Article
Illustrations by Jeff Harter
Fiction,

Mouse on the Moon

Adventure awaits Milly the Mouse!

By Janice Behrens
From the May/June 2023 Issue
Lexiles: 460L
Guided Reading Level: J
Featured Skill: Main Idea,
Common Core Standards
  • RF.1.1 Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print RL.1.2 Retell stories RL1.3 Describe character and setting using key details RL.1.4 Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses RL.1.7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events RL.1.10 Read prose and poetry of appropriate complexity for grade 1 SL.1.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade-1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups
TEKS Standards
  • English Language Arts
    (4) Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking—fluency. The student reads grade-level text with fluency and comprehension. The student is expected to use appropriate fluency (rate, accuracy, and prosody) when reading grade -level text. (6) Comprehension skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of increasingly complex texts. The student is expected to: (B) generate questions about text before, during, and after reading to deepen understanding and gain information with adult assistance; (C) make and correct or confirm predictions using text features, characteristics of genre, and structures with adult assistance.

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Milly the mouse longed for an adventure. The other mice never did anything. They just ate crumbs from the kitchen. Then they talked about crumbs.

“I want something more,” she said one night. Then she looked out the window.

“That’s it!” she said.

“I’m going to that big ball of cheese in the sky. The moon!” 

Every mouse knows that the moon is made of cheese. They can tell by the way it looks.

Milly borrowed a spacesuit from the kids’ room. Then she set off.

And she got to the rocket just in time.

PAUSE AND THINK: Why does Milly want to go to the moon?

The door closed. The rocket began to shake.

3, 2, 1, BLAST OFF! 

Milly held on tight with her little claws. Yow! 

The rocket sped into the sky. Milly’s little mouse body was pressed to the seat. 

“Must. Hold. On,” said Milly. “Must. Get. That. Cheese.”

PAUSE AND THINK: How does it feel to blast off?

Now they were in space. They were all floating. Whee! 

But wait. The astronaut food was floating too. Milly could not catch a crumb to eat!

Milly was hungry. Her belly growled. Would they get to the moon before she starved? 

At last, they landed. Phew!

PAUSE AND THINK: Why is Milly hungry?

“Here I am, moon!” Milly shouted. But when she looked down, the ground was dusty. 

“What kind of moldy old cheese is this?” she said.

Milly kicked at the ground. “This big ball isn’t cheese at all! It is just dust and rocks.”

Milly was glad when it was time to go. She was done with moon dust. And she was still hungry.

PAUSE AND THINK: What does Milly find out when she gets to the moon?

Back home, Milly had plenty of crumbs to eat. 

“Tell us again about the moon,” said the other mice.

“OK, OK,” said Milly.

But pretty soon, Milly got tired of telling the same story. So she looked out the window and saw a ship go by.

“Pirate gold!” she said. “Think of all the the cheese I could buy with that!”

video (1)
Activities (4)
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
video (1)
Activities (4) Download All Quizzes and Activities
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)

About the Story

English Language Arts Focus

Elements of a story

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Download the Lesson Plan

Essential Question

The essential question of this issue is Why do we go on adventures? The articles below connect to this theme.

  • Big Read-Aloud: “The Great Octopus Escape,” p. 10
  • Fiction: “Mouse on the Moon,” p. 22
  • What Do You Think?: “Vacation in Space: Fun or Foolish?,” p. 28
  • Poetry: “What Do You Need?,” p. 32

Through the above genres, students will discuss:

  • What is an adventure?
  • Where do we go on adventures?
  • How can we travel to faraway places?

1. IMPLEMENTATION SUGGESTIONS

Read-Aloud

  • Storyworks 1 provides a variety of text levels and types. As a read-aloud, the fiction story will develop children’s listening and comprehension skills. Check comprehension as you read by using the Pause and Think prompts.

Small Group Guided Reading

  • Another option is to use the fiction story as a small-group, guided reading text to teach reading fluency, story elements, and sequencing.

1. BEFORE READING

Show Video (10 minutes)

  • Tell children that they are going to watch a video about going on adventures. (This video also goes with other stories in the issue.)

Preview the Title and Set a Purpose for Reading (5-10 minutes)

  • After watching the video, tell students they are going to read a fiction story about an adventure. Ask them what types of events and characters are usually in adventure stories.
  • Open your magazine to “Mouse on the Moon.” Ask students what they think the story will be about.

2. READ THE STORY (10-20 MINUTES)

  • Read the story aloud. Check comprehension as you read together with the Pause and Think questions. You may want to have children turn and talk to a partner to discuss.
  • After reading, ask students what happened at the end. What predictions can they make about what Milly might do next? They can use the What Will Milly Do Next? skills page to write down their predictions.

3. AFTER READING: FOCUS ON SKILLS

ELA Focus: Prediction/Inference (10-15 minutes)

  • Students can use what they know about the story to predict what will happen next with the What Will Milly Do Next? skills page.

ELA Focus: Key Details (10 minutes)

  • Have students refer to the text to recall key details about the story using the Milly’s Adventure skills page.

ELA Focus: Narrative Writing (30 minutes)

  • Tap into students’ creativity as they write and illustrate a Silly Summer Adventure with our skill sheet. (This page also goes with other stories in the issue.)

ELA Focus: Retelling (10 minutes)

Text-to-Speech