Pearson

Reading Street - 2008

Grade 2

Unit 2 /Week 4
Title: The Bremen Town Musicians
Targeted Skill and Strategy: Authors Purpose and Story Structure
Vocabulary:
Words to pre-teach:
Words to teach using context: glum
Unit and Weekly Concept Question:
Unit: How can we work together?
Weekly: When should we work together? When should we work alone?
Common Core ELA Standards:
RL.2.1 , RL.2.3, RL.2.5, RL.2.7, W.3.3, W.3.8, SL.2.1a, SL.2.2, SL.2.3, L.2.4
Teacher Instructions
Refer to the introduction for further details
Before Teaching
1. Read the Big Ideas and Key Understandings and the Synopsis (see below). Please do not read this to the
students. This is a description for teachers, about the big ideas and key understanding that students
should take away after completing this task.

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Pearson

Reading Street - 2008

Grade 2

2. Read entire main selection text, keeping in mind the Big Ideas and Key Understandings.
3. Re-read the main selection text while noting the stopping points for the Text Dependent Questions and
teaching Vocabulary.
Big Ideas and Key Understandings
It is a good idea to work together to solve a problem. Its important to understand the feelings of
others when working
together. When people work together, they can accomplish great things.
Synopsis
This is a fairy tale written in play format. Donkey was too old to work hard. His owner wanted to get rid
of him. He decided to run away to Bremen Town. He thought he would be a fine musician. Along the
way Donkey meets a dog, a cat and a rooster who are also old. He invites them to join him to be
musicians in Bremen Town. When they arrive in Bremen Town, they find robbers and work together to
scare away the robbers. When the robbers return the animals work together to scare them away for
good. They become successful musicians in Bremen Town.
During Teaching
1. Students read the entire main selection text independently.
2. Teacher reads the main selection text aloud with students following along. (Depending on how complex
the text is and the amount of support needed by students, the teacher may choose to reverse the order of
steps 1 and 2.)
3. Students and teacher re-read the text while stopping to respond to and discuss the questions and
returning to the text. A variety of methods can be used to structure the reading and discussion (i.e.:
whole class discussion, think-pair-share, independent written response, group work, etc.)

Text-dependent Questions
Text-dependent Questions
pages 256-257
Look at the pictures. What animals do you see and
what are they doing?
page 258

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Evidence-based Answers
I see a donkey, rooster, dog and cat. They are
smiling, laughing or singing.
He is old and could no longer work hard. His owner

Pearson

Reading Street - 2008

Grade 2

Text-dependent Questions
Identify donkeys problem.
page 259
Identify donkeys solution.
page 260
Why did the dog run away?
pages 258-260
Why does donkey understand how the dog feels?
Use examples from the story.

Evidence-based Answers
wants to get rid of him.
Donkey decides to run away to Bremen Town and
become a musician.
The dog ran away because his owner wanted to get
rid of him because he could no longer hunt.
Donkey understands how dog feels because they are
both old and their owners want to get rid of them.
They both wanted to run away. On page 258, the
narrator says the donkey grew old. He could no
longer work hard. The owner was going to get rid
of the donkey. On page 259 donkey says, I must
run away. On page 260, Dog says, I am old and
weak. I can no longer hunt. My owner wants to get
rid of me, so I got scared and so I ran away.
page 261
Donkey sings, with a hee-haw here.
Identify the sounds that donkey and dog contribute to Dog sings, with a bow-wow here.
the song.
page 262
Identify the characters and how you know who is
speaking.
The dog asks the cat, why so glum? Reread the
words spoken by narrator 2. Find the phrase that
helps you determine the meaning of the word glum.

I know which characters are speaking because the

text is all capitals and bold prior to the speaking. The
characters so far are the dog, the donkey and the cat.
Narrator 2 says the cat had the saddest face he had
ever see. In the picture I see the cat looking very
sad. These words and the picture help me determine
that glum means sad.

Identify why cat was glum. P. 262

Cat was glum because he is old and his teeth are not
sharp and he cannot catch mice. His owner wants to
get rid of him.

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Pearson

Reading Street - 2008

Grade 2

Text-dependent Questions
page 264
How is rooster similar to the other characters?

Evidence-based Answers
Rooster says his owner wants to get rid of him. The
other animals owners wanted to get rid of them too.
All the animals are unwanted by their owners.

What does the farmer use to replace the rooster?

Find the sentences that tell how this makes rooster
feel?

The rooster is replaced with an alarm clock. On page

264 the rooster was crowing sadly. The rooster
says, Now Im a cock-a-doodle-dont. He is sad and
disappointed.
It starts with just donkey and then each character
adds a piece.
First donkey says, Off I go then it changes to off we
go when he meets dog.
People will love me!
Well be filled with glee!
Were a gifted three!
Were a sight to see!
Its the place to be!
The musicians were not tall enough to see inside the
house.
Dog stood and on donkeys back, the cat stood on the
dogs back the rooster stood on the cats back and
peeked inside.
When the robbers heard the animals, they ran out of
the house screaming. This sentence and the picture
of the robbers running helps me understand they
made quite a noise means they were singing in a
loud and scary way.
The donkey slept in the soft grass in the yard. The
dog slept behind the front door. The cat slept near

How has the song changed throughout the story?

Look back in the text and identify how it changes. P.
259, 261, 263
Identify how words in the first stanza of the song
change as donkey meets each new animal. P. 259,
261, 263, 266, 267
When the four musicians reached the house in
Bremen Town what problem did they face? P. 268
How did the musicians solve their problem? P. 268

The author says that, the four began singing and

they made quite a noise. Find the sentence that
helps you figure out what they made quite a noise
means. P. 269
Reread page 270 and identify where each animal
slept.

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Pearson

Reading Street - 2008

Grade 2

Text-dependent Questions

Evidence-based Answers
the warm of the fireplace. The rooster slept on top of
the bookshelf.
Using story structure helps us understand a story.
First the cat scratches his face, next the dog bites his
What happens first, next and last to Robber 3 after he leg, and last the donkey kicks him.
goes inside the house?
What did the rooster say and what did the robber
The rooster said, Cock-a-doodle-do, but the robber
hear? Find the two phrases on page 272.
heard, coming to get youuuuuuu!
What goals did the animals achieve? Cite evidence.
They made it to Bremen Town and they became
P. 273
famous musicians.

Culminating Task

Re-Read, Think, Discuss, Write

Using the story structure graphic organizer retell the story using details.
The animals had to work together to achieve their goal of becoming musicians in Bremen Town. Write
the different ways the animals worked together to achieve this goal?
The animals had to work together to see inside the house and scare the robbers away. They stood on
each others backs to see inside and then they followed roosters plan. When the robbers returned to the
house, the animals had to work together to scare them away for good. Each animal scared the robber in
a different way, scratching, biting and tripping the robber. The animals became successful musicians by
working together and singing as a group.

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Pearson

Reading Street - 2008

Grade 2

Notes to Teacher
Additional Task

Write an additional scene introducing another character. The characters are a donkey, dog, cat and
rooster. As they were walking along the path they met a ____________. Using the formula the author
used, write dialogue between the characters.

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