Lisa Kurkov - Esperanza Rising

Lisa Kurkov

BE FORE, DURING, AND AFTER RE ADING AC TIVITIES Befor e Reading: Building Backgr ound Knowledge and Academic V ocabulary Befor e Reading strategies activate prior knowledge and set a purpose for reading. Befor e read ing a book, it is important to tap into what your child or students already know about the topic. This will help them develop their vocabulary and increase their r eading compr ehension. Questions and activities to build background knowledge: Look at the cover of the book. What will this book be about? What do you already know about the topic? Let s study the T able of Contents. What will you lear n about in the book s chapters? What would you like to learn about this topic? Do you think you might lear n about it from this book? Why or why not? asylum boycott capitalist d rought Dust Bowl dust storm esta immunity Okies repatriation spores strike After Reading: Compr ehension and Extension Activity After Reading strategies pr ovide an opportunity to summarize, question, reect, discuss, and r espond to the text.

After reading the book, work on the following questions with your child or students to check their level of reading compr ehension and content mastery . What prompted so many immigrants fr om Mexico in the 1930s? (Summarize) Why do you think Isabel was not chosen as Queen of the May? (Infer) Why did laborers go on strike? (Asking Questions) Esperanza longs to celebrate her quinceaera. What do you celebrate? (T ext-to-Self Connection) Extension Activity Esperanza has to make the decision where or not to go on strike. Do some deeper r esearc h on the California labor strike in the 1930s. What decision do you think you would have made? During Reading: W riting Component During Reading strategies help to make connections, monitor understanding, generate questions, and stay focused. While reading, write in your r eading journal any questions you have or anything you do not understand.

After completing each chapter , write a summary of the chapter in your reading journal. While reading, make connections with the text and write them in your r eading journal. a) T e xt to Self What does this remind me of in my life? What wer e my feelings when I r ead this? b) T ext to T ext What does this r emind me of in another book Ive r ead? How is this dier ent f rom other books Ive r ead? c) T e xt to World What does this r emind me of in the r eal world? Have I hear d about this befor e? ( news, current events, school, etc.) Building Academic V ocabulary Building academic vocabulary is critical to understanding subject content. Assist your child or students to gain meaning of the following vocabulary words. Content Ar ea V ocabulary Read the list. What do these words mean?

About Esperanza Rising and Pam Muoz Ryan The Mexican Revolution The Phoenix Queen of the May Quinceaeras The Zapotec Food Oklahoma Farmworkers Strike! Val ley Fever Dust Storms Mexican Jamaicas and Fiestas Discussion Questions Writing Pro mpts and Projects Glossary Bibliography and Index About the Author TAB LE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT Esperanza Rising and Pam Muoz Ryan

The inspiration for the main character in Esperanza Rising was Pam Muoz R yan s grandmother .

Although R yan knew that her grandmother had worked in a farm camp, she didnt r ealize until later that her grandmother s early childhood in Mexico was much like Esperanza slled with servants, pr etty dr esses, private schools, and other luxuries. Esperanza Rising tells the story of Esperanza, who must leave the comfortable, well-to-do life she has always known for a new life in America. Everything changes a gr eat deal after Esperanza s father is killed. She must learn to live as a farm laborer in the San Joaquin V alley , sharing a small house, babysitting, doing physical labor , and deciding if she should go on strike with other laborers. W omen of Strength Ryan enjoys telling the stories of strong women, both real and ctional. In her pictur e book, Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride, Ryan wrote about two famous women, Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt, who snuck away from a White House dinner to take a ride in a plane.

When Marian Sang shares the life of Marian Anderson, a Black singer who broke racial barriers with her music.

R yan gr ew up in Bakerseld, Califor nia, in the San Joaquin V alley . She uses the San Joaquin V alley as the setting for most of Esperanza Rising . Her half-Mexican heritage inuences many of the books she writes, and she has won the Pura Belpr Awar d twice (for Latino/a authors and illustrators who portray the Latino cultural experience in their writing). Ryan had lot s of free time as a child to play and develop her imagination, which she believes helped her become a writer . She also moved when she was in fth grade and felt like she didnt t in.

Ry an became an obsessive reader , in part because it was an escape from her unhappiness at school. Little did she know that one day , shed become the author of more than 40 books herself!

The San Joaquin V alley , known as the food basket of the world, produces a majority of the United States agricultural goods grown in California.

Marta, a young farmworker , says that her father fought in the Mexican Revolution. Her tone sounds accusing when she adds that her father fought against landowners like Esperanza s family . Esperanza feels defensive and responds that her father was a good man who gave property to his servants. THE MEXICAN REV OLUTION F rom the Novel

The Mexican Revolution began in November of 1910.

The ruler at that time was a dictator named Porrio Daz. His goal was to create a capitalist society . But peasants and farmworkers suer ed as he focused on building new factories, roads, and dams, and cr eating a moder n society .

Daz also cr eated new land laws that benetted only the wealthy . Small farmers, who felt that they had no other options, lead the revolt. Over the next seven years, many new Mexican presidents came and went.