LESSON 5 TEACHER’S GUIDE
Foster’s Famous Farm
by Regina Velázquez
Fountas-Pinnell Level J
Realistic Fiction
Selection Summary
Miss Green’s class goes to visit Farmer Foster’s farm. They see
surprising animals: a dachshund, a tarantula, and an iguana. They
have a wonderful time and want to return, but Farmer Foster explains
there is not enough money to care for the animals. To raise money,
the children make tee shirts. The farm is saved.
Number of Words: 352
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
• Third-person narrative
• Organized chronologically
• School trip to a farm
• Children raise money to help save a farm.
• Animals are valuable and need our help.
• Farms should be saved.
• Children can help their community.
• Good balance of narration and dialogue
• Split dialogue, all assigned
• Simple, straightforward sentences
• Challenging animal names: dachshund, tarantula, iguana
• Target vocabulary words highlighted in text
• Multisyllabic words that might not be familiar to English language learners: bursting,
lizard, footprints, pretended
• Realistic illustrations support the text
• Thought balloons reinforce information in text
• Nine pages of text; illustrations on every page
• Predictable placement of text and art
• Labels on photos that clarify text
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
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Foster’s Famous Farm
by Regina Velázquez
Build Background
Help children use what they know about farms and farm animals by asking questions such
as the following: What kinds of animals usually live on farms? Read the title and author
and talk about the cover illustration. Tell children that this story is realistic fiction, so the
characters are going to act like real people.
Front-Load Vocabulary Some everyday words may be unfamiliar to English
learners. Before reading, check understanding of the following words: strange, guess,
CDs, drew, funny, famous.
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. Call their attention to any
important labels. Here are some suggestions:
Pages 2–3: Explain that this is a story about a class that visits a farm.
Suggested language: The picture on pages 2 and 3 of this book shows children
in a school bus who are on their way to a farm. Their teacher asks: “What will
we see?” The last sentence reads: Everyone was bursting with ideas. Look at the
thought balloons. The pictures show some of the ideas that are bursting out of the
children’s minds. The labels tell what they are thinking about. What do the children
think they will see? Listen while I read the labels.
Pages 4–5: Ask children to look closely at the illustration. What three animals have
the children noticed, or seen, on the farm? Can you find the words dachshund,
tarantula, and iguana in the labels on the picture? Let’s match the animal names
with the pictures. Point to the dachshund on page 4. Point to the tarantula and the
iguana on page 5. A dachshund is a kind of dog. An iguana is a kind of lizard. What
is a tarantula?
Page 7: You can see from the picture that the children have left the farm. The first
paragraph reads: The children climbed back onto the bus. They were very quiet. I
wonder why the children weren’t talking or making any noise.
Now turn back to the beginning of the story and read to find out more about
Foster’s Famous Farm.
Target Vocabulary
bursting – full and ready to break
open suddenly, p. 2
quiet – to make very little or no
sound, p. 7
noises – loud sounds, p. 7
share – to use or do something
with others, p. 7
noticed – having seen, felt, or
heard something, p. 5
sprinkled – scattered small
pieces or drops of something,
p. 9
suddenly – without warning, p.
10
wonderful – very good, p. 6
Grade 2
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Read
As children read Foster’s Famous Farm, observe them carefully. Guide them as needed,
using language that supports their problem-solving ability.
Remind children to use the Visualize Strategy
happening as they read.
and to picture what is
Discuss and Revisit the Text
Personal Response
Invite children to share their personal responses to the book.
Suggested language: What parts of the story seemed like they could really happen?
Did anything not seem real to you?
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
• Miss Green’s class visits a farm,
expecting to see farm animals.
• People should care for animals
and farms.
• The children act like real
children.
• The children have fun seeing
some unusual animals.
• Children can take action to help
save animals.
• The farm might close because
there is not enough money to
care for the animals.
• Sometimes big problems can be
solved in small steps.
• It is a funny surprise that the
animals are not typical farm
animals.
• The children make tee shirts and
save the farm.
• The illustrations help the reader
picture the unusual animals and
their footprints.
© 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 act out or use for
Reader’s Theater. Remind them to pay attention to punctuation, including question
marks and exclamation marks, to help them use appropriate expression.
• 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 longer words can be divided into
syllables. For example, divide the words visit as vis-it and footprints as foot-prints.
Have children make a list of two-syllable words from the story and divide them into
syllables.
Grade 2
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Writing about Reading
Critical Thinking
Have students complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 5.10.
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
Story Structure
Remind children that stories have characters and a setting.
Stories also have events that happen, called the plot. Often the plot includes a problem and
a solution. Model the skill, using a “Think Aloud” like the one below:
Think Aloud
In this story, the characters are Farmer Foster, Miss Green, and the
children. The setting, where the story takes place, is Foster’s Farm. The
problem in the story is that Farmer Foster does not have enough money
to care for the animals and keep the farm open. What is the solution to
this problem? The children sell shirts and give the money to the farm.
Practice the Skill
Ask children to think of a story the class has read recently. Encourage them to orally name
the characters, the setting, and the story problem.
Writing Prompt: Thinking About the Text
Have children write a response to the prompt on page 6. Remind them that when they
think about the text, they reflect back on the text. They notice and evaluate language,
genre, literary devices, and how the text is organized.
Assessment Prompts
• How do the children feel when they learn that the farm might not be open next year?
• Which words on page 9 help the reader understand the meaning of the word
sprinkled?
Grade 2
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English Language Development
Reading Support Have children talk with a partner before sharing something about
the story with the whole group. For example, what animal did they like best? Or have
children use the audio or online recordings.
Cultural Support Guide children to understand that in the United States, farms are
ordinarily home to such domestic animals as sheep, cows, pigs, goats, and chickens. A
farm that housed unusual animals such as lizards and spiders would be unexpected and a
surprise for children visiting the farm.
Oral Language Development
Check children’s comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches their English
proficiency level. Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the child.
Beginning/Early Intermediate
Intermediate
Early Advanced/ Advanced
Speaker 1: Where does the story take
place?
Speaker 1: What did Farmer Foster tell
the children?
Speaker 1: How did the children
decorate their shirts?
Speaker 2: on a farm
Speaker 2: The farm might not be open
next year.
Speaker 2: They put a farm
animal’s footprints on each shirt.
Speaker 1: Why did the children draw on
shirts?
Speaker 1: How did the farm get a
new name?
Speaker 2: They wanted to help the
farmer get money.
Speaker 2: More and more people
visited the farm, so it became
famous.
Speaker 1: What did the children see?
Speaker 2: animals
Speaker 1: What do the children make?
Speaker 2: tee shirts
Lesson 5
BLACKLINE MASTER 5.10
Date
Name
Think About It
Foster’s Famous Farm
Think About It
Read and answer the questions.
1. Where does Miss Green’s class go?
They visit Farmer Foster’s farm.
2. What is the probem in this story? How is it solved?
Farmer Foster does not have enough money to keep the
farm open. The kids solve this by selling T-shirts to make
money.
3. Why do farmers need money to care for animals?
Possible response: They need money to buy food for
animals and to build places for them to sleep.
Making Connections The children sell shirts to raise money.
What are some other ways they could have raised money?
What would you have done to help the farm?
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
Read directions to children.
Think About It
12
Grade 2, Unit 1: Neighborhood Visit
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First Pass
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Name
Date
Foster’s Famous Farm
Thinking About the Text
Think about the questions below. Then write your answer in one paragraph.
On page 5, the author says, “Sam noticed footprints on the ground.” Then
the children played a game matching the footprints with the animals. Why
do you think the author writes about the footprints in the beginning of the
story? How are the footprints important at the end of the story?
Grade 2
6
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Lesson 5
Name
Date
Think About It
BLACKLINE MASTER 5.10
Foster’s Famous Farm
Think About It
Read and answer the questions.
1. Where does Miss Green’s class go?
2. What is the probem in this story? How is it solved?
3. Why do farmers need money to care for animals?
Making Connections The children sell shirts to raise money.
What are some other ways they could have raised money?
What would you have done to help the farm?
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
Grade 2
7
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Student
Lesson 5
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 5.14
Foster’s Famous Farm • LEVEL J
page
2
Foster’s Famous Farm
Running Record Form
Selection Text
Errors
Self-Corrections
Accuracy Rate
Self-Correction
Rate
Miss Green’s class was on a bus. The
class was going to visit a farm.
“What will we see?” asked Miss Green.
Everyone was bursting with ideas.
3
“We will see a cow,” said Daisy.
“We will see a chicken,” said Alex.
“We will see a sheep, a pig, and a goat!”
said Sam.
4
At the farm, Miss Green’s class saw
many animals. They saw a cow, a chicken,
and a sheep. They also saw some very
strange animals.
Alex saw a dachshund.
Comments:
(# words read
correctly/82 × 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
1413761
Behavior
1
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