LESSON 4 TEACHER’S GUIDE
Fly to the Rescue!
by Lisa Benjamin
Fountas-Pinnell Level J
Humorous Fiction
Selection Summary
As the only fly in a classroom of spiders, Flora is teased and not
allowed to be part of the group. When a breeze carries all the spiders
to a treetop, they scream helplessly until Flora flies to rescue them.
Her special qualities are finally appreciated.
Number of Words: 384
Characteristics of the Text
Genre
Text Structure
Content
Themes and Ideas
Language and
Literary Features
Sentence Complexity
Vocabulary
Words
Illustrations
Book and Print Features
• Humorous fiction
• Third person narrative
• Classroom of “kids”—spiders and one fly
• Bullying and teasing
• Similarities and differences between spiders and flies
• Animals in stories can act like children.
• It is wrong to make someone feel left out.
• Differences can be strengths.
• Conversational language
• Story problem shown with description and dialogue
• Simple and compound sentences, some with phrases
• Split dialogue, multiple speakers
• Complex sentence: She could do something the others could not do.
• Items in a series: Mosquitoes, beetles, and grasshoppers are all arthropods
• Science term arthropod explained in context
• Idioms, including to fit in, worst of all, one by one
• Mostly one- and two-syllable words, some longer
• Compound words such as grasshoppers, everyone
• Endings and suffixes: carried, dangerous
• Comical depictions of fly and spider characters
• Humorous illustration above or below text on each of nine pages
• Speech balloons on one page
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
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Fly to the Rescue!
by Lisa Benjamin
Build Background
Help children use their knowledge of insects to visualize the story. Build interest by asking
questions such as the following: What are some insects you can name? What is the
difference between a fly and a spider? Read the title and author. Ask students to point out
details on the cover that suggest this story is humorous fiction.
Introduce the Text
Guide children 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: Tell children that this story is about a fly named Flora who feels left out
because she is different from the other students in her class. They are all spiders.
Suggested language: Turn to page 2 and look at the picture. Flora is a fly. What
else can you tell about her from looking at the picture?
Page 3: Flies are insects, but spiders are not. Insects have six legs, and spiders
have eight. What can you tell from the picture on page 3 about how Flora feels
being the only fly in a class of spiders?
Page 5: Point out that the picture shows a gym class. What are the spiders doing?
Why do you think that Flora is sitting by herself?
Page 6: Point out the word on the board in the picture. Pronounce the word
arthropod for children, and explain that spiders and flies are both arthropods. How
might Flora react to learning that fact? Why do you think that?
Page 8: Discuss the problem shown on page 8. The spiders are screaming
because a strong breeze has swept them out of the classroom and into the tree.
What word are they yelling? Do you think Flora can help them? Why or why not?
Now turn back to the beginning of the story and read to find out how Flora flies to
the rescue.
Target Vocabulary
breeze – a gentle wind, p. 7
dangerous – not safe and may
cause harm, p. 8
insects – very small animals with
six legs and three body parts,
and may have wings, p. 3
Grade 2
judge – to decide what you think
of someone or something, p. 3
screaming – making a loud, highpitched noise, p. 8
rotten – spoiled or bad, p. 4
sticky – attaches to other things
easily, p. 5
scare – make someone feel
afraid, p. 7
2
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Read
As children read, observe them carefully. Guide them as needed, using language that
supports their problem solving ability.
Remind children to use the Summarize Strategy
themselves what is happening in the story as they read.
and stop to tell
Discuss and Revisit the Text
Personal Response
Invite children to share their personal responses to the story.
Suggested language: At the end, the spiders ask Flora to play baseball with them. Why
did they decide that it is great to have a fly for a friend?
Ways of Thinking
As you discuss the text, help children understand these points:
Thinking Within the Text
Thinking Beyond the Text
Thinking About the Text
• The spider students make fun
of Flora because of the fly’s
differences, including her wings.
• The story teaches a lesson about
appreciating others’ differences.
• The ending is predictable once
the spiders get stuck in the tree.
• It is wrong to tease and bully
someone.
• The pictures are like cartoons.
• A breeze blows the spiders to
the top of a tree. They scream
for help.
• Flora flies to save them. The
spiders realize a fly can be a
great friend.
• The characters are more like
children than like real flies and
spiders.
• The author wove science facts
into the fantasy narrative.
• The author’s purpose is to
entertain and to teach readers
tolerance.
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
Choices for Further Support
• Fluency Invite children to choose a passage from the text to read aloud. Remind them
to pay attention to quotation marks, question marks, and exclamation points in order
to read the characters’ words well.
• Comprehension Based on your observations of the children’s reading and discussion,
revisit parts of the text to clarify or extend comprehension. Remind children 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 children that taking off the ending on a word is a way
to recognize familiar base words. Help them to take apart these words from the story:
tried, spinning, flies, scared, carried. Point out the endings -ing, -es, -ed, and the
spelling change in each base word.
Grade 2
3
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Writing about Reading
Critical Thinking
Have children complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 4.8.
Responding
Have children complete the activities at the back of the book. Use the instruction below as
needed to reinforce or extend understanding of the comprehension skill.
Target Comprehension Skill
Cause and Effect
Tell children that when they think about causes and
effects, they think about what happens in a story and why it happens. Model the skill,
using a “Think Aloud” like the one below:
Think Aloud
Many things in this story cause other things to happen. A strong breeze
rushes into the classroom. This is a cause. An effect is that papers blow
all over the classroom. Another effect is that the spiders are blown out
the window and into the tree. Then the spiders scream for help. This
is another cause. An effect is that Flora rescues them. The last effect is
that the spiders learn that Flora is a good friend even though she isn’t a
spider!
Practice the Skill
Have children write a sentence describing another cause and effect in the story.
Writing Prompt: Thinking Beyond the Text
Have children 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
• Why does Flora try to spin a web in gym class?
• On page 7, which word means “brushed away strongly”?
Grade 2
4
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English Language Development
Reading Support Help children compose a group summary explaining Flora’s
problem and how it is solved.
Vocabulary Point out these action verbs on page 7, and have children explain their
meanings with words and gestures: rushed, scared, blew, knocked, swept. Use examples
to contrast the past-tense forms blew and swept with the present-tense forms blow and
sweep.
Oral Language Development
Check children’s comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches their English
proficiency. Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the child.
Beginning/Early Intermediate
Intermediate
Early Advanced/ Advanced
Speaker 1: Who is the fly?
Speaker 1: How do the spiders treat
Flora?
Speaker 1: Why do the spiders
invite Flora to join their baseball
game?
Speaker 2: Flora
Speaker 1: Who are the other
students?
Speaker 2: spiders
Speaker 1: Why can’t spiders fly?
Speaker 2: They act mean to her.
Speaker 1: How does Flora rescue the
spiders?
Speaker 2: She holds each one and flies
to the ground.
Speaker 2: They don’t have wings.
Speaker 2: They are happy that
she rescued them when they
were stuck in the tree. They know
that they were wrong to tease
her about her wings because her
flying saved them. They want her
to be their friend now.
Lesson 4
BLACKLINE MASTER 4.8
Think About It
Fly to the Rescue!
Think About It
Read and answer the questions.
1. How is Flora different from the other students in
her class?
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2. How do you think Flora felt when she could not
make a web?
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3. Why do the spiders change their minds about Flora?
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Making Connections Would you help someone who had made
fun of you? Explain your answer.
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
Think About It
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Grade 2
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Name
Date
Fly to the Rescue!
Thinking Beyond the Text
Write sentences to answer the following question.
What lesson do you think Sammy and the other spiders learned by the end
of this story? Use details from the story in your answer.
Grade 2
6
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Lesson 4
Name
Date
Think About It
BLACKLINE MASTER 4.8
Fly to the Rescue!
Think About It
Read and answer the questions.
1. How is Flora different from the other students in
her class?
2. How do you think Flora felt when she could not
make a web?
3. Why do the spiders change their minds about Flora?
Making Connections Would you help someone who had made
fun of you? Explain your answer.
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
Grade 2
7
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Student
Lesson 4
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 4.12
Fly to the Rescue! • LEVEL J
page
2
Fly to the Rescue!
Running Record Form
Selection Text
Errors
Self-Corrections
Accuracy Rate
Self-Correction
Rate
Flora was a fly. She liked many things. She
liked ice cream and baseball games. She also
liked her wings and loved to fly.
3
But Flora did not like school. She was the
only insect at her school.
Everyone else was a spider and the other
kids laughed at her. They said, ‘‘Look at her
six little legs!’’
They would judge her, too. ‘‘Your wings
look silly!’’ Sammy said one day.
4
The spiders called her names and hid her
book bag. They said her lunch looked rotten.
Comments:
(# words read
correctly/87 × 100)
(# errors + #
Self-Corrections/
Self-Corrections)
%
1:
Read word correctly
Code
✓
cat
Repeated word,
sentence, or phrase
®
Omission
—
cat
cat
Grade 2
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
1413731
Behavior
1
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