9 The Kabuki Kid - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Number of Words: 773

L E S S O N 9 T E A C H E R ’ S G U I D E

The Kabuki Kidby Katrina Van Horn

Fountas-Pinnell Level PRealistic FictionSelection SummaryAndy is reluctantly dragged to the theater by his parents to see his uncle perform in kabuki, traditional Japanese theater. In spite of himself, Andy is swept along by the artistry of the play, even though he has no idea which character his uncle plays.

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Characteristics of the Text Genre • Realistic fi ction

Text Structure • Third-person narrative with the plot organized chronologicallyContent • Japanese culture and Kabuki theater

• Generational differences (modern vs. traditional)Themes and Ideas • It is important to honor and support family members.

• There is value in exploring your cultural background.Language and

Literary Features• Conversational language includes several idioms (unwind, sort of cool) and contractions,

including less-common ones (he’d, there’s).• Humorous elements include sarcasm and exaggeration (Andy’s reactions), comical

mispronunciation (kabooli for kabuki).Sentence Complexity • Various sentence lengths, including some longer, complex sentences

• Extensive use of dialogueVocabulary • Several theater-related and Japanese words/names: performance/performer, theater,

curtain, plot, practicing, character, backstage; Uncle Togashi, kabuki, ronin.• Several idioms are used: unwind, sick to my stomach, on best behavior, doesn’t come to

town every day, sort of cool, wilder.• Several words may be unfamiliar: ratty, furrowed, glared, traditional, gestured, daze.

Words • Many multisyllabic words occur: warriors, performance, traditional, experience.• Some words challenging to decode: exhausted, gestured, video, behavior.

Illustrations • Humorous illustrations complement the text but do not carry the content.Book and Print Features • 12 pages of text, including 4 pages of all text and 4 of all art

© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.

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Expand Your Vocabulary

audience - a group that listens or watches, as at a play, p. 6

kabuki - traditional Japanese drama with singing and dancing, p. 5

musical – adj. of or relating to music, p. 5

program – n., a brief outline describing a play, p. 8

theater - a building for dramatic performances, p. 2

traditional - based on custom, p. 6

The Kabuki Kid by Katrina Van Horn

Build BackgroundHave students use their knowledge of plays by asking questions like these: Have you ever been to a play? Did you enjoy the experience? Why or why not? Read the title and author. Talk about the cover illustration. Point out the three characters and identify them as Japanese-Americans. Remind students that the story is realistic fi ction, with characters that act like real people. Point out that students will learn from the story what kabuki means.

Introduce the TextGuide students through the text, noting important ideas and key vocabulary so that they can read the text successfully. Here are some suggestions:

Pages 2–3: Explain that this is a story about a boy named Andy who goes with his parents to the theater to see a special kind of Japanese performance called kabuki. Suggested language: His mother wants Andy to go with her and Dad to the theater to see Andy’s uncle perform. Does Andy look excited about going? How can you tell?

Page 5: Andy and his parents are driving to the theater. Look at Andy. Do you think his feelings about going to the theater have changed? How do his parents feel? How can you tell?

Pages 8- 9: Draw attention to the illustration. Andy and his parents are at the theater, sitting in the audience. What size is the group of people waiting to see the play?

Page 10: Explain that the family members are reading their programs. The programs are describing the Japanese play called kabuki. In kabuki, all the roles, even women’s roles, are played by men.

Page 11: Discuss the kabuki dancers in the illustration. The kabuki actors wear old-fashioned costumes and make-up. The play is about some Japanese warriors of long ago, known as ronin, who are looking for work. It sounds interesting to Andy. Does it sound interesting to you? Why or why not?

Now turn back to the beginning of the story to read about what happens to Andy when he goes to the theater..

2 Lesson 9: The Kabuki KidGrade 3© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

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ReadHave students read The Kabuki Kid silently while you listen to individual students read. Support their problem solving and fl uency as needed.

Remind students to use the Monitor/Clarify Strategy , fi nding ways to clear up anything in the story that doesn’t make sense to them.

Discuss and Revisit the TextPersonal ResponseEncourage students to share their personal responses to the text.Suggested language: If you were at the theater with Andy, do you think you would have enjoyed seeing the performance? Why or why not?

Ways of ThinkingAs you discuss the text, help students understand these points:

Thinking Within the Text Thinking Beyond the Text Thinking About the Text

• Andy doesn’t like the theater and is sure he’ll have a terrible time going to see his uncle perform.

• His parents make Andy go to see a kabuki play, traditional Japanese theater.

• Andy ends up enjoying the performance.

• Traditional entertainment can be as enjoyable as modern entertainment.

• Be open to new experiences.

• Family members deserve support and respect for their accomplishments.

• The author often lets characters’ words and actions convey their feelings.

• The author lets the reader fi nd out about kabuki as Andy fi nds out, slowly developing interest.

• An interesting twist is provided by letting the reader hear about Uncle Togashi yet never meet him.

© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.

Choices for Further Support• Fluency Invite students to choose a passage from the text to demonstrate their

understanding of using punctuation to guide their phrasing, intonation, pitch, and stress. Remind them to pay attention to commas, dashes, end punctuation, quotation marks, and italics.

• Comprehension Based on your observations of the students’ reading and discussion, revisit parts of the text to clarify or extend comprehension. Remind students to go back to the text to support their ideas.

• Phonics/Word Work Provide practice as needed with words and word parts, using examples from the text. Use the words cleaned and ahead on p. 4 to review the usual sounds that ea can spell. Contrast these ea sounds with ea in the word theater (on p. 2). Give students practice with other words that have two vowels sounded separately. Have students read these words from the text and identify the two side-by-side vowels that stand for two sounds: realized, experience, video, audience, warriors.



Writing about ReadingCritical ThinkingHave students complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 9.9.

RespondingAsk students to complete the activities at the back of the book. Use the instruction below as needed to reinforce or extend understanding of the comprehension skill.

Target Comprehension SkillCause and Effect

Target Comprehension Skill Remind students that one way to connect story events

and understand characters’ actions is to see if one event causes another event to happen and to think about why this is so. Model the skill, using a “Think Aloud” like the one below:

Think Aloud

When Mom tells Andy to get dressed for the theater, he says he’s had a hard week at school and slumps in his chair, acting exhausted. I think he’s just pretending to act exhausted because he doesn’t want to go to the theater. The cause, or reason, is that his mother wants him to get ready to go to the theater. The effect is that he acts exhausted!

Practice the SkillHave students write about another cause and effect relationship in the story.

Writing Prompt: Thinking Beyond the TextHave students write a response to the prompt on page 6. Remind them that when they think about the text, they use what they know and their own experience to think about what the characters do and why they act as they do.

Assessment Prompts• Andy pretends to be tired to get out of going to the theater. What does his mother say

that shows she knows he is only pretending?

• Find the pair of sentences on page 8 that show that Andy is a kind person who cares about his uncle’s feelings.

• How can you tell that Andy and his parents enjoyed the kabuki performance?



English Language DevelopmentReading Support Pair English-speaking and English language learners so that they can check their understanding with each other.

Cognates All of the words in Expand Your Vocabulary, except the Japanese word kabuki, are similar to their Spanish counterparts: theater/teatro, musical/músico, program/programa, traditional/tradicional, audience/audiencia.

Oral Language DevelopmentCheck student comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches your students’ English profi ciency level. Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the student.

Beginning/Early Intermediate Intermediate Early Advanced/ Advanced

Speaker 1: Which character does not want to go to the theater?

Speaker 2: Andy

Speaker 1: Who are Andy and his parents going to the theater to see?

Speaker 2: his uncle

Speaker 1: Do Andy and his parents enjoy the kabuki performance?

Speaker 2: yes

Speaker 1: What does Andy do to try to get out of going to the theater?

Speaker 2: He pretends to be really tired.

Speaker 1: Tell something you learned about the kabuki theater.

Speaker 2: All the actors are men. They play men’s and women’s parts.

Speaker 1: How have Andy’s feelings about going to the theater changed by the end of the story?

Speaker 2: At fi rst he didn’t want to go. By the end, he’s glad he went.

Speaker 1: How do Andy’s feelings about going to the theater change over the course of the story?

Speaker 2: At fi rst he doesn’t want to go. Before the show, he’s starting to get interested about kabuki and the play about warriors. He pays attention during the play. Afterward, you can tell he really liked it.

Read directions to students.

Critical ThinkingRead and answer the questions.

1. Think within the text What are two reasons that Andy does not want to go to Uncle Togashi’s performance?

Andy wants to play video games, and he does not enjoy the theater.

2. Think within the text When does Andy decide that watching the kabuki performance might not be so bad?

Andy decides that he might like the performance when his mother explains

the plot of the play.

3. Think beyond the text What lesson do you think Andy learns from going to the kabuki play?

Responses will vary.

4. Think about the text Did the conversations between Andy and his parents seem realistic to you?

The conversations seemed like conversations I’ve had with my parents,

especially when Andy pretends to be exhausted and his mother says,

“Nice acting.”

Making Connections Andy learns that you cannot always predict how things will go. Think of a time when something turned out to be different from what you expected. What was the experience? How was it different from what you expected?

Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.

Possible responses shown.

Critical Thinking© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Name Date

Grade 3, Unit 2: Express Yourself11

Lesson 9B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 9 . 9

The Kabuki Kid

Critical Thinking

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First Pass



Name Date

The Kabuki KidThinking Beyond the Text

Read the following paragraph. Then write your letter below.

Imagine you are Andy. Write a letter to your uncle. Tell him what you learned from going to the performance. Tell him what you liked about it. Use details from the story in your letter.



Critical ThinkingRead and answer the questions.

1. Think within the text What are two reasons that Andy does not want to go to Uncle Togashi’s performance?

2. Think within the text When does Andy decide that watching the kabuki performance might not be so bad?

3. Think beyond the text What lesson do you think Andy learns from going to the kabuki play?

4. Think about the text Did the conversations between Andy and his parents seem realistic to you?

Making Connections Andy learns that you cannot always predict how things will go. Think of a time when something turned out to be different from what you expected. What was the experience? How was it different from what you expected?

Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.

Name Date Lesson 9

B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 9 . 9

The Kabuki Kid

Critical Thinking



1414

004

Student Date Lesson 9

B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 9 . 1 3

The Kabuki KidRunning Record Form

The Kabuki Kid • LEVEL P


Behavior Code Error

Read word correctly ✓cat 0

Repeated word, sentence, or phrase

®cat

0

Omission —cat 1

Behavior Code Error

Substitution cutcat 1

Self-corrects cut sccat 0

Insertion the

ˆcat 1

Word told Tcat 1

page Selection Text Errors Self-Corrections

10

11

Andy read the first page of the program. It was a history of

kabuki theater. It said kabuki was a mix of dance and acting

that has been popular in Japan since the 1600s. It also said all

the roles in kabuki are played by men, even if the characters

are women! Andy couldn’t imagine his big, deep-voiced uncle

playing the part of a woman.

Then the theater darkened. The curtain went up.

The whole performance felt as if it were taking place on some

far-off planet. At first Andy tried to follow the plot, but then he

gave up and just watched and listened.

Comments: Accuracy Rate (# words read correctly/105 ×

100)

%

Total Self- Corrections


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9 The Kabuki Kid - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt