The unit in one line
This is a Western with mosquitoes as the gang, and the stranger who rides in to run them out of town does it with a list of household chores.
Where you can see it:
- The opening — Big Mo and the Squitos are introduced as a gang of pests who swarmed through the neighbourhood, and the town took care of them and showed them who was boss. The frame is set before a single mosquito bites anybody.
- The clubhouse — Big Mo sits at ease in the clubhouse with the Squitos around him and gives the order: let's go guys, bite those humans, have a treat. A gang boss with a hideout and a crew.
- The town meeting — Everyone from the smallest child up to the mayor is squirming and scratching, and a voice from the back calls out the answer. The town is a town in trouble, and the rescue arrives from the crowd.
- The stranger — The crowd wonders who this person incognito is. He tips his hat and says howdy, and announces he has come to get rid of the mosquitoes. He is never named and never seen again after the plan.
- The gang leaves — Big Mo worries because the town put up a fight, sends in an undercover agent, and the report that comes back is bad. Big Mo and the Squitos have to find a new hood. The villains are run out of town, and nobody ever swats one.
Reading schedule
Where the class is in the book
| Session | Reading | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | First reading, whole book, read aloud straight through | 30 |
| 2 | Second reading, from the town meeting through to the end of the fourth step | 30 |
| 3 | Third reading, the ending only, then back across the ledger | 30 |
The thing students build
The Run-Them-Out Ledger
One row per part of the story: what Big Mo's gang does, what the town does back, and which of the stranger's four steps that was.
Created in Session 1. Used by The Session 3 announcement, where students deliver the plan the way the stranger did.
The column that carries all three levels. The what-the-town-does-back column. A Support answer copies the step from the book — tidy the lawns, empty the containers. An Extension answer writes the same step and says what it takes away from a mosquito, which the book never states and has to be worked out. Both are about the same row and can be read side by side.
One sheet, one row per session. Print it once at the start of the unit. A student who has lost it has lost the unit, not one lesson.
What it all builds to
Session 3
One of the stranger's four steps announced to the town the way he would have said it, followed by one sentence saying what that step takes away from the gang.
What a Support student hands in. The same step announced to the town the way the stranger would have said it, chosen from the four already on the ledger and rehearsed with a partner first, with the what-it-takes-away part built on a printed frame and shown by pointing at the ledger row.
Draws on sessions 1, 2.
The sessions
1Meet the Gang
30 minutes · First reading, whole book, read aloud straight through
Two verses in, the class hears that this is a gang story. They collect the words that make it one, then chart what Big Mo's crew actually does.
Where everyone ends up
The mosquitoes in this book have a boss, a clubhouse and a crew, and the words the story uses for them are the words you would use for a gang.
The one question the three levels answer
What words does this book use for the mosquitoes, and what do those words make them?
Three ways into the book
Solo
Supported
Listening
This session runs in all three. How a student takes the book in is not the same question as how hard their work is.
Opening move
Read the first two verses and stop. Ask what kind of story this sounds like. Wait — somebody will say a gang story before anybody says mosquitoes.
What this session inherits and leaves
- Inherits: nothing — this is the opener
- Leaves: The Run-Them-Out Ledger, created, with three rows filled through the what-the-gang-does column.
Standard for the selected region
Steps — 30 minutes in total
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| Who are the bad guys | Read the first two verses only. Ask what kind of story this sounds like, and wait for the room to name it before you do. |
| Read the rest | Read aloud without stopping. Students listen out for words that belong to gangs and cowboys rather than to insects. |
| Collect the words | Put them on the board as they come: gang, boss, clubhouse, crew, treat, incognito, undercover agent, hood. For each, ask what it turns the mosquitoes into. |
| Start the ledger | Three rows recording what the gang does, each with a place or a time. The town column stays empty and say so out loud. |
| Anchor and out | Collect the anchor answer at the door. |
What to expect them to get wrong
Students read it as a story about insects and miss the frame entirely, so the word list fills with mosquito words instead of gang words.
Would you use the word clubhouse about a fly? Or boss? These are the words for people. Which ones does this book use?
Would you use the word clubhouse about a fly? Or boss? These are the words for people. Which ones does this book use?
Closing check
Every sheet has at least five gang-or-Western words from the book, and three ledger rows each carrying a place or a time.
Three levels of the one lesson
SupportEight words are printed on a strip, four of them from the book and four not. The student picks out the four that appear and says what each makes the mosquitoes into. Two ledger rows instead of three.
At gradeCollect at least five words from the book, say what they make the mosquitoes into, and build three ledger rows each carrying a place or a time.
ExtensionFind the one word in the book that belongs to a Western rather than a gangster film, and say what changes when the story uses it.
The question everyone answers
What words does this book use for the mosquitoes, and what do those words make them?
Word for word on all three worksheets, so one closing discussion covers the room. If a Support answer and an Extension answer would not belong in the same conversation, the session needs rewriting.
English learners
The gang words are concrete and most have a picture behind them — boss, crew, clubhouse — so they can be drawn as well as written. Give the word strip so the task is picking rather than hunting. A student who knows a gang story from film or television in any language has exactly the background this session needs, and it is worth asking who does before you start.
Materials
Comes with the lesson
- The Run-Them-Out Ledger, four columns, five ruled rows
- Word strip of eight for the support tier
- Anchor slips
Or use instead
- The ledger rules up in an exercise book
- The word list can live on the board rather than on a sheet
Student worksheets
Support
Gang Words (Helper Version)
Where to look: First reading, whole book. The first two verses set it up.
- Four of these eight are in the book. Circle them: gang / hive / boss / buzz / clubhouse / wings / hood / swarm.
- What does the word gang make the mosquitoes into? ______
- What does the word clubhouse make them into? ______
- Ledger row 1 — what does the gang do? ______ Where or when? ______
- Ledger row 2 — what does the gang do? ______ Where or when? ______
- Anchor question — everyone answers this one. What words does this book use for the mosquitoes, and what do those words make them? It uses ______ , and that makes them ______ .
- Check — four words circled and two rows filled.
At grade
The Run-Them-Out Ledger
Where to look: First reading, whole book.
- Five or more words from the book that belong to gangs or cowboys: ______
- Pick two. What does each one make the mosquitoes into? ______
- Ledger row 1 — the gang does: ______ Place or time: ______
- Ledger row 2 — the gang does: ______ Place or time: ______
- Ledger row 3 — the gang does: ______ Place or time: ______
- Anchor question — everyone answers this one. What words does this book use for the mosquitoes, and what do those words make them? ______
- Check — five words, and three rows each with a place or a time.
Extension
Gangster or Western?
Where to look: First reading, whole book, and look hard at the verse where the stranger arrives.
- The gang words: ______
- One word in this book belongs to a Western rather than a gangster film. Which? ______
- What changes about the story when it uses that word? ______
- Are the mosquitoes a gang, or is the town a Western town? Can it be both? ______
- Three ledger rows with place or time: ______
- Anchor question — everyone answers this one. What words does this book use for the mosquitoes, and what do those words make them? ______
- Check — the Western word is named and the answer says what it changes.
Exit ticket
Write one word this book uses for the mosquitoes that you would normally use about people.
Vocabulary
May be pre-taught
- incognito — hiding who you really are (The town meeting, when the stranger appears)
- stagnant — water that sits still and never moves (The second step of the plan)
- transmitting — passing something on from one to another (The clubhouse verse, about the virus)
Teacher key
- Gang and gangster words from the book: gang, boss, crew, clubhouse, treat, undercover agent, hood, took a loss.
- Western words: howdy, tipped his hat, stranger, and the whole shape of a town in trouble waiting for someone to ride in. Incognito sits between the two.
- What the words do: they make the mosquitoes into people with a plan, which makes them a proper enemy rather than a nuisance. That is why the ending works — a nuisance gets swatted, but a gang has to be run out of town.
- Ledger rows available: they swarm at dusk when night begins to fall; they target people at barbecues and picnics; they bite anyone they meet; some of them carry disease and transmit a virus.
- For the extension, the strongest answer is howdy or tipped his hat. Both turn the rescue into a Western — the stranger who arrives, fixes the town, and is never seen again. A student who says the story is a gangster story until the stranger shows up and a Western afterwards has read it better than most adults would.
- Do not correct a student who says the mosquitoes are just insects. Ask them to find the word clubhouse and read the line, and let the book do the arguing.
Common wrong turn. The word list fills with buzz, swarm and wings — real mosquito words that are not doing the job. Ask whether you would say clubhouse about a fly.
Formative checklist
| Part of the standard | Practised in | Visible in |
|---|---|---|
| Describe the characters — the gang, its boss, and the town | Steps 1 and 3, students name who the story treats as villains and what words do it | The word list on the board and copied onto the sheet |
| Describe characters' behaviour — what the gang actually does | Step 4, three ledger rows recording the gang's moves | The what-the-gang-does column on three rows |
| Describe the setting — the neighbourhood, and the time of day the gang works | Step 4, each row records where and when: barbecues, picnics, the hours of dusk | The ledger rows, which must carry a place or a time |
| Identify plot structure — trouble established before any rescue arrives | Step 2, students hear the whole book and notice the town is losing for most of it | The empty town column, which stays empty on purpose |
Noted by the writer
- Catalogue access facts (text_on_screen, narration, illustrations_displayed) were not supplied for this title, so all three are assumed true and every mode is available.
- Built from the words only; no spreads were supplied. This session is entirely about word choice, which is text, so it holds without the pictures.
2The Stranger's Four Steps
30 minutes · Second reading, from the town meeting through to the end of the fourth step
The town meeting, the stranger, and the four numbered steps. Students get the order right and match each step to the trouble it answers.
Where everyone ends up
The stranger's weapon against a gang of mosquitoes is four ordinary jobs, given in an order he does not let anybody rearrange.
The one question the three levels answer
What are the stranger's four steps, in the order he gives them?
Three ways into the book
Solo
Supported
Listening
This session runs in all three. How a student takes the book in is not the same question as how hard their work is.
Opening move
Ask what a town does when it has a problem nobody can fix alone. Then read the meeting, where everybody from the smallest child to the mayor is scratching.
What this session inherits and leaves
- Inherits: The Run-Them-Out Ledger with three rows from Session 1.
- Leaves: The town column filled on every row, and the four steps written in order.
Standard for the selected region
Steps — 30 minutes in total
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| The meeting | Reread the town meeting. Ask what state the town is in before anyone helps, and who the voice from the back turns out to be. |
| Four steps, in order | Students write the four steps in the order the stranger gives them, numbered. Say plainly that the order is his and is not to be rearranged. |
| Match them up | Fill the town column on the ledger: which step answers which of the gang's moves from Session 1. |
| Retell the middle | In pairs, one retells from the meeting to the end of the plan in their own words while the other checks the order against the ledger. |
| Anchor and out | Collect. |
What to expect them to get wrong
The retell becomes a list of the four chores with the story stripped out, because the chores are the most memorable part.
Start again with the meeting. Who was there, what were they doing, and who spoke from the back? The steps come after that, not instead of it.
Start again with the meeting. Who was there, what were they doing, and who spoke from the back? The steps come after that, not instead of it.
Closing check
Every sheet has the four steps numbered in the stranger's order, and every partner check records whether the retell had the meeting, the stranger and the plan in it.
Three levels of the one lesson
SupportThe four steps are printed out of order on cards and the student puts them in the stranger's order. The retell is done to a partner with the ledger open in front of them.
At gradeWrite the four steps in order from the book, match them to the gang's moves, and retell the middle unaided.
ExtensionSay why the stranger puts the steps in that order, and whether any two could swap without the plan getting worse.
The question everyone answers
What are the stranger's four steps, in the order he gives them?
Word for word on all three worksheets, so one closing discussion covers the room. If a Support answer and an Extension answer would not belong in the same conversation, the session needs rewriting.
English learners
Ordering four printed cards is the same thinking as writing the four steps and costs almost no English, so use the cards whatever tier the student is otherwise on. For the retell, allow the ledger to be pointed at while speaking. The partner check is three boxes to tick, which any student can do for a partner regardless of their own production.
Materials
Comes with the lesson
- The Run-Them-Out Ledger from Session 1
- Four step cards, out of order, for the support tier
- Partner check slips listing meeting, stranger, plan
Or use instead
- The step cards can be written on scrap paper cut in four
- The retell can be done to the teacher if a pair does not work
Student worksheets
Support
Put the Steps in Order (Helper Version)
Where to look: Second reading. From the town meeting to the end of the fourth step.
- Put these four in the stranger's order: wear light colours and cover up / tidy the lawns and shrubs / put on insect repellent / get rid of standing water.
- Step 1 is ______ .
- Step 2 is ______ .
- Step 3 is ______ .
- Step 4 is ______ .
- Who said them? ______
- Anchor question — everyone answers this one. What are the stranger's four steps, in the order he gives them? 1 ______ 2 ______ 3 ______ 4 ______
- Check — four steps in the right order, and you know who gave them.
At grade
The Stranger's Four Steps
Where to look: Second reading. The town meeting through to the end of the plan.
- What state was the town in before anyone helped? ______
- Who spoke from the back, and what did he say first? ______
- The four steps, numbered in his order: 1 ______ 2 ______ 3 ______ 4 ______
- Which step answers the gang swarming at dusk? ______
- Which step answers them breeding? ______
- Partner check on my retell — meeting: yes / no. Stranger: yes / no. Plan in order: yes / no.
- Anchor question — everyone answers this one. What are the stranger's four steps, in the order he gives them? ______
- Check — four steps in his order, and a retell that had all three parts.
Extension
Why That Order?
Where to look: Second reading. The meeting through to the end of the plan.
- The four steps in the stranger's order: ______
- Why do you think he puts them in that order? ______
- Could any two swap without the plan getting worse? Which, and why? ______
- Which step would you drop if the town could only do three? What would it cost them? ______
- Partner check on my retell — meeting, stranger, plan in order: ______
- Anchor question — everyone answers this one. What are the stranger's four steps, in the order he gives them? ______
- Check — the order argument rests on what each step does, not on how easy it is.
Exit ticket
What is the stranger's first step? What is his second?
Vocabulary
May be pre-taught
- eaves — the edges of a roof that hang out over the walls (The second step)
- repellent — something you put on your skin to keep insects away (The fourth step)
- breed — to have young; where mosquitoes lay their eggs (The second step, about containers)
Teacher key
- The four steps in the stranger's order: one, tidy up lawns and shrubs where mosquitoes rest. Two, remove all stagnant water — eaves, drains, soggy leaves and twigs, a flat roof after rain, and any container that fills up, including flower pots, cans, pools and barrels. Three, wear light colours instead of dark and cover arms and legs. Four, apply insect repellent carefully, and for children a grown-up should do it, avoiding hands, mouth and eyes.
- The state of the town: everybody at the meeting is squirming, swatting and itching, from the smallest child up to the mayor. Barbecues have become unpleasant and picnics are no longer fun.
- The voice from the back says get rid of standing waters before anyone knows who he is. The introduction comes after the advice, which is worth pointing at.
- Matching: step two answers the breeding, step one answers where they rest during the day, steps three and four answer the biting at dusk.
- For the extension, the order runs from taking away where they live, to taking away where they breed, to protecting people — from the mosquitoes' side of it to the town's side of it. Steps three and four could reasonably swap. Steps one and two could not sensibly come after three and four, because the first two remove the problem and the last two only manage it.
- The retell to send back is four chores with no story. Ask who was scratching, and it comes back.
Common wrong turn. The retell becomes a chore list. Ask them to begin with the meeting and name one person who was there, and the story reassembles around it.
Formative checklist
| Part of the standard | Practised in | Visible in |
|---|---|---|
| Retell a text to enhance comprehension | Step 4, one student retells the middle of the story while the partner checks the order | The partner's check against the ledger, marked in order or out of order |
| Use main story elements — the town in trouble, the stranger, the plan | Step 1 establishes the state of the town and who arrives; Step 4 requires all three in the retell | The partner check, which lists the three to look for |
| In a logical sequence — the four steps in the order the stranger gives them | Step 2, students number the four steps as given, and are told not to reorder them | The numbered list, checked against the book |
| For a literary text — the retell is of the story, not of the procedure | Step 4 asks for the meeting through to the end of the plan as a story, with the stranger in it | The partner check, which fails a retell that is only a list of chores |
Noted by the writer
- Catalogue access facts were not supplied for this title, so all three are assumed true and every mode is available.
- The four steps must be got in the stranger's order, which needs the wording to be reachable. Ordering cards makes that possible by ear as well as in print.
3Say It Like the Stranger
30 minutes · Third reading, the ending only, then back across the ledger
The gang leaves without anybody swatting a single mosquito. Students work out what each chore actually cost them, then announce a step to the town the way the stranger would have.
Where everyone ends up
Nobody in this book ever swats a mosquito — the gang leaves because four ordinary jobs took away everything they needed.
The one question the three levels answer
What does each step take away from the mosquitoes?
Three ways into the book
Solo
Supported
Listening
This session runs in all three. How a student takes the book in is not the same question as how hard their work is.
Opening move
Read the ending. Then ask one question and let it sit: does anybody in this whole book ever swat a mosquito?
What this session inherits and leaves
- Inherits: The complete Run-Them-Out Ledger from Session 2.
- Leaves: nothing — this is the closer
Standard for the selected region
Steps — 30 minutes in total
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| How it ends | Read the ending. Big Mo sends in an undercover agent, the report comes back bad, the gang has to find a new hood. Then ask whether anybody ever swats one. |
| What it costs them | Fill the fourth column. For each step, what do the mosquitoes lose? The book does not say, so this has to be worked out from what the step removes. |
| Practise the voice | The stranger tips his hat and says howdy. Students take one step each and try saying it as an announcement to a whole town, twice. |
| Announce it | Each student announces their step to the class and adds one sentence on what it takes away from the gang. Name the word that must carry before starting. |
| Collect | Take in every ledger and every announcement slip. |
What to expect them to get wrong
Students say the town won because they killed the mosquitoes, which is exactly what the book never shows and never says.
Find me the line where somebody kills one. There is not one. So what actually made the gang leave?
Find me the line where somebody kills one. There is not one. So what actually made the gang leave?
Closing check
Every ledger has the fourth column filled on every row, and every announcement has a step said clearly plus one sentence on what it takes away.
Three levels of the one lesson
SupportThe step is chosen from the four already on the ledger and the what-it-takes-away sentence is built on a printed frame. Rehearsed twice with one partner before the room hears it.
At gradeChoose a step, work out what it takes away, announce it and say the consequence in a whole sentence.
ExtensionAnnounce the step and then answer one objection from the room — somebody who says it sounds like too much work.
The question everyone answers
What does each step take away from the mosquitoes?
Word for word on all three worksheets, so one closing discussion covers the room. If a Support answer and an Extension answer would not belong in the same conversation, the session needs rewriting.
English learners
The step itself is copied from the book, so the first half of the announcement is reading aloud rather than composing. The frame carries the second half: this takes away their ______ . Let it be rehearsed with a partner twice. Announcing to a room is easier than conversation because the words are fixed in advance, and this is one of the safest speaking tasks in the fleet.
Materials
Comes with the lesson
- Announcement slips with two ruled lines and a word box
- The completed Run-Them-Out Ledger
- Printed frame for the support tier
Or use instead
- A hat of any kind is worth having for the announcements and is not required
- The slip can be written on the back of the ledger
Student worksheets
Support
My Announcement (Helper Version)
Where to look: Third reading. The ending, then look back at the four steps on your ledger.
- My step number: ___ My step says: ______
- Choose what it takes away: their hiding places / the water they breed in / the skin they bite / their chance to find you in the dark.
- This takes away their ______ .
- The word I want the whole town to hear: ______
- Did anybody in the book swat a mosquito? yes / no
- Anchor question — everyone answers this one. What does each step take away from the mosquitoes? Step ___ takes away ______ .
- Check — my step said clearly, and one sentence about what it takes away.
At grade
Say It Like the Stranger
Where to look: Third reading. The ending, then across the whole ledger.
- Fourth column — step 1 takes away: ______
- Step 2 takes away: ______
- Step 3 takes away: ______
- Step 4 takes away: ______
- The step I will announce, and how I will say it: ______
- The word that must carry to the back of the room: ______
- Anchor question — everyone answers this one. What does each step take away from the mosquitoes? ______
- Check — four rows filled, and an announcement with a step and a consequence.
Extension
Answer the Objection
Where to look: Third reading. The ending, the four steps, and Big Mo's worry near the end.
- The fourth column on all four rows: ______
- My step, announced: ______
- Somebody says that sounds like too much work. My answer: ______
- Big Mo worries because the town put up a fight. Which step do you think worried him most? ______
- What makes you say that one? ______
- Anchor question — everyone answers this one. What does each step take away from the mosquitoes? ______
- Check — the objection is answered from what the step does, not from telling people to try harder.
Exit ticket
Pick one of the four steps. What does it take away from the mosquitoes?
Teacher key
- Nobody swats a mosquito anywhere in this book. Not once. That is the whole point of the ending and most classes will not have noticed.
- What each step takes away. One, tidying lawns and shrubs: the places they rest during the day. Two, removing stagnant water: the places they breed, which is the one that ends them. Three, light colours and covered arms: the easy target. Four, repellent: the last of the exposed skin.
- The strongest answer is step two. Big Mo's problem at the end is that his gang cannot get a good bite, but the reason they have to leave the hood entirely is that there is nowhere left to breed. A student who works that out has read the ending against the plan.
- What made the gang leave: the town removed what they needed rather than attacking them. The story is a Western where the sheriff wins by cleaning up the town, literally.
- For the extension objection, the answer that works is that it is one afternoon of jobs against a whole summer of bites. An answer that just says you should do it anyway has not used the ledger.
- The word that must carry will usually be stagnant or repellent. Both are worth practising and both are hard. Accept whichever the student names.
Common wrong turn. The class decides the town won by killing the mosquitoes. Ask for the line where somebody does. There is not one, and the search is what teaches it.
Formative checklist
| Part of the standard | Practised in | Visible in |
|---|---|---|
| Present information orally | Step 4, every student announces one step to the class as though to a whole town | The announcement itself, and whether the room can repeat the step back |
| Using complete sentences | Step 3 rehearses the step as a spoken instruction; Step 4 adds a second whole sentence on what it costs the gang | The written pair on the announcement slip, collected |
| Appropriate volume | Step 3, the announcement is aimed at a whole town rather than at a neighbour | Whether students at the back can repeat the step back |
| Clear pronunciation | Step 4, the student names the word that must carry before starting — usually stagnant or repellent | The marked word on the slip, and whether the room caught it |
Noted by the writer
- Catalogue access facts were not supplied for this title, so all three are assumed true and every mode is available.
- The fourth column is inference rather than retrieval — the book never says what the steps cost the mosquitoes. That is deliberate and it is the hardest thinking in the unit.
Before Session 1
Entry diagnostic — 10 minutes
The opening verse
Big Mo and the Squitos were a gang of insect pests who once swarmed through our neighborhood like a group of unwelcome guests. It began when the weather turned. That spring and summer were quite warm. As the temperature started to rise, the mosquitoes began to swarm.
Big Mo and the Squitos were a gang of insect pests who once swarmed through our neighborhood like a group of unwelcome guests. It began when the weather turned. That spring and summer were quite warm. As the temperature started to rise, the mosquitoes began to swarm.
Can they read it
- What were Big Mo and the Squitos, and where did they swarm?
- The passage says they were like something. Like what?
- When did the trouble begin, according to the passage?
What they bring
- Have you ever been bitten by an insect? What did you do about it?
- What jobs do the grown-ups where you live do to keep things tidy outside?
One skill probe
If I called a group of birds a crew with a boss, what would that make them sound like?
What it tells you. The three access items measure whether a student can hold facts from rhyming verse where the rhyme is doing most of the work on the ear. This book is harder to read than it sounds, and a student can follow the beat happily while retaining nothing. Anyone who misses two of the three needs Session 1 as read-aloud with the verse taken slowly. The two background questions have no right answer; the second one tells you who already has a picture of outdoor jobs at home, which is exactly the knowledge Session 2's four steps rest on. The skill probe is Session 1 in miniature and it is the sharpest item on this diagnostic: can a student notice that a word chosen for people, used about animals, changes what the animals are. A student who says it would make them sound like people, or like a team, has the whole unit already.
If results are weak. If the access items are weak across the class, read the opening verse twice and put Big Mo, the Squitos and the neighbourhood on the board as three labelled things before Session 1 starts. Verse hides its facts and that is not worth fighting mid-lesson. If only the skill probe is weak, play it two or three more times before opening the book — a herd of cows with a boss, a flock of sheep with a clubhouse — taking the time from Session 1 Step 4. That game is the entire first session and it costs three minutes.
Teacher packet only
Culminating rubric
One of the stranger's four steps announced to the town the way he would have said it, followed by one sentence saying what that step takes away from the gang.
| What is judged | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The step is delivered accurately | The step is said in full and in the book's own terms, and the room could act on it. | The step is said in full. | The step is roughly right but leaves out what to do. | The step is named but not stated. |
| What it takes away | Names what the mosquitoes lose and says why that particular loss matters to them. | Names what the mosquitoes lose. | Says it helps without saying what is lost. | No consequence given. |
| The announcement voice | Delivered as though to a whole crowd, with a change of manner from ordinary speech that the room can hear. | Delivered to the room rather than to a neighbour. | Delivered at conversation pitch. | Read off the slip with the head down. |
| Complete sentences | Both parts are whole sentences and the second follows the first without a restart. | Both parts are whole sentences. | One is whole and one is a fragment. | Delivered in fragments. |
| Volume | A student at the back can repeat the step back afterwards. | Reaches most of the room. | Reaches the front rows only. | A repeat has to be asked for. |
| Clear pronunciation | Every word lands, and the marked word — usually stagnant or repellent — is unmistakable. | Every word lands. | Most words land; the marked word is swallowed. | The room cannot make out what the step asks for. |
| Answering an objection beyond grade | Answers from what the step does — one afternoon of jobs against a whole summer — rather than by telling people to try harder. | Answers the objection with something from the book. | Answers by insisting rather than by reasoning. | No objection taken. |
After the culminating task
Student reflection — 5 minutes
- Which step did you choose, and why that one?
- Was it harder to say the step or to say what it takes away? What made it harder?
- Name one thing you would do differently if you announced it again tomorrow.
- Somebody made their step sound important. How did they do it?
Said plainly
What this plan does not do
- There is no writing outcome beyond the four steps and one sentence. The unit charts and announces.
- The stranger is never named or explained and the plan does not resolve that, because the book does not. A class will ask who he was.
- West Nile virus is named in the book and the plan does not teach it. A teacher will need to decide how much to say, particularly in a region where it is real.
- The unit treats the four steps as a story element rather than as instructions to follow. If the school wants them followed, that is a separate conversation and a separate lesson.
Teacher packet only
Considered and left out
Everything below was weighed against the book and refused. It is here so you can see where the line was drawn.
| Skill | Why not | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Theme (ELA.2.R.1.2) | MERGED | What the book is saying — that the boring jobs are the ones that win — arrives in Session 3 through the fourth column and is stated in the announcements. |
| Compare two texts (ELA.2.R.3.3) | EVIDENCE | Needs a second text this unit does not have, though a Western would pair beautifully. |
| Context clues (ELA.2.V.1.3) | MERGED | Incognito and undercover are the two words worth working out and they are the heart of Session 1, where they are collected as gang words rather than as a vocabulary exercise. |
| Character perspectives (ELA.2.R.1.3) | EVIDENCE | Big Mo is the only character with anything like an attitude, and the townspeople are a crowd. There is not enough here for an honest perspective session. |
| Rhyme | WEEKLY | The book rhymes throughout and would serve a rhyme lesson well. So would any rhyming book. |
| Fluency practice | WEEKLY | Runs with any book at this grade. |
| A science unit on mosquitoes and disease | SWAP | The book carries real public-health content, including West Nile virus. That is worth teaching and it is not a reading lesson; building the unit on it would mean teaching the topic instead of the book. |