1. By Kate DiCamillo Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes Visit the Author
Because of Winn-Dixie
4th Grade: Unit 1 Week 1
By Kate DiCamillo
Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes
Visit the Author

2. Genre: Realistic Fiction
In Realistic Fiction the characters speak and act like real people.
The story describes real-life problems and events.
The outcome, or problem resolution, seems to be reasonable.
Click on Genre to learn more about different genres and Realistic Fiction.

3. Comprehension Skill – Sequence
Sequence is the order of the events that occur in a story.
You can determine the order of events by clue words such as first and next, in the beginning, then, following, after, and finally.
Some story events may occur at the same time.
Other clue words to indicate sequence might be in the beginning, then, following, after, and finally.
Other story events, such as flashbacks, are told out of order.

4. Sequence Let’s practice sequence: This morning:
First:________________________________________________________________
Second: ____________________________________________________________________
Third: ____________________________________________________________________

5. Comprehension Skill - Summarizing
A summary is a short statement that tells the main ideas of a selection.
A story summary should tell the goals of the characters, how they try to reach them, and whether they reach them.
A summary of an article should tell the main idea, leaving out unnecessary details.
Tips on Summarizing

6. Summarizing Summarizing only involves telling the main points.
Summarize the story: The Three Little Pigs:
Three pigs decide to build homes. One pig builds a house made of straw, the other builds a house made of sticks, and the final pig builds a house made of bricks. The wolf tries to blow down the pigs’ homes. The wolf is able to blow down each house except for the one made of brick.

7. Vocabulary Skill – Word Structure : Suffixes
The suffix –ful means “full of.” For example, prideful means “full of pride.”
The suffix –ly means “in a way that is.”
Sometimes –ful and –ly are added to a base word together as in pridefully, which means “acting in a way that is full of pride.”

8. Let’s Practice Suffixes
Base Word
-ful
-ful + -ly
Sentence
care
careful
carefully

9. Pages 24-25
India Opal Buloni, or Opal, moves to Florida with her father. When Opal arrives in Florida she finds a dog at the local Winn-Dixie store. Opal names the dog Winn-Dixie after the grocery store. Opal talks her father into letting her keep the dog.
Opal spent a lot of time at the library. While she was at the library Winn- Dixie had to wait outside. Opal wanted Winn- Dixie to be happy, so she taught him how to stand up on his hind legs and look in the window.
The first time Winn- Dixie looked into the window Opal heard a loud scream and found Miss Franny Block, the librarian, sitting on the floor behind her desk.

10. Pages 25-26
Miss Franny Block believes that Winn-Dixie is a bear. She is upset and scared when she sees Winn-Dixie.
Miss Franny had a bad experience with a bear in the past.

11. Pages 28-29
Opal brings Winn-Dixie into the library to hear Miss Franny’s story.
Miss Franny tells that Florida was full of wild animals when she was a young girl.
Miss Franny was a miss-smarty-pants when she was younger. A miss-smarty- pants is someone who thinks that they are smarter than others. Her father Herman W. Block bought her a library.

12. Page 30
Miss Franny block was working at the library one day when a bear came in.
The bear scared Miss Franny. She threw the book War and Peace at it.

13. Pages 32-33
Miss Franny continues telling the bear story. The men in Miss Franny’s town thought the bear story was funny. They teased her about seeing a bear.
Miss Franny gets sad while she is telling the bear story. Miss Franny remembers her old friends that are no longer alive.
Opal, Miss Franny, and Winn-Dixie all agree to be friends. Opal makes her first friend in Florida.
As soon as Opal and Miss Franny agree to be friends Amanda Wilkinson walks into the library.
Miss Franny is tired of hearing Amanda brag. Amanda acts like she knows everything.

14. Summary
Moving to a new town can be hard, and making new friends can be even harder. With the help of her dog, Winn Dixie, Opal is able to get to know Miss Franny Block, the local librarian. Miss Block tells Opal an exciting tale about a bear that once wandered into the library.

15. Comprehension Review Skill
Author’s Purpose is the author’s reason or reasons for writing this story.
Authors don’t usually tell you this. You have to figure the reasons out.
It might be to inform or teach, to entertain, to express their feelings, and to persuade or convince you.

16. Review Questions
What do you think it means to be called a “know-it-all”?
What makes Miss Franny sad after telling the story of the bear?
Why did Winn Dixie stand up at the window?
In what ways are Opal and Miss Franny alike?
What kind of attitude does Amanda Wilkinson have when she comes into the library?

17. Fun Stuff More on Winn-Dixie Web Quest Spelling Hangman
Spelling Words in ABC Order
More on Maps
Even More on Maps

18. Vocabulary- Say It! memorial prideful recalls peculiar grand positive
selecting

19. excellent; very good, wonderful
grand
excellent; very good, wonderful

20. helping people to remember a person, thing, or event, monument
memorial
helping people to remember a person, thing, or event, monument

21. peculiar
strange; unusual

22. without doubt; sure, certain
positive
without doubt; sure, certain

23. overly proud of oneself; vain
prideful
overly proud of oneself; vain

24. calls back to mind; remembers
recalls
calls back to mind; remembers

25. selecting
picking out; choosing