LESSON 11 TEACHER’S GUIDE
Letters from the War
by Allen Woods
Fountas-Pinnell Level V
Historical Fiction
Selection Summary
Johnnie and David are friends. Johnnie leaves to fight in World War I.
The two friends write letters to each other about life during the war.
Characteristics of the Text
Genre
Text Structure
Content
Themes and Ideas
Language and
Literary Features
Sentence Complexity
Vocabulary
Words
Illustrations
Book and Print Features
Number of Words: 1,998
• Historical fiction
• Complex plots with multiple story lines
• Unusual text organization: letters
• African American army unit from Harlem
• Support of war effort during World War I
• Letters to and from soldier
• People make sacrifices to serve their country.
• Doing the right thing isn’t always easy.
• Multiple characters revealed by what they say, think, and do and what others say and think
about them
• Literary devices: jut up like giant fingers, like a fireworks show
• Setting is distant in time and space from students’ experiences
• Complex sentences
• Multiple items in series
• Dashes and exclamations
• Many longer descriptive words such as adjectives and adverbs that might not be familiar
to English language learners: frothing, terrible, smartly. Cultural references such as
Harlem (page 3), and LIncoln Giants (page 4).
• Technical vocabulary: regiment, poison gas, trenches, barbed wire, front, unit
• Multisyllable words, some of which might be challenging for English language learners,
such as: excitement
• Many compound words
• Colorful drawings with captions
• Easy-to-read chapter headings and illustrations on most pages
• Table of contents
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
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Letters from the War
by Allen Woods
Build Background
Help students use their knowledge of World War I to visualize the story. Build interest by
asking a question such as the following: What do you know about World War I? Read
the title and author and talk about the cover illustration. Tell students that this story is
historical fiction, so the characters and events are set in a real period of history. Explain
that the story takes place at the beginning, during, and at the end of World War I.
Frontload Vocabulary
Some everyday words may be unfamiliar to English learners. Before reading, check
understanding of the following words: apartment, neighborhood, telegraph, Red Cross,
pancakes, lice.
Introduce the Text
Guide students through the text, noting important ideas, reading captions and labels
aloud, and helping with unfamiliar language and vocabulary so they can read the text
successfully. Here are some suggestions:
Pages 2–3: Have students look at the table of contents. Explain that the letters
in the contents headings are exchanged between a 12-year-old boy, David, and
Johnnie, David’s 18-year-old neighbor, in 1917 and 1918. Have students locate the
word collide on page 3. Suggested language: What does it mean to collide with
people? Do you think David would be more likely to collide with people in the city
or in the country?
Page 4: Read the second sentence in the third paragraph: The World War in
Europe was looming. Ask: What do you think the author means by looming?
Explain that Johnnie will go away to military training, but he and David will stay in
touch by writing letters.
Page 6: Read the first paragraph of Johnnie’s letter to David. What are telegraph
poles? Why would they jut up? What are some other things that jut up in the
landscape?
Now turn back to the beginning of the story and read to find out what happens to
David and Johnnie during World War I.
Target Vocabulary
collided – crashed into
something else with great
force, p. 3
desperation – a feeling of
hopelessness, despair, and
extreme anxiety during a crisis,
p. 11
dismay – a sudden unhappiness
Grade 6
or worry, usually caused by
something unexpected, p. 3
eerie – disturbingly weird, p. 13
frothing – foaming and bubbly,
p.8
jutted – stuck sharply upward or
outward, p. 6
looming – coming into view with
2
a threatening appearance, p. 4
mounting – increasing or growing
rapidly, p. 17
receded – moved back or away
from a limit, point, or mark,
p. 4
stabilize – to provide balance and
security, p. 8
Lesson 11: Letters from the War
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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
as they read, and
retell the most important parts of the text in their own words to help them understanding
the story.
Discuss and Revisit the Text
Personal Response
Invite students to share their personal responses to the story.
Suggested language: How do you think the people who sent packages of nice things to
the soldiers felt?
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
• World War I begins and Johnnie
joins the army.
• Making sacrifices can be hard
but also rewarding.
• David and Johnnie write letters
about life during World War I.
• Doing the right thing is not
always the easiest thing to do.
• The chapter heads help the
reader understand when the
events are occurring.
• Both David and Johnnie make
sacrifices.
• People don’t have to be in the
military to support the war effort.
• The language sounds realistic,
the way a young man and a
young boy would talk.
• The author includes many details
about life in the war and at home
to make the story realistic.
© 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 scene from the story to act out or use for
readers’ theater. Remind them to pay attention to punctuation, and to stress certain
words to sound as if the people were really speaking and reacting to an emergency
situation.
• 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 that using their knowledge of root words can
help them determine the meanings of unfamiliar words. Explain that the Latin suffix
–ize, which means “to act, make, do, or cause,” always signals a verb. Explain that
stabilize is a verb formed from the adjective stable. Other examples include: neutral/
neutralize, equal/equalize, and natural/naturalize.
Grade 6
3
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Writing about Reading
Critical Thinking
Have students complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 11.10.
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
Understanding Characters
Remind students that they can use details from
the story to explain why characters act, speak, and think as they do in the story. Model
how to add details to the Graphic Organizer, using a “Think Aloud” like the one below:
Think Aloud
David’s actions in the story support the idea that David is a good friend.
For example, David started delivering groceries to earn money to buy
something to send to Johnnie. This detail helps to explain David’s
character.
Practice the Skill
Have students share an example of another story in which the character was described as
a good friend.
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
• The first paragraph on page 8 is mainly about
________________________________________________________________.
• What do you predict will happen to David and Johnnie?
• What does the word desperation mean in the first paragraph on page 11?
Grade 6
4
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English Language Development
Reading Support Pair advanced and intermediate readers to read the story softly, or
have students listen to the audio or online recordings. Remind students that both David
and Johnnie make sacrifices during World War I.
Idioms The story includes many idioms that might be unfamiliar. Explain the meaning of
expressions such as No Man’s Land (page 13).
Oral Language Development
Check student comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches your students’
English proficiency. Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the student.
Beginning/Early Intermediate
Intermediate
Early Advanced/ Advanced
Speaker 1: Who leaves to fight in the
war?
Speaker 1: How do David and Johnnie
know each other?
Speaker 1: What means more to
Johnnie than the socks?
Speaker 2: Johnnie
Speaker 2: They are neighbors.
Speaker 1: Who does Johnnie write
letters to?
Speaker 1: Why does David get a job?
Speaker 2: The hard work and
sacrifices David made to earn
money to send something nice
to his friend mean more than the
gift itself.
Speaker 2: David
Speaker 1: What sport does David like
to play?
Speaker 2: David gets a job to earn
money so he can buy something to
send to Johnnie.
Speaker 2: baseball
Lesson 11
Name
BLACKLINE MASTER 11.10
Date
Critical Thinking
Letters from the War
Critical Thinking
Read and answer the questions. Possible responses shown.
1. Think within the text When does Johnnie leave to join the war?
Johnnie leaves to join the war in 1917.
2. Think within the text What do the French give to Johnnie’s military
unit?
The French give Johnnie’s military unit their highest medal.
3. Think beyond the text Why do you think people like Johnnie might
volunteer to serve in a war? Would you volunteer? Why or why not?
Johnnie believes that he has to fight for his country. I would serve
my country if I had to protect it, but I would prefer not to. I do not
like guns, bombs, or fighting.
4. Think about the text How do you think David will feel about Johnnie
now that he has returned from the war? Predict whether their
relationship will change or stay the same and why.
David will probably feel very proud of Johnnie and be very curious
about his experiences in the war. I think their relationship will be
stronger because Johnnie appreciates all of David’s letters and
effort to send him a package.
Making Connections David and Johnnie write quite a few letters in the
selection. Suppose that one of your closest friends moved far away to a
dangerous place. What would you say? Put your answer in the form of a
letter.
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
Critical Thinking
12
Grade 6, Unit 3: Going the Distance
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Grade 6
5
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Name
Date
Letters from the War
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 18, Johnnie says, “Don’t hang your head. I needed the socks. But
the socks were not the most important thing.” Why weren’t the socks the
most important thing? Why do you think that it meant so much to Johnnie
that David cared about him? Explain your answer, giving examples from the
story.
Grade 6
6
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Lesson 11
Name
Date
Critical Thinking
BLACKLINE MASTER 11.10
Letters from the War
Critical Thinking
Read and answer the questions.
1. Think within the text When does Johnnie leave to join the war?
2. Think within the text What do the French give to Johnnie’s military
unit?
3. Think beyond the text Why do you think people like Johnnie might
volunteer to serve in a war? Would you volunteer? Why or why not?
4. Think about the text How do you think David will feel about Johnnie
now that he has returned from the war? Predict whether their
relationship will change or stay the same and why.
Making Connections David and Johnnie write quite a few letters in the
selection. Suppose that one of your closest friends moved far away to a
dangerous place. What would you say? Put your answer in the form of a letter.
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
Grade 6
7
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Student
Lesson 11
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 11.14
Letters from the War • LEVEL V
page
3
Letters from the War
Running Record Form
Selection Text
Errors
Self-Corrections
Accuracy Rate
Total SelfCorrections
David and his family moved to New York City in 1912. David
was only 7. They rented an apartment in Harlem. Many other
African Americans lived in that part of the city, too.
Things weren’t easy for David at first. His family came from a
farm in the South. All the cars and people in the city filled him
with dismay. He was sad and wanted to go back to the South.
Back on the farm, he didn’t run into, or collide with, people all
the time.
Comments:
(# words read
correctly/87 × 100)
%
Read word correctly
Code
✓
cat
Repeated word,
sentence, or phrase
®
Omission
—
cat
cat
Grade 6
Behavior
Error
0
0
Substitution
Code
cut
cat
1
Self-corrects
cut sc
cat
0
Insertion
the
1
cat
Error
1414472
Behavior
ˆ
Word told
1
8
T
cat
1
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