Lesson 7: Conflict
Getting Started
Questions to Explore
- How does the weather affect people, plants, and animals?
Facts and Definitions
- Conflict refers to the main problem that the characters face in the story. Conflict can be between a character and another character, between the character and the environment, or between the character and himself or herself.
Skills
- Connect and compare information within and across selections (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama) to personal experience and knowledge. (LA)
- Explain and describe new concepts and information in own words (e.g., plot, setting, major events, characters, author's message, connections, topic, key vocabulary, key concepts, text features). (LA)
- Draw and discuss visual images based on text description. (LA)
- Produce a summary of a text. (LA)
Materials
- Tornado by Betsy Byars, Doron Ben-Ami
- crayons or colored pencils
- journal
Introduction
Tell your child that something happens in this chapter that makes Pete very upset. Let him guess what might happen that would make Pete upset.
Materials: Tornado by Betsy Byars, Doron Ben-Ami
Ask your child to read Chapter 6 and then ask him the following questions.
Questions
- Describe the saddest day of Pete's life.After going to town, Pete finds out who Tornado actually belongs to and has to give him back. Pete is carrying a bag of nails and drops them. He feels like they were nailing him into place.
- Have you ever had a sad day? What happened?Answers will vary.
- Do you think Pete's father should have told the man it was Pete's dog? Why or why not?Answers will vary.
- Was it right for Pete's father to give the dog to the girl?Answers will vary.
- How do you think the girl feels after she thinks the tornado took her dog?Answers will vary but might include sad, awful, worried, or anxious.
- What would you have done if you were Pete in this situation?Answers will vary.