For all those animal lovers out there, this is a heartwarming story about an abandoned puppy finding a family to love her. The story starts with the puppy all alone in the woods playing with her friend Porcupine and then going to visit her friends the Beaver family. After watching the Beaver family doing everything together, she wonders what it would be like to have a family to call her own. One day a family is hiking in the woods near her burrow. The puppy is so curious she follows them on their hike. When the puppy gets suddenly hurt by a bunch of porcupine quills the family decides they must help this poor puppy. They are able to coax her into their car and finally get her to the vet. When the puppy is ready to go home she is surprised to learn that she will be going home with the family and not back to her lonely burrow in the woods.
I have created a story map freebie to go along with this book.
Reading level: 6.1
Theme/subject: animals, pets, family
Genre: realistic fiction
Suggested Vocabulary/phrases: burrow, meadow, edge, perched, ledge
Reading skills and strategies:
- Asking questions - {possible questions before} I wonder why Chanterelle doesn’t have a family. I wonder where Chanterelle found a family. {possible questions during} I wonder why Chanterelle was in the woods by herself. I wonder how Chanterelle got in the woods. {possible questions after} I wonder if Chanterelle will miss her friends in the woods. **Remember to have your students answer/reflect their questions.
- Author's point of view – third person. Be sure to find 3 pieces of evidence to support this (the puppy, they, she).
- Author's purpose – entertain {evidence} the author has Chanterelle and the Porcupine talking. When Chanterelle tells the reader what Papa Beaver says, it is pretty silly.
- Beginning, middle, end - {most important event from beginning} Chanterelle plays hide and seek with her friend Porcupine. {most important event from middle} Chanterelle follows a family that is hiking in the woods. {most important event from end} Chanterelle gets taken to the vet after Porcupine gets startled and sticks Chanterelle with his quills.
- Cause and effect – Why does the puppy love the Beaver family? Because the Beaver family did everything together. Why does the puppy follow the human family? Because she is curious about them. Why is the mom covering her eyes? Because her kids are making her nervous by walking on the edge of the rock. Why did Porcupine get scared? Because the boy was listening to them talk and they got startled when he moved the branches apart. Why did the family have to take the puppy to the vet? Because his got covered with the Porcupine’s quills. Why did the family name her Chanterelle? Because her fur was the same color as the chanterelle mushrooms they saw on their hike. Why did Chanterelle jump up and start licking the little boy? Because she was happy to have her own family.
- Character analysis - describe Chanterelle {looks like, feelings, thoughts, character}
- Character changes – at the beginning of the story Chanterelle wondered what it would be like to have a family. At the end of the story Chanterelle got her own family.
- Compare & contrast – compare and contrast your family with the one in the book.
- Connections - {possible text-to-self connections} Hiking with your family. Having a puppy. Wondering what it would be like to have a family. Having your puppy or pet get hurt enough that you had to take him to the vet.
- Fact & opinion - {fact} Chanterelle was a puppy that lived alone in the woods. The Beaver family did everything together. Chanterelle and the Porcupine played hide and seek. Chanterelle gets taken to the vet. The family decides to keep Chanterelle. {opinion} Chanterelle is a lucky puppy to live in the woods by herself. Mushrooms are delicious. Hiking is so much fun. Dogs make the best pets.
- Main idea & details - {main idea} the story is mostly about a lonely puppy wanting a family. {details} The puppy loved the Beaver family because they always did everything together. The puppy would think about what it would be like to have a family of her own. The puppy got a family of her own.
- Plot - the turning point or climax in the story was when the puppy got stuck with all the porcupine quills.
- Predict – What do you think the story will be about? Do you think Chanterelle wants a family of her own? What do you think will happen if the family sees the puppy following them? Do you think the family will take the puppy home?
- Problem & solution - {problem} the puppy is alone in the woods and wonders what it would be like to have a family of her own. {solution} The puppy hears humans in the woods and decides to follow them. When the puppy gets hurt by some porcupine quills the humans take her to the vet and ultimately take her home to be part of their family.
- Sequencing – The puppy lives alone in the woods. She plays hide and seek with the Porcupine. The puppy visits the Beaver family. The puppy heard a human family hiking in the woods. The puppy followed the family. The Porcupine found the puppy watching the family. The boy heard the puppy and the Porcupine talking. The Porcupine got scared and threw his quills into the puppy. The family put a rope around the puppy to take her to a vet. The vet helped get the quills out. The family decided to take the puppy home as their pet. They named her Chanterelle.
- Story elements - list title, author, characters, setting, beginning, middle, end, or problem & solution.
- Summarize - {someone}The puppy {wanted} wanted a family {but} she was all alone in the woods {so} so when a human family was in the woods taking a hike the puppy followed them. The puppy got stuck with porcupine quills and {then} then the human family was able to get her into the car to take her to the vet. When the puppy {finally} finally woke up the family named her Chanterelle and took her home.
- Visualize – The family was in the woods hiking around and then all of a sudden the puppy came out hurt with porcupine quills in her. The family coaxed the do into the car and took her to the vet. Visualize how you would have reacted to a stray dog coming out of the woods with porcupine quills in him. This freebie is a jpg picture. To use it right click the picture and copy image. Then open Word or PowerPoint (whichever you use) and paste the picture into the document. In the document adjust the picture to fit and then save and or print.
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