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Growing Your Community
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Flowers and vases; maps and photographs of your community and El Salvador; books describing life in El Salvador and the immigrant experience (see Resources ); bulletin board |
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 | Decorate your classroom with different types of plants and flowers, which students can later observe and describe for writing and art activities. |
| Post maps of San Francisco, El Salvador, and your own local community prominently in your classroom. As you read the story, encourage your students to refer to these maps for more information. Use them further in Social Studies activities based on the book.
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| Create a bulletin board “Flower Market,” where students can display writing and artwork related to Xochitl and the Flowers. Decorate its borders with paper flowers.
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| In your reading area, gather books that describe life in El Salvador, discuss the immigrant experience, or tell stories of community life similar to that told in Xochitl and the Flowers. Encourage students to explore these books and to make connections between what they find and Xochitl and the Flowers.
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You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover . . .
By discussing the meaning of the word xochitl, students activate their prior knowledge about flowers and El Salvador and make predictions about the book.
15 min.
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Partners and large group
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CA Reading Standard 2.2: Students ask questions and support answers by connecting prior knowledge with literal information found in, and inferred from, the text.
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Chart paper and markers |
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Show students the cover of the book Xochitl and the Flowers. Read the first page of the story out loud to the students. Discuss the meaning of the word xochitl (ZO-cheel). Explain to your class that xochitl means flower in Nahuatl. As you discuss the word xochitl, be sure to also point out the meaning of the word Nahuatl, a language spoken by many native people in Central America and Mexico.
Ask class members to make new predictions about the story itself. What do they think it will be about? Where is El Salvador? And where do they think Xochitl is now? Ask your students to think about what it means to be in a neighborhood far from where you were born, as Xochitl is. How would it feel? What challenges might you and your family face in a new place? As you discuss the issues with your students, be aware that some of them may have already faced these challenging experiences and be sensitive to their needs.
Diving In
30 min.
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Small or large groups
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Introduce the book to students in a large or small group. The focus of this first reading should be reading for pleasure-encouraging students to enjoy the beauty of the book and understand the story it tells. In order to foster this enjoyment, try some of the following activities:
| Discuss the cover, the title, and the illustrations. Ask students what they notice most. If you have not already done so, read your class the first page of the book. Then, read Don Roberto's words on page 22, “First thing tomorrow morning, I am letting the authorities know what you're up to.” Ask students to make predictions: What could he be talking about? What do they think will be the conflict in this story? List these predictions and ask students to check them after the reading is complete.
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| Encourage students to further explore the book actively by taking a “picture walk” through the book, thinking about the story as it is told in the illustrations.
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| Read sections aloud to the group, or have students read the book on their own, in pairs or in small groups.
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A Rose by Any Other Name
Students identify the power of specific, complex language and brainstorm synonyms for commonly used general terms.
30 min.
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Whole class and individual
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| Paper and pens; crayons or colored pencils; blackboard and chalk, or flipchart and markers
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Read page 18 of Xochitl and the Flowers aloud to the class. Ask your students what they noticed about the description. How would the passage sound if Xochitl simply said, “We buy flowers?” What makes this description more interesting? Discuss the power of using specific words that paint pictures in the mind of a reader, rather than general, oftentimes boring, words that might not mean very much.
Draw a flower with large petals on your
flipchart or blackboard. Write the word flowers
in its center. Lead the class in deciding which of the
words in the passage on page 18 are flowers. As you find
them, record each type of flower on a petal. Ask class members
to fill in the empty petals with other types of flowers
they know.
As a group, brainstorm a list of generic adjectives such as big, nice, or beautiful. Record your list.
Ask students to draw large flowers on their paper. Then, ask each student to choose one generic word and to record it in the center of his or her flower.
Now, tell class members that it's their turn to look for interesting words. Have students look for synonyms to write on the petals of their flowers. They can look in Xochitl and the Flowers, search other books, or practice using a dictionary or thesaurus.
Finally, give students the opportunity to color in and cut out their flowers. Post them in a word garden on a wall of your classroom for reference during writing time.
Solving Problems Together
Working together, students identify problems and solutions in Xochitl and the Flowers. As they do so, they trace the story's plot, conflict, and resolution.
40 min.
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Whole class and partners
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CA Reading Standard 2.6: Extract appropriate and significant information from the text, including problems and solutions.
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As a class, brainstorm a list of the problems facing Xochitl and her family. Record students' comments on the board. Possible items may include: Xochitl misses El Salvador; Xochitl doesn't speak English; Mami and Papi have to work very hard; the yard of the house is a mess; and Don Roberto wants to close their plant nursery.
Pick one problem from your list and talk about it with the class. What was the nature of the problem? Who solved it? How? Why did the solution work? How do they know? Encourage students to return to the text to support their arguments.
Distribute the Solving Problems worksheets to students and show the worksheet transparency on the overhead projector. Together, fill out the first line based on the discussion you just completed. Then, complete the first column as a class, using the problems you listed at the beginning of the lesson.
Next, have students work with partners to fill in the remaining columns. Remind them to decide which information matters the most, so that they can fill in their chart succinctly. Encourage them to record the page number from which they drew their conclusions, if appropriate.
Ask pairs to share and defend their findings. If students disagree, make sure they return to the text to support their arguments.
Fighting for What's Right
Through discussion, students identify the theme of Xochitl and the Flowers and make connections between the story and their own lives.
45 min.
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Whole class and individual
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CA Reading Standard 3.4: Students determine the underlying theme or author's message in fiction and nonfiction text.
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| Pens or pencils and paper
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As a class, discuss the patterns you see in the Solving Problems worksheet (see Second Time Around: Reading Comprehension). In Xochitl and the Flowers, how do most problems get solved? Why do people always end up helping each other? Can't people solve problems on their own?
Turn your students' attention to the large problem Xochitl's family faces at the end. This is a conflict they can't resolve on their own. They need the help of their friends and neighbors. Explain the word advocacy to your students. Tell them that advocate can be both a noun and a verb – “advocates” are people who speak on behalf of others, and to advocate for something is to use your voice to fight for what you think is right. In Xochitl and the Flowers, the neighbors advocate for the Flores family, and on page 24, Doña Candelaria is chosen as the special advocate on their behalf.
Now, ask your students to think about their own lives. Was there a time they worked with other people to solve problems? Did their solution involve any advocacy? Why or why not? Did they ever stand up for something that they knew was right? Elicit some examples from the class. Have an example available from your life if they need prompting.
Ask your students to write personal responses to Xochitl and the Flowers, making connections between Xochitl's story and their own. How are the problems and solutions similar? How are they different?
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