Hello everyone!
I am your English reading coach, Minhee Teacher.
Welcome back to our reading adventure with Mercy Watson to the Rescue, Part Two.
Today, we are going to put on our movie director hats.
Imagine we are looking through a camera lens at a very funny, very dramatic scene.
Are you ready?
Let's yell action and begin!
First, let's take a bird's-eye view of our movie set.
We have two different scenes happening at the exact same time.
In scene one, we are in the bedroom.
The floor goes crack, and a giant hole opens up.
The Watsons' bed is tilting right into the hole!
Mr. and Mrs. Watson are trapped.
In scene two, the camera pans over to Mercy.
Mercy is not thinking about the hole.
She is thinking about her stomach.
She walks to the kitchen, finds no toast, and decides to go next door to find some sugar cookies.
It is a double-story happening at once!
Now, let's zoom in close on our characters' faces.
Look at Mr. and Mrs. Watson.
They are terrified.
Mr. Watson says, Don't move!
Why?
Because if they move even a little bit, the bed will tip over and fall through the floor.
They have to stay perfectly still, like statues.
They are waiting for a rescue.
But now look at Mercy's face.
Is she scared?
Not at all!
Her eyes are wide, but she is just thinking about warm toast with lots of butter.
When she gets off the bed, the bed shakes.
The Watsons gasp!
Mercy just trots away because her tummy is rumbling.
She is on a quest, a search for food.
Let's talk about how this story works using a simple rule: cause and effect.
Cause is why something happens, and effect is what happens because of it.
It is like a chain reaction.
Because the floor breaks, the bed falls.
Because the bed falls, the Watsons cannot move.
But here is the magic of the story: sometimes, we do something for one reason, but it solves a completely different problem.
Think about this.
Imagine you are sitting in class, and you accidentally drop your pencil.
You bend down to pick it up.
While you are down there on the floor, you spot your friend's favorite eraser that was lost yesterday.
You did not look under the desk to find the eraser.
You just wanted your pencil!
But because you bent down, you solved your friend's problem.
This is exactly what Mercy is doing.
She is not trying to save her owners.
She is just looking for a snack!
But her quest for cookies might just lead her to the neighbors who can call for help.
To help us direct this movie perfectly, let's learn five useful words from our scene.
Our first word is hole.
A hole is an open space in something.
Think of a giant, dark circle opening up right in the middle of your bedroom floor!
That is a scary hole.
Our second word is rescue.
To rescue means to save someone from danger.
When you are stuck on a tilting bed, you need a hero to rescue you.
Our third word is still.
Still means not moving at all.
Imagine playing the freeze game.
You must hold very, very still, or you lose!
Our fourth word is hungry.
Hungry means wanting food.
When your stomach makes a loud growling sound, you are hungry.
Mercy is always hungry for buttered toast.
Our fifth word is crumb.
A crumb is a tiny, teeny-tiny piece of food.
When Mercy looks in the kitchen, there is not even a single crumb of toast left.
Poor Mercy!
Now, let's practice speaking like the actors in our movie.
I will say a sentence, and I want you to repeat it after me with feeling.
Let's start.
The bed falls into a hole.
Mr. and Mrs. Watson need help.
Mercy is hungry.
She looks for toast in the kitchen.
A small quest can change the story.
You sound amazing!
As we finish our director's meeting today, I want to leave you with one interesting question to think about.
Can someone be a helper without even knowing it?
Think about Mercy, and think about your own life.
Thank you for reading with me today.
Keep your eyes open for those little accidents that turn into great adventures.
See you next time!