You Will Need

GR
Book The Story Wars
Level P
• The Story Wars, Level P Author Michael Sullivan
Illustrator Rob Davis
Visit resources.fountasandpinnell.com

Guided Reading
to download online resources to support Genre Fiction/Realistic
this lesson, including:
• Words: cabin, insect, music, paper,
picture, pony
• Story Map
• Recording Form

Goals
Think about the readers and the behaviors and understandings to notice, teach for, and support at Level P in The Fountas
& Pinnell Literacy Continuum. Select goals that match the needs of your students. The following may be appropriate.

Reading Add to vocabulary through

■■ Word Work
Search
■■ for information presented learning new words from reading Read
■■ and break words with open
in dialogue. (book tour, submitted). and closed syllables.
Read
■■ and understand Identify a
■■ central story problem in
a text with multiple episodes. Writing About Reading
hyphenated words.
Infer traits
■■ from characters’ words, Use
■■ a story map to summarize
Summarize important information
■■
thoughts, and actions. a story, including characters,
in a story.
problem, events of the plot, and
Read
■■ orally with appropriate Infer the
■■ larger message in a text,
resolution.
phrasing, pausing, intonation, that understanding others’ points
word stress, and rate. of view can help bring people
together.

Analysis of Book Characteristics  The Story Wars, Level P

How The Book Works  This first-person narrative is about two winners of a writing contest and the unfriendly
competition between them. However, when faced with contentious fans on their book tour, both writers stand up for
each other. The story shows how characters can change.

Genre/Form Characters
■■ revealed by what they ■■Words that appear in the
Fiction
■■ say, think, and do, and by what vocabulary of mature language
others say and think about them users (Tier 2) (audience, stunned,
Realistic
■■
Characters that
■■ develop as the startled)
Text Structure result of events of the plot
Words
Narrative text with
■■ Variety in
■■ presentation of
Many multisyllable words
■■
straightforward structure dialogue, including unassigned
(introduced, submitted,
(beginning, series of episodes, dialogue and dialogue containing
photographer, audience)
and ending) but more episodes expressive language
included Full
■■ range of compound words
Sentence Complexity (bookstores, without, everywhere)
Content Some
■■ longer sentences with more Base words with
■■ suffixes
Content
■■ interesting to and than twenty words and many (creepiest, headless)
relevant for the reader phrases and clauses
Illustrations
A balance
■■ of familiar and new Variation
■■ in sentence length and
content (writing stories, concept structure Illustrations that
■■ enhance and
of a book tour) extend meaning in the text
Many sentences
■■ beginning with
phrases Variety of layout
■■ in illustrations
Themes and Ideas and print
Abstract themes that
■■ require Vocabulary
inferential thinking (finding Book and Print Features
Some vocabulary words that
■■ are
common ground, communication) acquired by students through Many lines
■■ of print on a page
reading or listening to stories read Sentences
■■ beginning where
Language and Literary
aloud (zombies, werewolves) previous sentence ends
Features
Single
■■ spaced, but with clear
Plot with
■■ conflict and resolution space between lines
Full
■■ range of punctuation

© 2019 by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell from Fountas & Pinnell Classroom™. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. All rights reserved. 1

FPC_GR_0097_Level P_The Story Wars.indd 1 6/8/18 12:25 PM


Supporting English Learners
Support students’
understanding of vocabulary.
●● Have students read aloud
the title on page 2.
●● Make sure students
understand the meanings
of the words zombies,
werewolves, and vampires.
●● If needed, make sure
students understand the
meanings of unfamiliar
words, such as sponsored,
gagging, and nightmares.
Prompting
Guide, Part 1
Refer to pages 17
and 20 as needed
Supporting English Learners
Support students’ fluency.
●● Demonstrate reading a
sentence with dialogue
smoothly.
●● Have students repeat.
●● Help them listen to
themselves as they read the
dialogue smoothly.
2 © 2019 by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell from Fountas & Pinnell Classroom™. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. All rights reserved.
FPC_GR_0097_Level P_The Story Wars.indd 2
Introducing the Text 
Consider the strengths and needs of the readers and the demands of the text as you craft the
introduction. The following bulleted items provide an example of one way to introduce the book. The
introduction should be interactive and should allow time for students to respond (indicated by h).
This
■■ is a funny story titled The Story Wars by Michael Sullivan. What could stories have to do with
wars? h The main characters are Steven and Missy. You can see them on the front cover of the book.
Steven tells the story.
Steven
■■ and Missy are winners of a writing contest. They have their books published and must go on a
book tour together. If needed, discuss what a book tour is.
Steven’s
■■ book is a fantasy called The Headless Blood-Sucking Were-Zombies of Timbuktu, and Missy’s
is a realistic animal story titled Rainbow Mane Comes Home. What do you know about the differences
between these types of books? h Which would you rather read? h The kids who come to the book tour
have very different ideas about the two books, too.
■■Turn to pages 2 and 3. When Missy sees Steven’s book cover, she describes it as “the creepiest
thing I have ever seen!” What do you think about his book cover? h The contest is sponsored by a
cereal company. That means the company pays the cost of doing the book tour. Missy and Steven
had the two best stories submitted to be published. What word part do you see at the beginning
of submitted? h What does submitted mean? h When something is submitted, it’s turned in to be
evaluated or judged.
■■Now, turn to pages 4 and 5. h Look for the book titles on page 4. h What can help you find them? h
Book titles are always in italics. Point out the hyphenated words in Steven’s title. The hyphen shows
that the two words are used together. Missy’s book is about a sweet little pony, and Steven’s book
is a scary monster story, with zombies, vampires, and werewolves. h Who can tell me about those
kinds of monsters? h Look at the picture on page 5. How do you think Steven and Missy each feel
about the other’s book?
Look at the illustration of Missy and Steven on their book tour on pages 6 and 7. What do you notice
■■
about the kids in the audience? Which ones like the monster story? Which ones like the pony story? h
Now, look at the illustration on pages 12 and 13. What do you notice about the audience now? h It looks
like something happens to make the audience sad or mad. But what? Something is going to happen
that surprises everyone—even Steven and Missy.
Go
■■ back to the beginning of the book and read to find out what happens on the book tour. As you read,
think about the problem in the story and how the characters change.
Reading the Text
Students will be reading silently, but you may want to sample the oral reading of a particular student
or students.
Review that what the
■■ characters say in a story is called dialogue. Tell students that when they read
dialogue, they need to notice and use the punctuation. Listen as I read this. Notice how I use the
punctuation to know how to read it. Read a section of the text that includes dialogue. Then, have
students read the section and prompt with Read the punctuation.
Prompt
■■ students to read with all dimensions of fluency. For example: Listen to yourself. Did it sound
smooth? or Put your words together and make it sound like talking. Reinforce with language such as
You made it sound smooth.
6/8/18 12:25 PM
 Discussing and Revisiting the Text
Engage all group members in sharing their responses to the book. Encourage them to listen and
respond to each other’s thinking during the discussion.
Prompting
Invite
■■ students to share their thinking about The Story Wars. Guide, Part 2
Refer to pages 13,
To
■■ encourage discussion, you may want to select from the following questions/prompts or refer to 23–24, and 38 as

The Story Wars  Level P

Prompting Guide, Part 2: needed
•  What are you thinking about this story? Did you like it? Talk about a character you admire and
tell why. Talk with students about the story problem, key events, and the resolution.
Supporting English Learners
•  Think about how Missy and Steven changed. What were they like at the beginning of the
Support students’ discussion.
story? Take us to the place in the story when they begin to change. What are they like at the
end? What important lesson did they learn?
●● Make sure students
understand the words problem,
•  A fan asked Steven and Missy about the hardest part of writing their books. Steven answered events, resolution, message,
first. How did he feel about his answer? Then, Missy answered the question. Reread page 11 and genre.
and talk about how Steven feels after hearing Missy’s answer. Discuss how one word—“Oh”— ●● Provide oral sentence frames
(e.g., At the beginning, ___. The
can say more than a long explanation. Was this the turning point of the story? Why do you
message is ___.).
think that?
•  This is a funny story but there is a serious message. What is it?

•  Read “What’s a Genre?” on the inside back cover and briefly discuss the genre of The Story
Wars and genres that students enjoy reading.
Continue the
■■ discussion, guiding students toward the key understandings and the main messages of
the text. Some key understandings students may express:

Thinking Within the Text
●● Missy andSteven win a writing contest and
go on a book tour. Missy writes about
horses, and Steven writes about monsters.
●● Neither character likes the
other’s writing,
and their fans on the book tour share the
same disdain for one another.
●● When Steven’s fan mocks Missy, Steven
stands up for her. When a fan mocks
Steven, Missy stands up for him.
●● In the
end, the characters become friends
and co-author a book.
Thinking Beyond the Text
◆◆ Though Steven likes adventure and action,
he also shows compassion.
◆◆ Missy doesn’t like reading about monsters,
but she reads Steven’s book anyway.
◆◆ Both Steven and Missy are willing to look
beyond their differences to try something
new.
◆◆ People do not have to like the same things
to be friends.
Thinking About the Text
■■ The writer reveals character traits through
words, thoughts, and actions.
■■ Illustrations support and extend the
meaning of the story.
■■ The dialogue and narration include
colloquial language that provides realism.
■■ The characters are dynamic, growing and
changing over the course of the story.

MESSAGES  Understanding another’s point of view can help us understand the person’s actions. Our
tastes may be different, but shared understanding can bring us together. Being honest with others leads
to making friends.

Teaching Point
Select a teaching point that will be most helpful to your group of readers. If it’s appropriate, use the
suggestion below, which supports thinking beyond the text. Prompting
Guide, Part 1
Inferring: Character Traits Refer to page 7
as needed
Writers
■■ sometimes directly describe characters’ traits, but often they expect readers to infer what a
character is like from his or her thoughts, words, and actions. Prompting
Guide, Part 2
On
■■ page 13, Steven asks himself, “Could I tell them?” and then he shares about his nightmares. What Refer to page 23
do his words and actions tell you? h His words and actions show that he is afraid of not seeming as needed
cool, but he is also honest, brave, and willing to take a risk.
Now,
■■ look at the rest of page 15. Missy tells Steven she read his book. What does this tell you about
her character?
When
■■ you read, look for clues from the writer that help you figure out what characters are like.

© 2019 by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell from Fountas & Pinnell Classroom™. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. All rights reserved. 3

FPC_GR_0097_Level P_The Story Wars.indd 3 6/8/18 12:25 PM


Supporting English Learners
Support students’ word work.
The Story Wars  Level P
●● If needed, review the
concept of syllables.
●● Read each word on the word
cards and have students
repeat after you.
●● Have pairs work together
to mark the syllable breaks
and write the words in the
appropriate columns.
●● Make sure students
understand the meaning of
all the words in the activity.
Supporting English Learners
Support students’ shared
writing.
●● Make sure students
understand the concepts
of a story map, setting,
characters, problem, and
solution.
●● To help students with the
discussion, provide oral
sentence frames (e.g., The
main characters are ___
and ___. Their problem is
___. They solve the problem
by ___.).
Prompting
Guide, Part 1
Refer to pages
7, 17, and 20 as
needed
GR0097
4 © 2019 by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell from Fountas & Pinnell Classroom™. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. All rights reserved.
FPC_GR_0097_Level P_The Story Wars.indd 4
Word Work
Help the readers become more flexible with breaking apart words with open and closed syllables.
Break Apart Words with Open and Closed Syllables
Write the word
■■ model on the whiteboard. Let’s read the word and clap the syllables. What is the first
syllable? h The first syllable of model is mod. Mark the break with a slash. When a syllable ends with a
vowel and a consonant, the vowel sound is usually short. Break
the word after the consonant if the vowel is short.
Now, write the word
■■ motor to begin a second column. Let’s
read this word and clap the syllables. h Mark the syllable
break with a slash. The first syllable of motor is mo. When a
syllable ends with a single vowel, the vowel sound is usually
long. Break the word after the vowel if the sound of the vowel
is long.
Deal
■■ out the following word cards: cabin, insect, music, paper,
picture, pony. Have each student read the words and mark
the syllable breaks. Then, have them take turns writing each word in the appropriate column on the
whiteboard.
Writing About Reading (Optional)
If you choose to have the students write about what they have read, the following is an option.
Shared Writing: Story Map
Use
■■ a story map to help students summarize the text.
Let’s talk about what happens in The Story Wars.
Display the Story Map and write the title, author, and
setting. Talk with students about the problem, events,
and the resolution.
Complete the
■■ Story Map, using shared writing. Who are
the main characters? What other characters appear in
the story? h What problem do Steven and Missy have?
Continue
■■ prompting students as needed and record
their ideas. What happens on the book tour? What do
Steven and Missy do to solve their problem?
Distribute
■■ copies of the completed Story Map for
students to paste in the Reader’s Notebook.
Assessment
Refer to the goals stated on page 1 of this lesson guide and make notes of behavioral evidence,
demonstrating that these goals were achieved.
Refer to
■■ Level P in The Fountas & Pinnell Literacy Continuum and note the behaviors and
understandings the readers in the group control or need to control. Make notes about what the readers
learned how to do and what they need to learn how to do next.
Use the
■■ Recording Form to take a reading record and assess an individual’s processing on yesterday’s
new book. You may want to select a student before or after the lesson, or at some other point in the
day, to code the record. After coding the reading, select an immediate teaching point that will be
helpful to the particular reader.
6/8/18 12:25 PM