Focus on Genre, continued

Character: Practice Together

Now read the rest of the story aloud with your class. As you read, listen for the ways the writer characterizes Roadrunner. After you read, complete the activities listed next to the passage.

Character Description Chart
CharacterWhat the Character Is LikeHow I Know
Kit Foxhungrywriter tells about the character directly
Kit Foxfriendlyher words and actions

Roadrunner dropped his meal and held it in his claws. “Oh, yes, I am the fastest bird in this desert. I have never lost a race!”

“Never?” questioned Kit Fox. “I don’t believe you. I am very fast myself. Let’s race to that cactus. We’ll see who gets there first.”

Roadrunner counted to three and raced to the cactus. Kit Fox never caught up with him. In fact, when Roadrunner returned, Kit Fox was gone. Gone, too, was Roadrunner’s meal.

  • 1. Make a Character Description Chart for both Kit Fox and Roadrunner. Include new information about Kit Fox you learn from the end of the story.

  • 2. How would the plot change if Roadrunner were more clever than Kit Fox?

Setting: How It Works

Setting is the time and place where a story happens.

  • • Setting includes the customs and the way people think at that time and place. During the course of the story, the setting may change.

  • • The time and place affect how the characters think and act.

  • • Setting also affects the plot. For example, a story set in a hot desert would probably not include characters being caught in a hurricane.

See how one writer uses the element of setting.

A Foxy Challenge

The sun was setting as Kit Fox left her desert den. Hunting had not been good the night before, and she was hungry. She needed to find food, so she trotted off across the dry land hunting for food. Soon, Kit Fox saw Roadrunner with a fresh meal in his beak. Roadrunner looked up nervously. Foxes and birds are usually enemies in the desert.

The time and place

Customs of the time and place