Lesson Plan: How to Make S’mores

Essential Questions:

• How do friendships form? 
• How can we cope with change? 
• What does it mean to be an outsider?

Literature Connection:

• Novel: Amina’s Song by Hena Khan 
• Novel: Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga
• Graphic novel: New Kid by Jerry Craft 

Introduce the Story’s Theme

Before reading, ask students, “Have you ever been the new kid?” Ask for volunteers to describe how it feels to enter a new place or situation where everyone else seems to know their way around. What’s challenging about that kind of experience? Is there anything exciting or fun about it?

Preview Text Features (10 minutes)

Guide students to locate the story. Then preview text features with the following prompts.

• Read the story’s title, “How to Make S’mores.” Do you know what s’mores are and how to make them? If so, what do you think of when you think of s’mores? Answers will vary. Students familiar with s’mores might say that s’mores make them think of camping and bonfires. 
• Skim through the story and look at the side bubbles that contain questions. Read the headers, such as “Author’s Craft” and “Inference.” Are there any skills that you aren’t familiar with? Answers will vary. 

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

• Point out the vocabulary box. Read the terms (mumble, confess, mysteriously, assembling) aloud and discuss their definitions.
• Play the Vocabulary Slideshow

Make a Plan for Reading

Before students start to read, walk them through a reading plan:

• Before students read the story, set a purpose for reading by telling them that they will make inferences about “How to Make S’mores.” Explain that making an inference means using clues from the text  to figure out something that isn’t directly stated.(You may also consider showing our “Skills in Action: What Is an Inference?” video.)

• Read the story (or visit Action Online and click Presentation View to access an audio read-aloud). Then discuss the close-reading questions found in the margins (answers below) and the critical-thinking questions below.

Close-Reading Questions (15 minutes)

• Author’s Craft (p. 15): These words are in all capital letters to show how Raniya compares Pakistan and America in her mind and thinks of them as two very different places. HERE (America) feels unfamiliar, confusing, and lonely to her.
• Inference (p. 15): Raniya is embarrassed because her teacher thinks her family might not be able to pay for her to go on the class trip. 
• Plot (p. 16): Once Raniya’s father gives permission for Raniya to go on the trip, she has no choice but to go—and she’s very uncomfortable with the idea of going on the trip. 
• Figurative Language (p. 16): Raniya means that she would have “crumbled into pieces” emotionally, perhaps crying or panicking.  
• Inference (p. 17): Raniya doesn’t think Tony is a nice person—in fact, she’s afraid he’s a bully like the ones she’s seen on TV. 
• Character (p. 17): Unlike before, Tony isn’t joking around. He’s being serious. He’s also letting Raniya know that he has something in common with her. 
• Character’s Motivation (p. 17): Raniya holds out half her sandwich to Tony as a reminder of the joke he made earlier about eating half her sandwich. It’s also a sign that her feelings toward Tony have changed, and she now sees him as a friend. 
• Compare and Contrast (p. 18): Like Raniya, Eva was once the new kid in school. Unlike Raniya, Eva has moved many times and speaks English with the same accent as most of their classmates.  
• Plot (p. 18): In this moment, Raniya is having fun and feels like part of the group. She doesn’t feel alone or uncomfortable.  
• Theme (p. 19): Along with how to make s’mores, Raniya learned that the things she’s been struggling with—being the new kid and feeling alone—don’t last forever. She’s making friends and finding out that her new life in the United States might be nice.  

Critical-Thinking Questions (10 minutes)

• What do you think are the most important events that make Raniya feel more at home in America? Answers will vary, but students will probably say that important events include Tony opening up to Raniya about coming from another country like her; Eva asking Raniya to be bunkmates and sharing that she moved to Maryland from another place; and making s’mores and joking around with Tony, Eva, and the other kids.
• Imagine that Raniya is a new student in your class. What might you do to welcome her? (Think about what characters in the story did to make her feel welcome.) Answers will vary. Students might be inspired by the way characters in the story shared what they had in common with Raniya. They might also say they would invite her to participate in fun activities, like making s’mores. 

• Have students work in pairs to complete the Spotlight Skill Workout: Inference activity at the end of the play.
• Assign students to work independently on our How a Character Changes Skill Builder. (Click here to see all your Skill Builders for this feature.)
• Writing prompt: In a few paragraphs, describe the events of the story from the point of view of another character (such as Tony, Eva, or Ms. Wehrle). If you’re writing as Tony, for instance, explain what you thought about Raniya before getting to know her, why you joked about her snoring on the bus, and how her attitude toward you and toward Outdoor Ed seems to be changing.