ILLUSTRATIONS BY JEFF HARVEY
Hi! I’m Question Mark.
Before you read, practice saying these words:
- wrapper
- cacao (kuh-KOW)
- caramel
- marshmallows
- campfire
Art by Adam Record
Interview With a Chocolate Bar
Question Mark learns more about this delicious treat
From the May 2022 Issue
Lexiles: 450L
Guided Reading Level: M
DRA Level: 20-24
Vocabulary: wrapper, cacao, caramel, marshmallows
Featured Skill:
Reading Fluency,
Topic:
English Language Arts,
Common Core Standards
1) Question Mark: Hi! I’m here with Chocolate Bar, my favorite treat.
Chocolate Bar: Thank you! I have to say, people do love me.
Valentyn Volkov/Shutterstock.com
2) Question Mark: What are you wearing?
Chocolate Bar: Oh! This is my foil wrapper. It helps keep me from melting. I can melt easily.
3) Question Mark: Where does chocolate come from?
Chocolate Bar: I come from a tree! Brown fruits, or pods, grow on cacao trees. The fruits have seeds inside. People use those seeds to make chocolate.
Panther Media GmbH/Alamy Stock Photo
7) Question Mark: How do you like to be eaten?
Chocolate Bar: I like to be part of a s’more. People cook marshmallows on a campfire. Then they smush the marshmallows and me between graham crackers
8) Question Mark: Sweet! Thanks, Chocolate Bar.
Chocolate Bar: See you at your next campfire!
video
(1)
Activities
(2)
Skills Activities
More About the Article
Social Studies Focus
Geography, plants and seeds
In-Person Lesson Plan
1. BEFORE READING
Preview Vocabulary (3-5 minutes)
- Play the online vocabulary slideshow. This article’s featured words are wrapper, cacao, caramel, and marshmallows.
Pair Kids Up (3 minutes)
- Partner kids up. One partner should be Question Mark, and the other should be the chocolate bar.
- Time for props! The kids who are playing Question Mark should get out a pencil or highlighter pen. That will be their microphone.
Preteach Navigating the Page
- Point out the numbers in the interview. Explain that kids will read the questions and answers in the order of the numbers. It will be important to pay attention to this when they get to the end of a column.
2. READ THE INTERVIEW MULTIPLE TIMES (15-30 MINUTES)
- Kids will read the interview multiple times.
- Tell kids that they should read with expression. How should questions sound when you read them out loud? What are the personalities of Question Mark and the chocolate bar?
- Tell kids they can have fun with it. Each time they read the interview, they will get better at it.
- First Read: Each partner should quietly read the interview to himself or herself. This is to get the meaning and the feel of the interview.
- Second Read: Now the pairs will read their parts out loud to each other. Remember, the children playing Question Mark should hold their pencil like a microphone while asking questions. It’s OK if kids stumble on words.
- Third Read: Now kids will read it out loud again. They are getting used to this.
- Fourth Read: They will be amazed at how much more fluently they read this the fourth time around. They just got so much practice with reading fluency!
- NOTE: On our website, you can find this interview read aloud with each word high-lighted along the way. Kids can listen to it to hear fluent reading modeled for them.
3. AFTER READING (15 MINUTES)
ELA Focus: Vocabulary (15 minutes)
- Have students complete the “Chocolate Bar Crossword Puzzle” skills sheet to reinforce the vocabulary words used in this article.
Show the Video “It Comes From a Tree” (5 minutes)
- Teach kids about various things that come from trees, including chocolate.
Craft Extension: Make a Microphone (20 minutes)
- Kids can make microphones from balls of tinfoil and toilet paper rolls to use for the interviews. Just stuff the tinfoil ball into one end of the toilet paper roll.
Text-to-Speech