P. 3 – "Notice the phrase, ‘DO YOU HEAR ME? I MEAN IT!’ is in all capital letters. Why do you think the author used all capital letters?"

P. 4 – “On this page the word they is written in a different way. This is called italics. An author sometimes uses italics to put a special emphasis on certain words. I am going to read this sentence again and listen to how it sounds when I read it. Think about why the author would use italics for this word.”

P. 14 & 28 – All Capital letters are used again (reference back to P.3 and why the author used all caps.)

P. 24 – “Look at Alexander’s mom reading the paper. Let’s read the headline on the newspaper (Read headline). What does that mean? What do you think Alexander is thinking at this point?”

P. 28 – “Read the box. The last option has an X next to it. What does it say? What does that tell you about the ending of the story?”

Before reading, ask students, “Have you ever moved to a new house? School? City? How did you feel? Were you excited/ nervous/ sad/ curious? If you haven’t moved before, what do you think it would feel like to move into a new house, start a new school, or live in a new city? Today we are going to read a story about a boy who is moving to a new home in a new city and will be going to a new school.

This text is a favorite of students of various levels and abilities. There are also other books with Alexander, the character from this story. Encourage students to reread this story along with reading other stories about Alexander.

The author adds extra punctuation to show the choppy/ slow mood of the character and to help the reader know the rate/ tone of the text. See examples below:

• P. 4 – “Never. Not ever. No way. Uh uh. N. O.”
• P. 15 – “I’m saying good-bye – but it won’t be my last.”

Pull out and discuss interesting words in this text such as: compass, thousand, transplant, lonesome, immature, and mature.