Glow

Social-emotional learning: Relationship skills (communication, social engagement, relationship building)

Plot, figurative language, inference, main idea, problem and solution, text features, theme

Preview Text Features (10 minutes)

• Ask students to look at pages 14 and 15. Direct their attention to the title, subtitle, and illustration. Ask what is happening in the picture on page 14. How does the girl on the bike probably feel?
• After reading the title and subtitle and looking at the illustration, what might students want to find out about the main character in this story?
  
• Have students look at the pictures and subheads on pages 15-19. Ask them to predict what is happening in the picture on page 17. Remind them to think about their predictions as they read the story.
  

Introduce Vocabulary (15 minutes)

• We have highlighted in bold seven vocabulary terms that may be challenging and defined them on the page. Discuss the meanings of the terms, focusing on how they are used in the story.
• Preview these terms by projecting or distributing our vocabulary activity and completing it as a class. You may also play our Vocabulary Slideshow.
  
• Highlighted terms: soars, tremors, funeral, hunched, whopper, obstacle course, hurdle
  

Set a Purpose for Reading (5 minutes)

• Call on volunteers to read aloud the Think and Read and Think and Write boxes on pages 15 and 19. These features and the fiction package support the story’s featured skill, plot.
• As they read, remind students to look for the problems that Trina faces and how she solves them.

Reading and Unpacking the Text

• First read: Read the story as a class. Ask students to identify story details or vocabulary they don’t understand in each section. Have them think about how the illustrations connect to the story and help them understand the plot.
• Second read: Distribute the Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions to the class. Preview them together. Ask students to read the story again and answer the questions as a class or in small groups. (These questions are now also available in Google Forms on our site, so students can type in their answers and email them to you.)

Close-Reading Questions (30 minutes) 

• Read the first section. What does Trina mean when she says “My heart is in my mouth”? (figurative language) She’s excited as her bike soars up from the bike ramp and she’s about to make a perfect landing. She’s probably also a little nervous. What does she mean by “My heart crash-lands”? She means she gets suddenly scared because she doesn’t want anyone to know that she and her mother now live in a camper.
• Read “The Moving Sale.” What can you infer about why Trina and her mom are moving into a camper? (inference) You can infer that they don’t have enough money to keep their home. It will cost less money to live in a camper, which is smaller.
  
• Also in “The Moving Sale,” why does Trina feel that another bike won’t be the same as Glow? (inference) She won’t have the same close emotional connection to a different bike.
  
• Why is the next part of the story titled “Whoppers Won’t Stop”? (main idea) Once Trina lies to Lani about selling Glow, she continues to lie. (A whopper is another word for a lie.) She tells the other kids that her new house has a big bike ramp. 
• Read “Party Plans.” How does Mom’s idea to have the birthday party at the park solve a problem for Trina? (problem and solution) If Trina’s birthday party is at the park, then her friends won’t find out she’s living in a camper.
  
• Read “A Long Week.” Why do you think Trina still can’t tell Lani the truth about selling Glow? (inference) She’s ashamed and embarrassed that she had to sell Glow. She and Lani had a close connection to her bike because they repainted it together after Trina’s father died.
  
• Read “The Truth Comes Out.” What happens when Mom invites Trina’s friends back to the camper for s’mores? (plot) The kids start running because they’re excited about eating the s’mores. Trina doesn’t move because she’s worried her friends won’t like her when they find out where she lives now.
  
• How does the picture on page 19 help you imagine the “perfect present” Trina describes? (text features) The picture shows Trina and Lani with their fold-up scooters and the glow-in-the-dark paint.
  

Critical-Thinking Question (10 minutes)

• What problem does Trina have with her friends? How does she finally solve it? (problem and solution) Trina thinks her friends won’t like her when they find out she’s moved from her house to a camper. She says that she has moved to a bigger house. She solves the problem by finally telling Lani the truth at her birthday party. What do you think Trina learns from her experience? (theme) Students may say that Trina learns that you should always tell the truth. She also learns that real friends don’t care where your family lives or how much money you have. They like you for who you are as a person.
  

• Distribute our Plot Activity. Have students work in pairs to complete it.
• Discuss the task in the Think and Write box with students. Have them complete it in class or as homework and discuss their work in small groups.