Lesson 4: Look Both Ways, Vignette 1, Water Booger Bears, Part 1

Turn and Talk

Have students take out their homework.

• Lesson 3 Homework: Students read the “Water Booger Bears” section of Look Both Ways and were instructed to identify moments in the first story that seem to make an ordinary moment meaningful to the reader.

Say these Directions: Turn and talk with a partner and choose one word to describe Jasmine and one word to describe TJ.

Each student should share with their partner and refine their idea based on their partner’s response.

• Ask: What is one word that describes each character? Why did you choose that word?

  • TJ is curious, and Jasmine is tough. In the story, TJ has a long explanation for why boogers are “the babiest form of babies” (p. 7). He talks about the science behind what he thinks, and he asks Jasmine for her opinion. Jasmine is tough because she has been sick and missed school, but she still shows up as a friend to TJ.

Connection to Today’s Learning 

• Say: When we began this unit, we investigated how stories can capture ordinary moments and turn them into meaningful moments that help characters—and real-life people—better understand each other. Today, you’ll close-read “Water Booger Bear,” the first story in Look Both Ways. You will summarize it to better understand meaningful moments in the text. You’ll also identify how author Jason Reynolds uses symbols to relate the story’s themes.

Sentence Combining

Say these Directions: Over the course of this lesson, we are going to examine how sentence combining can change the way we understand specific words and sentences.

Model Reading: Read sentences from p. 3: “TJ shrugged, tossing his science book onto the floor of the metal closet, the smell of feet wafting up from it like a cloud of dust, unsettled. And unsettling. The floor of his locker was littered with empty snack bags that Jasmine had slid through the door vent over the last two days.”

• Say: Here are three sentences from the story that use the word unsettled. Listen for the word while I read the sentences out loud.

Choral Repeat: Instruct students to chorally repeat the same excerpt.

• Say: Now let’s read the sentences together. Notice that the sentences can use both definitions of the word unsettled. Here, the author compares the smell to “a cloud of dust.” The dust is metaphorical—it helps us picture the smell spreading and hanging in the air, not actual dust moving around the locker floor. That means unsettled can describe the air as disturbed by the smell, and it can also describe TJ as feeling nervous or uneasy. The use of the word "unsettling" in the second sentence helps describe TJ’s frame of mind.

• Target Sentences: Write two original target sentences about the story using the word unsettled:

“The smell from TJ’s locker drifted up like a cloud of dust and left the air unsettled. The smell made TJ feel unsettled.”

• Say: Here are two sentences about the story that both use the vocabulary word unsettled. Each sentence uses a different definition of the word. Next, we are going to combine these two sentences.

Sentence Combining: Model one way to combine the kernel sentences. Talk through your thinking as you do so.

• Say: Both sentences use the word unsettled but use different definitions of the word. We can combine the sentences so they use the word "unsettled" only once.

“When TJ opened his locker, the dustlike smell left both the air and TJ unsettled.”

• Say: The new sentence uses the word unsettled once but still draws attention to the multiple meanings of the word, because the air is unsettled by the smell while TJ feels unsettled by it. Combining the sentences in this way also helps clarify that the “dust” image is describing the smell, not literal dust, while keeping the ideas in parallel.

Explain to students that combining sentences can help make ideas more concise. It can also change the tone or pace of their writing. These are important aspects of how writers create setting, establish mood and tone, and control pacing, or the speed at which a story progresses. Tell students they will learn more about all of these ideas throughout the unit.

Review a second example with the class to model how combining sentences changes the pacing and tone of writing.

Model Reading and Choral Repeat: Read from “But Marston Street was lined . . .” to “Maybe even three” on p. 11.

• Say: Notice how the author uses punctuation to control the pacing of the passage. He uses a series of one-word sentences to emphasize details about Marston Street. “Grass. Gravel. Blacktop. Pavement.” Making each word one sentence forces the reader to slow down and notice each detail.

• Say: We are going to use another excerpt from Look Both Ways to practice combining sentences.

Target Sentences: Display or write on the board these sentence fragments from the text:

“From bay windows to Colonial style. From ramblers all on one level to three stories. A fence here and there, a gate there and here. Grass. Gravel. Blacktop. Pavement. Everything old enough to look lived in. To look tried on.”

• Say: Let’s work to combine these sentences to change the pacing of the passage. Right now, punctuation slows the pacing down. The pacing reflects how Jasmine feels about Marston Street. It reflects her perspective, or point of view, or way of seeing things, that Marston Street is a comfortable place. But from someone else’s perspective, maybe the variety of the houses feels overwhelming. How could we combine sentences to reflect a feeling of overwhelm?

Sentence Combining: Allow students to spend a minute combining sentences on their own or with a partner, with the goal of creating fast pacing in the passage. Then model how to do so as a whole class, asking for volunteers to assist you as you go along.

• Say: By removing periods, combining short sentences to create longer ones, we can change the pacing and overall tone of the passage. Watch what happens when I remove most of the periods from the passage:

“From bay windows to Colonial style, from ramblers all on one level to three stories. A fence here and there, a gate there and here, and grass, gravel, blacktop, pavement. Everything old enough to look lived in and tried on.”

Encourage students to observe how removing periods changes the tone of the writing from comfortably cluttered to frantically overwhelmed.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Combining sentences can be helpful when summarizing a text; you can get across the main idea of a text without having to include too many details. We’ll see how that works next during our close reading.

Have students get out their copies of Look Both Ways. Transition the students to prepare for partner work in close reading to identify symbols in “Water Booger Bears.”

Part A: Summarizing and Close Reading (RL.6.2) (15 minutes)

Students will practice distinguishing between summarizing and close reading. Begin by reviewing Jasmine’s observations of Marston Street. Students summarize the passage in their own words, capturing the key events and overall impression without excessive detail. Then, students reread the passage to identify important symbols, such as descriptions of houses, textures, or clothing, and discuss how these symbols contribute to understanding character and setting.

Say these Directions: Now we are going to look at the differences between summarizing and close reading. We’ll start by summarizing text about Jasmine’s observations of Marston Street.

Teach:

Read from “Jasmine thought about it . . .” on p. 10 to “Maybe even three” on p. 11.

• Say: Jasmine describes Marston Street from her perspective. To summarize this passage, I might say, “All the houses on Marston Street look a little different. Houses in newer neighborhoods all look the same, which feels boring. On Marston Street, the houses might be old, but this makes them feel comfortable, like cozy clothes.” That is a summary of Jasmine’s description. Notice that I didn’t mention many specific details about the houses on Marston Street. I conveyed Jasmine’s overall impression of the houses.

Confirm that students understand that a summary communicates the "what" of the text, giving a broad overview of what happened. It includes only the details necessary for your audience to understand what is happening.

Next, describe the difference between summarizing and close reading.

• Say: Summarizing is different from close reading. Summarizing focuses on the what, but close reading investigates how and why. Close reading looks in depth at the language an author uses to create meaning. Now, we will close read the same passage from before to identify important symbols.

Reread from “Jasmine thought about it . . .” on p. 10 to “Maybe even three” on p. 11.

• Ask: By close reading, we can learn more about Jasmine’s perspective, or how she feels about the houses on Marston Street. Jasmine refers to houses in newer neighborhoods as “like a choir of homes dressed in the same robes” and says this creates “a boring, boring song.” What can these houses symbolize?”

  • She describes them as “dressed in the same robes, turned the same way,” which I think symbolizes sameness and a lack of individuality or character.

Pause to allow for student interaction and discussion. Affirm student ideas.

• Ask: These newer houses could symbolize conformity. Notice the way Jasmine talks about the houses on Marston Street. They are all different and appear “tried on” and “warm and worn.” What could these houses symbolize?

  • I think her description of them looking like that and being described as having been “worn by a generation of two” symbolizes comfort, hominess, and a welcoming air.

Pause to allow for student interaction and discussion. Affirm student ideas.

• Say: While the idea of something being “worn” and “old” could symbolize damage, here the language points to imperfection and the comfort that Jasmine finds in these differences. Notice how these symbols are specific to Jasmine’s perspective. Someone from one of the newer neighborhoods might not see the beauty in the worn and tired houses.

Encourage students to consider how symbols can carry specific meaning based on the individual. Highlight how the author’s choice to describe the houses helps the reader see the neighborhood from Jasmine’s perspective. It creates meaning and invites the reader into the story. It also helps the reader start to get an idea of the theme, or main idea or topic, of the story. The discussion of themes in Look Both Ways will be revisited throughout this unit.

• Ask: How does this description of Marston Street convey an idea of the story?

  • Jasmine’s description of the houses on Marston Street focuses on how they are all different and on the ideas of belonging and community.

Part B: Connect Symbols to Theme (RL.6.4) (15 minutes)

Students will engage in a Gallery Walk to analyze symbols in “Water Booger Bears.” In pairs, students identify symbols (objects, actions, or repeated motifs) and discuss what these symbols reveal about Jasmine, TJ, or both. They write symbols and their meanings on notecards for display, providing evidence from the text to support their interpretations.

Have students reread “Water Bear Boogers” with a partner.

Gallery Walk

Say these Directions: Work with a partner to identify additional symbols in the text and what they mean to Jasmine, to TJ, and/or to both. After you each identify more

symbols in the “Water Booger Bears” story, write the symbols on note cards to display on a Gallery Walk. Next, circulate and give feedback on other symbols and their connection to the story’s themes. You can use the text-dependent questions below to guide what you write on your note cards.

• What is another symbol in the story? What does it tell you about the characters and their perspective?

  • Another important symbol in the story is the friendship flags that Jasmine leaves in TJ’s locker. They are just old chip bags, but they symbolize the connection between the two friends. They represent friendship from both Jasmine's and TJ's perspectives. The story refers to them as “the litter of love.” The bags are literally trash, but they show how friendship is made from small, everyday things.

• How do these symbols convey the story’s themes?

  • The story conveys themes about friendship and community. The friendship flag symbol helps convey this by showing how relationships can grow and be maintained through everyday actions.

Allow one or two minutes for students to give feedback to at least one other pair’s note cards. This is a good opportunity to circulate and observe how students identify symbols and connect them to the theme. Take note of which students need prompts or sentence frames to articulate meaning. Encourage discussions that go beyond naming symbols—focus on interpretation and connections to character and theme. This guidance helps ensure that when students share or present, they are ready to explain not just what the symbol is, but what it represents and how it contributes to understanding the story.

Before students begin the Quick Write, use this time to prepare them for synthesizing their thinking. The goal is for students to connect symbols to character and theme using evidence from the text. Observe which students may need additional scaffolding, such as sentence frames or text references. Be ready to prompt students to go beyond naming symbols and focus on interpretation: how the symbol represents ideas, conveys meaning, or reflects character relationships.

Quick Write

Say these Directions: Read and respond to the following prompt.

• What symbol best represents Jasmine and TJ’s relationship, and why? Use at least one word or phrase from the text, and explain what it suggests or means.

Instruct students to update the chart they created in Lesson 3, filling in details about TJ and Jasmine.

Consider this prompt: Think about what the symbols in the story reveal about these characters, and take notes in your Journal.