Incorporate Francisco Jimenez’s timeless book into your classroom activities by accessing this on-line study guide especially created to compliment his work. Components of the guide are pre-reading and discussion questions. Click here to access the on-line study guide for The Circuit In addition click here to enjoy a mini-documentary movie, 2 book-reading movies (one in English, one Spanish),… Read more »
Debbie Gonzales
TORTILLA SUN by Jennifer Cervantes
Nana says that “Life is magic” and “Sometimes you can’t see the magic, you just know its there because you can feel it.” Maybe magic can be generated when readers discuss Jennifer Cervantes’ incredible Tortilla Sun together as a group. Maybe what Nana meant to say was that reading becomes magical when it’s shared with… Read more »
Welcome Special Guest, Bethany Hegedus
Maebelle T. Earl is one distraught eleven-year-old. Not only is she the daughter of brilliant book-touring family therapists, but she’s flunked out of the Gifted & Talented program at her school and is being forced to spend the summer with her ten-year-old, newly adopted, trumpet-playing prodigy cousin, Isaac and her beloved, quirky, and musically-gifted grandparents… Read more »
Truth With a Capital T, by Bethany Hegedus
My best made me regular, not gifted or talented. I was normal, as in nothing special. (4) As a result of the journey to discover family truths buried under centuries of racial misunderstandings, family secrets, and fledgling new friendships, Maebelle T. Earl learns that she is, in fact, gifted, talented, and remarkably special in every… Read more »
A LONG WALK TO WATER, by Linda Sue Park
Bring the following passages from Park’s A Long Walk to Water to life by making a few hand-on projects. “Salva was amazed by what he saw in the fishing community. It was the first place in their weeks of walking that there was an abundance of food. The villagers ate a lot of fish, of… Read more »
Dia’s Story Cloth by Dia Cha, Chue and Nhia Thao Cha
“For centuries needlework has been part of Hmong culture. But is has only been within the last two decades that “story cloths” emerged as a way for Hmong to keep their stories alive. “For the Hmong people, story cloths are a bridge between past and present. For all Americans. Dia’s Story Cloth is a universal… Read more »
Lessons in Discovery of Voice
The downloadable writing lessons attached to this post are samples of Lessons in the Discovery of Voice found in Ruth Culham’s incredible 6 + 1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide, Grades 3 and Up. Culham defines ‘voice’ as being the literary trait that “is the soul of the piece. It’s what makes the writer’s… Read more »
