LESSON 23 TEACHER’S GUIDE
Route 66
by Dan Greenberg
Fountas-Pinnell Level O
Nonfiction
Selection Summary
Many people wanted to move to California in the 1930s. Route 66
made the trip easier. Soon the route was popular enough to have songs
written about it. Businesses and eye-catching roadside attractions were
built along it. Later, four-lane highways were built and, in 1985, Route
66 was put out of service. It is now a historic route.
Number of Words: 696
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 sequence, description, some cause and effect, some comparison
• Organized in three sections with headings
• Route 66: its history and attractions
• Traveling by car
• Improved roads, with roadside businesses, can make travel easier.
• Some people drive to get places fast, but others drive for fun.
• Conversational language; written with humor: Well, long ago, one highway was as famous
as a music or sports star!
• Writer talks to reader (second person: Who is your favorite singer?)
• A mix of short and complex sentences
• Many questions, some brief: Ice cream? Cowboy hats?
• Many sentences include dates.
• Many words relating to roads and driving: route, diners, two-lane, highway, Historic
Route, café, freeways, gas stations
• Some multisyllable words: conversations, California, Amarillo, San Bernadino
• Words with complex spelling patterns: highway, pleasure, buildings, stations
• Color photographs with long captions that support and extend the text
• Nine pages of text, photographs on every page
• Captions, section headings, and maps
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
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Route 66
by Dan Greenberg
Build Background
Help students use their knowledge of cars and driving to visualize the text. Build interest
by asking a question such as the following: Have you ever taken a long road trip? Read
the title and author and talk about the cover. Tell students that this book is about a very
famous road.
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: Explain that this book gives the history of Route 66, a famous road that
goes from Chicago to California.
Suggested language: Turn to page 3. Look at the map showing Route 66. You can
watch the car “move” along the route on each page of the book. At what city is the
car beginning its trip?
Page 4: Have students find the words pleasure and inspired. Route 66 was such
a smooth road, it was a pleasure to drive on. It even inspired people to drive. How
do you think a road could make people want to ride on it?
Page 5: Explain that the events in this book are organized by dates. In the 1930s,
more than 200,000 people loaded their cars and drove to California on Route 66.
What other date can you find on this page?
Pages 6 and 7: Point out that the photos show businesses that grew up along the
route. You could buy gas and food and even get advice all along the route. What
kind of advice might you need on a road trip?
Page 9: Have students read the heading: The Beginning of the End. A section
heading tells you what information you will find in that section. What do you think
this section will be about? How does the photo give you a clue?
Now turn back to the beginning of the story and read to find out about Route 66.
Target Vocabulary
advice– opinion or suggestion to
help you make a choice, p. 7
loaded – put into a vehicle or
container to be carried, p. 5
reunion – a gathering of people
who have been separated, p. 8
conversations – discussions, p.
2
loveliest – most beautiful or
delightful, p. 6
terror – great fear, p. 3
currently – as of now, p. 6
managed – succeeded in doing
something, p. 5
inspired – filled someone with
emotion or moved that person
to action, p. 4
Grade 3
pleasure – enjoyment, p. 4
2
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Read
Have students read Route 66 silently while you listen to individual students read. Support
their problem solving and fluency as needed.
Remind students to use the Analyze/Evaluate Strategy
what they read and then form an opinion about it.
to think about
Discuss and Revisit the Text
Personal Response
Invite students to share their personal responses to the book.
Suggested language: Would you like to go for a drive on Route 66? 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
• Route 66 made it easier to drive
west to California in the 1930s.
• Improved roads, with roadside
businesses, can make travel
easier.
• The photos contain visual
information and back up the
content of the text.
• Some people drive to get places
fast, but others drive for fun.
• Captions help explain the photos
and add to information in the
text.
• Many businesses and roadside
attractions grew up along Route
66.
• Although four-lane highways put
Route 66 out of service by 1985,
it is now back on maps as a
historic route.
• The journey – and not just the
destination – can be an integral
part of the adventure.
• Section headings tell what each
section is about.
• The author’s attitude is that
roads like Route 66 are national
treasures because they offer
travelers a step back in time.
© 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 read aloud. Remind
them to pay attention to punctuation, especially exclamation marks and question
marks, to reflect the author’s meaning and humor.
• 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 how to take apart and add a variety of
endings to words, such as –ing, -s, -ed, -er, as in traveling, travels, traveled, traveler
or inspiring, inspired, inspires.
Grade 3
3
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Writing about Reading
Vocabulary Practice
Have students complete the Vocabulary questions on BLM 23.1.
Responding
Have students complete the vocabulary activities on page 11. Remind them to answer the
Word Teaser on p. 12. (Answer: inspired)
Reading Nonfiction
Nonfiction Features: Maps and Photo Captions Remind students that nonfiction has
many features to help readers find and understand important information. Maps and photo
captions are two of these features. Explain that the maps in this book help readers see
how Route 66 runs from Chicago to California. Famous sites are marked on the maps and
most are illustrated with photos. A car “moves” along the route on the map. These maps
offer readers the chance to follow the same route as travelers did.
Photo captions are another important source of information. They tell what the photo is
about and can add information that is not in the text. Have students read the caption on
page 6. Ask what information they can get from the caption. (Big eaters ordered 4 1/2
-pound steaks). Then have students choose another caption in the book and tell what they
learn from that caption.
Writing Prompt: Thinking Beyond the Text
Have students write a response to the prompt on page 6.
Assessment Prompts
• Find the word on page 6 that means almost the same as now.
• What does the word reunions mean in this sentence on page 8? Or maybe a
mysterious hideout for bandits to hold their reunions?
• Which words from page 4 help the reader know the meaning of pleasure?
Grade 3
4
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English Language Development
Reading Support In Introduce the Text (p.2) include as much practice as needed to
help students become familiar with the language structures of the book.
Vocabulary Help students understand the underlying tone and humor in the sentence:
Perhaps you’ve heard of it. (second paragraph on page 7) You can also point out the
similarity between the English and Spanish words conversations/conversaciones and
inspired/inspirado.
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 road made the trip
from Chicago to California easier?
Speaker 1: What did people do if they
got tired on Route 66?
Speaker 1: Why was Route 66 put
out of service?
Speaker 2: Route 66
Speaker 2: There were places they could
sleep.
Speaker 2: A new highway
law was passed that made all
highways four lanes, which made
travel faster.
Speaker 1: Who opened a hamburger
shop in San Bernadino in 1948?
Speaker 2: two brothers
Speaker 1: What kind of roads did
people start building in 1956?
Speaker 1: Compared to a superhighway, what was Route 66 like?
Speaker 2: It was small and scruffy, like
a two-lane road.
Speaker 2: four-lane highways
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Lesson 23
Name
BLACKLINE MASTER 23.1
Date
Target Vocabulary
Route 66
Target Vocabulary
Circle the best answer to each riddle.
Vocabulary
1. This is a good feeling.
pleasure terror managed
sincere
managed
loaded
loveliest
conversations
inspired
reunion
currently
pleasure
terror
2. This is saying something that is true.
loveliest
currently
sincere
3. This is being able to do something.
reunion
currently
managed
4. These are held using a telephone.
conversations
loaded
loveliest
5. This is when something has been put on a truck.
sincere
loaded
terror
6. This is when family members get together.
reunion
inspired
loaded
7. This is the best looking one. sincere managed
8. This is a strong fear. conversations
terror
loveliest
pleasure
9. This is taking place right now.
currently
inspired
reunion
10. This feeling can make a person want to get to work.
terror
loaded
inspired
Read directions to students.
Target Vocabulary
3
Grade 3, Unit 5: Going Places
© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Grade 3
5
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Name
Date
Route 66
Thinking Beyond the Text
Read the paragraph. Then write your postcard below.
Imagine it is 1959. You and your family are taking a road trip from Chicago
to California on Route 66. Write a postcard to a friend back home. Describe
your trip and the things you have seen and done along the way. Use details
from the book in your postcard.
Grade 3
6
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Lesson 23
Name
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 23.1
Target Vocabulary
Route 66
Target Vocabulary
Circle the best answer to each riddle.
Vocabulary
1. This is a good feeling. pleasure terror managed
2. This is saying something that is true.
loveliest currently sincere
3. This is being able to do something.
reunion currently managed
4. These are held using a telephone.
sincere
managed
loaded
loveliest
conversations
inspired
reunion
currently
pleasure
terror
conversations loaded loveliest
5. This is when something has been put on a truck.
sincere loaded terror
6. This is when family members get together.
reunion inspired loaded
7. This is the best looking one. sincere managed loveliest
8. This is a strong fear. conversations terror pleasure
9. This is taking place right now.
currently inspired reunion
10. This feeling can make a person want to get to work.
terror loaded inspired
Grade 3
7
Lesson 23: Route 66
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Student
Lesson 23
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 23.23
Route 66 • LEVEL O
page
Route 66
Running Record Form
Selection Text
2
Errors
Self-Corrections
Accuracy Rate
Total SelfCorrections
Who is your favorite singer? Can you name your favorite
football player? Well, long ago, one highway was as famous as
a music or sports star! The highway was Route 66. Everyone
knew that road. Thousands drove on it. Singers sang about it.
It seemed like everyone was having conversations about Route
66. But what made this highway so cool?
Life was hard in the 1930s. Many people lost their jobs.
3
Some lost their homes and farms.
Many wanted to move to California. Life seemed better
there. But how would they get there? California was far away.
Comments:
(# words read
correctly/97 × 100)
%
Read word correctly
Code
✓
cat
Repeated word,
sentence, or phrase
®
Omission
—
cat
cat
Grade 3
Behavior
Error
0
0
Substitution
Code
cut
cat
1
Self-corrects
cut sc
cat
0
Insertion
the
1
cat
Error
1414196
Behavior
ˆ
Word told
1
8
T
cat
1
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