LESSON 23 TEACHER’S GUIDE
In the Days of Missions and
Ranchos
by Carol Domblewski
Fountas-Pinnell Level T
Nonfiction
Selection Summary
In the 1500s Spain controlled land in the United States and Mexico
called New Spain. Spain built missions in the area, and later Mexico
created ranchos for raising cattle. The Spanish way of life influenced
the West even after it became part of the United States.
Number of Words: 1,029
Characteristics of the Text
Genre
Text Structure
Content
Themes and Ideas
Language and
Literary Features
Sentence Complexity
Vocabulary
Words
Illustrations
Book and Print Features
• Nonfiction
• Chronological, with underlying compare-and-contrast structure
• Spain builds missions, forts, and towns to settle New Spain.
• Mexico wins independence from Spain and gives ranchos to some people.
• The West becomes part of the United States.
• Evidence of cultures can last for many years.
• When new countries take control of an area, the culture often changes.
• Setting that is distant in time and space from students’ experiences
• Descriptive language
• Sentences with nouns and verbs in series divided by commas
• Questions and answers
• Wide range of sentence types
• Many new vocabulary words that readers must derive from context or look up
• Many technical words, most defined in the text
• Many multisyllable proper nouns that are difficult to decode
• Words that are seldom used in oral language and are difficult to decode
• Colorful photographs and illustrations; map of Spanish colonization
• Chapter headings and illustrations on most pages.
• Illustrations and photographs with captions
• Chapter headings
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
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In the Days of Missions and Ranchos
by Carol Domblewski
Build Background
Help students use their knowledge of missions and ranches to visualize the selection.
Build interest by asking questions such as the following: Have you ever visited a historical
mission? What was it like? Have you ever been to a ranch? Describe what you saw. Read
the title and author and talk about the cover photograph. Tell students that this selection is
nonfiction, so the facts and descriptions are true.
Introduce the Text
Guide students through the text, noting important ideas and nonfiction features. Help with
unfamiliar language so they can read the text successfully. Give special attention to target
vocabulary. Here are some suggestions:
Page 3: Point to the map. Suggested language: Look at the map. New Spain land
extending from Florida to California. Name some other states in the United States
that were part of New Spain.
Page 5: Point out that captions can give clues about information in the text. What
does the caption on this page tell you? What do you think a presidio is? What state
is Santa Barbara in?
Page 10: Look at the illustration and read the caption. How do you think the
American Indians acknowledged and accepted the Spanish way of life? How do
you think the missions helped them?
Pages 12-13: Have students locate the highlighted words flourished and
sprawling. Cattle need room to graze and ranchers want the herd to increase. How
would sprawling ranches help the cattle to flourish?
Now turn back to the beginning of the text and read to find out about missions and
ranchos.
Target Vocabulary
acknowledged – recognized or
accepted, p. 10
dominated – strongly controlled,
p. 9
hostile – not friendly, p. 11
acquainted – know and be
familiar with something, p. 10
extending – stretching from one
point to another, p. 3
residents – people who live in a
place, p. 9
decline – a falling off, a lowering
or weakening, p. 14
flourished – thrived or prospered,
p. 12
sprawling – extends over a wide
area, p. 13
Grade 5
2
prospered – been successful, p. 4
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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
retell the important parts of the text in their own words.
as they read and
Discuss and Revisit the Text
Personal Response
Invite students to share their personal responses to the selection.
Suggested language: Do you think Spanish missions helped or harmed American
Indians? 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
• Spain settled New Spain by
building forts, missions, and
towns.
• Evidence of Spanish culture can
still be seen in the American
West and Mexico.
• Chapter heads help the reader
understand what is described in
each chapter.
• Missions provided schools,
jobs, and homes to people in
New Spain. Ranchos arose after
Mexico won its independence.
• Culture changes when new
people bring new ideas, ways of
life, and needs to an area.
• The captions explain the
illustrations and photographs
and help readers understand
what is described in the text.
• The United States gained control
of the west, and the ranchos
disappeared.
• A sidebar adds interesting
information to the text.
© 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 use for a readers’
theater. Remind them to pay attention to punctuation, and to stress certain words to
sound as if the narrator is actually speaking.
• 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 ending in –ed. Remind
students that an –ed ending signals that something has happened in the past. Use
examples from the target vocabulary as well as additional examples from the text.
Grade 5
3
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Writing about Reading
Vocabulary Practice
Have students complete the Vocabulary questions on BLM 23.1.
Responding
Have students use their Reader’s Notebook to complete the vocabulary activities on page
15. Remind them to answer the Word Teaser on p. 16. (Answer: sprawling)
Reading Nonfiction
Nonfiction Features: Chapter Headings and Captions Remind students that nonfiction
has many features to help readers find and understand important information. Chapter
headings and captions are two of those features. Explain that reading the chapter headings
is a good way to get ready to read and, later, to review content. The chapter headings in
this selection announce the three major subjects to be covered by the text.
Remind students that in nonfiction texts, important information is often conveyed in
captions that appear with the illustrations. Reading the captions can help readers build
background before reading the text and re-reading captions after reading is a way to
review information and reinforce understanding. For example, the caption on page 10 tells
the reader that the missions were accepted by some American Indians. Have students
write a new caption for the illustration on page 11 and propose a chapter heading for a
chapter that could include the illustration on page 14.
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
• Page 8 is mainly about _____________________________.
• The main purpose of the text on pages 12 and 13 is to ________________________.
• Which words on page 4 help the reader understand what the word settlers means?
Grade 5
4
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English Language Development
Reading Support Give English learners a “preview” of the text by holding a brief
small-group discussion with them before reading the text with the entire group.
Cultural Support Students may need additional information to understand how the
United States gained control of the west and how Mexico gained its independence. Briefly
explain the history of these two events in order to aid students’ understanding of the text.
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: Which country claimed land
in what is now Mexico, California,
Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico?
Speaker 1: How did Spain keep its lands
safe?
Speaker 1: Why did the missions
decline?
Speaker 2: Spain
Speaker 2: Spain built forts, missions,
and towns to keep its land safe.
Speaker 1: Who did the hard work in
the missions?
Speaker 1: Why did American Indians
come to the missions?
Speaker 2: American Indians
Speaker 2: The missions gave them food
and water.
Speaker 2: Settlers moved west
and claimed mission lands.
The new settlers did not like
the Spanish way of life. Some
settlers did not want to become
Catholic.
Lesson 23
Name
BLACKLINE MASTER 23.1
Date
Target Vocabulary
In the Days of the
Missions and Ranchos
Target Vocabulary
Fill in two more examples and non-examples for extending on
the Four-Square Map below. Then creat your own Four-Square
Maps for each of the remaining Target Vocabulary words.
Possible responses shown
Vocabulary
extending
flourished
hostile
decline
dominated
acquainted
acknowledged
residents
prospered
sprawling
Definition
Example
to reach out
reaching down your hand to
help a person who has fallen
holding out an
olive branch as a
symbol of peace
extending
Sentence
The teams were extending
their hands to shake after the
game.
Target Vocabulary
Non-example
folding your arms
across your chest
reeling in a
fishing line
3
Grade 5, Unit 5: Under Western Skies
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Grade 5
5
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Name
Date
In the Days of Missions and Ranchos
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 10, the reader learns that the missions “did not last long.” Why did
the missions decline? Why do you think so many changes happened in the
American West at that time? Use examples from the text to support your
answer.
Grade 5
6
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Lesson 23
Name
BLACKLINE MASTER 23.1
Date
Target Vocabulary
In the Days of the
Missions and Ranchos
Target Vocabulary
Fill in two more examples and non-examples for extending on
the Four-Square Map below. Then creat your own Four-Square
Maps for each of the remaining Target Vocabulary words.
Vocabulary
extending
flourished
hostile
decline
dominated
acquainted
acknowledged
residents
prospered
sprawling
Definition
Example
to reach out
reaching down your hand to
help a person who has fallen
extending
Sentence
The teams were extending
their hands to shake after the
game.
Grade 5
Non-example
folding your arms
across your chest
7
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Student
Lesson 23
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 23.23
In the Days of Missions and
Ranchos • LEVEL T
page
In the Days of Missions
and Ranchos
Running Record Form
Selection Text
3
Errors
Self-Corrections
Accuracy Rate
Total SelfCorrections
In the 1500s, Spain sent out ships to explore the world for
gold and to claim land. Over time, Spain claimed land in what
is now Mexico, California, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico.
Spain ruled a huge empire extending over these lands. The
empire was called New Spain.
Spain hoped to get rich from its empire. It wanted gold
and other riches, but so did other countries. The other
countries included Britain, Russia, and France. All three
countries wanted Spain’s land and riches, but Spain had a plan
to keep its lands safe.
Comments:
(# words read
correctly/93 × 100)
%
Read word correctly
Code
✓
cat
Repeated word,
sentence, or phrase
®
Omission
—
cat
cat
Grade 5
Behavior
Error
0
0
Substitution
Code
cut
cat
1
Self-corrects
cut sc
cat
0
Insertion
the
1
cat
Error
1414165
Behavior
ˆ
Word told
1
8
T
cat
1
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