A Tough Life
Inspiration Book:
Migrant by Trottier, Maxine — Groundwood Books ,House of Anannsi Press, 2011--E-; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 2.9. Anna, the child of Mennonites from Mexico who travel north to harvest fruit and vegetables, compares herself to various animals that share some of her behaviors, and wonders what it would be like to be a tree with deep roots as opposed to a feather in the wind.
Rationale: Farmers and businessmen employ migrant workers from Mexico and Central American countries to help during their busy times. Immigration and migrant workers and visas, and green cards are all part of contemporary America. Migrant offers a twist on the topic because originally this group of workers was from Canada and moved to Mexico and now migrate yearly back to Canada to work in the fields. Listed in the bibliography are a variety of books about Mennonites or migrants and migrant life that represent people from many countries.
If you want the emphasis to be on the Mennonites, use Migrant with the folk tales and stories from the Mennonite tradition that you will find in the bibliography. Some of those titles are older and may not be in print much longer--you may need to dig them out at public libraries.
Grades K-3: My Mommy & Daddy Harvest Your Vegetables
Background: This is a tough topic for primary grades. Unless students live in an area of migrant farm laborers they may have no concept of why people move around the country to work on a farm. More and more of our children think food comes from the grocery store, not a farm or garden. Use these titles during harvest season in the early fall, and take a trip to a farm market to meet some of the farmers. I like to use Tomas and the Library Lady with Migrant at the beginning of the year because I can talk about the value of libraries, but The Hard-Times Jar works as well and emphasizes the importance of schools and books.
Preparation: Find an old copy of the October, 2012 issue of LibrarySparks (now discontinued) and prepare a readers’ theater production of the book found in that periodical. Or rewrite your own readers’s theater script. I like to prepare a readers’ theater presentations with the third graders and have them perform for the first and second graders.
Introduction: Who has a garden at their home? Who has been to a farmers’ market? Where does the super market get its fruits and vegetables? Who grows them? In today’s Inspiration Book, a little girl and her family move from country to country following the harvesting of fruits and vegetables. Listen to the backstory for the Inspiration Book. The author will go right into reading the book and I’ll finish reading.
Listen to (you may need to register if you have not previously used TeachingBooks):
Meet the Author Book Reading http://www.teachingbooks.net/book_reading.cgi?id=8222
Continue reading aloud: Migrant by Trottier, Maxine — Groundwood Books,House of Anannsi Press, 2011--E-; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 2.9. Anna, the child of Mennonites from Mexico who travel north to harvest fruit and vegetables, compares herself to various animals that share some of her behaviors, and wonders what it would be like to be a tree with deep roots as opposed to a feather in the wind.
Anna and her family are migrants, and move from Mexico to Canada to pick produce near Leamington, Ontario. One of my sons lives near Leamington, and I’ve seen all the tomato greenhouses. Look carefully at tomatoes available in winter and you may find a small notice on the tomatoes that they are a product of Canada, and probably Leamington.
Anna wanted to be settled. In our next story just going to school can be a problem for migrant children.
Read aloud:
The hard-times jar by Smothers, Ethel Footman — Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003--E-; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 3.0 Emma, the daughter of poor migrant workers, longs to own a real book, and when she turns eight and must attend school for the first time, she is amazed to discover a whole library in her classroom.
OR
Tomas and the library lady by Mora, Pat — Dragonfly Books/A. Knopf ,Distributed by Random House, c1997 p2000--E-; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 3.5 While helping his family in their work as migrant laborers far from their home, Tomas finds an entire world to explore in the books at the local public library.
Or View Video of entire book: http://www.watchknowlearn.org/Video.aspx?VideoID=35878&CategoryID=9470
Teacher Resources:
Meet the Author Book Reading http://www.teachingbooks.net/book_reading.cgi?id=8222 (See note for introduction).
Reader’s Theater of Migrant in LibrarySparks October 2012, pp.45-47. Now OP, but worth attempting to find.
Related Books:
The hard-times jar by Smothers, Ethel Footman — Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003--E-; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 3.0 Emma, the daughter of poor migrant workers, longs to own a real book, and when she turns eight and must attend school for the first time, she is amazed to discover a whole library in her classroom.
Working cotton by Williams, Sherley Anne — Voyager Books/Harcourt Brace, c1992 p1997--E-; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 3.0 A young African-American girl relates the daily events of her family's migrant life in the cotton fields of central California.
Pancho Rabbit and the coyote : a migrant's tale by Tonatiuh, Duncan — Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2013. Dewey: -E-; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 3.3. When Papa Rabbit does not return home as expected from many seasons of working in the great carrot and lettuce fields of El Norte, his son Pancho sets out on a dangerous trek to find him, guided by a coyote. Includes author's note. Social Studies List 2014.
First day in grapes by Perez, L. King — Lee & Low Books Inc., 2002. Dewey: -E-; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 3.5. When Chico starts the third grade after his migrant worker family moves to begin harvesting California grapes, he finds that self confidence and math skills help him cope with the first day of school. FREE Teaching Resources available for download from Follett.
Tomas and the library lady by Mora, Pat — Dragonfly Books/A. Knopf ,Distributed by Random House, c1997 p2000--E-; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 3.5 While helping his family in their work as migrant laborers far from their home, Tomas finds an entire world to explore in the books at the local public library.
Amelia's road by Altman, Linda Jacobs — Lee & Low Books, 1993--E-; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 3.9 Tired of moving around so much, Amelia, the daughter of migrant farm workers, dreams of a stable home.
Going home by Bunting, Eve — HarperCollins Publishers, 1996--E-; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 5.4 Although a Mexican family comes to the United States to work as farm laborers so that their children will have opportunities, the parents still consider Mexico their home.
Related Nonfiction Books:
No comments:
Post a Comment