Responding to Literature The Talking Cloth Houghton Mifflin Grade 3 D. Crisler 2012/2013

Use this link to hear the story read aloud and follow along with text. Guiding questions and activities are also provided. Use this link for a comprehensive test

Design Your Own Cloth If you had an adinkra cloth, what would it look like? What would your cloth say about you? Design a cloth using symbols and colors. Write a paragraph describing how your cloth tells about you. Use references from the text to tell why you used the colors you chose.

Who was talking to Whom? Where When What did they say? “Quote” Explain Quote Here… Analysis This shows….. Because Clearly, should This Proves…. would Obviously, could It seems... might This suggests… Evidently It appears… Clearly If…then… Obviously Page Or paragraph If you had an adinkra cloth, what would it look like? What would your cloth say about you based on what you read in the story?

Who was talking to Whom? Where When What did they say? “Quote” Explain Quote Here… Analysis This shows….. Because Clearly, should This Proves…. would Obviously, could It seems... might This suggests… Evidently It appears… Clearly If…then… Obviously Page Or paragraph “A white cloth means joy – yellow, gold or riches. Green stands for newness and growth. Blue is a sign of love, but red is worn only for sad times, like funerals or during wars.” “Each symbol speaks of something different, like faith, power, or love. “ “Fred –he’s my little brother—should be dressed in green for “go’ with grubby little handprints all over.” If you had an adinkra cloth, what would it look like? What would your cloth say about you based on what you read in the story?

My Adinkra Cloth My adinkra cloth would say something special about me. In the story when Aunt Phoebe and Amber were in the kitchen Aunt Phobe told Amber about the symbols. Aunt Phoebe said, “________________.” Here ______________. If symbols tell about the person wearing the cloth then I would include a symbol for ________ because _____.

When Phoebe described the colors she said, “____________”. Here ________. If colors stand for something special then I would use the color _________ because ___________. I would also use _______ because_________. Obviously, you can see I would design a special adinkra cloth to tell a story about me.

The Talking Cloth Text to Self Connection Why does Amber enjoy visiting Aunt Phoebe? Would you like to visit Aunt Phoebe? Explain your answer. Use examples from the text to support your answer. Use the graph on the following page to organize your quotes from the text. Use the secret recipe to connect your answer to the text.

Who was talking to Whom? Where When What did they say? “Quote” Explain Quote Here… Analysis This shows….. Because Clearly, should This Proves…. would Obviously, could It seems... might This suggests… Evidently It appears… Clearly If…then… Obviously Page Or paragraph Why does Amber enjoy visiting Aunt Phoebe? Would you like to visit Aunt Phoebe?

Who was talking to Whom? Where When What did they say? “Quote” Explain Quote Here… Analysis This shows….. Because Clearly, should This Proves…. would Obviously, could It seems... might This suggests… Evidently It appears… Clearly If…then… Obviously Page Or paragraph “I bought these in Africa,” “This is adinkra cloth from Ghana. It’s made by the Ashanti people and one time only royalty wore it,” “Aunt Phoebe lives in a junk pile!” Why does Amber enjoy visiting Aunt Phoebe? Would you like to visit Aunt Phoebe?

I would like to visit Aunt Phoebe because I am interested in learning about different places and people. When Aunt Phoebe was talking to Amber as they were looking at the Adinkra Cloth, Aunt Phoebe said, “________”. Here I can tell _____________. It appears _________________. Clearly, Aunt Phoebe has traveled to many places and met many interesting people. If this is true then I would enjoy visiting with Aunt Phoebe because I am interested in learning about different places and people.

I would not really enjoy visiting with Aunt Phoebe. Although it seems like she has a lot of things in her house that show history, I am not really interested in looking at things or learning about history. When the family is getting ready to visit Aunt Phoebe, Daddy told Amber that “Aunt Phoebe lives in a junk pile.” Here I can tell the daddy is probably teasing, but it probably bothers him that his sister collects so much stuff. It seems if you have too many things then your house might be really crowded. I don’t like places with a lot of stuff so I would not really enjoy visiting with Aunt Phoebe.

Additional Extensions You may want to choose one of the extension activities on the following slides to focus on additional skills or to help students make connections.

It’s All in the Details Details bring a story alive. They help you see characters and places. Look for details in The Talking cloth. Choose a character, a place, or an object from the story. Draw your choice in the middle of a large piece of paper. Then draw a circle around the picture and use it as the center of a web. Now read The Talking Cloth again. Find details in the words and pictures that tell about your subject. Write words and draw pictures of the details. Put them in the web. Share your web with a small group. Explain what the details you chose tell about the subject.

Special People Amber thinks Aunt Phoebe is special. She likes the stories she tells. Who is special in your life? Who do you talk with about important things? It might be an aunt or uncle, a grandparent or cousin, or a friend. Write a paragraph that tells who this person is and why he or she is special.

Worms! Aunt Phoebe’s adinkra cloth is made of silk. What do you know about silk? Do you know that it comes from worms? Work with two partners to learn about silk. Each of you should research to find the answer to one of these questions: How do farmers grow silkworms? How do people get sik from the worms? How do people make cloth from the silk? With your partners, write about how silk is made.

Additional Links Timed readings for Houghton Mifflin third grade stories. Resource site for Houghton Mifflin. Includes vocabulary words etc. Use to practice fluency and accuracy. Passage summary with word count.