by Matt Tavares
Genre: Fiction
Skills taught: Multiple-meaning words
cause/effect
vocabulary
fluency
Before Reading:
Build Background
Display baseball cards from the past, if possible.
Draw a baseball field and label the different areas to help students understand the game as this will help explain some of the “baseball language” in the book. You may also brainstorm the names of some professional baseball teams and players from the past.
Introduce Vocabulary Words
Display the words, definitions, and sentences on a bulletin board, a word wall, or a pocket chart.
Word / Definition / Sentencenostalgia / a longing for the past / He loved helping out at Hall’s Nostalgia, his grandfather’s store.
rummaged / searched thoroughly / Oliver rummaged through several cartons marked 1940’s.
uniform / clothing worn by certain groups / Inside, he found a Chicago Cubs uniform.
hustled / hurried / I hustled around the bases and crossed home plate.
dugout / low shelter facing a baseball diamond where the players’ bench is located / I walked out of the dugout and set foot on the grass.
rookie / a young player or one with little experience / “Hey, rookie!” Mr. Wilson hollered.
mound / an artificial hill of dirt where the pitcher stands. / Mr. Wilson hollered from the pitcher’s mound.
hollered / shouted / Mr. Wilson hollered from the pitcher’s mound.
shag / catch / Head out to left field and shag some flies.
blasted / hit hard / The first batter blasted a deep drive right over my head.
innings / turns at bat for each team. / The Cubs beat the Cardinals that day in those nine glorious innings.
platoon / a military unit consisting of two or more sections / My platoon was sent to a place called Guadalcanal.
bunker / a hole or dugout for protection / A grenade exploded in my bunker.
umpire / an official in sports who rules on plays / Oliver and Grandpa heard the umpire yell, “Play ball!”
Display these while reading the book. This is a way to practice these vocabulary words so comprehension will be improved. Remove the definitions. Leave the words and the sentences. Have the students take turns matching the words with the definitions. Practice several times.
Now turn the sentences over on the chart or bulletin board. Give each student a page of the sentences with the words missing. These sentences are the same sentences that have been displayed and are from the book. Have the students write the missing word in each sentence. Save this activity for the last day the class will be reading the book.
Name______
Each sentence has a vocabulary word that is missing. Write the missing word that makes sense in the sentence.
1. I walked out of the ______and set foot on the grass.
2. The first batter ______a deep drive right over my head.
3. A grenade exploded in my ______.
4. I ______around the bases and crossed home plate.
5. My ______was sent to a place called Guadalcanal.
6. Oliver and Grandpa heard the ______yell, “Play ball!”
7. “Hey, ______!” Mr. Wilson hollered.
8. He loved helping out at Hall’s ______, his grandfather’s store.
9. Inside, he found a Chicago Cubs ______.
10. Oliver______through several cartons marked 1940’s.
11. Head out to left field and ______some flies.
12. Mr. Wilson ______from the pitcher’s ______.
Multiple-meaning words
As the students study the vocabulary words, point out some words that can be confusing because of having more than one meaning.
Word / Multiple Meaningleft / opposite of right such as left field or left hand
past tense of “leave”
flies / a kind of insect
what a bird or airplane does
a baseball hit high into the air
drive / i.e.: drive a car
when the ball goes quickly through the air
Also before reading the text, take a picture walk through the book. Have students make predictions on each page based on the pictures on the pages. Record the predictions.
During Reading:
1. The teacher should read the text through, stop, and discuss. You can play the e-book in automatic mode with the narration as you play the book once through.
2. Choral read the book. Boys/girls or different teams/groups of students, choose colors of clothing, partners, etc. Take turns reading the pages. You can switch the e-book to manual mode so that you can turn the pages when you please. The book may need to be read more than one time.
In addition, this plan for reading may be followed:
Partner A reads the first page (remember to turn the sound off so the narration is not heard; students can read as the sentences are highlighted).
Partner A retells to Partner B.
Partner B reads the second page.
Partner B retells to Partner A.
Continue this pattern until the text is read.
After Reading:
1. Look at the predictions that the students made before reading the text. Star the ones that were correct.
2. Find examples of cause/effect from the text.
Cause EffectHe was a great hitter. Grandpa was told he could keep
the Cubs’ uniform.
World War II began, Grandpa didn’t get to attend
and grandpa joined spring training.
the Marines.
A grenade exploded in Grandpa’s dream of playing for
his bunker, and he was the Cubs never happened.
injured and not able to
play baseball again.
Encourage the students to find more examples of this skill in
the text.
Grandparents pass down stories to their grandchildren, like grandpa did with Oliver. If possible, model a story that was told by a grandparent. Then ask the students to share a story that one of their grandparents told them.
Make sure the students understand that a professional baseball game includes more than just the players. Some of the students may have attended a game and know the feeling that everyone experiences: the sounds, the food, the music, the crowd are all electrifying.
Besides discussing baseball, the teacher can also bring in facts about World War II.
Practicing fluency is very important. Increasing speed in reading also increases comprehension. Instruct the students to not only try to read faster but also with more expression.
Give each student a fluency page. Instruct the students to read as far as possible in one minute. At the end of the one minute, they are to stop reading. Have them mark an “X” above the word where they stopped reading. Time them the second time. Encourage them to try to read further the second time. Follow this same procedure three times. Show them that they are trying to “beat” their reading time each time they read. Instruct the students to read with a quieter voice since all the students will be reading at the same time.
Here is a passage from the book for them to practice.
Fluency Page
For the first time in my life, baseball didn’t seem very important. In the newspaper, I read about battles being fought in places I’d never heard of. In the sports pages, instead of articles about the Cubs preparing for another baseball season, I read about my heroes heading off to war. I tried to imagine myself playing ball while other people were fighting a war, but I just couldn’t do it. So on December 11, I joined the Marines. My platoon was sent to a place called Guadalcanal in August of 1942. We were fighting along the TenaruRiver when a grenade exploded in my bunker.
I was lucky to make it out of there alive. But the doctors soon told me that I would never play ball again. When I finally got home to Chicago, Mr. Wilson called, “We’re all proud of you rookie,” he said. “Anytime you want to join us in the dugout, you’re always welcome.”
I went to the game the next day, but being in the dugout just didn’t feel the same. It made me sad to be so close to my dream. After that, I stayed away from Wrigley Field.
In 1945, the war ended. That same year, the Cubs made it to the World Series. I started watching games again from the rooftop--including game six, when the Cubs won it in the bottom of the twelfth! The whole ballpark went crazy! And that’s when it finally dawned on me: The game of baseball is more than just the players on the field. Everyone is a part of it, from the guy selling hot dogs to the fans in the grandstand. So even though I wasn’t playing left field, I was still a part of the game. And baseball was still a part of me.
A few years later, I opened Hall’s Nostalgia, in the very house where I grew up, across the street from my favorite place in the world.