Lesson 28
Chicago’s Burning (Literary Informational)
Supplemental Instructional Focus
Title
Phonics
Chicago’s Burning
Two-syllable words with long vowels
About the Text
High-frequency Words
The Chicago fire of 1871 causes
devastation to the city. Anna and her
brave pony help save her family from the
fire.
Online Activity
Toolbox
Genre
Literary Information
Running Words
915
forward, hardly, rather, must, important,
might, almost
Content Words
barrel, carriage, Courthouse, fire, flames,
pony, shadows, smoke, stable
Genre Selection
Fire in Chicago (newspaper report)
Tier Two Words
dangerous, taught, bridle, courthouse,
whinny
1
Direct Instruction with Text: 2.RI.2.6
Phonics & Word Recognition: 2.RF.3.3c
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use: 2.L.3.4d
2
Comprehension: 2.RI.1.2
Digital Activities: 2.W.2.6, 2.RI.1.3
3
Reread the Text: 2.RF.4.4b
Craft and Structure: 2.RI.2.4, 2.RI.2.5, 2.L.3.4e
4
Read the Genre Selection (newspaper report): 2.RI.4.10, 2.RI.1.1,
2.RI.1.2
5
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: 2.RI.3.9
Collaborative Conversation & Writing: 2.SL.1.2, 2.L.1.1f
Enrichment: 2.SL.1.2
Intervention Instruction
1
2.RF.3.3c Decode two-syllable words
2
2.W.2.6 Use digital tools
3
2.RI.2.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases
4
2.RI.4.10, 2.RF.4.4b Read and understand informational texts
5
2.L.1.1f Simple and compound sentences
Session 1
Chicago’s Burning
Direct Instruction with Text
2.RI.2.6. Identify the
main purpose of a
text, including what
the author wants to
answer, explain, or
describe.
“Our learning goal is to identify the main purpose of the text.”
Tell students that the author chose to tell a story about a real event. Read the note about the
text on the Table of Contents page. What does the author want to describe? We are going to
use this text to prove your answer.
• Explain that Chicago’s Burning is literary nonfiction. The text takes a real historical event and
makes a story about it. Ask students if they think the events in the text could have happened.
Do you think this is a true story? Explain. Which parts do you think might be true or might
not be true? How would the story be different if it was told as a factual account?
• Look at a website or print source to establish with students that the fire was a real event in
Chicago in 1871.
• Students recall the website or article they read about the Chicago fire to differentiate
between fiction and nonfiction. Ask: What true facts did the author use in her story? Are
there any events or settings that don’t match the real event? Do you think this story is
believable? How does the author make it believable?
• Continue to read the text, asking questions such as: What do you think a Courthouse is?
What details in the story does the author include to describe how one family might have
experienced the Chicago fire of 1871?
Phonics and Word Recognition
2.RF.3.3c. Decode
regularly spelled twosyllable words with long
vowels.
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“Our learning goal is to decode two-syllable words with long vowels.”
Write the word below on the board. Explain that below has two syllables. How do we know?
Model clapping the beats as you say be - low.
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Session 1
Chicago’s Burning
• Ask: What vowel sounds do you hear? Are they long or short vowel sounds? Have students
circle the syllables. They read each syllable separately and then read them together.
be - low, below.
• Skim the text for other two-syllable words with long vowel sounds. There are six to find.
Students can write them in their personal response journals. They may continue filling in the
table during independent work.
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
2.L.3.4d. Use
knowledge of the
meaning of individual
words to predict the
meaning of compound
words (e.g., birdhouse,
lighthouse, housefly;
bookshelf, notebook,
bookmark).
“Our learning goal is to understand compound words.”
Establish with students that when we come to a compound word, (a word that is made up
of two words together), we use our knowledge of the meaning of each word to help us
understand the meaning of the compound word.
• Look at page 4 together and draw attention to the word Courthouse. Discuss the structure
and meaning of the word. Do students see any smaller words inside this larger word.
• Ask: What kind of word is Courthouse? (compound word) How many syllables are in the
word Courthouse? Where is the break between syllables?
• Turn to page 12 and focus on the word overturn. Talk about applying the strategy to
read this word. Ask: What strategies can you use to read compound words? Is breaking a
compound word into two parts easier than reading one long word? Explain.
• Students read through the text identifying and explaining the meaning of the compound
words as follows: outside (page 2), bedroom (page 2), downstairs (page 6), cowboy (page 8),
housedress (page 8), inside (page 14); sidewalk (page 16).
Independent Practice
Students reread Chicago’s Burning as a digital text.
Intervention Instruction Sequence
2.RF.3.3c. Decode
regularly spelled twosyllable words with long
vowels.
“Our learning goal is to decode two-syllable words with long vowels.”
Continue to guide students in identifying two-syllable words with long vowel sounds.
Use the strategy of clapping the beat as you say the word. Then check there is a vowel for
each syllable.
• After skimming the text, provide students with two-syllable words printed on word cards.
Have them sort the words into two piles – words with long vowel sounds and words with no
long vowel sounds. They add the words with long vowel sounds to the table in their personal
response journals. Possible words include table, beside, myself, motion, mobile, kitten, growing,
bigger.
• Ask students to circle the syllables, read each syllable and then read the word by joining the
syllables together.
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Session 2
Chicago’s Burning
Comprehension
2.RI.1.2. Identify the
main topic of a multiparagraph text as well
as the focus of specific
paragraphs within the
text.
“Our learning goal is to identify the main topic of this text.”
Discuss with students how the title of a text can help to identify the main topic.
• Ask: Why is Chicago’s Burning a good title for this text? Together prove the answer by
finding details in the text. Think aloud: “I think Chicago’s Burning is a good title because the
text says on page 2: A fire had burned the night before in this city of Chicago, in 1871. Now
you find other details from the text that prove this is a good title because it identifies the
main topic and the setting of the text.” (Page 4, there’s another fire; page 6, The fire jumped
the river. Orange shadows played on the bedroom wall and heavy smoke hung in the air.)
• Recall the text and ask volunteers to read parts that tell why Papa went back to the
Courthouse, why Mama gave Anna a whip, and what Anna told Pepper to encourage him
to go on.
• Look at the focus of specific paragraphs. Ask: Why did Mama and the girls have to leave
their home? What was happening on the streets during the fire? Why do you think Pepper
did what Anna wanted? Why were people taking their belongings with them?
Digital Activities
2.RI.1.3. Describe the
connection between
a series of historical
events, scientific ideas
or concepts, or steps
in technical procedures
in a text.
“Our learning goal is to describe events in this text in the right order and to plot the
sequence using digital tools.”
Students use the Toolbox to create a timeline of the text, describing the events in the order
they happened. They arrange images from the gallery in sequence. They may use text boxes
to include speech balloons or captions.
2.W.2.6. With
guidance and support
from adults, use a
variety of digital tools
to produce and publish
writing, including in
collaboration with
peers.
314
© 2013 Wendy Pye Publishing Ltd
Session 2
Chicago’s Burning
Independent Practice
Students complete the digital timeline activity using the Toolbox.
Intervention Instruction Sequence
2.W.2.6. With
guidance and support
from adults, use a
variety of digital tools
to produce and publish
writing, including in
collaboration with
peers.
“Our learning goal is to use digital tools to show our understanding of the text.”
Support students in creating another presentation in the Toolbox. On the second page of the
graphic organizers, there is a map of Chicago on the lake.
• Have students draw where Anna’s family lives and then show their progress toward the lake
and safety using the drawing tools.
• They write a caption for their journey map.
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Session 3
Chicago’s Burning
Reread the Text for Fluency
2.RF.4.4b. Read gradelevel text orally with
accuracy, appropriate
rate, and expression.
“Our learning goal is to read the text with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression.”
Students read the text in pairs. Discuss how news reporters on television and radio use a
natural voice to read the news report. Model the reading of page 19 as a news reporter
would read it. Use a microphone as a prop as students take turns to read the text with
accuracy and expression.
• Students practice reading to the end punctuation and pausing before beginning the next
sentence.
Craft and Structure
2.RI.2.4. Determine
the meaning of words
and phrases in a text
relevant to a grade 2
topic or subject area.
“Our learning goal is to determine the meaning of words in the text.”
2.RI.2.5. Know
and use various
text features (e.g.,
captions, bold
print, subheadings,
glossaries, indexes,
electronic menus,
icons) to locate key
facts or information in
a text efficiently.
“Our learning goal is to use a dictionary to find the meaning of words.”
2.L.3.4e. Use
glossaries and
beginning dictionaries,
both print and digital,
to determine or clarify
the meaning of words
and phrases.
316
Discuss what strategies students have practiced to work out the meaning of words.
Ask: What do we do when we come to a word we are not sure of? (Read around the word.
Read the sentence before and the sentence after the word we are not sure of. Look for clues
to the meaning.)
• Display page 6 and have students read the text. As they come to petticoats and fiddlesticks,
record the words, read around them and read for clues to the meaning. Look at any picture
support to determine the meaning from the context.
• Students read the text and use context to determine the meaning of other words such as
sturdy (page 8), carriage (page 12), timid (page 22).
Discuss how students might use a dictionary to look up the meaning of new words.
Ask: What kind of information can a dictionary give you? How are the words in a dictionary
organized? (in alphabetical order) Look up one new word at a time in a print or electronic
dictionary and read the definition(s). Model writing the definitions in your own words.
• After writing the definition, ask students to turn to a partner and say the word aloud
several times. Demonstrate how to use the pronunciation guide in the dictionary.
• Students work in pairs to tell and/or write 3–4 sentences using each of the new words.
© 2013 Wendy Pye Publishing Ltd
Session 3
Chicago’s Burning
Independent Practice
Students complete a vocabulary word map activity with the selected vocabulary. For each
word the students create a four-square organizer with a square for the definition, one for
synonyms, one for its use it in a sentence, and they can sketch a picture in the fourth one.
Intervention Instruction Sequence
2.RI.2.4. Determine
the meaning of words
and phrases in a text
relevant to a grade 2
topic or subject area.
“Our learning goal is to determine the meaning of words in the text.”
Students read additional chapters of the book to locate vocabulary words that they are
unfamiliar with. Support them in using the context to determine the meaning of these words.
• Together create vocabulary word maps.
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Session 4
Chicago’s Burning
Read the Genre Selection
2.RI.4.10. By the
end of year, read
and comprehend
informational texts.
2.RI.1.2. Identify the
main topic of a multi
paragraph text as well
as the focus of specific
paragraphs within the
text.
2.RI.1.1. Ask and answer
such questions as who,
what, where, when, why,
and how to demonstrate
understanding of key
details in a text.
“Our learning goal is to read a newspaper article with understanding.”
Introduce the genre selection “Fire in Chicago.” Establish that this article was written at the
time of the fire in Chicago. Have students read the newspaper article independently, or read
it to them depending on the support needed.
“Our learning goal is to answer questions and use the text as proof of our answers.”
When asking questions, provide a language frame to help students answer questions by using
the text to prove it.
“____________________ because the text says (picture shows) ________________.”
• Ask questions to clarify meaning. What is the main idea of the newspaper article? When
did the Great Fire of Chicago break out? What events led to the start of the fire? What is the
author’s purpose? What information from the article supports your answer? Talk about the
focus of specific paragraphs.
• Ask volunteers to present a reading of the “Fire in Chicago” article as a newsreader might.
Independent Practice
Students listen to the audio of “Fire in Chicago” and read along with it, echoing the pace,
phrasing and expression.
Intervention Instruction Sequence
2.RI.4.10. By the
end of year, read
and comprehend
informational texts,
including history.
2.RF.4.4b. Read gradelevel text orally with
accuracy, appropriate
rate, and expression.
318
“Our learning goal is to read a newspaper article with understanding.”
Provide an opportunity for students to retell the article in their own words.
• Divide students into groups and ask them to chorally read a paragraph each. Students may
perform or record their reading posing as a newsreader for the class.
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Session 5
Chicago’s Burning
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
2.RI.3.9. Compare
and contrast the most
important points
presented by two texts
on the same topic.
“Our learning goal is to compare and contrast the most important points presented by two
texts on the same topic.”
Have both Chicago’s Burning and “Fire in Chicago” available to students. Ask: After reading
the two texts about the Chicago fire, explain how they are alike. How are they different?
What information from the texts supports your answer?
• Use a graphic organizer to record students’ answers to compare and contrast the two texts.
It is important to record details directly from the texts. Model the graphic organizer as the
question is answered.
Collaborative Conversation and Writing
2.SL.1.2. Recount or
describe key ideas
or details from a
text read aloud or
information presented
orally or through other
media.
2.L.1.1f. Produce,
expand, and rearrange
complete simple and
compound sentences
(e.g., The boy watched
the movie; The little
boy watched the
movie; The action
movie was watched by
the little boy).
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“Our learning goal is to talk about the texts and produce sentences that compare and
contrast the texts.”
Have students create an organizer in their personal response journals.
• After guiding them through this process, pair up students and have them continue to add
details to their graphic organizer. Each pair will need to discuss details and ideas from the
two texts. They can access the digital texts and listen to the voice over again to get more
information.
• Support students to use the details from their graphic organizer to produce complete simple
and compound sentences to compare and contrast the events described in the two texts.
© 2013 Wendy Pye Publishing Ltd
Session 5
Chicago’s Burning
Independent Practice
Students use the Toolbox to produce their writing in a digital format.
Intervention Instruction Sequence
2.L.1.1f. Produce,
expand, and rearrange
complete simple and
compound sentences
(e.g., The boy watched
the movie; The little
boy watched the
movie; The action
movie was watched by
the little boy).
“Our learning goal is to produce simple and compound sentences that compare and contrast
the texts.”
Continue to support students with the compare/contrast examination of the two texts.
Encourage students to find support for their ideas in the texts.
• Support students in the completion of the graphic organizer and with their writing to
produce simple and compound sentences.
Enrichment
2.SL.1.2. Recount or
describe key ideas
or details from a
text read aloud or
information presented
orally or through other
media.
“Our learning goal is to recount key details from the text to retell the events of the Chicago
fire.”
Students design a way to retell the events of the Chicago fire. They could follow a number of
possibilities:
– Write a script and role play the job of a newsreader. They could make a video or audio
recording.
– Write a script and design a scroll of the events.
– Roleplay a talk-show host. One student will be the TV show host and the other students
will be interviewed by him/her about the events of the great fire of Chicago.
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