LESSON 2 TEACHER’S GUIDE A Mexican Festival by Rita Cruz Fountas-Pinnell Level J Realistic Fiction Selection Summary Nora goes to a Mexican festival with Alma and her family. Each time Nora thinks she has seen the best part of the festival, Alma tells her, “Just wait!” Number of Words: 267 Characteristics of the Text Genre Text Structure Content Themes and Ideas Language and Literary Features Sentence Complexity Vocabulary Words Illustrations Book and Print Features Realistic fiction Third-person narrative Series of events related to one topic Mexican festival Information about Mexico Cultural traditions should be shared and celebrated. Sharing new experiences with friends is rewarding. Some patterned language: ___ must be the best part of the festival. ___ is great, but it’s not the best part. Repeated sentence: Just wait! All dialogue assigned, most of it split: “This isn’t even the best part,” said Alma. “Just wait!” Multiple items in series: It was a big party with lots of people, food, and music. Character names: Nora, Alma Country and related adjective: Mexico, Mexican Food and related adjective: taco, salsa, spicy One- and two-syllable words with a few three-syllable words: Mexican, festival, family Colorful, detailed illustrations add information beyond the text. Nine pages of text, illustrations on every page Punctuation: period, comma, quotation marks, exclamation point, question mark, ellipsis © 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H. Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. Permission is he