LESSON 3 TEACHER’S GUIDE
My Sister’s Surprise
by Barbara Dodson
Fountas-Pinnell Level T
Realistic Fiction
Selection Summary
Pedro’s sister Ana is turning sixteen, and her family plans a surprise
party for her. Pedro and his uncle fix up a car for Ana’s present, but
Pedro feels jealous of Ana and that his efforts are unappreciated by his
parents. Pedro realizes that he has not been ignored and that doing
something nice for someone else is worthwhile.
Number of Words: 2,298
Characteristics of the Text
Genre
Text Structure
Content
Themes and Ideas
Language and
Literary Features
Sentence Complexity
Vocabulary
Words
Illustrations
Book and Print Features
• Realistic fiction
• First-person narrative told chronologically with no chapter breaks
• Planning a surprise
• Repairing an old car, step by step
• Jealousy and caring for others
• Doing nice things for others can make you happy.
• Complete difficult tasks with hard work.
• Even though you love someone, you can still feel jealous of him or her.
• Characters are revealed by what they say, think, and do and what others say and think
about them
• Narrator builds trust by sharing his interior thoughts and feelings
• A mixture of complex and short sentence patterns
• Dialogue
• Quotation marks, italics, exclamations
• Words related to cars: crankshaft, timing chain, fuel filter
• Many multisyllable words and words with suffixes: incredible, celebration, pharmacy,
actually
• Six color illustrations show characters and settings
• Thirteen pages of text; several pages text only
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
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My Sister’s Surprise
by Barbara Dodson
Build Background
Help students use their knowledge of surprise parties to visualize the story. Build
interest by asking a question such as the following: Have you ever planned a surprise for
someone? Read the title and author and talk about the cover illustration. Tell students that
the story is realistic fiction told by a boy, Pedro, who is helping to work on a sixteenthbirthday present for his sister, Ana.
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 2: Explain that the illustration shows Pedro, Ana, and their parents at
dinnertime. Suggested language: Pedro says he noticed Papi and Mami seemed
distracted. What does it mean when you are distracted?
Pages 4–5: Pedro describes working with his Uncle Tito on his sister’s gift. In
the last paragraph on page 4, Pedro describes how Uncle Tito found an old 1982
sedan that he thought could be fixed up. How does a sedan differ from a van or a
station wagon? Explain that Pedro and Uncle Tito installed a new muffler on the
car. Ask: What’s the muffler’s purpose?
Page 7: Direct students’ attention to the picture. Ask: How can you tell Pedro and
Uncle Tito are getting ready to paint the car?
Page 8: Have students look at the illustration and read the last sentence: I wanted
to scream and shout that I, Pedro Garcia, was helping to give my big sister such a
great present. Ask: What seems to be going on? What do you think the problem of
the story might be?
Now go back to the beginning and read to find out what happens when Ana’s
family surprises her.
Expand Your Vocabulary
bumpers – usually metal or
rubber bars attached to either
end of a motor vehicle, p. 5
muffler – a device that absorbs
noise used with an internalcombustion engine, p. 5
wrenches – tools with adjustable
jaws used for turning nuts of
different sizes, p. 5
valves – used to regulate the flow
of gas in a motor vehicle, p. 5
Grade 4
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Read
Have students read silently while you listen to individual students read aloud. Support their
problem solving and fluency as needed.
Remind students to use the Visualize Strategy
, as they read. Tell them
to look for details and descriptions to help them visualize the action of the story.
Discuss and Revisit the Text
Personal Response
Invite students to share their personal responses to the text.
Suggested language: Have you ever felt jealous of someone in your family? What
happened? How did Pedro feel about all of the work he had done for his sister’s birthday?
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
• Pedro works hard to restore
a car for his sister’s birthday
present.
• It is possible to love someone in
your family but still feel jealous
about the attention they get.
• The author includes many
descriptions to help readers
visualize the story.
• Pedro begins to resent the hard
work and feels jealous about the
attention Ana’s party is getting.
• Difficult tasks take many steps to
accomplish.
• The language sounds realistic,
the way a family would speak to
each other.
• Pedro realizes that his family has
not ignored him and remembers
why he wanted to surprise Ana.
• Helping others can make you feel
good.
• The author uses sequence words
to help explain how Pedro and
Uncle Tito fixed the car.
© 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 while
demonstrating phrasing fluent reading. Remind students to pause after punctuation by
taking short breaths after commas and stopping after periods and questions marks.
• 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. Point out that adding a suffix such as –ion or -ment
can change a verb to a noun. Examples in the story include astonishment (p. 3),
celebration, prescription (p. 3), and encouragement (p. 11).
Grade 4
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Writing about Reading
Critical Thinking
Have students complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 3.9.
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
Cause and Effect
Remind students that stories include events that are
related to each other and that one event can cause another event to happen. Model how to
add details to the Graphic Organizer using a “Think Aloud” like the one below:
Think Aloud
On page 9, Pedro tells says his parents didn’t seem to remember that he
had been hard at work each afternoon and every weekend. Add that as a
cause of Pedro feeling that everyone had ignored him.
Practice the Skill
Encourage students to share their examples of other cause-and-effect relationships in the
story.
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
• What is the meaning of wrenches on page 5?
• Which sentences on page 3 show that Ana is a kind person?
________________________________________________________________.
• Why does Pedro feel jealousy toward his sister, whom he loves?
Grade 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.
Idioms The story includes some idioms that might be unfamiliar. Explain the meaning of
expressions such as Same old, same old (page 2) and fix it up (page 4).
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 telling the story?
Speaker 1: What is one thing that
frustrates Pedro?
Speaker 1: What happens to make
Pedro realize he had not been
ignored?
Speaker 2: Pedro
Speaker 1: Who is Pedro’s sister?
Speaker 2: Ana
Speaker 1: What is Pedro doing for
Ana?
Speaker 2: fixing up a car
Speaker 2: His parents don’t recognize
what he has done.
Speaker 1: How does Pedro feel about
his sister?
Speaker 2: Uncle Tito recognizes
all the hard work Pedro has done
and tells Ana.
Speaker 1: Why is Pedro glad Ana
is his sister?
Speaker 2: He loves her, but he is
jealous of her.
Speaker 2: She loves the car and
is appreciative of his hard work.
Lesson 3
BLACKLINE MASTER 3.9
Name
Date
Critical Thinking
My Sister’s Surprise
Critical Thinking
Read and answer the questions. Possible responses shown.
1. Think within the text How does Pedro know that Ana passed
her driving test?
Ana is smiling and driving Papi’s car.
2. Think within the text What trait do Ana and Uncle Tito
share?
They both think of other people more than they think of themselves.
3. Think beyond the text What effect does getting the car have
on Ana’s attitude about having a big birthday party? Explain.
Ana is so pleased about getting the car that she seems to no longer care about
having a big party. She is surprised but no doubt happy to find that her family is
giving her a big party, too.
4. Think about the text What is the author’s attitude about
giving to others? How do you know?
The author believes strongly in the value of giving to others. Ana’s selflessness
inspires others to go out of their way to do things for her. In the end, Pedro feels
very happy about being able to do something nice for Ana and feels proud to be
her brother.
Making Connections It is hard for Pedro to keep working on his
sister’s car without encouragement. What are some ways you can
cheer yourself on?
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
11
Critical Thinking
Grade 4, Unit 1: Reaching Out
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Name
Date
My Sister’s Surprise
Thinking Beyond the Text
Think about the questions below. Then write your answer in two or three
paragraphs.
On page 11, Pedro says that he told himself he was being too sensitive.
Then, on page 12, he says that he did not want to spoil Ana’s birthday with
his “bad” feelings. Why do you think Pedro tried so hard to hide his bad
feelings? How does he feel once Ana receives her surprise? Support your
conclusions with examples from the text.
Grade 4
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Lesson 3
BLACKLINE MASTER 3.9
Name
Date
Critical Thinking
My Sister’s Surprise
Critical Thinking
Read and answer the questions.
1. Think within the text How does Pedro know that Ana passed
her driving test?
2. Think within the text What trait do Ana and Uncle Tito
share?
3. Think beyond the text What effect does getting the car have
on Ana’s attitude about having a big birthday party? Explain.
4. Think about the text What is the author’s attitude about
giving to others? How do you know?
Making Connections It is hard for Pedro to keep working on his
sister’s car without encouragement. What are some ways you can
cheer yourself on?
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
Grade 4
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Student
Lesson 3
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 3.13
My Sister’s Surprise • LEVEL T
page
9
My Sister’s Surprise
Running Record Form
Selection Text
Errors
Self-Corrections
Accuracy Rate
Total SelfCorrections
Sometimes it seemed that Mami and Papi believed they were
the only people working hard for Ana’s birthday. They didn’t
even seem to remember where I was each afternoon and every
weekend. They didn’t seem to notice that my last few weeks
hadn’t included any of the fun things I normally did, such as
playing baseball, using the computer, and hanging out with my
friends.
With Ana’s driving test and birthday both coming up, nobody
could talk about anything else! I was tired of hearing about
what a good student she was, and how wonderful it was that
she volunteered at the senior center.
Comments:
(# words read
correctly/103 ×
100)
%
Read word correctly
Code
✓
cat
Repeated word,
sentence, or phrase
®
Omission
—
cat
cat
Grade 4
Behavior
Error
0
0
Substitution
Code
cut
cat
1
Self-corrects
cut sc
cat
0
Insertion
the
1
cat
Error
1413932
Behavior
ˆ
Word told
1
8
T
cat
1
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