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Copywork
About This Passage
This passage was chosen because it is the exact moment of Brian's big idea in this chapter: he has been looking for the wrong thing all along. The passage uses three vocabulary words (bird, color, shape) in a small space, and it models an important thought for young readers — sometimes when we cannot find something, the problem is not that it is hidden. The problem is that we are looking for the wrong clue. Copying this passage teaches pupils that good thinking often means changing what you are looking for.
He had been looking for feathers, for the color of the bird, for a bird sitting there. He had to look for the outline instead, had to see the shape instead of the feathers or color, had to train his e...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Tell the story of chapter fifteen in four or five sentences. Start with Brian getting tired of fish and wanting meat, move through his frustration with the foolbirds that explode out of nowhere, tell about the moment he figures out to look for the SHAPE of the bird instead of the color, and end with the taste of First Meat.
Discussion Questions
- What in the story tells you Brian is tired of eating only fish? How do you know he has been dreaming and thinking about meat for a long time?
- What makes you think the foolbirds are hard to see at first? How can you tell from the story that Brian gets surprised over and over?
+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide
Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
The soft flesh of animals or birds that people eat as food.
Item 2
The outline or form of something — how it looks around the edges.
Item 3
What you call red, blue, green, or any other kind of look something has to your eyes.
+ 5 more vocabulary words in the complete study guide
Critical Thinking
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