Fountas-Pinnell Level SHumorous FictionSelection SummaryEl Camino Real, the Royal Road, is a street in Teresa’s town. After her grandfather tells a story about kings, queens, and nobles that once lived on the street, Teresa assigns royal roles to people along the road. Although the results are disastrous, people appreciate Teresa’s imagination.
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Characteristics of the Text Genre • Humorous fi ction
Text Structure • Third-person continuous narrative• No chapters or headings
Content • Constellations • Royalty• Imagination
Themes and Ideas • Imagination is a wonderful gift.• Imagination can go too far.
Language and Literary Features
• Assigned dialogue• Some fi gurative language (glittered like great sprays of dazzling diamonds fl ung across
velvet)Sentence Complexity • Some longer (15+ words), complex sentence structures, including dialogue
• Questions in dialogue• Full range of punctuation including dashes, ellipses, parentheses, italics and capitals used
for emphasisVocabulary • Terms related to astronomy: constellations, Ursa Major, Big Dipper, Cassiopeia
• Terms related to royalty: lords, ladies, knights, court jester, subjectsWords • Words that may be challenging to decode, such as realm, curtseyed, plagued
• Some Spanish wordsIllustrations • Stylized illustrations that support the text
ignorance – a lack of knowledge or awareness of important things, p. 3
noble – honest, brave, and unselfi sh, p. 4
pierced – poked a hole in, p. 9
plagued – constantly bothered by something, p. 10
quests – journeys undertaken in order to fi nd something, p. 6
thrust – to push in forcefully, p. 9transformed – totally changed, p. 3
El Camino Real by Hilary Peterson
Build BackgroundHelp students use their knowledge about imagination to visualize the text. Build interest by asking a question such as the following: Why is imagination a wonderful thing? Read the title and explain that El Camino Real is Spanish for “the royal road.” Read the title and author and point out features of the cover illustration that offer clues that the story will be humorous fi ction.
Introduce the TextGuide students through the text, noting important ideas, and helping with unfamiliar language and vocabulary so they can read the text successfully. Here are some suggestions:
Pages 2–3: Explain that this story is about Teresa and her younger sister, Clara, and how Teresa uses her imagination.Suggested language: Turn to page 3. Here is a picture of Teresa and Clara. What are they looking at? Can you identify the constellation that they see?
Page 5: Explain that the girls’ grandfather is telling them a story about the road named El Camino Real. Then read the sentence near the bottom of the page: “She had almost believed that El Camino Real was a royal road.” Ask: What might you predict about the story from this sentence?
Pages 6–7: Draw attention to the illustrations on these two pages. Ask: What details are realistic? What details show what Teresa imagines?
Page 10: Explain that Teresa gathered neighborhood children and told them about a ferocious dragon that plagued the kingdom. What might a dragon do to plague a kingdom?
Now turn back to the beginning and read to fi nd out about Teresa and her imagination.
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ReadHave students read silently while you listen to individual students read aloud. Support their understanding of the text as needed.
Remind students to use the Question Strategy and to think of questions about the characters and story events as they read.
Discuss and Revisit the TextPersonal ResponseInvite students to share their personal responses to the story.Suggested language: Do you think Teresa is a likeable character? Why or why not?
Ways of ThinkingAs you discuss the text, help students understand these points:
Thinking Within the Text Thinking Beyond the Text Thinking About the Text
• Teresa imagines that El Camino Real is still a “royal road.”
• Teresa and her sister pretend to turn people along the road into royal rulers and subjects.
• In spite of some unfortunate results, people appreciate Teresa’s imagination.
• Imagination is a wonderful gift.
• If used unwisely, imagination can lead to trouble.
• Stylistic illustrations add to the creative spirit of the story.
• The main character sometimes talks as if she were speaking to royalty.
Choices for Further Support• Fluency Invite students to take the role of one of the characters and read and act out
the dialogue on page 14, or use this part for readers’ theater. Ask students to think about the characters in this part of the story—are they happy or sad; are they having fun or are they being serious? Have the students try to imitate the character’s voice when they read.
• Comprehension Based on your observations of the students’ reading and discussion, revisit parts of the text to clarify or extend comprehension. Remind students to go back to the text to support their ideas.
• Phonics/Word Work Provide practice as needed with hyphenated compound words, using examples from the text. Remind students that some adjectives are hyphenated compound words. Have students note the placement of the hyphen in the adjective silver-colored (p. 6). Ask the students to fi nd other hyphenated adjectives in the story. (oval-shaped, p. 9; make-believe, p. 10)
Writing about ReadingCritical ThinkingHave students complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 20.8.
RespondingHave students complete the activities at the back of the book, using their Reader’s Notebook. Use the instruction below as needed to reinforce or extend understanding of the comprehension skill.
Target Comprehension Skill Remind students that they can understand a
character by looking for details of the character’s thoughts, actions, and words. Model how to add details to the Graphic Organizer, using a “Think Aloud” like the one below:
Think Aloud
Teresa decides to treat everyone like royalty. You can add that thought to the fi rst column. Teresa places a crown on Clara’s head and declares her to be a princess. You can add that to the Actions column and to the Words column. These details suggest that Teresa has a big imagination.
Practice the SkillHave students share examples of another story in which details help them make inferences about characters.
Writing Prompt: Thinking Beyond the TextHave students write a response to the prompt on page 6. Remind them that when they think beyond the text, they use their personal knowledge to reach new understandings.
Assessment Prompts• Why do you think the author begins the book with the description of Teresa and Clara
looking at constellations?
• On page 9, what does the butcher say that shows he has a sense of humor?
• What sentences on page 10 show that Clara is developing her imagination?
They are using their imagination too much if they stop paying
attention to what’s going on around them.
The author makes the grandfather a good role model for balancing
imagination with reality.
Possible responses shown.
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English Language DevelopmentReading Support Check regularly on students’ oral reading to determine accuracy, fl uency, and comprehension.
Vocabulary Students will need to understand terms related to royalty and a royal society. Familiarize students with the meaning of royal, lords, ladies, knights, servants, court jester, and loyal subjects.
Oral Language DevelopmentCheck student comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches your students’ English profi ciency level. Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the student.
Beginning/Early Intermediate Intermediate Early Advanced/ Advanced
Speaker 1: What does El Camino Real mean?
Speaker 2: the royal road
Speaker 1: Where does Teresa get the idea that royal subjects live along the road?
Speaker 2: from her grandfather’s story
Speaker 1: What does Clara accidentally do in the bakery?
Speaker 2: knocks over a cake
Speaker 1: What happens when Teresa puts a crown on the crossing guard’s head?
Speaker 2: The guard falls onto her chair.
Speaker 1: What happens when Teresa puts a helmet on the butcher’s head?
Speaker 2: It gets stuck. She has to slide it off with butter.
Speaker 1: Teresa admits that she let her imagination “run away.” What does “run away” mean in this context?
Speaker 2: Teresa’s imagination gets out of control. Because of her imagination, the crossing guard fell, a helmet got stuck on the butcher’s head, and the baker’s wedding cake was ruined.
Think about the questions below. Then write your answer in two paragraphs.
Remember that when you think beyond the text, you use your personal knowledge to reach new understandings.
Teresa made people in her community—the crossing guard, the butcher, the baker—into royal rulers and subjects. Do you think it is good that Teresa has such a vivid imagination? Why or why not? Do you think her imagination will continue to grow in the future? Why or why not?
