LESSON 8 TEACHER’S GUIDE Stuck at Camp

Number of Words: 2,198

L E S S O N 8 T E A C H E R ’ S G U I D E

Stuck at Campby Joseph Killorin Brennan

Fountas-Pinnell Level SRealistic FictionSelection SummaryNick is sent to summer camp. At fi rst, he is miserable and thinks only of going home. Then, he discovers that camp is not so bad after all.

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Characteristics of the Text Genre • Realistic fi ction

Text Structure • First-person narrative• Action takes place over a two month time period

Content • A boy named Nick experiences homesickness while at camp.• Nick starts to feel better when he learns to play the guitar.• Thinking of others

Themes and Ideas • You can learn new things about yourself.• Being away from home can lead to new discoveries.• You can express how you feel in different ways.

Language and Literary Features

• Conversational language• Items in a series

Sentence Complexity • A mix of short and complex sentences• Exclamations• Questions

Vocabulary • Many musical terms: guitar, strings, chordsWords • Many multisyllable words some of them challenging: shuffl eboard, badminton, counselors

Illustrations • Lively drawings support the textBook and Print Features • Thirteen pages of text

• Illustrations on most pages© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.

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Expand Your Vocabulary

chord – a combination of musical notes played at the same time, p. 6

fi ngering – use of fi ngers on a musical instrument, p. 6

fret – one of several ridges set across the fi ngerboard of a stringed instrument, p. 6

pick – a small piece of plastic or metal used to strum or pluck

banjo or guitar strings, p. 7strum – to play a musical

instrument by brushing your fi ngers over the strings, p. 7

Stuck at Camp by Joseph Killorin Brennan

Build BackgroundHelp students use their knowledge of being away from home to visualize the story. Build interest by questions such as the following: Have you ever been away from home for a long period of time? How did you feel? Did you miss your friends and family? What did you do to make yourself feel better? Read the title and author and talk about the cover illustration. Tell students that this story is realistic fi ction, and ask them what kinds of features they can expect to fi nd in this type of story.

Introduce the TextGuide 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 this is a story about a boy who goes to summer camp. Suggested language: Look at page 2 of the book. Look at the illustration. How do you think the boy feels? Listen as I read the fi rst paragraph. Ask: Why do you think Nick is unhappy to go to camp?

Pages 3–5: When he fi rst arrives, Nick only thinks about what he could be doing back at home. He doesn’t appreciate the fun things he is doing at camp. As you read, think about how different the things Nick does at home are from the things he does at camp.

Pages 6–7: Point out that the story has some terms related to music, such as fingering, chords, frets, pick, and strum.

Now go back to the beginning of the story and fi nd out if Nick manages to survive Camp Delawanic.

2 Lesson 8: Stuck at CampGrade 4© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company


ReadHave students read silently while you listen to individual students read aloud. Support their understanding of the text as needed.

Remind students to use the Visualize Strategy and to pay attention to details that help them picture the events in their mind as they read.

Discuss and Revisit the TextPersonal ResponseInvite students to share their personal responses to the book.Suggested language: Why do you think Nick was not happy about going to summer camp? Did you feel sympathetic to his situation? Why?

Ways of ThinkingAs you discuss the text, help students understand these points:

Thinking Within the Text Thinking Beyond the Text Thinking About the Text

• Nick misses his friends and family.

• Nick discovers that he has an interest in music.

• Nick realizes that he can express how he feels in different ways.

• You can keep your friends and family with you, even when you are away from them.

• Focusing on the negative might make you miss seeing the positive.

• The descriptions that the author provides make the events realistic.

• The language sounds natural, the way people talk to one another.

• The characters’ emotions are those that people actually feel.

© 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 one page from the story to read aloud to one

another. Remind them to pay attention to punctuation, and to stress certain words to sound as if the children and adults are really speaking to one another.

• 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 contractions are two words that are joined together to form one word. For example, the word that’s on page 2 is a contraction of the words that and is. Point out the apostrophe that replaces the letter i. Have students look back through the book to fi nd other contractions and have them identify the two words that make up each contraction they fi nd.



Writing about ReadingCritical ThinkingHave students complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 8.9.

RespondingHave 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 SkillUnderstanding Characters

Target Comprehension Skill Remind students that details in a story

can reveal traits about a character’s personality. They can use these details to make an inference or draw a conclusion about a character. Model how to add details to the Graphic Organizer, using a “Think Aloud” like the one below:

Think Aloud

The fi rst paragraph on page 5 explains that Nick really likes to spend time alone, thinking. Use characters’ thoughts, actions, and words to understand them. People who like to spend time thinking and observing things are refl ective. Spending time alone is an action. Write this in the “Actions” column of the chart.

Practice the SkillEncourage students to share another conclusion they can draw about a character in the story.

Writing Prompt: Thinking Beyond the TextHave 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• How was the ending of Nick’s time at camp different from how he expected it to be?

• Which details from page 13 show that Nick is a thoughtful person?

• One idea present in this selection is that

________________________________________________________________.



Critical ThinkingRead and answer the questions.

1. Think within the text What are three things Nick misses

about home?

2. Think within the text How does Nick have the chance to

learn to play the guitar?

3. Think beyond the text Do you think Camp Delawanic

sounds like fun? Explain your answer.

4. Think about the text Explain why the author has Nick say, “It

built up like a pumpkin growing inside me.”

Making Connections In the story, Nick has a big change of heart. Describe a character from another story who had a change of heart. Be sure to describe how the change came about.

Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.

Stuck at CampCritical Thinking

Lesson 8B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 8 . 9

Name Date

11Critical Thinking© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Grade 4, Unit 2: Do You Know What I Mean?

Nick misses his buddies, lying on the beach, and his own neighborhood.

When a bear gets loose and outdoor activities are canceled, Andre teaches Nick

and some other campers how to play.

Yes, because it has such a variety of activities.

Nick compares the feelings of homesickness he has to a pumpkin, which is

constantly growing bigger. His homesickness grows every day for a while.

Possible responses shown.

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English Language DevelopmentReading Support Pair advanced and intermediate readers to read the story softly, or have students listen to the audio or online recordings. Remind them that Nick has to adjust when he goes away to camp for the summer.

Cognates The story includes many cognates. Point out the English words and their Spanish equivalents: glorious (glorioso), model (modelo), and chord (acorde).

Oral Language DevelopmentCheck student comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches your students’ English profi ciency 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 2: Nick

Speaker 1: What does Nick learn how to play?

Speaker 2: the guitar

Speaker 1: How does Nick feel about camp at the end of the story?

Speaker 2: happy

Speaker 1: Why doesn’t Nick enjoy camp at the beginning of the story?

Speaker 2: He is homesick.

Speaker 1: What helps Nick overcome his sadness?

Speaker 2: He learns how to play the guitar.

Speaker 1: How does learning how to play the guitar help Nick overcome his homesickness?

Speaker 2: When Nick learns to play the guitar, he realizes that he doesn’t need to think about everything all the time. He learns that sometimes, he just has to sit back and let things happen.



Name Date

Stuck at CampThinking Beyond the Text

Think about the questions below. Then write your answer in two or three paragraphs.

Remember that when you think beyond the text, you use your personal knowledge to reach new understandings.

One theme of this story is change, and how feelings about something can change. Nick’s feelings about Delawanic change because he learns to play the guitar. Describe a change that you have experienced. In what ways did your feelings change? Compare and contrast your experience to Nick’s experience.


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Stuck at CampCritical Thinking

Lesson 8B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 8 . 9

Name Date


Critical ThinkingRead and answer the questions.

1. Think within the text What are three things Nick misses

about home?

2. Think within the text How does Nick have the chance to

learn to play the guitar?

3. Think beyond the text Do you think Camp Delawanic

sounds like fun? Explain your answer.

4. Think about the text Explain why the author has Nick say, “It

built up like a pumpkin growing inside me.”

Making Connections In the story, Nick has a big change of heart. Describe a character from another story who had a change of heart. Be sure to describe how the change came about.

Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.


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Student Date Lesson 8

B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 8 . 1 3

Running Record Form

Stuck at CampStuck at Camp • LEVEL S


Behavior Code Error

Read word correctly ✓cat 0

Repeated word, sentence, or phrase

®cat

0

Omission —cat 1

Behavior Code Error

Substitution cutcat 1

Self-corrects cut sccat 0

Insertion the

ˆcat 1

Word told Tcat 1

page Selection Text Errors Self-Corrections

7 “You still play them sound by sound like you are stringing

beads, though. They should flow together like one sound,” he

said. “Here, let me show you a few techniques for using this

plastic pick to strum and keep up a beat. You can always use it

to pluck individual notes.”

I did what he told me, and while it didn’t sound as good as

when he played, the sounds did start to flow together. I was

hooked.

I started practicing with Andre all the time. I hated screwing up

so badly that the sound made my teeth spin.

Comments: Accuracy Rate (# words read

correctly/99 × 100)

%

Total Self- Corrections

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LESSON 8 TEACHER’S GUIDE Stuck at Camp