Fifth graders “gathered around the fire, where embers of a dying flame glowed upon the hearth” (to quote from our story) in the Jackson Library this week. They huddled around the imaginary fire to hear a spooky story that is also a mystery to solve, The Widow’s Broom by Chris van Allsburg. We tacked STAAR strategies like using context clues, making inferences, and mapping the broom’s character traits. At the tables, the kids had a choice to use Texting Story to re-create a text message ‘conversation’ between two of the characters or to use Toontastic to animate one section of the story. They had fun and were so creative!
Teacher’s Guide for The Widow’s Broom
Widows Broom II questions
TEK 6: Reading Comprehension of Literary Text/Fiction: Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected to:
A) describe the incidents that advance the story or novel, explaining how each incident gives rise to foreshadow future events
B) explain the roles and functions of characters in various plots, including their relationships and conflicts
