Mailman Mario & His Boris-Busters - Pearson

Celebration Press Reading DRA2 Level 30

Guided Reading Level N
Genre: Humorous Fiction
Reading Skill: Determine Problem and Solution

Mailman Mario &

His Boris-Busters

By John Parker
Illustrated by E. Silas Smith

Mailman Mario was the best mail carrier around. He
liked everyone, and everyone liked him. Then Boris, a
huge dog, moved onto Mario’s route. Boris has the nasty
habit of chasing mailmen. Boris terrorizes Mario until he
finally finds a way to deal with the beastly Boris.

Features of This Text

Supportive Features Challenging Features

• Episodic chapters • Longer story

• Humorous story line • Longer, more complex
sentences
• Illustrations that
enhance text • Some full pages of
text with no pictures

Focus for Instruction

Reading Skill: Determine Problem and Solution Use this book to inform instruction
Word Study Mini-lesson: Synonyms in the following area:
• Teach student how to use graphic
Vocabulary gleamed (p. 20)
amazing (p. 34) massive (p. 20) organizers to keep track of story
bliss (p. 15) sizzled (p. 39) information
brilliant (p. 36) supervisor (p. 24) Shared Reading Connections:
chomped (p. 22) trembled (p. 28) • Unit 4, Week 1 (pp. 190–201)
enormous (p. 12) • Unit 4, Week 2 (pp. 202–213)
gasp (p. 36)
DRA2 Level 30 • Teaching Plan 16
Additional Activities
• Literary Device: Figurative Language
• Writing: Write a Book Review

Guiding the Reading

Day 1 (pp. 1–15) During Reading

In This Section Mailman Mario has his first Prompt for understanding, as appropriate. Possible
encounter with Boris, the huge dog with a bark like prompts include the following:
thunder, teeth like a shark’s, and a taste for rubber • What is the problem in the story?
bicycle tires. • Use the illustrations to help you understand what

Before Reading Mailman Mario and Boris are doing.

Focus Attention After Reading

• Read aloud the title of the book and invite students Determine Problem and Solution
to study the cover illustration. Have them tell who
they think the man and the dog in the picture are Have students describe the problem in the story.
and describe what they think is happening. Then ask them to work with a partner to come up
with a plan to stop Boris from attacking Mario’s
• Explain that Mailman Mario & His Boris-Busters is bicycle and keeping him from delivering the mail.
humorous fiction. The characters in the book are Have pairs share their ideas with the group.
realistic. For the sake of humor, however, some of
the characteristics of the dog Boris and some of the Discuss the Text
schemes Mario comes up with are exaggerated.
Use Illustrations Have students turn to
Vocabulary page 14 and look at the picture. Point out
that the text tells us what Mario is thinking at
• Point out that enormous (p. 12) means “extremely this moment: “I’m going to end my days as a dog’s
large.” Ask students to suggest other words that dinner.” It doesn’t say what Boris is thinking. Have
have the same meaning as enormous. students write a line or two to tell what’s going on in
Boris’s mind as he slobbers and chases after Mario.
Another Word to Know
Assessment Checkpoint
• bliss (p. 15): “great happiness”
• Can the student describe the problem in the story?
Determine Problem and Solution • Does the student recognize how exaggeration

Tell students that all stories have plots, and all plots contributes to the humor of the story?
have problems, but in some stories, like Mailman
Mario & His Boris-Busters, the problem and the main Day 2 (pp. 16–23)
character’s attempts to solve the problem provide
the basic structure of the story. To help students In This Section Mario tries scaring Boris off with a
think about problem and solution, model your loud horn. It doesn’t work. Then he tries distracting
thought process: Boris with a big juicy bone. That doesn’t work either.

When I read a story like this, where the main Before Reading
character has a big problem that’s presented early in
the story, I can predict that the rest of the story is Focus Attention
going to be about how the main character tries to
solve the problem. His first attempts probably won’t Have students describe the problem in the story. Then
work, but in the end he’ll figure something out. have them preview the illustrations in Chapter 2 and

As they read the book, have students use the
reproducible on the back cover to describe the
problem and the solutions that Mario tries.

use them to predict what Mario will do to try to solve Assessment Checkpoint
the problem.
• Is the student able to describe the
Vocabulary attempted solutions?

• Explain to students that the word massive (p. 20) • Can the student recognize the cause-and-effect
means “large, heavy, and solid.” Ask students to relationships in the text?
predict what this word will describe in the book.
Ask students for other words that have a similar Day 3 (pp. 24–35)
meaning that have been used in the book.
In This Section Mario consults his supervisor,
Other Words to Know who recommends a very aggressive Boris-buster
that fails. Then Mario comes up with a new, passive
• chomped (p. 22): “crushed with the teeth” Boris-buster, but that doesn’t work either.
• gleamed (p. 20): “gave off bright light”
Before Reading
During Reading
Focus Attention
Prompt for understanding, as appropriate. Possible
prompts include the following: Have students summarize what has happened so far
• Do you think this Boris-buster will work? Why or in the story and count the number of times Boris has
kept Mario from delivering all the mail.
why not?
• What words could be synonyms for that word?

After Reading Vocabulary

Determine Problem and Solution • Point out that the word amazing (p. 34) means
“causing great surprise or sudden wonder.” Ask
Have students explain Mario’s first two attempts to students to suggest things or events that they
solve the problem and talk about why they both failed. would describe as amazing.
Encourage students to share their suggestions about
what Mario should do. Remind students to continue to Other Words to Know
record Mario’s solutions on their reproducible.
• supervisor (p. 24): “someone who directs the
Discuss the Text work of other people”

Explore Consequences Recall with students that • trembled (p. 28): “shook, from fear or excitement”
when Boris attacks Mario’s bicycle, it has unfortunate
consequences for Mario. Ask students to tell what During Reading
those consequences are. Encourage them also to
discuss which of the consequences seems to bother Prompt for understanding, as appropriate. Possible
Mario more and why. prompts include the following:
• What problems do you think this Boris-buster
Make Connections Ask students what
they would do if they were Mario. Would might cause?
they try to create a Boris-buster? Or would • Reread the paragraph to help you understand what
they approach the problem in a different way? Have
students write a paragraph explaining what they happened.
would do if they were Mario.

After Reading Vocabulary

Determine Problem • Discuss different meanings for the word brilliant
and Solution (p. 36). Explain that in this situation it means
“showing great intelligence.” Ask students to
Ask students to describe the Boris-busters Mario suggest things that could be described as brilliant.
tries in this chapter and discuss what makes each of
these attempts to solve the problem funny. Have Other Words to Know
students continue working on their reproducibles.
• gasp (p. 36): “take breath in suddenly”
Discuss the Text • sizzled (p. 39): “made a hissing sound”

Making Judgments Review with students the During Reading
four Boris-busters Mario has tried so far: the horn,
the bone, the boxing glove, and the tree disguise. Prompt for understanding, as appropriate. Possible
Invite students to decide which Boris-buster is the prompts include the following:
silliest and discuss the reasons why it would be • How is Mario’s solution different from the earlier
unlikely to work.
ones he tried?
Summarize Point out that Mario’s • How do the words help you visualize what is
supervisor might want to know how the
boxing glove worked out for him. Have going on?
students write a paragraph telling what Mario
might say to her. After Reading

Assessment Checkpoint Determine Problem and Solution

• Can the student discuss attempted solutions and Ask students to describe Mario’s final Boris-buster and
explain why they don’t work? explain why this one worked when all the others
failed. Review and discuss the problem and solution
• Is the student able to see the humor in pattern by giving students the chance to discuss how
situations and explain why things are funny? they completed the reproducible.

Day 4 (pp. 36–48) Discuss the Text

In This Section Mario finally figures out why Making Judgments Discuss the story
Boris likes to attack his bicycle and comes up with resolution with students, particularly the
a Boris-buster that really works. new relationship Mario and Boris have, as
indicated by the illustration on page 48. Ask
Before Reading students if they think this part of the happy ending
is realistic. Then have them write a paragraph
Focus Attention explaining why or why not Boris and Mario might
become friends.
Have students recall what Boris does every time he
rushes at Mario on this bicycle. Then have students Assessment Checkpoint
turn to pages 36–37, read the chapter title, and
look at the picture on the opposite page. Ask them • Does the student understand how cause and
to predict what Mario’s final Boris-buster will be. effect operate in the solution to the problem?

• Can the student discuss the resolution to the
story and make a judgment about whether or
not it is realistic?

Options for Further Instruction Word Study Mini-lesson

Digging Deeper Synonyms

Literary Device: Figurative Language • Tell students that synonyms are words that
have about the same meaning. Point out
Remind students that John Parker uses a lot of that John Parker uses a few different
similes in his writing. Explain that a simile is a synonyms that mean “very big” to
type of figurative language that uses like or as to describe Boris.
compare two things that are not usually thought
of as being alike. Because the comparison is • Recall with students the synonyms used to
unusual and striking, a simile gives the reader a describe Boris’s size: huge (p. 8), enormous
very vivid sense of the thing being described. (p. 12), massive (p. 20). Ask students to
suggest other synonyms for these words.
Most often similes help you see something in
your mind’s eye very clearly. To illustrate this, • Encourage partners to work together to
have students turn to page 10 and reread the identify other synonyms used in the book.
last sentence: “The birds rose like clouds from Have them find two words that mean
the trees.” Discuss with students how that “inspiring fear,” terrible (p. 11) and
simile helps the reader see what the birds awesome (p. 13) and two words that mean
looked like as they took flight. Explain that “inspiring admiration or wonder,” amazing
similes can also involve the other senses. John (p. 34) and brilliant (p. 36).
Parker uses several similes that help the reader
hear something. To illustrate this, have students Support
turn to page 17 and reread the second
sentence: “When he squeezed the horn, it Some students may find the descriptive words
sounded like a hundred angry ducks.” and phrases in this book challenging. For
example, the text on page 10 has several
Have students work with a partner to find other challenging phrases. Preview the page with
similes in one or two chapters of the book. students and review the phrases “bark as loud
Encourage them to find one more that helps as thunder” and “sounded like a mountain
the reader see something and one more that falling over.” Break down the words and help
helps the reader hear something. students understand what the author is trying
to make them visualize. Talk about how the
Writing images add to the story. Continue this process
with other phrases in the story.
Write a Book Review

Tell students that a book review tells about the
book, without giving so much away that it
would spoil the experience for another reader.
It also gives an opinion about whether or not it
is a book readers would enjoy. Ask students to
write a book review of Mailman Mario & His
Boris-Busters. The audience for their book
review will be students their own age.

Name Date

Problem

Attempts to Solve Problem

Solution
Resolution

Celebration Press Reading: Good Habits, Great Readers™ ISBN: 0-7652-8467-7

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