X Marks the Spot!

$X Marks the Spot! book cover$

Grade 1
3 skill lessons · 3 math-through-reading

Math

Skill lessons

The mathematics the book carries, taught directly. Printable workbook pages and teacher keys are not available for this book yet.

1Two Across, Three Up, Five Blocks
2The Same Three Streets, Two Different Places
3Across First, Then Up

Math + reading

Math through the reading

The same book, entered through a sentence it prints. Change one word in the reading and the numbers change with it.

4The Word That Says Which Way the Count Goes
5Each Map Starts Where the Last One Stopped
6Is the Wishing Well the X?

Reading

Reading and language lessons

The same book read as a text. What a word means in its sentence, how a character is shown, how the writing is put together - no mathematics.

7From Grumpy to Jumping: How Jake Changes
8Postcards, Signs and Notes: Writing Inside the Story
9Old Junk and Creepy Branches: Words That Set a Scene
10I Don't Tell Her: Why Jake Keeps a Secret
11Step 1, Step 2: The Page at the Back That Teaches

Both exports carry any edits you have made. Edits are saved in this browser only — nobody else sees them, and they are not sent anywhere.

Skill lessons

3 lessons on the mathematics the book carries. Printable workbook pages and teacher keys are not available for this book yet.

1. Two Across, Three Up, Five Blocks Concept · Counting steps along two directions and joining the two counts into a total

Jake counts his walk twice over: two streets going across, three streets going up, and then he says the whole trip is five blocks. That last sentence is the only piece of arithmetic the book prints, and it is correct. Students walk each of the book's three maps with a paper figure on a street grid, counting a street name at every crossing, then build the two counts as two rows of cubes and push them into one line to get the total. A journey made of two separate runs has a length that is both runs together, and the cubes are what make the joining visible before the number is said. Nothing is written in symbols; every total is spoken and every count is carried out by sliding a figure one street at a time.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Walk the first map and count the streets (6 min)
Put your walking figure on Jake's house at the bottom left corner of the town map. Slide it across one street at a time and say the street name as you cross it, the way Jake does: one, Willow Street, two, Maple Street. Stop after two. Now slide up and say three street names, Swan, Hawk, Parrot. Say how many streets you crossed going across and how many going up.
Word preview: across
We count each street we come to.
One, Willow Street. Two, Maple Street.
First we cross Swan Street, then Hawk Street.
2. Put the two counts together (5 min)
Lay two cubes of one colour for the streets you crossed going across, and three cubes of the other colour for the streets you crossed going up. Push the two rows into one line and count the whole line. Say the number out loud, then say the two numbers that made it. Check Jake's line against your cubes.
Word preview: blocks
We count two lines across, then three lines up to the X.
That's five blocks, I say, not far to walk.
3. Do it again on the second map (5 min)
Move your figure to the wishing well and call that the new starting place. Slide three streets across along Parrot Street, counting each one, then two streets up. Build the two cube rows again, three and two, push them together and count. Say whether this walk was longer, shorter, or the same as the first one, and how you can tell from the cubes.
Word preview: blocks
This time the wishing well is at 0.
We walk three blocks along Parrot Street.
We turn up Oak Street, two blocks to go.
4. Walk the clue on the third map (4 min)
Jake gives Leo the clue four, one. Put your figure on the oak tree. Slide four streets across, counting each one aloud, then one street up. Say where you landed. Build four cubes and one cube, push them together, and count how many streets the whole walk took.
This time the oak tree is at zero.
We go four streets across and one street up.
We walk along Owl Street for four blocks.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Walk the first map and count the streets (5 min)
Put your figure on Jake's house at the bottom left corner. Slide across two streets, saying Willow and Maple as you cross them. Then slide up three, saying Swan, Hawk, Parrot. Say your two counts aloud.
Word preview: across
We count each street we come to.
One, Willow Street. Two, Maple Street.
2. Put the two counts together (4 min)
Lay two cubes for the streets across and three for the streets up. Push them into one line and count it. Say the total, then say the two numbers inside it.
Word preview: blocks
We count two lines across, then three lines up to the X.
That's five blocks, I say, not far to walk.

Three levels

Support: Stay on the first map only, and put a coloured dot on each street line before the walking starts so the figure has a target to stop at. Count the two streets across, then the three streets up, and build the cube rows one cube at a time as each street is crossed rather than afterwards from memory. The total is still counted from the pushed-together line and still said aloud; only the remembering comes out.
At Grade: Walk all three maps in the book's order, counting street names aloud at each crossing, and build both cube rows for each walk before pushing them together. Say each total, then say the two numbers that made it, and say which of the three walks was the longest by matching the pushed-together lines side by side.
Extension: After the three walks, hand the pair a total and one part of it and let them find the walk. Given a five block trip with two streets across, they slide the figure to find how many streets up it must be, checking by building the rows. They then say why the two numbers can trade places in the total but not in the walking, using their own two routes on the grid as the evidence.

English learners

Across and up are the two words that carry this whole lesson, and neither is doing its everyday job here: across is not a preposition of place but the name of one whole run of the journey, and up does not mean upward in the air but along the second run. Many languages mark direction on the verb rather than in a separate word, so a child may hear the number and the street name and let the direction word slide past as filler. Rehearse the pair as a two-beat frame with the figure moving on the beat: two across, three up. Have every child say it while sliding, so the word arrives at the same moment as the movement. What transfers freely is the counting itself and the one-touch-one-word rule, which is the same act in any language; the fixed English order of number before direction does not transfer. Invite a child to count the streets aloud in their strongest language while their partner slides, then say only the two direction words in English.

Materials

Town map grid, a paper street plan of nine lines across and nine lines up with Jake's house marked at the bottom left corner
Walking counter, a small paper figure each pair slides one street at a time
Counting cubes, ten per pair, in two colours
Word cards: across, blocks

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

2. The Same Three Streets, Two Different Places Reasoning · Naming the starting point a count is measured from

This book moves zero three times and says so each time: the house is at zero, then the wishing well is at 0, then the oak tree is at zero. That is unusual and it is the sharpest mathematics in the text, because it makes visible something children usually never have to think about, that a count of steps only names a place once you know where the counting began. Students walk the same number of streets from two different starting points and land in two different places, then try to use a bare clue with no starting place at all and find it will not work. The reasoning is about what a number needs attached to it before it locates anything; no arithmetic is performed beyond counting streets, and nothing is written down.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Find where zero is on each map (5 min)
Look at the three starting places the book names: the house, the wishing well, the oak tree. Put your figure on the house and say Jake's line, our house is at zero. Now move it to the wishing well and say the same thing about the well. Say what zero means here: not none of something, but the place you start counting from.
Word preview: zero
Our house is at zero.
This time the wishing well is at 0.
This time the oak tree is at zero.
2. Count from one zero, then from another (6 min)
Start at the house and count three streets across, marking where you stop. Now put the figure on the wishing well and count three streets across from there, and mark that. Say the same number, three, for both walks, and say why the two marks are not in the same place. The number of streets did not change; the place you started did.
Word preview: start
Our house is at the corner of Elm Street and Seagull Street.
We walk three blocks along Parrot Street.
3. Read a clue with no starting place (5 min)
Take a clue card that says four, one, and try to use it without being told where zero is. Put your figure anywhere and walk it. Compare where you landed with your partner, who started somewhere else. Say what the clue could not tell you, and say the one thing you needed before the numbers were any use.
Word preview: clue
I'll give you a clue. 4, 1, 4, 1 Leo says that's easy.
We go four streets across and one street up.
4. Say the starting place out loud (4 min)
Now give your partner a clue of your own. Say the starting place first, then the two numbers, in that order. Your partner walks it. If they land where you meant, say the sentence back together. If they do not, find which part of your clue was missing and say it again with that part in.
Start at zero. First go across, then go up, watch for clues.
Start at Jake's house. It's at zero.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Find where zero is on each map (5 min)
Put your figure on Jake's house and say his line, our house is at zero. Move it to the wishing well and say the same about the well. Say what zero means here: the place you start counting from, not none of something.
Word preview: zero
Our house is at zero.
This time the wishing well is at 0.
2. Count from one zero, then from another (4 min)
Count three streets across from the house and mark where you stop. Now count three streets across from the wishing well and mark that. Say why the same number put you in two different places.
Word preview: start
This time the oak tree is at zero.
We walk three blocks along Parrot Street.

Three levels

Support: Work with one pair of starting places rather than three, the house and the wishing well, and mark both with a coloured token that stays on the map for the whole lesson. Count two streets rather than three, so both walks are short enough to see whole. The child still walks from both zeros and still says why the two marks differ; only the number of starting places comes down.
At Grade: Walk the same count from all three of the book's starting places, marking each landing spot, then attempt the bare clue and say what it could not tell you. Give a partner a clue with the starting place named first and check whether they land where you meant.
Extension: Set a landing place and ask for the clue that reaches it from two different zeros. The child produces two different pairs of numbers for one destination and says why both are right, which is the same fact stated from two places. They then say what would have to be added to a clue for it to work from anywhere on the map.

English learners

Zero is the word that will mislead here, because in most classrooms it has already been taught as none and every child arrives knowing that meaning firmly. In this book it means the place you begin, and a child who holds only the first meaning will hear our house is at zero as a statement that the house has nothing in it. Name the two meanings apart explicitly and give a rehearsable frame that carries the right one: we start at zero, we count from here. The idea itself transfers freely, since every language has a way of saying where you set off from, and many mark it with a case ending or a particle rather than a separate word, so the concept is familiar even where the English phrasing is not. Invite a child to say in their strongest language what the word for starting point would be, and let that word sit on the map beside the English one for the lesson.

Materials

Town map grid, a paper street plan of nine lines across and nine lines up with Jake's house marked at the bottom left corner
Walking counter, a small paper figure each pair slides one street at a time
Clue cards, each printed with two numbers the book supplies
Word cards: zero, start

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

3. Across First, Then Up Application · Following a two-part rule in the order it is given

Grandpa's letter states a rule in three parts, start at zero, then across, then up, and the book repeats that rule at the back for its own worked example. Students follow it exactly, then deliberately run the same clue in the wrong order and mark where that puts them. On most clues the two landings differ and the rule earns itself; on a clue where both numbers are equal the two landings agree, and students say why. The application is that an order given in words is a thing to be obeyed step by step, and that checking whether order mattered is done by trying it, not by being told. Every move is a count of streets on a grid, and the whole lesson is spoken and walked rather than written.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Follow the rule the letter gives (5 min)
The letter in the folder gives a rule with three parts: start at zero, go across, then go up. Put your figure on the starting place and follow the rule in that order for the clue four, one. Say each part of the rule out loud as you do it, so the saying and the sliding happen together. Mark where you land.
Word preview: first
Start at zero. First go across, then go up, watch for clues.
We go four streets across and one street up.
2. Break the rule on purpose (6 min)
Now run the same clue backwards: go up one street first, then across four. Mark where you land this time with a different colour. Look at your two marks. Say whether they are in the same place, and say which part of the rule you changed to get there.
Word preview: then
First, go four streets across.
Then, go three streets up.
3. Find the clue where order does not matter (5 min)
Try the clue three, three the same two ways, across first and then up first. Mark both landings. Say what happened this time and why, using the two numbers as your reason rather than the picture. Then try four, one again and say why that one behaved differently.
We count two lines across, then three lines up to the X.
4. Say the rule so a partner can follow it (4 min)
Give your partner a clue and the rule together, saying the starting place, then across, then up, in the order the letter gives them. Your partner follows exactly what you say and nothing more. If they land somewhere you did not mean, say which part of your sentence sent them there.
Start at Jake's house. It's at zero.
And you'll find the carnival.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Follow the rule the letter gives (5 min)
Put your figure on the starting place. Follow the letter's rule in order for the clue four, one: across first, then up. Say each part aloud as you slide, and mark where you land.
Word preview: first
Start at zero. First go across, then go up, watch for clues.
We go four streets across and one street up.
2. Break the rule on purpose (4 min)
Run the same clue the other way round, up one first and then across four. Mark it in a new colour. Say whether the two marks match, and say what you changed.
Word preview: then
First, go four streets across.
Then, go three streets up.

Three levels

Support: Use one clue only, four then one, and lay the move strip flat with the across box coloured and the up box plain so the order is visible before the walking starts. The child slides the figure across, stops and touches the across box, then slides up. Running it backwards is still done and both landings are still marked; only the number of clues comes down to one.
At Grade: Run three clues both ways round, marking each pair of landings, and say for each one whether the order mattered. Give a partner a clue and the rule in the letter's order and check whether they land where you meant.
Extension: Ask for every clue on this map where running it backwards makes no difference, and for the reason the pattern holds. The child finds that the two landings agree exactly when the two numbers are equal, states that rule in their own words, and then tests it against a clue nobody has walked yet before walking it.

English learners

The load here is on first and then, two small words that carry the whole order of the rule and that are easy to lose in a stream of speech. Sequencing words differ sharply across languages: some mark order with a verb ending, some with a particle at the end of the clause, and some rely on the order of the clauses alone without a separate word at all. So a child may follow the sequence perfectly while producing neither English word, and a child may produce both words while attaching them to the wrong halves. Rehearse the frame with a hand gesture on each beat: first across, then up. What transfers is the ordering itself, which every child already does whenever they follow instructions; the English pairing of first with the earlier action does not transfer. Invite a child to give their partner the two-part clue in their strongest language while pointing at the two boxes on the move strip, then to say only first and then in English.

Materials

Town map grid, a paper street plan of nine lines across and nine lines up with Jake's house marked at the bottom left corner
Walking counter, a small paper figure each pair slides one street at a time
Move strip, a paper strip ruled into two boxes labelled across and up
Clue cards, each printed with two numbers the book supplies
Blank route chart, a sheet with a start box, an across box and an up box
Word cards: first, then

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

Math through the reading

The mathematics is reached through a sentence the book prints: change one word in the reading and the numbers change with it. These carry their own standards, matched against these lessons rather than inherited from the skill ones.

4. The Word That Says Which Way the Count Goes Integrated · Students walk the same two numbers two ways on a street grid and find that across and up, not the numbers, decide where they land.

Students walk the same two numbers two ways on a street grid and find that across and up, not the numbers, decide where they land.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Hear the clue and guess (4 min)
Students hear Jake's clue read aloud twice and say which words tell them which way to move. Hands stay off the grid while they say where they think the walk ends, and the competing guesses stay up on the board.
2. Walk the clue the book's way (6 min)
Students put the figure on the oak tree and slide it four streets across, saying a number at every crossing, then one street up. They mark the corner and count the cubes for the whole trip.
3. Swap the two words (6 min)
Students return the figure to the oak tree and walk one across and four up instead, counting aloud again. They mark this corner in a second colour and count the cubes, finding the same five streets and a different place.
4. Say it about your own two marks (4 min)
Each student says one sentence to a partner about their own two marked corners, using both direction words and both numbers, and says which word they would change to get from one mark to the other.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Walk the clue the book's way (6 min)
Students put the figure on the oak tree and slide it four streets across, saying a number at every crossing, then one street up. They mark the corner and count the cubes for the whole trip.
2. Swap the two words (6 min)
Students return the figure to the oak tree and walk one across and four up instead, counting aloud again. They mark this corner in a second colour and count the cubes, finding the same five streets and a different place.

Three levels

Support: Use the clue two, one rather than four, one, so both walks are short enough to see whole without recounting, and colour the across edge of the grid before the walking starts. The child still walks it both ways, still marks both corners and still says both direction words; only the size of the counts comes down, so the words stay the thing under test.
At grade: Walk the book's clue four, one both ways from the oak tree, marking and counting both landings, then say a sentence carrying both numbers and both direction words about your own marks. Check a partner's sentence against their grid while they say it.
Extension: Find a clue where swapping the two words changes nothing, and say why it behaves differently. The child works out that the two landings agree exactly when the two numbers are equal, states that as a rule in their own words, and tests it on a clue nobody has walked before walking it.

English learners

Across and up are the load here, and neither is doing its everyday job: across names one whole leg of a journey rather than a position, and up means along the second leg rather than upward in the air, which is the meaning a child will reach for first. Many languages carry direction on the verb or with a particle after the noun rather than in a separate word before it, so the English pairing of number then direction is genuinely new even to a child who moves around a map confidently. Rehearse the frame on the beat of the figure moving: four across, one up. What transfers is the counting and the one-word-one-street rule, which is the same act in any language. Invite a child to say the clue in their strongest language while a partner slides the figure, then say only the two direction words in English, so the new words attach to a movement the child has already understood.

Materials

Town map grid, a paper street plan of nine lines across and nine lines up
Walking counter, a small paper figure each pair slides one street at a time
Two colours of marker for the two landings
Counting cubes, ten per pair
A large copy of the same street grid
The clue four, one written where all can see

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

5. Each Map Starts Where the Last One Stopped Integrated · Students restore the three walks to the book's order and find that each map's starting point is the place the walk before it ended.

Students restore the three walks to the book's order and find that each map's starting point is the place the walk before it ended.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Walk the three trips in the book's order (7 min)
Students walk each of the three trips in turn, counting streets aloud and marking the landing each time. They see the mark from one trip become the starting place of the next and say the place name at each join.
2. Put the shuffled strips back in order (7 min)
Students receive the three walk strips shuffled and lay them in order. For each join they say which place ends one strip and starts the next, and they check the claim by sliding the figure.
3. Run one trip from the wrong zero (6 min)
Students deliberately walk the third trip's four and one starting from the house instead of the oak tree, mark where that lands, and say how far it is from the store and why the numbers were not at fault.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Walk the three trips in the book's order (7 min)
Students walk each of the three trips in turn, counting streets aloud and marking the landing each time. They see the mark from one trip become the starting place of the next and say the place name at each join.
2. Put the shuffled strips back in order (7 min)
Students receive the three walk strips shuffled and lay them in order. For each join they say which place ends one strip and starts the next, and they check the claim by sliding the figure.

Three levels

Support: Work with the first two walks only rather than all three, and leave the landing marks on the grid throughout so the shared place is visible rather than remembered. The child still lays the two strips in order and still says which place joins them; only the third walk comes out, so the join stays the thing being found.
At grade: Walk all three trips in order, then restore the shuffled strips and say the shared place at each join. Run one trip from the wrong starting point and say how far off it lands.
Extension: Ask what would have to change in the second walk's numbers for it to reach the oak tree starting from the house instead of the well. The child works the count out on the grid, states the new pair, and says why the destination stayed put while both numbers changed.

English learners

The sequencing language here is carried by this time, which appears at both joins and does a lot of quiet work: it signals that something has been replaced rather than added, namely the starting point. That contrastive use is easy to miss, and a child may read the two reset sentences as simply describing two more places. Give a frame that makes the replacement audible and rehearsable, and have it said while the figure is physically picked up and put down at the new zero: last time we started here, this time we start here. The ordering itself transfers freely, because arranging events in sequence is something every child does daily in any language. The English habit of marking the contrast at the front of the sentence does not transfer. Invite a child to name the three starting places in their strongest language as they lay the strips, then say only this time in English at each join.

Materials

Town map grid, a paper street plan of nine lines across and nine lines up
Walking counter, a small paper figure
Three walk strips, one per trip, each printed with its two counts
Three place tokens for the house, the wishing well and the oak tree
A large copy of the same street grid
The two reset sentences written where all can see

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

6. Is the Wishing Well the X? Integrated · Students walk the first map's count, then argue to Grandpa whether landing on the wishing well means they found the X, using their own street counts as the reason.

Students walk the first map's count, then argue to Grandpa whether landing on the wishing well means they found the X, using their own street counts as the reason.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Walk the route and count it (6 min)
Students slide the figure from the house, counting Willow and Maple going across and Swan, Hawk and Parrot going up. They land on the wishing well, lay cubes for the whole trip and say the total aloud.
2. Hear the two brothers disagree (4 min)
Students hear Jake's claim and Leo's answer read aloud and say which one they think is right, before any reason is given. The split in the room is counted and left standing.
3. Take a side and say it to Grandpa (6 min)
Each student says their position to a partner playing Grandpa, and the sentence has to carry a number from their own walk. The partner repeats back the number they heard and what it was meant to prove.
4. Hear the other side and choose again (4 min)
Students hear the strongest sentence from the other side and may change position. Anyone who changes says which number or which words moved them, and anyone who stays says what the other side got wrong.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Walk the route and count it (6 min)
Students slide the figure from the house, counting Willow and Maple going across and Swan, Hawk and Parrot going up. They land on the wishing well, lay cubes for the whole trip and say the total aloud.
2. Take a side and say it to Grandpa (6 min)
Each student says their position to a partner playing Grandpa, and the sentence has to carry a number from their own walk. The partner repeats back the number they heard and what it was meant to prove.

Three levels

Support: Give the child a spoken frame that carries the quantity for them to complete out loud: I counted ___ streets across and ___ streets up, so I think ___. The counting is unchanged and the position is still the child's own; only the shape of the sentence is supplied, so the argument does not fail for want of a way to begin it.
At grade: Walk and count the route, take a position on whether the well is the X, and say it to a partner as a message for Grandpa with at least one of your counts inside the sentence. Listen to the other side and say whether it changed your mind.
Extension: Take the position you did not choose and make the best case you can for it, using the same counts. Then say which of the two cases you now think is stronger and which single sentence of the book decides it, and whether a walker who counted wrongly could still have ended up on the well by accident.

English learners

The language demand here is causal rather than lexical: the child has to bind a number to a conclusion, and English does it with because and so placed between the two. Many languages put the reason first and the conclusion after with no connective at all, or mark the relation with a verb ending, so a child may have the whole argument assembled and produce only the two halves side by side without the joint. Do not read a missing because as a missing reason. Rehearse one frame aloud with the counts already in it and let the child fill both slots: I counted five streets, so I think the well is the X. What transfers is arguing itself, which children do fluently in every language long before school. Invite a child to make their case to a partner in their strongest language first and then say only the number and the connective in English, so the new words carry a point the child has already made.

Materials

Town map grid, a paper street plan of nine lines across and nine lines up
Walking counter, a small paper figure
Counting cubes, ten per pair
Blank postcard shapes, one per child, for the message to Grandpa
A large copy of the same street grid
Jake's claim and Leo's answer written side by side

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

Reading and language lessons

5 lessons on the reading and language the book carries - what a word means in its sentence, how a character is shown, how a text is built. No mathematics: these are matched against the English language arts curricula, which are a different and smaller set than the mathematics ones.

7. From Grumpy to Jumping: How Jake Changes Language · Noticing How a Character's Feelings Change in a Story

Jake starts the story complaining about his new town and ends it jumping up and down with joy. Students read the grumbling opening, the moment in the middle where he softens, and the delighted ending, then put the three in order and say what changed him. The skill is tracking a character's feelings across a story and pointing to the words that show them; students describe how Jake feels, never how far he walked.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Hear how Jake feels at the start (6 min)
The teacher reads the passage below aloud in a grumpy voice, then in a happy voice. Say which voice matched the words. Read it together and put a finger on the words that tell you Jake is not pleased. Say aloud one word for how Jake feels here.
Word preview: feelings
Why do people have to move? We just did, and I don't like it one bit.
2. Catch the moment he softens (6 min)
Read the passage below with the teacher. Something has changed: Jake says something kind about the town. Put a finger on what he says. Then say aloud whether he sounds the same as he did at the start, and what his mother notices.
Word preview: change
This looks like a nice town, I say. Mom gives me a funny look. I'm glad you're starting to like it, she says. Be home by supper time.
3. Read how he feels at the end (4 min)
Read the passage below. Hold up a feeling face that matches Jake here. Say aloud two things Jake does that show how he feels, without using the word happy.
Word preview: show
I'm so happy. I start to jump up and down. I can't help it. Leo is jumping around too.
4. Put the three feelings in order and say why (4 min)
All three passages are printed below. Read them in order with a partner and lay a feeling face beside each. Then say one sentence beginning Jake changed because, using something that happened in the story.
Word preview: because
Why do people have to move? We just did, and I don't like it one bit.
This looks like a nice town, I say. Mom gives me a funny look. I'm glad you're starting to like it, she says. Be home by supper time.
I'm so happy. I start to jump up and down. I can't help it. Leo is jumping around too.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Hear how Jake feels at the start (5 min)
The teacher reads the passage below grumpily, then happily. Say which matched. Put a finger on the words showing Jake is not pleased and say one word for how he feels.
Word preview: feelings
Why do people have to move? We just did, and I don't like it one bit.
2. Read how he feels at the end (4 min)
Read the passage below and hold up a matching feeling face. Say two things Jake does that show how he feels, without using the word happy.
Word preview: show
I'm so happy. I start to jump up and down. I can't help it. Leo is jumping around too.

Three levels

Support: Use the passage in step 1. The teacher reads it grumpily. Echo the words I don't like it one bit. Point to them. Hold up the sad face or the happy face for Jake.
At Grade: Say how Jake feels at the start and at the end, and point to the words in each passage that showed you.
Extension: At the start Jake says he doesn't like it one bit, and later he says This looks like a nice town. Say two sentences about whether he really meant the second one when he said it, using what the story tells you he was hiding.

English learners

Feelings here are carried by idiom rather than by feeling words: not one bit means strongly not, and I can't help it means the feeling is too big to hold in. Neither survives a word by word reading. Act each one out, then say the plain version beside it. Invite students to say how they felt on a first day somewhere new, in their strongest language. Rehearsable frame: At first Jake felt ___. At the end he felt ___.

Materials

X Marks the Spot!, the passage printed in this step
feeling faces cards
Word cards: feelings, change, show, because

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

8. Postcards, Signs and Notes: Writing Inside the Story Language · Telling Apart the Different Kinds of Writing Inside a Story

This story keeps stopping to print something somebody else wrote: a postcard from Grandpa, a sign in a shop, a note on an envelope, a message under the ground. Students read four of these and name what each one is and who wrote it, then say how a postcard sounds different from the story around it. The skill is recognising kinds of everyday writing and their purpose; nothing on any of them is counted.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Read a postcard printed inside a story (6 min)
The teacher reads the passage below aloud once. Part of it is the story, and part of it is a postcard Grandpa wrote. Read it again together and put a finger where the postcard starts and where it stops. Say aloud who wrote the postcard and who it is for.
Word preview: postcard
The mail comes. We get a postcard from Grandpa. I read it out loud. Hi, Jake and Leo. I hope you like the house. It's full of surprises. Check out the attic. Love Grandpa.
2. Read a sign and a note (6 min)
Two passages are printed below. One has a sign in a shop and one has words written on an envelope. Read them with a partner. Say what each piece of writing is for: one is trying to make you want something, the other is telling you what to do. Say which is which and how you knew.
Word preview: sign
We go into the store. A sign inside says, the greatest candy store ever. I believe it. I never saw so much candy in one place.
I look at the envelope. It says, no peeking. Don't open until you get home. Hold on to the key. You'll need it.
3. Sort them onto the right cards (4 min)
Three passages are printed below. Read each one and lay the right card beside it: postcard, sign, or note. Say aloud the words in each passage that gave it away.
Word preview: sort
The mail comes. We get a postcard from Grandpa. I read it out loud. Hi, Jake and Leo. I hope you like the house. It's full of surprises. Check out the attic. Love Grandpa.
We go into the store. A sign inside says, the greatest candy store ever. I believe it. I never saw so much candy in one place.
The minute we're home, I tear open the envelope. Inside it says, look in the backyard behind the rock under the tree.
4. Say what a postcard does that a story does not (4 min)
The passage below is printed again. Read the postcard part aloud, then read the sentences around it aloud. Say two things that are different about how the postcard is written. Tell a partner what you would put on a postcard to somebody you missed.
Word preview: greeting
The mail comes. We get a postcard from Grandpa. I read it out loud. Hi, Jake and Leo. I hope you like the house. It's full of surprises. Check out the attic. Love Grandpa.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Read a postcard printed inside a story (5 min)
The teacher reads the passage below. Put a finger where the postcard starts and stops, and say who wrote it and who it is for.
Word preview: postcard
The mail comes. We get a postcard from Grandpa. I read it out loud. Hi, Jake and Leo. I hope you like the house. It's full of surprises. Check out the attic. Love Grandpa.
2. Read a sign and a note (4 min)
Read the two passages below with a partner. Say which piece of writing is selling something and which is telling you what to do, and how you knew.
Word preview: sign
We go into the store. A sign inside says, the greatest candy store ever. I believe it. I never saw so much candy in one place.
I look at the envelope. It says, no peeking. Don't open until you get home. Hold on to the key. You'll need it.

Three levels

Support: Use the passage in step 1. The teacher reads the postcard part only. Echo the words Hi, Jake and Leo. Point to Grandpa's name at the end. Say who sent it.
At Grade: Name what each of the four pieces of writing is, and say who wrote each one and who it was meant for.
Extension: The shop sign says the greatest candy store ever. Say two sentences about whether a sign has to be true, and how a sign's job is different from a note's job.

English learners

Everyday English writing has fixed openings and closings that carry no ordinary meaning: Hi and Love on a postcard, Dear at the top. Students often read Love Grandpa as a statement about loving. Teach the pair as a frame, name at the top, name at the bottom, then read the postcard with those two lines pointed at rather than translated. Invite students to name what a letter opens and closes with in their strongest language. Rehearsable frame: This is a ___. It says ___.

Materials

X Marks the Spot!, the passage printed in this step
writing kind cards
Word cards: postcard, sign, sort, greeting

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

9. Old Junk and Creepy Branches: Words That Set a Scene Language · Using Describing Words to Picture a Place

The writer makes the attic and the oak tree feel a particular way by choosing describing words: old, shiny, orange, biggest, black, creepy. Students collect those words from two passages, say what mood each place has, and then swap a word to hear the mood change. The skill is noticing how word choice builds a picture and a feeling in a reader, and no measurement or amount is involved.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Collect the words that describe the attic (6 min)
The teacher reads the passage below aloud. Listen for the words that tell you what things look like. Read it again together and put a finger under old and under stuffed. Say aloud what kind of place this attic is, using one of the words you found.
Word preview: describe
We run up to the attic and look around. It's full of old junk, a stuffed owl, some wooden trunks, a statue of some guy, I'm getting bored.
2. Collect the words that describe the tree (6 min)
Read the passage below with a partner. Find the words that describe the oak tree. Say aloud which word tells you how Leo feels about it, not just what it looks like. Say how the tree would feel different if the branches had been green instead.
Word preview: creepy
There's an oak tree on the corner. It's the biggest tree I ever saw. The branches on the top are black. That tree is creepy, Leo whispers. Let's go home.
3. Find one bright thing among the dull (4 min)
Read the passage below. Everything in the attic was old and dull, but this thing is not. Put a finger on the two words that describe the folder. Say aloud why a writer would give the important thing the brightest words.
Word preview: shiny
Then I see a shiny orange folder on the Windows cell. It says Treasure Maps.
4. Swap a word and hear the change (4 min)
The passage below is printed once more. Read it aloud as it is. Now read it again but swap creepy for friendly. Say to a partner what changed about the picture in your head, and which version fits the rest of the passage better.
Word preview: swap
There's an oak tree on the corner. It's the biggest tree I ever saw. The branches on the top are black. That tree is creepy, Leo whispers. Let's go home.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Collect the words that describe the attic (5 min)
The teacher reads the passage below. Put a finger under old and under stuffed, then say what kind of place the attic is using a word you found.
Word preview: describe
We run up to the attic and look around. It's full of old junk, a stuffed owl, some wooden trunks, a statue of some guy, I'm getting bored.
2. Collect the words that describe the tree (4 min)
Read the passage below with a partner. Find the describing words, and say which one tells how Leo feels rather than what the tree looks like.
Word preview: creepy
There's an oak tree on the corner. It's the biggest tree I ever saw. The branches on the top are black. That tree is creepy, Leo whispers. Let's go home.

Three levels

Support: Use the passage in step 1. The teacher says the word old. Echo it. Point to it. Say one thing in the attic that is old. Say the word junk.
At Grade: Collect the describing words from the attic passage and the tree passage, and say what mood each place has.
Extension: The writer calls the tree's branches black and has Leo call it creepy. Say two sentences about the difference between a word that says what something looks like and a word that says how somebody feels about it.

English learners

English stacks describing words in front of the noun and in a fixed order that is rarely taught, as in shiny orange folder, where the reverse sounds wrong to a native ear for no reason a learner can hear. Do not correct order errors here; the lesson is meaning. Read the phrase, hold up something shiny, hold up something orange. Rehearsable frame: The ___ is ___.

Materials

X Marks the Spot!, the passage printed in this step
describing word slips
Word cards: describe, creepy, shiny, swap

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

10. I Don't Tell Her: Why Jake Keeps a Secret Language · Understanding Why a Character Keeps Something Back

Jake decides not to tell his mother about the treasure, and the story gives his reason in the very next sentence. Students find the decision and the reason, notice that Jake says one thing aloud while thinking another, and judge whether keeping this back was kind or unkind. The skill is understanding a character's choice and the reason a text gives for it, with evidence quoted from the page.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Find the decision and the reason (6 min)
The teacher reads the passage below aloud. One sentence says what Jake decides not to do. The very next sentence says why. Read it again together, put a finger on the decision, then on the reason. Say them both aloud in order.
Word preview: secret
Mom comes to the door. I ask her if we can go explore, but I don't tell her about the treasure. I want her to be surprised.
2. Notice saying one thing and thinking another (6 min)
Two passages are printed below. In the first, Jake says something polite. In the second, the story tells you what he was really thinking. Read them with a partner. Hold up the speech bubble for the words he said out loud and the thought bubble for what he really thought. Say aloud why somebody might do that.
Word preview: really
This house belonged to Grandpa. He lived here his whole life until he moved to Florida. Isn't that exciting?
I guess so, I say, but I'm just being nice.
3. Judge whether the secret was a kind one (4 min)
Read the passage below again. With a partner, say whether keeping this secret was a kind thing or an unkind thing, and say the words from the passage that made you decide. It is fine to disagree with your partner if you can say why.
Word preview: kind
Mom comes to the door. I ask her if we can go explore, but I don't tell her about the treasure. I want her to be surprised.
4. See the secret come out (4 min)
Read the passage below. It is the last thing the brothers write. They still do not name the treasure, even to Grandpa. Point to the words they use instead. Say aloud why they might keep the secret even now.
Word preview: still
The next day we send a postcard to Grandpa. Dear Grandpa, we love the you know what? Thank you!

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Find the decision and the reason (5 min)
The teacher reads the passage below. Put a finger on the sentence saying what Jake decides not to do, then on the sentence saying why. Say both aloud in order.
Word preview: secret
Mom comes to the door. I ask her if we can go explore, but I don't tell her about the treasure. I want her to be surprised.
2. Notice saying one thing and thinking another (4 min)
Read the two passages below with a partner. Hold up the speech bubble for what Jake said aloud and the thought bubble for what he really thought.
Word preview: really
This house belonged to Grandpa. He lived here his whole life until he moved to Florida. Isn't that exciting?
I guess so, I say, but I'm just being nice.

Three levels

Support: Use the passage in step 1. The teacher reads it and asks: does Jake tell his mother? Say no. Then say the word surprise. Point to the sentence that gives his reason.
At Grade: Say what Jake decided not to do and the reason the story gives, then explain what he said aloud that did not match what he was thinking.
Extension: Jake says I guess so but the story says he was just being nice. Say two sentences about how a reader can tell what a character really thinks when the words say something else.

English learners

I'm just being nice reports a mismatch between words and meaning that English handles with understatement rather than with any marker. Read Jake's spoken line in a flat, polite voice and then the narrator's line in a confiding one, so the gap is heard. Invite students to say a polite phrase from their strongest language that people use without fully meaning it. Rehearsable frame: He said ___ but he thought ___.

Materials

X Marks the Spot!, the passage printed in this step
thought and speech bubbles
Word cards: secret, really, kind, still

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

11. Step 1, Step 2: The Page at the Back That Teaches Language · Reading the Pages at the Back That Are Not the Story

After the story ends the book adds a page that is not a story at all: it has a heading, numbered steps, and a question aimed at the reader. Students read it, name its parts, and notice that two of its steps have the word blank where something was meant to be filled in, because the book was typed up that way. The passage is printed exactly as it stands. The skill is reading a text feature and saying what its parts are for.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Read the heading and the question (6 min)
The teacher reads the passage below aloud. It comes after the story has finished. Read it again together. Put a finger on the heading at the very start, then on the question at the end. Say aloud who that question is asking, and how you can tell this is not part of the story.
Word preview: heading
Coordinate graph chart. A coordinate graph chart can help you find a place. How do you get from Jake's house to the carnival?
2. Read numbered steps and notice what is missing (6 min)
Read the passage below with the teacher, exactly as it is printed. It gives steps with numbers in front. Two of the steps say the word blank where the book meant you to fill something in, and it was typed up that way, so we are leaving it. Put a finger on each word blank. Say aloud what a reader cannot do with these steps as they stand.
Word preview: blank
Step 1. Start at Jake's house. It's at zero. Step 2. Go across blank streets. Step 3. Go up blank streets.
3. Say what numbered steps are for (4 min)
Both passages are printed below. Read them together. Say aloud why this page puts numbers in front of its sentences when the story never did. Tell a partner about something else you have seen written in numbered steps.
Word preview: steps
Coordinate graph chart. A coordinate graph chart can help you find a place. How do you get from Jake's house to the carnival?
Step 1. Start at Jake's house. It's at zero. Step 2. Go across blank streets. Step 3. Go up blank streets.
4. Compare it with a page of the story (4 min)
Two passages are printed below. One is from the story and one is from the page at the back. Read both aloud. Say two things that are different about how they are written, and say which one you would read for fun and which one you would read to learn how to do something.
Word preview: compare
I'm so happy. I start to jump up and down. I can't help it. Leo is jumping around too.
Coordinate graph chart. A coordinate graph chart can help you find a place. How do you get from Jake's house to the carnival?

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Read the heading and the question (5 min)
The teacher reads the passage below. Point to the heading and then to the question, and say how you can tell this is not part of the story.
Word preview: heading
Coordinate graph chart. A coordinate graph chart can help you find a place. How do you get from Jake's house to the carnival?
2. Read numbered steps and notice what is missing (4 min)
Read the passage below as printed. Put a finger on each word blank and say what a reader cannot do with these steps as they stand.
Word preview: blank
Step 1. Start at Jake's house. It's at zero. Step 2. Go across blank streets. Step 3. Go up blank streets.

Three levels

Support: Use the passage in step 1. The teacher reads the heading. Echo it. Point to it. Say whether a heading comes at the top or the bottom.
At Grade: Name the heading, the numbered steps and the question, and say what each part is for on a page that teaches.
Extension: Step 2 and Step 3 both say blank where something should have been filled in. Say two sentences about what a reader should do when a printed instruction has a piece missing, and whether the rest of the page is still useful.

English learners

A page like this is read by jumping between its parts rather than straight through, and that habit is not obvious to a reader taught to start at the top and continue. Walk the page with a finger, naming heading, step, question aloud as you land on each. The word blank here is a transcription artefact, not vocabulary, so say plainly that it stands for a hole in the page. Rehearsable frame: This part is the ___.

Materials

X Marks the Spot!, the passage printed in this step
part naming cards
Word cards: heading, blank, steps, compare

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.