The Stranger By Chris Van Allsburg

1. The StrangerBy Chris Van Allsburg Essential Question: What is the identity of the stranger and how is it related to the seasonal change from summer to fall?

2. I can… • Draw inferences from a text and refer to details and examples in the text when explaining my inferences RL.4.1 • Determine the theme of a piece of literature RL.4.2 • Use specific details from the story to describe a character in depth RL.4.3

3. Day One: Launching the TextThe Stranger • Summary:In late summer, a farmer hits a man in the road with his truck. The speechless stranger then spends several weeks on the farm. The weather stays warm into autumn, and the leaves around the farm remain green. The stranger realizes something is wrong. he leaves the farm, and the weather returns to normal. • Genre: Fantasy: a story that could never really happen, describes events that could not really happen except in one’s imagination.

4. Day 1: Read and React • Preview text. What do you notice about the pictures and illustrations? • Read and React: Take 20 minutes to read the text closely with your pencil in your hand. Write down everything you are thinking on post its (questions, reactions, inferences, predictions, new learning, new vocab….) • Zoom in: As you read, notice how the pictures play an important part in telling the story and describing the character.

5. Day 1: Think, Pair, Share • Describe the setting in your own words (using clues from the text). • What does it mean when the author writes that Farmer Brown was “fearing the worst”? Use evidence from the text. • What clues do the pictures give us that the words do not? What do you think happened to the leaf and the stranger after “he blew on the leaf with all his might”?

6. Day Two: Gathering Evidence • An effect is the result of an event or action. • A cause explains why it happened. • Clue words such as because, in order to, so, and as a result to link causes and effects. • If these words are missing, readers need to infer the cause-and-effect relationships on their own.

7. Day Two: Gathering Evidence On your post it notes, jot down: • Clues that could help solve the identity of the stranger • Clues that connect the story to the changing of seasons • One cause/effect relationship • New vocabulary

8. Day Two: Text Based Trivia!Winning pods: sweet treat at SSR Each correct answer is worth five points. Answer on notebook paper. You must include a page number to cite your evidence! • How does the stranger communicate with the Baileys without using words? • How is the change of season at the Bailey’s farm different from the other farms? • Why does Farmer Bailey say that the weather has been “peculiar”? • What does the stranger notice about the weather and how does he feel?

9. Day Three: Making MeaningVocab Focus • Locate these words in the text • peculiar • hermit • hypnotized • your choice • Create four “vocab quadrants” in your reading journal and define the words as you read with your partner today • Reread The Stranger with your partner.

10. Day Three: Vocab Focus • What did you infer these words to mean? • peculiar: strange • hypnotized: put under a trance, deep sleep • drab: not attractive, dull • Copy down the vocab into your word study journal

11. Day Four: Writing About Reading • Let’s read the question together, unpack it, and brainstorm some ideas for answers. Find evidence in the text. Develop a theory about the identity of the stranger and use evidence from the story to support your thinking. • Partner up and share your thinking. • Write your response and then answer the multiple choice questions.

12. Day Five: Closure • Chris Van Allsburg uses concrete words, phrases, and descriptive sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely. • Find an example of concrete words, phrases, or descriptive details. Let’s add to our class anchor chart. • What from the chart will you use in your own narrative today?