Fairy Tale

Jack and the

Ext re m e
St al k
by Yvonne Morrin
son
illustrated by Scott Pear

PAIRED
Stone Soup
READ
 STRATEGIES & SKILLS
Comprehension ELL Vocabulary
Strategy: Make, Confirm, or inventive, machine, wondered
  Revise Predictions
Skill: Sequence

Vocabulary
brainstormed, flattened,
frantically, gracious, muttered,
official, original, stale Word Count: 1,004

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Printed in the United States of America.

9 10 11 12 13 QLM 22 21 20 19 18 C
 Genre Fairy Tale

Essential Question
Where do good ideas come from?

Jack and the

Ext re m e
Stalk
by Yvonne Morrin
son
illustrated by Scott Pear

Chapter 1
An Experiment with Beans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Chapter 2
A Castle in the Clouds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Chapter 3
A Marvelous Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Respond to Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

PAIRED
READ Stone Soup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Focus on Genre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
 er 1
Ch a p t
t w i t h B e a n s
A n Expe ri me n
There once was a boy named Jack. He lived
with his mother in a small cottage. They didn’t
have much money, but they were happy.

One day, Jack’s mother said, “It will be your

birthday soon. I want you to buy something
special.” She gave Jack some coins.

Jack was grateful to his mother. He decided

to buy something special for both of them.

mother
coin

Jack

2
 At the market, Jack saw a man. He was
selling beans. Jack decided to buy some beans.
He wanted to grow tall, strong beans.

Jack brainstormed ideas for growing beans.

Jack noticed that the man was selling fertilizer
too. Jack knew that fertilizer helps plants grow.
Suddenly, Jack had an idea. He decided to use
the fertilizer to grow the beans.

market

man

stick

3
 Jack returned home with some beans
and fertilizer. His mother was surprised, but
she knew that her son was very inventive.

Jack planted the beans in the field.

Next, he sprinkled different types of
fertilizer on the beans. Then he put a label
in front of each row of beans.

Next morning, Jack grabbed a ruler and

ran outside. He wanted to measure and
record the growth of his beans. One bean
had grown into a very large beanstalk. He
had sprinkled the bean with all the types of
fertilizers. The beanstalk reached all the way
up into the clouds!

STOP AND CHECK

What did Jack do

with the beans?

4
 cloud

beanstalk

field

row

label

5
 er 2
Ch a p t
e i n t h e C l o u d s
A C a s tl
Jack wanted to learn about clouds. So he
grabbed his notebook. Then he climbed the
beanstalk. As he climbed, he stopped to take
notes about the weather.

At the top of the beanstalk, Jack saw a

castle. He was surprised.

Jack wondered what held the castle up in

the clouds. Maybe it was a magic castle.

Language The first sentence ends with a period (.).

Detective What types of sentences end with a period?

castle

notebook

6
 giant

hen

wringing out

clothes

Jack was curious about the castle, so he

went inside. Jack saw a very large man. He
was a giant. The giant was wringing out wet
clothes.

A table was next to the giant. A basket with

a hen was on the table.

“Everything’s wet again, Henrietta,” the giant

muttered to the hen. Then he saw Jack,
and he froze. The giant was surprised to
see Jack.

7
 Jack said, “Hello. Everything is wet because
you live in the clouds.”

The giant responded, “Tell me about it!

I can’t dry my laundry, so I wear wet clothes
all the time! The food is always wet. The bread
goes moldy before it goes stale!”

The giant was lonely, so he was happy to

see Jack. “My name is Gog,” he said. He was
a very gracious host. He offered Jack tea
and cakes. Then he showed him all around
the castle. Gog took Jack to his exercise room.
It had lots of equipment.

In Other Words everywhere. En español,

all around quiere decir por todas partes.

8
 skylight

egg

Gog showed Jack many strange and magical

things in the castle. Jack was fascinated by
the hen named Henrietta. Henrietta laid golden
eggs.

Jack told Gog how he grew the beanstalk.

Gog sighed. He said, “I’d love to have a
garden, but the clouds block out all the sun!”

9
 Jack looked at the golden eggs. Then he
looked up at the skylight. He wondered how
he could help the giant. He took out his
notebook and pencil and began to brainstorm.

At last he said, “I’ve got it!” Jack showed

Gog his sketch.

STOP AND CHECK

What problem does

Gog have?

sketch

pencil

10
 p te r 3
Ch a
e l o u s M a c h i n e
A Marv
Jack searched the castle and found the
materials and tools he needed. Gog stood by
and watched Jack.

Jack worked frantically. Soon he had created

something new. It was an original machine.
The giant had never seen one like it before.

“What is it?” asked Gog.

Jack said, “This machine will solve all your

problems. Come and watch what happens when
Henrietta lays a golden egg.”

Language “What is it?” ends with a question mark (?).

Detective What type of sentence is it?

11
 Henrietta laid an egg. The egg rolled down
a ramp toward the machine. The egg fell onto
a coiled spring.

“See how the spring moves back and forth?”

said Jack. “When the spring moves, it turns the
gears, and the gears turn the pole!”

“Then the pole turns the fan. I made the fan

out of flattened cooking pots,” Jack explained.

“And the fan will blow the clouds away!”

cried Gog.

In Other Words to move forward and then back again.

En español, back and forth quiere decir de atrás para adelante

12
 fan

gears

pole

spring

13
 Jack and Gog climbed onto the roof of the
castle. The machine was working perfectly. The
giant felt the warmth of the sun. His clothes
began to dry in the heat.

sun

roof

14
 wave

bag

Gog was grateful to Jack. He gave Jack

two bags full of golden eggs. He named Jack
as his official problem solver. Jack remembered
that his mother would be worried about him.
Jack waved good-bye to Gog and returned
home.

15
 Summarize Character

Use important details to Setting

summarize Jack and the Beginning

Extreme Stalk. Your graphic
Middle
organizer may help you.

End

Text Evidence
1. Jack and the Extreme Stalk is a fairy tale.
What are two features of a fairy tale?  GENRE

2. Retell the events of Chapter 1 in

sequence.  SEQUENCE

3. What is a synonym for the word laundry on

page 8? Use the clues in the sentence to help
you.  SYNONYMS

4. Write about the steps Jack took to fix

the giant’s problem. Write the events in
order.  WRITE ABOUT READING

16
 Genre Folktale

Compare Texts
Read about how a young man found
a clever way to make soup.

Stone Soup
One evening, a husband and wife heard a
knock on the door. There was a young man.
He had a pot and a stone.

The young man said, “I am sorry to disturb

you. May I please have some water? I am going
to make stone soup.”

“You can’t make soup from

a stone!” the wife exclaimed
and shook her head.

“I can! Would you like

me to show you how?”
the young man asked.
He smiled slyly.

17
 The couple invited the young man inside.
The wife put a pot of water over the fire. Next,
the young man carefully put the stone in the
water. Then he smelled the air and said, “Ah,
stone soup smells so good!”

He tasted the soup and said, “Not bad,

but an onion would make the soup better!”

The husband added an onion to the soup.

The young man tasted the soup again. He

said, “It’s better, but a potato would improve
the flavor!”

The wife chopped a potato. She added it to

the soup.

The young man tasted the soup again.

Illustration: Ned Barraud

He said, “The soup is
good, but a carrot would
make it perfect.”

The husband added a

sliced carrot.

18
 Finally, the young man said the soup was
just right. He poured the soup into three bowls.
Everyone sat down to eat.

“Delicious!” the wife said. She looked amazed.

“Delicious!” the husband agreed. He also

Illustration: Ned Barraud

looked amazed. “Who would have thought you

could make soup from a stone?”

Make Connections
What was the young man’s idea for making soup?
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
How is the character in Stone Soup similar to Jack in
Jack and the Extreme Stalk? How is he different from
Jack? TEXT TO TEXT

19
 Fairy Tales Fairy tales are stories with imaginary
characters and settings. The tales usually take place
in the past. Fairy tales are not realistic. Often they
include talking animals and magical events.

Read and Find Jack and the Extreme Stalk is one

version of the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk. The
author uses familiar details from the old fairy tale.
Some of the details are a giant beanstalk and a hen
that lays golden eggs.

Your Turn
Choose a traditional fairy tale that you know.
With a partner, change the setting and the
characters so they are more modern. Make a
two-column chart. In the first column, list the
features of the traditional fairy tale. In the second
column, list the ways you have changed them.
Some features can be the same, and some
features can be different. Share your new version
with the class.

Traditional Fairy Tale Modern Fairy Tale

20
 Literature Circles
Fiction

Thinkmark
Characters
Who are the main characters in Jack and the
Extreme Stalk?
Who are the main characters in Stone Soup?

Sequence of Events
What happened in Jack and the Extreme Stalk?
What happened first, then, next … finally?

Plot
What was the giant’s problem?
How did Jack solve the problem?
How does the story end for Jack?
How does it end for the giant?

Author’s Purpose
What is the author’s purpose for writing Jack
and the Extreme Stalk?

Make Connections
What connections can you make to Jack and
the Extreme Stalk?
 Clever Ideas

GR O • Benchmark 34 • Lexile 430

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