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Writing a New Episode
Students write a new episode at the flea market that imitates other episodes in the book. They use the writing process to develop and publish their stories.
 3 hours (can be over several sessions)
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 individual, partner, and whole class
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CA Writing Standard 1.0: Students progress through the stages of the writing process.
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paper and pens or pencils |
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Plan
 | Have a discussion with your class about the episodic nature of the story (if appropriate, refer them to their worksheets of Juanito's route through the flea market). Ask students what elements the episodes have in common. List these elements on the blackboard.
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| Have pairs of students brainstorm other booths that the children could visit, and other gifts that the vendors might send to Grandmother. After they have brainstormed together, have each student outline an additional episode that mirrors the structure of the book. Episodes should include the name of the booth, what is given and received, and what character is at the booth. Remind the students that they want the readers to know what makes the vendor special: Why is this person interesting to Juanito?
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Draft
Tell students to use their outlines to write new episodes. Remind them to use exciting language, such as action words and metaphors. Have them refer back to the book for examples of these techniques, or highlight the techniques that your class has been studying.
Revise
| Once they have completed their drafts, ask students to share their writing with their original partners. Remind students that at this stage in the writing process, they should focus on the clarity of the writing and the impact of specific words or events, rather than on spelling or grammar.
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| Encourage students to revise their episodes according to their partner's feedback. Tell them to reread their drafts to themselves and then to read them out loud to see if there are other changes they wish to make.
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Edit
Ask students to edit their second drafts for publication, checking spelling and punctuation. Read through the drafts and mark errors. Encourage students to use a word wall, a dictionary, or other classroom reference tools as they correct their episodes.
Publish
Collect student episodes and bind them into a book to accompany Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los Meros Meros Remateros in your classroom's library.
My, Our, Your Community
Students explore the concept of community – its characteristics, commonalities, and differences – and how people help each other within various communities.
1 hour
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small groups and whole class
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CA History / Social Science Standard 3.4: Students discuss the importance of public virtue and the role of citizens, including how to participate in a classroom, community, and civic life.
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blackboard and chalk; paper and pens
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Establish a working definition of community with your class by asking students what they think this word means, based on the book and their own experience.
Ask students to list the names of different kinds of communities on the blackboard. Some examples might be their school, family, neighborhood, religious group, sports team, country, native language, and so on.
Divide the class into small groups and assign each group one of the communities listed on the blackboard. Have each group brainstorm a list of the different ways people help each other in this community.
Have groups come together and share what they've come up with. Discuss what different communities have in common and how people help each other in each community.
As a class, ask students how your classroom is like a community. What are ways you all help each other? What else do you have in common with other communities? Ask students to come up with a list of characteristics of your classroom community, which you can display.
To extend this activity, have a discussion about different community helpers – teachers, nurses, firefighters, coaches, clergy, and so forth. Ask one of these community helpers to come to class for an interview. Beforehand, have your class prepare a list of questions to ask this person about how he or she helps and is helped by other people in the community.
Other Social Studies Activities
| México Lindo / Beautiful Mexico: The members of the flea market community come from all over Mexico – on page 6, Grandma mentions Oaxaca, and on page 25, the jewelry man mentions Michoacán. Tell students that Mexico is made up of states, similar to those in the United States, but it is also different in some ways. Use this discussion as a springboard for a research project in which students, in small groups, research the states of Mexico and their differing geography, ethnic makeup, economies, regional culture/food/music and so on.
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Flea Market Folk Art
Students learn about the characteristics of Mexican folk art, and apply them to their own original artwork.
2 hours
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individual or whole class
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CA Visual Art Standard 2.0: Students apply artistic processes and skills, using a variety of media to communicate meaning and intent in original artwork.
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Books with Mexican folk art illustrations and books on flea markets (see Resources for suggestions); paper and crayons (or markers, oil pastels, colored pencils, etc.)
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Bring in a book about flea markets. Discuss how the subject matter is similar to Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los Meros Meros Remateros while the art styles are very different.
Explain that art is a form of personal expression. Different artists see things in different ways, and they use different styles to communicate different information, moods, and situations. Use Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los Meros Meros Remateros as an example of one form of artistic expression; explain that the artist chose to work in a Mexican folklórico (folk art) style.
Bring a book with Mexican arte folklórico or artesanía illustrations to class (see Resources for some good examples). Compare the art style in Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los Meros Meros Remateros with the art in one of these books (i.e., subject matter, use of color, perspective, cultural motifs).
Brainstorm a list of characteristics of the folklórico style.
Have students illustrate their new episodes of the flea market in the folklórico style, referring them back to the list of characteristics they brainstormed.
Bind the illustrations into the volume with their new episodes.
Other Art Activities
| Unexpected Elements in Art: Point out the “sharp mountains of the M” on page 25, and the people made from sockets on pages 14-15. Students can either make a landscape using elements of other letters (for example, Vs can be birds, Os can be clouds), or create pictures using objects as people (for example, pencil or scissor people). Students can frame the pictures in cardboard and offer them for sale at a remate booth (see Getting the Classroom Ready).
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The Price Is Right
Students practice addition, subtraction, and estimation by buying multiple items, calculating change, and “discounting” goods at the flea market.
45 mins.
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pairs
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CA Math Standard 2.0: Students calculate and solve problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
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Blackboard and chalk; paper and pencils
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Write a list of flea market items on the board, assigning a dollar value to each one. Items could include: toys ($1), boots ($20), books ($2), fruit ($.50).
Have students pair up and decide who will be vendor and who will be customer.
Tell customers to imagine that they have $10 to spend. They must find three combinations of objects that don't exceed their $10 limit. Discuss strategies they can use to estimate the total cost.
Once the customer has made his or her choice, the vendor must check the total by adding up the price of the purchases.
Have students switch roles in their pairs and repeat the exercise.
To extend the activity, apply the same rules as in the exercise above, but determine a discount for the entire flea market; for example, a half-price day, a 10% off day, or a two-for-one day. Have students calculate what the new prices will be with the discount.
Old Can Be New Again: Recycling
Students will learn about the different ways materials and goods can be recycled instead of being thrown away.
1.5 hours
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small groups
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Recyclable objects such as an empty cardboard egg carton, a soda bottle, a milk jug, a soda can, a coffee can, a torn shirt.
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On page 6, Juanito asks Grandma whether old clothes can be new. Have students find instances in the text (pages 6-7, 22-23, 28-29) where used objects are bought, sold, traded, and used again instead of being discarded. Explain that when you "recycle" something, you use it more than once, or you adapt it to a new use or function.
Break class into small groups. Give each group an object that would be considered trash and thrown away: an empty milk jug, an egg carton, a coffee can, a torn shirt.
Tell students it is their job to figure out how to recycle their object. Students must brainstorm a short list of new uses for these old objects. Emphasize that their list should be inventive, and should include something they can realistically make and use in the classroom. For example, an egg carton could be used to hold different colors of paint, old bottles and jars can be used to plant seedlings or hold flowers, and so on.
After each group generates its list, bring the class together and have them share their lists. Tell each group to choose one idea from its list to make. Have students figure out what materials they will need, if any, other than what you have available in your classroom.
Have each small group work together to create its “new” object out of the old.
Other Science Activities
| Alternative Medicine: On page 19, Abuela sends some healing herbs for Señora Vela's headache. Ask students to think of other places in the text where there are other remedies for ailments. They might mention a rub from a sobadora for sore muscles on page 10-11, and a bracelet for reuma on page 25. Use this discussion as an introduction to units on the folk medicine or herbal remedies of different cultures, or to researching home remedies used by their families.
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| Where Does It All Go? It's often a mystery to students what happens to our trash and recyclables after we put them out on the sidewalk. Divide your class in half. Have half the class research and chart what happens to consumer goods that are recycled, and the other half research what happens to trash after it is discarded. Have both sides compare what they find. Bring in someone from your local recycling center or conservation corps to describe how paper, cans, bottles, and jars help create new paper, cans, bottles, jars, and so forth. (See Resources for titles relating to recycling.)
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| Ask students who are “experts” – who have been to a remate – if they would like to share their knowledge and experience as they relate to details in the book. Explore both the similarities and differences between your students' experiences and that of the characters in the book.
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| In “Writing a New Episode,” depending on your classroom makeup and proficiency levels in both languages, have students collaborate on translating each other's pieces into each other's native language to create bilingual episodes. Bind them both into a book that includes an illustration and both versions of their new episode.
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| Partner heritage speakers of Spanish and English whenever possible.
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