LESSON 6 TEACHER’S GUIDE Fox and Crow by Grace Fahey Fountas-Pinnell Level I Fable Selection Summary Fox tricks Crow into dropping the cheese she has in her beak by admiring her and asking her to sing. When crow begins to sing, she drops the cheese. Too late, she realizes that Fox did not admire her voice but just wanted her cheese. Number of Words: 333 Characteristics of the Text Genre Text Structure Content Themes and Ideas Language and Literary Features Sentence Complexity Vocabulary Words Illustrations Book and Print Features Fable Narrative with multiple episodes and little repetition of similar episodes Plot proceeds in sequence to the end, with problem presented on second page of story: Fox wanted Crow’s cheese. Using flattery to achieve a goal Animal names and typical behaviors: tricky Fox, Crow caws but can’t sing. Animals behave and talk like people but do not wear clothing. Moral lesson: Don’t trust those who flatter you lest they take advantage of you. Predictable characters Some largely repetitive language: Crow said nothing. Crow still said nothing. Crow smiled but still said nothing. Text presents two points of view: Fox’s and Crow’s. Some long sentences (more than 10 words) Sentences with embedded clauses and phrases, and use of commas to set words Some split dialogue, all assigned: “Maybe you can’t hear me, Crow,” said Fox. “Maybe I am too far away. I will come closer.” Wide variety of words to assign dialogue: called, said, thought, added, screeched Wide range of high-frequency words: high, food, ground, down, her, call, would Many words with inflectional ending –ed: dropped, wanted, decided, tried, smiled Illustrations support interpretation of Fox’s motives. The beginning of each paragraph is indented. Many sentences carry over two or three lines. Punctuation: commas, periods, exclamation points, question mark, quotation marks © 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluen