Recommended Grades: 3-5
When Lola is asked to draw a picture of where her family emigrated from, she becomes worried because she can’t remember the Island. But with the help of her family and friends, and their memories, Lola is able to go on an imaginary journey back to the Island.
Lesson Idea:
This is also a mentor text in The Storyteller’s Project. Click on the link to find out more!
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with a group of upper elementary writers. Discuss how the author uses “a story within a story” structure. Encourage students to try this technique in their own writing.
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, both by Drew Daywalt, as a set of texts in which the main characters are crayons. Encourage students to use an inanimate object as a main character in their own writing.
. His use of sensory words to describe the whale’s journey are beautifully complemented by Minor’s paintings. When students write informative texts, use
as part of a unit on civil rights. Segregation based on race was common throughout the United States in the 1940s and much of what we know about segregation comes from our knowledge of segregation in the southern states. In actuality, The Mendez v. Westminster School District case paved the way for the desegregation of schools in America. The landmark case Brown v. Board of Education desegregated schools in the entire country, seven years after the Mendez victory.