Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

Hi All!

One of the books that over the years I felt has made an impact on understanding differing cultures and immigrant struggles includes Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan.  I have read this book several times and even created a reader’s theater play to accompany the book and literature unit.

This book is about a young girl named Esperanza who grows up a wealthy child living on her family farm in Mexico. When unexpectedly her father is killed, leaving the mother in a difficult position. She must either marry her cruel brother-in-law or sneak away.  Esperanza and her mother chose to flee to America leaving the grandmother behind to follow later. The book follows Esperanza through many difficulties and shows how she matures, including how she starts to understand the enormity of her new life situation.

The main ideas students can take away are:

1.     A drastic character change from the beginning of the story until the end. Showing how Esperanza goes from being a girl of privilege to a migrant worker.

2.    It demonstrates the struggles immigrant workers face when coming to America and how people slave to make pennies.

3.    Introduces what striking on a picket line is and what Esperanza felt like in the choice to cross or not cross the picket line.

4.    It demonstrates to be proud of who you are no matter your life situation and more.

Overall, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. I feel it is best suited for grades 4 through 6 where students can pick up on the more difficult concepts.

Esperanza Rising Reader’s TheaterPlay and Literature Unit.

Thanks!

Erin Hansen

Integrating Character Traits

Hi All!

Something that I have been working on since last year has been integrating character trait lessons throughout the year.

By doing this it has improved student learning by:

1.     Increase the learning of new vocabulary

2.    Looking at book characters in a different way

3.    Making connections between character traits and their motivations throughout the book

4.    Applying character traits to their own created stories and analyzing other stories to see if they can recognize the traits

5.    Discovering their own character traits

After teaching the basic lessons about character traits to students, I had students implement it into their writing.  I did this by giving students 2-3 character trait cards.

Character Card Example

Character Card Example

Depending on the student’s challenge level, depended on the cards I gave them. For example, a student that struggles might have received the cards, friendly and stubborn (basic character traits). A student that needs a bit more of a challenge would receive the cards, obstinate and ridiculous (more thought provoking character traits). Another difficult challenge is to give students opposite traits such as selfish and generous.

Students take their cards and have to create a story with a main character that holds ALL trait cards that were given. I also give students a graphic organizer to show the character traits and how they will or were represented in the story.  This makes them accountable to plan out the story and integrate the character traits.

Here is an example of Harry Potter:

I hope this is an idea you can apply to your own classroom. I truly believe it benefited my students in their reading and writing.

I do have a character trait card PDF Presentation and Card/Activities product. If you are interested please click on this link: Character Traits.

Thanks!

Erin Hansen

All About Me Poster and Activities FREEBIES

Hi Everyone,

I just added a new freebie for my shop. It is for the beginning of the year and is All About Me Posters and activities. Here is a quick peak.  If you like it, please consider following my shop for more freebies and great products to come!

 All About Me Poster Freebies link - then just click on my free download button.

Thanks,

Erin