paragraph on page 3 is mainly about
________________________________________________________________.
• In the first paragraph on page 9, what does the word looming mean?
Grade 6
4
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English Language Development
Reading Support Make sure the text matches the student’s reading level. Language
and content should be accessible with regular teaching support.
Idioms The story contains some idioms that might be unfamiliar. Explain the meaning of
expressions such as another mouth to feed (page 6), the walls have ears (page 11), heart
would stop (page 12).
Oral Language Development
Check student comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches your students’
English proficiency level. Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the student.
Beginning/Early Intermediate
Intermediate
Early Advanced/ Advanced
Speaker 1: What country did the tsar
rule?
Speaker 1: Why was Sasha dismissed
as servant to the tsar’s family?
Speaker 2: Russia
Speaker 2: Revolutionaries took the
palace by force and imprisoned the
tsar’s family there.
Speaker 1: What problems was
Russia facing during World War
I, when revolutionaries forced
Nicholas II to abdicate his
throne?
Speaker 1: Where did Sasha work?
Speaker 2: the palace
Speaker 1: What did Sasha give
Anastasia?
Speaker 2: a map
Speaker 1: How did Sasha think her map
would be of help to Anastasia?
Speaker 2: If Anastasia were freed, she
could follow the map to Sasha’s house
and get help.
Speaker 2: Russia’s war with
Germany was not going
well, workers were striking,
people were starving and
rioting, and different groups of
revolutionaries were fighting for
power.
Lesson 11
Name
BLACKLINE MASTER 11.9
Date
Critical Thinking
Sasha’s Mission
Critical Thinking
Read and answer the questions. Possible responses shown.
1. Think within the text Where was the tsar’s village located?
The tsar’s village is located fifteen miles from St. Petersburg,
Russia’s capital.
2. Think within the text What was Sasha’s relationship to Anastasia?
Sasha was a servant to Anastasia’s family and was Anastasia’s friend.
3. Think beyond the text Why did Sasha sneak back to the palace to
help Anastasia?
She was worried about her friend’s safety and wanted to do
something to help her if she could.
4. Think about the text What is revealed about Sasha’s character when
she brings the map to Anastasia?
It reveals that Sasha has a strong friendship with Anastasia. It also
shows how brave she is.
Making Connections Sasha took a risk to help her friend. What other
character have you read about who took a risk to help others? What motivated
that person to take that risk? Explain your answer.
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
Critical Thinking
11
Grade 6, Unit 3: Going the Distance
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Grade 6
5
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Name
Date
Sasha’s Mission
Thinking 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.
Sasha is a loyal servant who develops a close friendship with Anastasia, the
tsar’s daughter. What do you think might happen if Anastasia were free and
followed the map to Sasha’s house? Suppose the guards came looking for
Anastasia! What would Sasha do? What would she say to them? How do
you think Sasha would once again prove her loyalty to her friend?
Grade 6
6
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Lesson 11
Name
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 11.9
Critical Thinking
Sasha’s Mission
Critical Thinking
Read and answer the questions.
1. Think within the text Where was the tsar’s village located?
2. Think within the text What was Sasha’s relationship to Anastasia?
3. Think beyond the text Why did Sasha sneak back to the palace to
help Anastasia?
4. Think about the text What is revealed about Sasha’s character when
she brings the map to Anastasia?
Making Connections Sasha took a risk to help her friend. What other
character have you read about who took a risk to help others? What motivated
that person to take that risk? Explain your answer.
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
Grade 6
7
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Student
Lesson 11
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 11.13
Sasha’s Mission • LEVEL Y
page
4
Sasha’s Mission
Running Record Form
Selection Text
Errors
Self-Corrections
Accuracy Rate
Total SelfCorrections
Sinking to the ground, Sasha laid her head against the
knapsack that held all she could carry of her belongings. She
wasn’t entirely sure why she was crying. It couldn’t be because
she had lost her position in the palace, though she and her
family would sorely miss the money she had earned there.
If she was weeping for anything, Sasha realized, it was for her
country, for the suffering and losses of the past few years and
what they had led to.
Comments:
(# words read
correctly/83 × 100)
%
Read word correctly
Code
✓
cat
Behavior
Error
Substitution
0
Self-corrects
Repeated word,
sentence, or phrase
®
Omission
—
cat
cat
Grade 6
0
Insertion
Code
cut
cat
cut sc
Error
1
cat
0
the
1
cat
1414244
Behavior
ˆ
Word told
1
8
T
cat
1
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