Once Upon a Dime

1. Sort the crop into four trays (4 min)

Each pair spills a mixed handful onto the mat. Sort it into four trays labelled penny, nickel, dime and quarter. These are the four crops the tree grew, one crop to a tray. Sort by looking: turn each coin over and say its name aloud before it lands in a tray. Any coin a pair cannot name stays in the middle of the mat and is settled in the next step.

Word preview: penny, quarter

In the center of each flower was a penny.

When the buds opened, each flower had a shiny new quarter growing in the middle.

2. Build each coin out of pennies (5 min)

Beside the nickel tray, each pair counts out five pennies. Beside the dime tray, ten. Beside the quarter tray, twenty-five. Lay them in rows of five, so the count can be checked at a glance. One coin, one row that matches it. Pairs then write the cent worth on the card under each tray: 1, 5, 10, 25.

Word preview: nickel, dime

3. Line the trays up from least worth to most (5 min)

Each pair slides the four trays into one line, least worth on the left, most worth on the right, using the penny rows as the proof. Then they read the line aloud twice, once up and once back down. A pair may put the nickel above the dime, because the nickel is the bigger coin. They fix it by counting the two rows, not by looking at the coins.

They didn’t sound as nice as those dimes, but they sure were worth a lot more.

4. Say and record the four worths (6 min)

Each student writes four sentences on the crop card, one per tray. A penny is worth 1 cent, and the same for the nickel, the dime and the quarter. Fill every blank from the trays in front of you. Partners read their cards to each other and check each number against the penny row still lying on the mat.

1. Sort the crop into four trays (4 min)

Each pair sorts a mixed handful into four labelled trays, saying each coin's name aloud as it lands. Coins nobody can name wait in the middle of the mat.

Word preview: penny, quarter

In the center of each flower was a penny.

2. Build each coin out of pennies (5 min)

Pairs lay five pennies beside the nickel tray, ten beside the dime, twenty-five beside the quarter, in rows of five, then write the cent worth on each tray card: 1, 5, 10, 25.

Word preview: nickel, dime, cents

1. Hear the question the narrator asks (4 min)

Each pair hears the narrator's question twice. Then set out the two crops it names with ten-strips. Ten strips for the hundred pennies, ten strips for the hundred nickels. Pairs write on the prediction card how many coins they think the mixing year will give. The prediction is written before the next sentence is read, and it is not erased later.

Word preview: both

If the tree grew 100 pennies when it was fertilized with chicken droppings, and 100 nickels when it was fertilized with pig squish, then what would it grow with both?

2. Build the year the tree gave fifty of each (5 min)

Pairs hear the mixing-year sentence and build exactly what it says: five ten-strips of pennies, five ten-strips of nickels, kept in two groups. Count the whole crop by tens, with a finger on each strip. Then write the addition sentence beside your prediction: 50 and 50 make 100 coins. Say which was larger.

Word preview: of each, in all

The next spring, I was hoping for hundreds of pennies and nickels, but the tree grew only 50 of each.

3. Build the second mixing year (6 min)

The next mixing sentence names two crops of seventy-five. Each pair builds seventy-five twice: seven ten-strips and five loose coins for each kind. Then count the whole crop by tens. Finish the last five by ones. They write the second addition sentence, 75 and 75 make 150 coins, under the first one.

Word preview: of each

In the spring, the tree grew 75 quarters and 75 pennies.

4. Write which year filled the basket fuller (5 min)

Each student writes one sentence naming which mixing year put more coins on the tree, and by how many. Write a second sentence comparing the fifty-and-fifty year with a plain year of one hundred. Both sentences must carry their numbers. Partners trade sheets and check every number against the strips still on the desk.

Word preview: in all, more than

1. Hear the question the narrator asks (4 min)

Pairs hear the narrator's question twice, set out ten strips for each of the two crops it names, and write down how many coins they expect the mixing year to give.

Word preview: both

If the tree grew 100 pennies when it was fertilized with chicken droppings, and 100 nickels when it was fertilized with pig squish, then what would it grow with both?

2. Build the year the tree gave fifty of each (5 min)

Pairs build five ten-strips of pennies and five of nickels, count the crop by tens, and write 50 and 50 make 100 coins beside the prediction.

Word preview: of each, in all

The next spring, I was hoping for hundreds of pennies and nickels, but the tree grew only 50 of each.

1. Count the penny crop by tens (6 min)

Each pair pushes the penny cup into piles of ten. Then count the piles aloud by tens — ten, twenty, thirty — until the hundredth penny lands. Stop there and say what the piles are worth: one hundred cents, one dollar. Leave the ten piles standing; every later count gets measured against them.

Word preview: penny, dollar

By the time I finished picking, there were 100 pennies.

2. Count nickels by fives to one hundred cents (5 min)

Now pick the same dollar in nickels. Pairs drop nickels into the squares one at a time, counting by fives out loud: five, ten, fifteen. Stop the instant the count says one hundred. Then they count how many nickels it took and say both numbers together: twenty nickels, one hundred cents.

Word preview: nickel

I got a pail and picked 100 nickels.

3. Do it again in dimes, then in quarters (4 min)

Same dollar, bigger jumps. Pairs lay dimes and count by tens to one hundred, clear the mat, then lay quarters counting twenty-five, fifty, seventy-five, one hundred. Each time, they say how many coins it took before they touch the next kind.

Word preview: dime

All in all, I poured 100 dimes into the jar like a silver waterfall.

When we were done picking, we had 100 quarters to add to the jar.

4. Post the four ways on the class chart (5 min)

Each pair writes their four counts on a strip — 100 pennies, 20 nickels, 10 dimes, 4 quarters — and pins it under the class heading. Reading down the chart, students say the pattern aloud: the more a coin is worth, the fewer of them it takes to pick a dollar.

Word preview: dollar

1. Count nickels by fives to one hundred cents (5 min)

Pairs drop nickels into the squares counting by fives, stop at one hundred, then say how many nickels it took: twenty nickels, one hundred cents.

Word preview: nickel

I got a pail and picked 100 nickels.

2. Do it again in dimes, then in quarters (4 min)

Same dollar in dimes counted by tens, then in quarters counted twenty-five, fifty, seventy-five, one hundred. Pairs say the coin count each time before switching.

Word preview: dime, quarter

All in all, I poured 100 dimes into the jar like a silver waterfall.

1. Put the narrator's objection to the test (4 min)

Each pair lays a nickel and a dime side by side and settles by looking which is the bigger coin. Then they hear the two lines from the book. Say aloud which speaker is talking about how big the buds are, and which is talking about what they are worth.

Word preview: worth, size

“These ain’t big enough for nickels, Farmer Worth!” I said.

“But they’re worth twice as much,” said Farmer Worth, looking closely.

2. Build both worths in pennies (5 min)

Under the nickel each pair lays a row of five pennies, under the dime a row of ten. Then they slide a second nickel up beside the first and count its row too: five and five. Pairs say what the rows show — two nickels and one dime cover the same ten pennies — and count both rows again to check it.

Word preview: twice as much

3. Sort all four coins twice (6 min)

Pairs order the four coins by size, biggest to smallest, and write that order on the top line of the card. Then they order the same four coins by worth, using the penny rows, and write that order underneath. The two lines will not match; each pair circles the coin that travels farthest from one line to the other.

Word preview: size, bigger

4. Answer the question with the coins in front of you (5 min)

Each pair answers one question out loud to another pair: does the bigger coin always carry the bigger worth? The answer has to point at two coins on the mat and say both numbers — a nickel and a dime, five cents and ten cents. Pairs that disagree count the penny rows again before they settle it.

Word preview: worth, bigger

1. Put the narrator's objection to the test (4 min)

Pairs lay a nickel beside a dime, decide by looking which is bigger, then hear the two lines and say which speaker means size and which means worth.

Word preview: worth, size

“But they’re worth twice as much,” said Farmer Worth, looking closely.

2. Build both worths in pennies (5 min)

Five pennies under the nickel, ten under the dime, then a second nickel with its own five. Pairs say what the rows show and count them again to check.

Word preview: twice as much

1. Fold the quart into four equal cups (5 min)

Each pair folds the paper quart strip in half, then in half again, opens it flat and checks the four cups by folding one onto another. A strip whose cups do not match gets refolded — matching is the whole point. Pairs write 'cup' in each of the four sections.

Word preview: quart, cup

2. Shade one cup and name it (4 min)

Students shade one cup on the strip. Then hear the farmer's line with the strip in hand. Say what the shaded piece is: one cup, a quarter of the quart, one of four equal parts. Partners run a finger over the three unshaded cups while they say it.

Word preview: quarter, equal parts

“I reckon we have a cup of quarters. That’s a quarter of a quart of quarters,” joked Farmer Worth.

3. Cover the dollar with four quarters (6 min)

Each pair lays four quarters on the hundred-square dollar mat, one coin over each block of twenty-five squares. Count twenty-five, fifty, seventy-five, one hundred as the coins land. Then they trace one block with a finger and say how many squares a single quarter covers and how many blocks fill the mat.

Word preview: quarter

When we were done picking, we had 100 quarters to add to the jar.

4. Write the same sentence about both wholes (5 min)

Each student writes two sentences on the recording sheet, one about the strip and one about the mat. Each names the whole, the four equal parts and the one part. A quarter of the quart, a quarter of the dollar. Partners read both sentences aloud and check that the words 'equal parts' appear in each.

Word preview: equal parts, quart

1. Fold the quart into four equal cups (5 min)

Pairs fold the quart strip in half twice, open it flat, and check the four cups by folding one onto another. Unequal strips get refolded.

Word preview: quart, cup

2. Shade one cup and name it (4 min)

Students shade one cup, hear the farmer's line with the strip in hand, and say what the shaded piece is: one cup, a quarter of the quart, one of four equal parts.

Word preview: quarter, equal parts

“I reckon we have a cup of quarters. That’s a quarter of a quart of quarters,” joked Farmer Worth.

1. Find out what the number is counting (4 min)

Each pair hears the narrator's question, then reads the mixing sentence aloud and hunts back for the two crops the number belongs to. They say both crops to each other — pennies and nickels — and write them at the top of the first mat before a single strip is touched.

2. Build the crop the book grew (5 min)

Pairs lay five ten-strips under pennies and five under nickels, keeping the groups apart, count the whole mat by tens with a finger on each strip, and write the count at the foot of the mat. One number out of the sentence, two groups on the mat.

3. Build the swapped sentence beside it (6 min)

Pairs read the second card, which is the same sentence with in all where of each stood, and build exactly what it says on the second mat — five ten-strips and no more. They count it, write the count, then lay the two mats side by side and count how many strips the first mat holds that the second does not.

4. Write one sentence about your own mat (5 min)

Each student writes one sentence about one of the two mats, using of each or in all so that it describes that mat and not the other; pairs who need the wording start from the sentence frame card. Partners trade sheets, read the sentence aloud and point at the mat it names. A sentence that could fit either mat gets rewritten.

1. Find out what the number is counting (4 min)

Each pair hears the narrator's question, then reads the mixing sentence aloud and hunts back for the two crops the number belongs to. They say both crops to each other — pennies and nickels — and write them at the top of the first mat before a single strip is touched.

2. Build the crop the book grew (5 min)

Pairs lay five ten-strips under pennies and five under nickels, keeping the groups apart, count the whole mat by tens with a finger on each strip, and write the count at the foot of the mat. One number out of the sentence, two groups on the mat.

1. Read for the two crops before anyone counts (5 min)

Each pair hears the narrator's question read twice, then says back the two crops it names and writes them in the crop boxes on the answer card. The strips stay in the tray. A pair who can only name one crop asks for the question again rather than guessing at the second.

2. Mark the sentence that fixes the number (4 min)

Pairs hear three sentences from the book read in turn and pick the one that says how much the mixed year grew. They underline their choice on the card, read it back aloud, and say which two crops the number in it is counting. A pair who picks the sentence about being disappointed hears all three again and tries once more.

3. Build the crop and count it (5 min)

Under each crop name pairs lay five ten-strips, keeping the two groups apart, and count the whole crop by tens to one hundred with a finger on each strip. They write the total in the number box, then set the crop beside the ten strips that stand for the plain penny year and say what they notice.

4. Hand in the number and the line together (6 min)

Each pair reads its answer to another pair in one breath, the line first and the number second. The listening pair says whether that line really does fix that number. Any pair whose number arrived without its line goes back for the line before the answer counts, and every student copies the finished pair onto the recording sheet.

1. Mark the sentence that fixes the number (4 min)

Pairs hear three sentences from the book read in turn and pick the one that says how much the mixed year grew. They underline their choice on the card, read it back aloud, and say which two crops the number in it is counting. A pair who picks the sentence about being disappointed hears all three again and tries once more.

2. Build the crop and count it (5 min)

Under each crop name pairs lay five ten-strips, keeping the two groups apart, and count the whole crop by tens to one hundred with a finger on each strip. They write the total in the number box, then set the crop beside the ten strips that stand for the plain penny year and say what they notice.

1. Lay the two penny crops in rows (5 min)

Each pair builds ten ten-strips for the plain penny crop along the top row of the mat and five for the mixed crop along the bottom, left ends flush. They count each row by tens with a finger on each strip and write the two counts at the ends of the rows.

2. Measure the gap and say it forward (4 min)

Pairs run a finger along both rows together until the short row runs out, count the strips left sticking out past it, and say the gap aloud with a hand flat on the long row: the plain crop grew fifty more pennies than the mixed crop. Then each student writes that sentence.

3. Turn the sentence around (5 min)

Without moving a strip, each pair says the same fact starting from the short row: the mixed crop grew fifty fewer pennies than the plain crop. Partners check out loud that the mat did not change and the number did not change, then each student writes the reversed sentence on the recording sheet directly under the first one.

4. Do it again where the word has to change (6 min)

Pairs rebuild the mat for the second mixing year — seven ten-strips and five loose counters in each row, quarters above and pennies below — run the same finger check, and find no gap at all. They write both directions again, and this time neither sentence may use more or fewer. Pairs read all four of their sentences to another pair with a hand on the row each one names.

1. Measure the gap and say it forward (4 min)

Pairs run a finger along both rows together until the short row runs out, count the strips left sticking out past it, and say the gap aloud with a hand flat on the long row: the plain crop grew fifty more pennies than the mixed crop. Then each student writes that sentence.

2. Turn the sentence around (5 min)

Without moving a strip, each pair says the same fact starting from the short row: the mixed crop grew fifty fewer pennies than the plain crop. Partners check out loud that the mat did not change and the number did not change, then each student writes the reversed sentence on the recording sheet directly under the first one.

1. Read the two feeling lines aloud (5 min)

Read both printed lines aloud with a partner, one line each, and then swap. Put one finger on the word as each time you see it. Say out loud how Farmer Worth feels in the first line and how the narrator feels in the second, using only a feeling word: happy or sad.

Word preview: puddle

Farmer Worth always said he was as happy as a pig in a puddle.

The next spring, the tree didn’t flower at all. It just made leaves. From the barn, it looked like every other tree on the farm. I was as sad as a turkey who’s lost its gobble.

2. Split each comparison into its two halves (5 min)

On the comparison chart, draw a line down the middle. Write the feeling word on the left and the animal picture on the right for both printed lines. Then tell your partner what a pig in a puddle and a turkey with no gobble each look like, and why one goes with happy and the other with sad.

Word preview: comparison

Farmer Worth always said he was as happy as a pig in a puddle.

I was happy as a chicken in a wagon full of corn, until I added it all up.

3. Find the comparison that is not about a feeling (6 min)

Read the printed line and underline the words like a cat at a mouse hole. This one does not name a feeling; it tells you how the narrator watched. Act out watching like a cat at a mouse hole for five seconds, then write one sentence on your chart saying what that picture tells you about how closely the narrator watched.

Word preview: peculiar

That fall, Farmer Worth decided to try sheep biscuits as fertilizer for the tree. The next spring, when buds appeared on the tree, I watched them like a cat at a mouse hole.

4. Build one comparison of your own (4 min)

Finish this frame out loud, then write it on your chart: I was as ___ as a ___. Use a real animal and a picture a listener could see. Say your comparison to the class. Listeners give a thumbs up only when they can picture the animal doing the thing the speaker named.

1. Read the two feeling lines aloud (4 min)

Read both printed lines aloud with a partner, one line each. Put a finger on the word as each time. Say how Farmer Worth feels and how the narrator feels, using one feeling word for each.

Word preview: puddle

Farmer Worth always said he was as happy as a pig in a puddle.

The next spring, the tree didn’t flower at all. It just made leaves. From the barn, it looked like every other tree on the farm. I was as sad as a turkey who’s lost its gobble.

2. Split each comparison into its two halves (5 min)

Fold the chart down the middle. Write the feeling word on the left and the animal picture on the right for both printed lines. Tell your partner why the pig goes with happy and the turkey goes with sad.

Word preview: comparison

Farmer Worth always said he was as happy as a pig in a puddle.

I was happy as a chicken in a wagon full of corn, until I added it all up.

1. Say the farm noises out loud (5 min)

Read the printed line aloud together, then split into four groups: cow, chickens, pigs, sheep. Each group says only its own noise word from the line when the teacher points, then all four say them at once. Tell your partner why the book calls that a symphony.

Word preview: symphony

With the cow mooing, the chickens clucking, the pigs oinking, and the sheep baaing, it sure was a symphony of noises.

2. Hear the four dime words (6 min)

Read the printed passage aloud twice. The second time, tap your desk once on each of the four sound words for the dimes. Say the four words slowly in order and tell your partner which two sound almost the same and what one letter changes between them. Write the four words on your sound word list.

Word preview: chimes

“And don’t they make a lovely sound,” said Miss True. She closed her eyes to listen. The dimes pinged and tinged, clinked and plinked, making the tree sound like wind chimes.

3. Match each noise to its animal (5 min)

Read the printed homecoming passage with a partner. Draw four lines on your sound word list joining each animal to the noise word the book gives it. One of the four words is not an animal noise at all but a music word; circle it and say aloud which one it is.

Word preview: harmony

The chickens clucked a melody, and the pigs oinked in harmony. The sheep bleated a greeting, and the cow mooed halloo. It was the most joyful homecoming you ever did see.

4. Read one line so the class hears it (4 min)

Choose one sound word from your own sound word list and say it aloud to the class three times, making it actually sound like the thing it names. Then finish this frame aloud: I said ___ that way because it sounds like ___. Listeners name the word they heard most clearly.

1. Say the farm noises out loud (4 min)

Read the printed line aloud together in four groups: cow, chickens, pigs, sheep. Each group says only its own noise word, then all four at once. Say why the book calls that a symphony.

Word preview: symphony

With the cow mooing, the chickens clucking, the pigs oinking, and the sheep baaing, it sure was a symphony of noises.

2. Hear the four dime words (5 min)

Read the printed passage aloud and tap once on each of the four dime sound words. Say them in order and tell your partner which two nearly match and what one letter changes. Write all four on your list.

Word preview: chimes

“And don’t they make a lovely sound,” said Miss True. She closed her eyes to listen. The dimes pinged and tinged, clinked and plinked, making the tree sound like wind chimes.

1. Underline the time words in the growing lines (5 min)

Read the printed passage aloud with a partner. Underline the three words or phrases that tell you when: they come at the front of each sentence. Then say the three sentences aloud in the wrong order and tell your partner why it stops making sense.

Word preview: following

In just one week, the tree was as high as my knees. In two weeks, it was up to my shoulders. In three weeks, it was as tall as Farmer Worth.

2. Sort two seasons pairs onto the strip (6 min)

Read both printed passages. Each one names a fall and then a spring. Write the four time phrases onto your time word strip in the order the book gives them, and beside each one write in three words or fewer what happened then. Tell your partner which season always comes first in this book and which always comes after.

Word preview: season

That fall, we shoveled an old pile of pig squish all around the bottom of that penny tree. The following spring, little silver centers grew in flowers all over the tree.

That fall, we talked about the strange tree a lot. It had grown bigger and would need more fertilizer. Farmer Worth decided to use cow pies.

3. Put a three-part stretch back in order (5 min)

Your teacher hands you the printed passage cut into three sentence strips, shuffled. Lay them in order using only the time phrases at the front of each sentence, then check against the printed passage. Say aloud the one word that told you which strip goes first.

Word preview: patties

That summer, when Farmer Worth visited the zoo, he came home laughing and showed me a sack of Chinese panda patties that he brought back with him. That fall, we worked them into the soil around the tree. In the spring, new green leaves grew all over the tree.

4. Retell one stretch using three time words (4 min)

Retell one stretch of the story to a partner in three sentences. Start each sentence with a time phrase from your strip and do not use the word then more than once. Your partner listens with the strip in hand and taps the strip each time they hear one of the phrases.

1. Underline the time words in the growing lines (4 min)

Read the printed passage aloud with a partner and underline the three phrases at the front of the sentences that tell you when. Say the sentences in the wrong order and tell your partner why that stops making sense.

Word preview: following

In just one week, the tree was as high as my knees. In two weeks, it was up to my shoulders. In three weeks, it was as tall as Farmer Worth.

2. Sort two seasons pairs onto the strip (5 min)

Read both printed passages and write their four time phrases onto your strip in book order, with three words or fewer beside each about what happened. Say which season always comes first here.

Word preview: season

That fall, we shoveled an old pile of pig squish all around the bottom of that penny tree. The following spring, little silver centers grew in flowers all over the tree.

That fall, we talked about the strange tree a lot. It had grown bigger and would need more fertilizer. Farmer Worth decided to use cow pies.

1. Find who is talking in each set of marks (5 min)

Read the printed passage with a partner. Put a box around every pair of curly quote marks, then write the speaker's name in the margin beside each boxed part. Read it again aloud, one of you as Miss True and one as Farmer Worth, saying only what is inside the marks.

Word preview: declare

“I declare,” sang Miss True when she brought us a plate of homemade brownies, “Your tree is sprouting nickels, Mr. Worth!” “I call it my piggy bank tree,” said Farmer Worth, scratching his pig behind the ears.

2. Hear the correction and say both ways (6 min)

Read the printed passage aloud, one partner as the narrator and one as Miss True. Write the narrator's word and Miss True's word side by side on your speaker chart. Say each version aloud, then tell your partner which one you would use writing a note to a teacher and which one you would use talking to a friend.

Word preview: corrected

“These ain’t big enough for nickels, Farmer Worth!” I said. “Aren’t big enough,” corrected Miss True, who used to be a teacher.

3. Read a four-turn exchange without dropping a speaker (5 min)

This printed passage has four turns and only two speakers. Number the turns 1 to 4 in the margin and write who says each. One turn has no tag at all; mark it and tell your partner how you knew who was speaking. Then read all four turns aloud in character, taking turns.

Word preview: exchange

“How about my Dad’s bull?” I asked. “Dad would let us use some bull chips.” “He might,” said Farmer Worth. “But will the bull?”

4. Perform one exchange for the class (4 min)

With your partner, perform one exchange from your own speaker chart for the class. Say only the spoken words and let your voice carry the tag verb you wrote beside them: sang, said, asked, corrected. Listeners name the tag verb they think they heard, and the pair says whether that was the one on their chart.

1. Find who is talking in each set of marks (4 min)

Read the printed passage with a partner. Box every pair of quote marks and write the speaker's name beside each. Read it aloud in two voices, saying only the words inside the marks.

Word preview: declare

“I declare,” sang Miss True when she brought us a plate of homemade brownies, “Your tree is sprouting nickels, Mr. Worth!” “I call it my piggy bank tree,” said Farmer Worth, scratching his pig behind the ears.

2. Hear the correction and say both ways (5 min)

Read the printed passage aloud in two voices. Write the narrator's word and Miss True's word side by side on your chart, say both aloud, and tell your partner which one belongs in a note to a teacher.

Word preview: corrected

“These ain’t big enough for nickels, Farmer Worth!” I said. “Aren’t big enough,” corrected Miss True, who used to be a teacher.

1. Count how many times one phrase comes back (5 min)

Read the printed passage aloud together. Three sentences in a row use the same four words about ordinary things. Underline those four words every time they appear and say aloud how many times you underlined them. Tell your partner what the author is telling you about this farm by saying it three times.

Word preview: regular

Farmer Worth grew crops just like everybody else in these parts. He grew apples, plain old regular apples. He grew beans, plain old regular beans. All the animals on the farm were just plain old regular animals, too.

2. Find the sentence that breaks the pattern (5 min)

Read the second printed passage. Its first sentence takes the repeated words and puts one small word in front of them. Circle that word. On your log, write the repeated phrase on one line and the broken version underneath, then say aloud what changes in the story right at that sentence.

Word preview: sprouted

Farmer Worth grew crops just like everybody else in these parts. He grew apples, plain old regular apples. He grew beans, plain old regular beans. All the animals on the farm were just plain old regular animals, too.

Only one plant on that farm was not plain or regular. No one had planted it. It just sprouted up in a place where nothing ever grew before.

3. Read the line that comes back at the end (6 min)

Read both printed passages aloud, the first one first. One whole sentence appears in both, word for word. Underline it in each and copy it once onto your log. Tell your partner where each passage sits in the story, and say what is different about how the narrator feels the second time.

Word preview: breeze

The dimes pinged and tinged, clinked and plinked, making the tree sound like wind chimes. Folks said you could hear the music all through the hollow. Farmer Worth liked the music so much, he didn’t pick any of the dimes.

The next year when spring came, the sweet music of the dime tree could be heard whenever a breeze blew. The dimes pinged and tinged, clinked and plinked. Folks said you could hear the music all through the hollow. I had to admit that I had missed the sound, too.

4. Say why the author brought the line back (4 min)

Finish this frame aloud for the class, using your log: The author says ___ again at the end, and that tells me ___. Say the repeated sentence exactly as the book prints it. Listeners raise a hand if the speaker changed even one word of it.

1. Count how many times one phrase comes back (4 min)

Read the printed passage aloud. Underline the four repeated words about ordinary things every time they appear and say how many times you underlined them. Tell your partner what saying it three times shows about this farm.

Word preview: regular

Farmer Worth grew crops just like everybody else in these parts. He grew apples, plain old regular apples. He grew beans, plain old regular beans. All the animals on the farm were just plain old regular animals, too.

2. Read the line that comes back at the end (5 min)

Read both printed passages aloud, the first one first, and underline the one sentence that appears in both word for word. Copy it once onto your log and say what is different about how the narrator feels the second time.

Word preview: breeze

The dimes pinged and tinged, clinked and plinked, making the tree sound like wind chimes. Folks said you could hear the music all through the hollow. Farmer Worth liked the music so much, he didn’t pick any of the dimes.

The next year when spring came, the sweet music of the dime tree could be heard whenever a breeze blew. The dimes pinged and tinged, clinked and plinked. Folks said you could hear the music all through the hollow. I had to admit that I had missed the sound, too.