Article
Eugene Onischenko/Shutterstock.com (baseball field); Courtesy Kathryn Johnston Massar/World of Little League Museum (Tubby Johnston)
The Lazy Editor,

The Forgotten History of Little League’s First Girl Player

This short nonfiction article about Little League’s first girl player, Kathryn “Tubby” Johnston, serves as a great model of how to write with varied sentences.

By Maggie Pierce
From the May 2018 Issue

Learning Objective: to write with sentences that vary in length and rhythm

Featured Skill: Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics,
Other Key Skills: sentence variation
Topic: History,
Common Core Standards
  • Anchor Standards
    L.1, L.2, L.3
  • Grade 6
    L.6.1, L.6.2, L.6.3
  • Grade 7
    L.7.1, L.7.2, L.7.3
  • Grade 8
    L.8.1, L.8.2, L.8.3
TEKS Standards
  • Grade 6
    6.14d; 6.20
  • Grade 7
    7.14d; 7. 20
  • Grade 8
    8.14d; 8.20

Presentation View
See Student View
Read the Article
Activities (2)
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
Activities (2) Download All Activities
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
Dig Deeper!
NPR Interview

As a class, listen to this NPR interview (3:00) with Kathryn “Tubby” Johnston.

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan

Close Reading, Critical Thinking, Skill Building

1. PREPARING TO READ

Set a purpose for reading by calling attention to the featured skill printed in the upper left corner of the first page.

2. READING THE ARTICLE

Read the article once through as a shared, guided, or independent reading.

3. SKILL BUILDING: HELP THE LAZY EDITOR

  • Reconvene as a class to go over the edits. (Answers can be found in the Scope answer key.)
  • Invite students to explain their edits. 
  • If students are struggling with a particular skill, project the activity sheet for that skill and go over the grammar rules or writing guidelines that appear at the beginning of the activity. 
  • If students have not yet completed the activity sheets, assign them for homework as needed. 

4. ADDITIONAL PRACTICE (Optional)

  • Use the Scavenger Hunt activity. In this activity, students mine articles throughout the magazine for more mentor sentences that highlight the featured skill.
  • Use the additional skill reinforcement activity provided.
Text-to-Speech