LESSON 12 TEACHER’S GUIDE
The Cherry Tree
by Amy S. Jones
Fountas-Pinnell Level R
Fantasy
Selection Summary
Heeding a fortune-teller’s warning, King Desmond and Queen Sophia
ask the peasant Lucia to raise their daughter, Aurora, as her own.
Under Lucia’s tutelage, Aurora learns independence and self-sufficiency.
When her real parents die tragically, Aurora discovers her birthright and
defeats a villain by plucking cherries from a magical tree.
Number of Words: 1,684
Characteristics of the Text
Genre
Text Structure
Content
Themes and Ideas
Language and
Literary Features
Sentence Complexity
Vocabulary
Words
Illustrations
Book and Print Features
• Fantasy
• Third-person omniscient narrator reveals characters’ thoughts and feelings
• Exposition in first chapter provides necessary background details
• Fate of Princess Aurora as predicted by fortune-teller
• Struggle for the throne in Kingdom of Gwendale
• Good triumphs over evil.
• Self-reliance
• Narrative language and phraseology: A long time ago, It was in this manner
• Foreshadowing: A deep feeling of dread had come over her.
• Conflicts: obedience versus understanding, good versus evil, love versus duty
• Introductory clauses/phrases (e.g., As was customary at that time)
• Extensive use of coordinating and subordinating conjunctions
• Simple and complex sentences
• Dramatic words (e.g., pleaded, desperately, heartbroken, dread)
• Multiple-meaning words, such as just, lock, hack
• Compound words: fortune-teller, heartbroken, birthright, caregiver
• Detailed illustrations
• Thirteen pages of text with illustrations on every spread
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
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The Cherry Tree
by Amy S. Jones
Build Background
Help students use their experience with fantasies to visualize the story. Build interest by
asking a question such as the following: Why are fantasies so enjoyable? Read the title
and author, and talk about the cover illustration. Tell students that because this story is
fantasy it contains details that can’t happen but that seem real.
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:
Pages 2–3: Explain that the story’s main character is Aurora, the daughter of King
Desmond and Queen Sophia. The story begins shortly before Aurora’s birth. Point
out the picture on page 3. Suggested language: Look at pages 2 and 3. Do you see
the fortune-teller in the picture? In the fairy tale kingdom in the story, people asked
fortune-tellers to predict their unborn child’s future.
Page 5: Ask: What would be surprising about a tree like the one in this picture
appearing overnight? In what kind story does this kind of thing happen?
Page 7: Have students locate the word frail at the beginning of the second
paragraph. Ask: Which of the people in the picture looks frail, or weak?
Now go back to the beginning of the story and read to find out what happens to
Aurora and the throne of Gwendale.
Target Vocabulary
careening – swerving wildly off
course
frayed – worn away so that loose
threads show
engulf – surround something,
consume it, or cover it
completely, p. 8
jostled – shoved or bumped into,
p. 4
falter – act in a hesitating or
unsteady way, p. 12
relishing – getting pleasure or
enjoyment from something,
p. 13
supple – easily bent but strong
taut – something tight, tense, and
firm
undulating – moving in a
smooth, wavelike motion
frail – weak, fragile, or easily
hurt, p. 7
Grade 6
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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 Infer/Predict Strategy
and to look for
important details about the setting, characters, and plot to figure out what might happen
in the future.
Discuss and Revisit the Text
Personal Response
Invite students to share their personal responses to the story.
Suggested language: At the beginning of the story, did you think Aurora would ever
become queen? Why or why not?
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
• King Desmond and Queen
Sophia are warned to give away
their baby Aurora or she’ll die
before age 16.
• Parents do what is necessary to
protect their children.
• In this story, readers know
information that the main
character does not.
• Lucia raises Aurora to be clever
and self-reliant.
• Aurora picks the cherries and
becomes queen.
• Good triumphs over evil.
• Knowledge and experience make
you self-reliant, clever, and
capable.
• The author is able to include
details like the magical cherry
tree because this story is fantasy.
• The author describes how Lucia
trains Aurora to show readers
that obedience and self-reliance
are important traits.
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
Choices for Further Support
• Fluency Invite students to participate in choral reading. Suggest that they choose a
dramatic passage, such as the fortune-teller scene or the announcement of the royal
couple’s death. Encourage them to read at a faster rate in places where the action
picks up speed.
• 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 a syllable has a single vowel sound.
For example, the word frail on page 7 has only one vowel sound—the long a—and,
therefore, only one syllable. The word also has only one morpheme, or smallest word
unit that has meaning. On the other hand, the word jostled (page 4) has two syllables
(jos·tled) but only one morpheme.
Grade 6
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Writing about Reading
Critical Thinking
Have students complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 12.7.
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
Story Structure
Remind students that a story’s structure includes plot,
characters, and setting. Most plots build to a climax, or high point, and then fall until a
problem is solved. Model how to add details to the Graphic Organizer, using a “Think
Aloud” like the one below:
Think Aloud
The characters are already listed in the chart. List the setting as the long
ago kingdom of Gwendale. List as the plot that Aurora’s parent’s give
their child to Lucia in accordance with the fortune-teller’s advice. Lucia
trains Aurora in a kind and efficient manner. After her parents die Aurora
eventually picks the cherries and the problem of the throne is solved.
Listing these details in the chart shows the story structure.
Practice the Skill
Encourage students to share an example of another story in which the plot has a
clear structure.
Writing Prompt: Thinking Beyond the Text
Have students write a response to the writing 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 are two sentences in the first part of the book that support the idea that Lucia is
a good caretaker?
• The author probably wrote this selection to
_______________________________________________.
• On page 7, why is the second paragraph important to the book?
Grade 6
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English Language Development
Reading Support Give English learners a “preview” to the text by holding a brief
small-group discussion with them before reading the text with the entire group.
Cultural Support The story’s main character is the daughter of a king, a hereditary
monarch. These monarchs inherit the right to govern from a parent. In most hereditary
monarchies, a monarch’s daughter will inherit the throne if the monarch has no sons.
She is a princess until she rules; then she is a queen.
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: Who is the main character?
Speaker 1: What is the result of the
fortune-teller’s warning?
Speaker 1: Why does the cherry
tree appear when it does in the
courtyard?
Speaker 2: Aurora
Speaker 1: Who are Aurora’s real
parents?
Speaker 2: King Desmond and Queen
Sophia
Speaker 1: Who is Lucia?
Speaker 2: the woman who raises
Aurora
Speaker 2: Because of the fortuneteller’s warning, Aurora’s parents give
Aurora to Lucia.
Speaker 1: What is the same about each
of Aurora’s tasks?
Speaker 2: Aurora needs to complete
each of her tasks on her own, without
any help.
Speaker 2: The cherry tree
appears because the king and
queen died and a new ruler
must step forward. It appears
just before Aurora’s sixteenth
birthday. Having reached 16,
Aurora is now safe from the
fortune-teller’s prediction and can
inherit her birthright.
Lesson 12
Name
BLACKLINE MASTER 12.7
Date
Critical Thinking
The Cherry Tree
Critical Thinking
Read and answer the questions. Possible responses shown.
1. Think within the text What does the fortune-teller tell the king and
queen to do to save their daughter’s life?
The fortune-teller tells the king and queen to bury a piece of
Aurora’s hair with a cherry pit and not to raise her as their own.
2. Think within the text What happens when Count Vertigo tries to cut
down the cherry tree?
His axe stops in midair.
3. Think beyond the text What happens after Lucia tells Aurora to fill
the basket with cherries from the tree in the courtyard? Why doesn’t
Aurora ask any questions about this? Do you think she realized what
was in store?
Aurora goes to the courtyard. She does not ask questions
because she is not allowed to ask questions about her training.
I think that Aurora is smart, so she probably had some idea what
might happen.
4. Think about the text Count Vertigo is put in prison. Is this a fair
punishment? What would you do with him if you were Aurora?
Explain your answer.
Yes, this is fair punishment. Count Vertigo is a cruel ruler. He
would be a threat to Aurora and the kingdom if he were not in jail.
Making Connections This story is a type of fairy tale. Do you know of any
similar fairy tales? Briefly compare and contrast this fairy tale with another.
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
Critical Thinking
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Grade 6, Unit 3: Going the Distance
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First Pass
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Name
Date
The Cherry Tree
Thinking Beyond the Text
Think about the questions below. Then write your answer in one or two
paragraphs.
Remember that when you think beyond the text you use your personal
knowledge to reach new understandings.
On page 3, the narrator says the following about Aurora: “So, when Aurora
was born, the king and queen gave her to a poor, but kind woman named
Lucia.” Why do you think Sophia and Desmond chose Lucia to raise their
daughter? Do you think Lucia was a wise choice? Why or why not?
Grade 6
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Lesson 12
Name
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 12.7
Critical Thinking
The Cherry Tree
Critical Thinking
Read and answer the questions.
1. Think within the text What does the fortune-teller tell the king and
queen to do to save their daughter’s life?
2. Think within the text What happens when Count Vertigo tries to cut
down the cherry tree?
3. Think beyond the text What happens after Lucia tells Aurora to fill
the basket with cherries from the tree in the courtyard? Why doesn’t
Aurora ask any questions about this? Do you think she realized what
was in store?
4. Think about the text Count Vertigo is put in prison. Is this a fair
punishment? What would you do with him if you were Aurora?
Explain your answer.
Making Connections This story is a type of fairy tale. Do you know of any
similar fairy tales? Briefly compare and contrast this fairy tale with another.
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
Grade 6
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Student
Lesson 12
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 12.11
The Cherry Tree • LEVEL R
page
8
The Cherry Tree
Running Record Form
Selection Text
Errors
Self-Corrections
Accuracy Rate
Total SelfCorrections
Vertigo crowned himself king. He made his supporters royal
guards and sent them out among the people. They arrested
anyone who refused to recognize Vertigo as the king. Soon,
everyone began to fear King Vertigo.
The new king’s first order was to claim that Gwendale had no
true heir to the throne. Everyone knew that King Desmond and
Queen Sophia had been childless. Vertigo told himself that the
tree must be some kind of trick. Still, it was a clever one. He
couldn’t explain how it had been done.
9
Just to be safe, Vertigo summoned the royal
servants. He gave them strict orders. “Chop
down every cherry tree in the kingdom. Start
with the one in the palace courtyard.”
Comments:
(# words read
correctly/119 × 100)
%
Read word correctly
Code
✓
cat
Repeated word,
sentence, or phrase
®
Omission
—
cat
cat
Grade 6
Behavior
Error
0
0
1
8
Substitution
Code
cut
cat
1
Self-corrects
cut sc
cat
0
Insertion
the
1
Word told
T
cat
cat

Error
1414452
Behavior
1
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