LESSON 4 TEACHER’S GUIDE
Champ of Hoover Dam
by Alexandra Behr
Fountas-Pinnell Level M
Historical Fiction
Selection Summary
Helen’s father works on the construction crew building the Hoover
Dam. When Helen’s dog Champ barks too much, the landlord says
she can’t keep him at home during the week. The mother of Helen’s
friend Claudia agrees to keep him where she works at the worksite
cafeteria. When Champ’s barking saves a life of a worker, the dog
becomes a national hero.
Number of Words: 868
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
• Third-person narrative
• Organized chronologically
• Problem presented in middle of story
• Barking dog is a problem that friends help solve.
• Dog becomes a hero by saving a worker’s life on Hoover Dam construction site.
• Appearance of President Franklin Roosevelt
• Friends can help you solve a problem.
• Huge construction projects take a long time to build.
• A bad habit in one setting can be a positive trait in another.
• Conversational, colloquial language
• Idioms and exaggeration
• Simile: The desert heat made Helen feel like she was a pancake in a pan.
• Compound and complex sentences. Example: If Champ hadn’t been there, Hank would
have been a goner.
• Some colloquial words such as goner, kid
• Compound words such as worksite, pancake, landlord
• Place names: San Francisco, Nevada, Colorado River, Boulder City
• Some multisyllabic words that may be challenging. Examples: cafeteria, excitement,
disappear, president
• Realistic illustrations of children and adults in another time period support the text.
• Fourteen pages of text with half-page illustrations on most pages
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
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Champ of Hoover Dam
by Alexandra Behr
Build Background
Help students use their knowledge of rivers and dams. Ask questions such as: Do you
know why dams are built? Explain that a dam is like a large wall meant to keep a river
from flooding. Read the title and the author’s name and talk about the cover illustration,
which shows the Hoover Dam during its construction. Tell students that this story is
historical fiction, so the setting and some of the characters are based on real people—
including a President of the United States!
Introduce the Text
Guide students through the text, noting important ideas, and helping with unfamiliar
language and vocabulary so that they can read the text successfully. Here are some
suggestions:
Page 2: Explain that this story happens in the 1930s, when the enormous Hoover
Dam was being built in Nevada. The main characters are Helen, her dog Champ,
and her new friend Claudia.
Suggested language: Turn to page 2. Here are Helen and Champ in front of their
new home. The last sentence reads: Her dad worked with a big crew of men building
a giant dam across the Colorado River. Why do you think a project as big as the
Hoover Dam would need lots of men working in crews, or teams? Where does it look
like the crews and their families live?
Page 4: Read the last sentence of paragraph 3: Champ barked and barked with
excitement. What kinds of excitement might make a dog bark? Look at the picture.
Helen and her family finally move into a house. Everyone is excited, especially
Champ.
Page 5: Explain that Helen tells her new friend Claudia about a problem she has:
The landlord is kicking Champ out of the house because he barks too much and
wakes up the workers. Look at the picture. Who has followed the two girls to
school?
Page 7: Call attention to the picture. Helen and Claudia try to find a home for
Champ in town. Does it look like he is ready to live with other people?
Now turn back to the beginning of the story and read to find out what happens to
Champ at Hoover Dam.
Target Vocabulary
balancing – keeping steady, p. 12
disappear– pass from sight, p. 9
clinging – sticking to or holding
on tight, p. 10
excitement – feeling of great
happiness, p. 4
crew – group of people doing
work, p. 2
foggy – in a thick mist or low
clouds, p. 2
Grade 3
2
stretched – extended or spread
out, p. 10
tide – the rise and fall of the sea,
p. 2
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Read
Have students read Champ of Hoover Dam silently while you listen to individual students
read. Support their problem solving and fluency as needed.
Remind students to use the Infer/Predict Strategy
them figure out more about the selection.
to find clues to help
Discuss and Revisit the Text
Personal Response
Invite students to share their personal responses to the story.
Suggested language: What did you learn from the story about being a hero?
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
• Helen’s family moves to Nevada
while her dad works on the
construction of Hoover Dam.
• Friends can help you solve a
problem.
• The ending is a surprise because
President Roosevelt asks to
meet Champ.
• Helen’s dog Champ barks a lot
so the landlord kicks him out.
• Helen and her new friend Claudia
try to find a new home for
Champ.
• Huge construction projects take
a lot of people a long time to
build.
• There are different ways to be
a hero.
• When the author has the
president say that there would be
no dam without Champ, she is
using exaggeration.
• Champ moves near the dam
and rescues a fallen worker by
barking for help.
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
Choices for Further Support
• Fluency Invite students to choose a passage from the text to act out, such as page 14,
which has both narrative and dialogue. Remind them to pay attention to punctuation
and to make the speech sound as natural as possible.
• 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. Lead students to recognize that adding the prefix dis- to the
word appear makes a new word with the opposite meaning. Explain that knowing the
shorter words may help readers to understand the meaning of the new word. Invite
students to figure out the meanings of disconnect, disobey, and discontinue.
Grade 3
3
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Writing about Reading
Critical Thinking
Have students complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 4.8.
Responding
Have students complete the activities at the back of the book. Use the instructions below
as needed to reinforce or extend understanding of the comprehension skill.
Target Comprehension Skill
Compare and Contrast
Remind students that recognizing how one
character is alike or different from another will help them to understand why those
characters think or behave as they do. Model the skill, using a “Think Aloud” like the one
below:
Think Aloud
When I look at the Venn diagram on page 15, I see that both girls want
to help Champ, so that information appears under “Both.” I know that
Helen doesn’t know too many people yet, so she’s kind of shy. I’ll put that
information under her name. Claudia isn’t shy and speaks up when she
needs to. That’s what I’ll put that under her name.
Practice the Skill
Have students share an example of another story in which they were able to compare and
contrast the way two characters think and behave.
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 what they know and their own experience to think about
what happens in the story.
Assessment Prompts
• On page 10, find the word that means “holding on tight.”
• On page 12, what is the first paragraph mainly about?
• Complete this sentence in your own words. This story has a happy ending because
________________________________________________________________.
Grade 3
4
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English Language Development
Reading Support Pair English-speaking and English language learners so that they
can check their understanding with each other.
Idioms Explain any idioms students might find unfamiliar, as on page 5, Champ tagged
along; and on page 8, Helen and Champ shot out of the car.
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 is the name of Helen’s
dog?
Speaker 1: Why does the family move
from the tent home they were living in?
Speaker 2: Champ
Speaker 2: They are going to live in a
real house.
Speaker 1: Why does President
Roosevelt come to the Hoover
Dam?
Speaker 1: Where does the story take
place?
Speaker 2: at the Hoover Dam
Speaker 1: Why is the family there?
Speaker 1: What does the landlord think
about Champ?
Speaker 2: He thinks the dog barks too
much.
Speaker 2: Helen’s dad is working on
the Hoover Dam.
Speaker 2: Hoover Dam is about
to be finished.
Speaker 1: Why does the
President praise Champ?
Speaker 2: Champ is a hero
because he saved a man’s life.
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Lesson 4
Name
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 4.8
Champ of Hoover Dam
Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking
Read and answer the questions.
1. Think within the text Why does Helen’s family move
from San Francisco to the desert?
Helen’s dad has a job building a giant dam across the Colorado River.
2. Think within the text What problem does the landlord
have with Champ?
Champ barks too much and keeps people awake at night.
3. Think about the text Think about a story you have
read or heard about an animal that acted in a heroic way.
Describe what happened.
Responses will vary.
4. Think beyond the text Do you agree with President
Roosevelt when he says there would be no dam without
Champ? Explain your answer.
Possible response: No, I don’t agree. I think people would have built the dam even
without Champ’s help.
Making Connections Have you or has someone you know ever
adopted a pet from an animal shelter? Tell a story about the pet and
its new home.
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
Read directions to students.
Critical Thinking
10
Grade 3, Unit 1: Good Citizens
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Grade 3
5
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Name
Date
Champ of Hoover Dam
Thinking Beyond the Text
Think about the questions below. Then write your answer in one or two
paragraphs.
A reporter from a local paper heard about Champ and wrote a story about
him. Suppose you had to write a news story about Champ. What kinds of
information would you include? Write a headline and a short news story.
Grade 3
6
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Lesson 4
Name
BLACKLINE MASTER 4.8
Date
Champ of Hoover Dam
Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking
Read and answer the questions.
1. Think within the text Why does Helen’s family move
from San Francisco to the desert?
2. Think within the text What problem does the landlord
have with Champ?
3. Think about the text Think about a story you have
read or heard about an animal that acted in a heroic way.
Describe what happened.
4. Think beyond the text Do you agree with President
Roosevelt when he says there would be no dam without
Champ? Explain your answer.
Making Connections Have you or has someone you know ever
adopted a pet from an animal shelter? Tell a story about the pet and
its new home.
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
Grade 3
7
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Student
Lesson 4
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 4.12
Champ of Hoover Dam • LEVEL M
page
12
Selection Text
Champ of Hoover Dam
Running Record Form
Errors
Self-Corrections
Accuracy Rate
Total SelfCorrections
Champ loved being with the workers. He liked balancing on
rocks, like a mountain goat. Best of all, he ate like a king every
day at the worksite’s cafeteria. Claudia’s mother made sure of
that.
Of course, Helen got to see Champ on the weekends when he
came home. In the summer, Dad even took her to the worksite
to visit Champ.
13
By the next September, the dam was almost built. People in
Boulder City were buzzing with excitement. President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt was coming to the dam!
Everyone in town turned out to hear President Roosevelt.
Helen’s family stood right in front.
Comments:
(# words read
correctly/102 × 100)
%
Read word correctly
Code
✓
cat
Repeated word,
sentence, or phrase
®
Omission
—
cat
cat
Grade 3
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
1414038
Behavior
1
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