Students explore the works of five award-winning authors and illustrators, Grace Lin, Yuyi Morales, John Parra, Monica Brown and Jerry Pinkney, learning about their lives and inspirations.
As part of the upgrade to Fishtank Plus, this unit was revised in October 2020. Some texts, materials, and questions may have changed as part of the revision. If you are looking for the 2019 version of this unit, visit our archives.
In this unit, students explore and experience the works of five award-winning authors and illustrators; Grace Lin, Yuyi Morales, Monica Brown, and Jerry Pinkney. Students learn about each author or illustrator’s life and his or her inspiration for becoming an author and/or illustrator. Students will think critically and make connections between the author or illustrator’s life and the stories he or she writes or illustrates, and how each author’s unique personality is reflected in the words or pictures. By studying a wide variety of authors and illustrators, it is our hope that the foundations will be set for a lifelong interest in reading and books. Author studies help students develop a deeper attachment to books while also noticing and identifying the many different ways in which authors write. It is also our hope that students will use the authors in this unit as writing mentors, mimicking the author’s style while also building confidence in their own writing and unique ideas. In future units and grades, students will read additional award-winning stories written or illustrated by the different authors and illustrators from the unit.
Reading this unit builds on the first three units and assumes that students are inquisitive consumers of text, asking and answering questions while listening to and enjoying a story. Students will continue to work on retelling a story, including key details about setting, characters and major events. Students will also continue to be challenged to “read” the illustrations and think about how the illustrations help a reader better understand what is happening in the story. At the end of this unit, students should also be able to clearly articulate and define the role of the author and illustrator and why they are both important.
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Book: The Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin (Charlesbridge, 2001) — 390L
Book: Kite Flying by Grace Lin (Dragonfly Books, 2004) — 280L
Book: Dim Sum for Everyone! by Grace Lin (Dragonfly Books, 2003) — AD250L
Book: Fortune Cookie Fortunes by Grace Lin (Dragonfly Books, 2006) — 490L
Book: Niño Wrestles the World by Yuyi Morales (Square Fish, 2015) — 420L
Book: Tito Puente, Mambo King by Monica Brown (Rayo, 2013) — AD620L
Book: My Name is Celia: The Life of Celia Cruz by Monica Brown (Cooper Square Publishing LLC, 2004) — AD0L
Book: Pelé, King of Soccer by Monica Brown (HarperCollins, 2017) — AD620L
Book: My Name is Gabriela: The Life of Gabriela Mistral by Monica Brown (National Geographic School Pub, 2010) — AD440L
Book: The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009)
Book: Just in Case: A Trickster Tale and Spanish Alphabet Book by Yuyi Morales (Roaring Book Press, 2008) — AD530L
Book: The Tortoise & the Hare by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; First Edition edition, 2013)
Book: The Grasshopper and the Ants by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; First Edition edition, 2015)
Book: Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book by Yuyi Morales (Chronicle Books, 2016) — 540L
Book: Dreamers by Yuyi Morales (Neal Porter Books; Illustrated Edition, 2018) — AD480L
See Text Selection Rationale
This assessment accompanies this unit and should be given on the suggested assessment day or after completing the unit.
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In this unit, students continue to work on crafting statements and questions orally and in writing. Students also begin to practice using correct end punctuation when writing statements or questions.
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attach challenge contagious contender courageous confident defeat fortune imagination immigrant jealous kite little lonely overcome patient proud prepare steady talent ugly
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Kite Flying
RL.K.2
RL.K.6
RL.K.7
SL.K.1
Explain how the family works together to build a kite by using details and illustrations to retell key details and events in a text.
Dim Sum...
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
RL.K.6
RL.K.7
Describe dim sum and how the family feels about dim sum using details and illustrations to retell key details and events in the text.
Fortune Cookie
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
RL.K.6
RL.K.7
Explain how the family’s fortune cookie fortunes came true and why by using details and illustrations to retell key details and events in a text.
Ugly Vegetables
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
RL.K.7
Explain why the little girl changes her mind about the ugly vegetables.
Writing
W.K.1
W.K.5
W.K.7
W.K.8
SL.K.1
Write a letter to Grace Lin explaining which story is your favorite and why.
Dreamers
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
RL.K.6
RL.K.7
Explain what challenges Yuyi and her son faced and how they overcame them.
Niño Wrestles...
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
RL.K.6
RL.K.7
Describe Niño and what lesson he learns.
Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
RL.K.6
RL.K.7
Explain how Grandma Beetle tricks Señor Calavera.
Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
RL.K.6
RL.K.7
Explain Señor Calavera’s problem and how he solves it.
Writing
W.K.1
W.K.5
W.K.7
W.K.8
SL.K.1
Write a letter to Yuyi Morales explaining which story is your favorite and why.
Tito Puente
RI.K.2
RI.K.3
RI.K.6
RI.K.7
SL.K.1
Explain who Tito Puente is and why Tito Puente is famous.
My Name is Celia: The Life of Celia Cruz
RI.K.2
RI.K.3
RI.K.6
RI.K.7
SL.K.1
Explain why Celia Cruz was famous.
Pelé...
RL.K.3
RI.K.2
RI.K.6
RI.K.7
SL.K.1
Describe why Pelé is famous.
My Name is Gabriela: The Life of Gabriela Mistral
RI.K.2
RI.K.3
RI.K.6
RI.K.7
SL.K.1
Explain who Gabriela Mistral is and why she was famous.
Writing
W.K.1
W.K.5
W.K.7
W.K.8
SL.K.1
Write a letter to Monica Brown explaining which story is your favorite and why.
Lion and...
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
RL.K.7
SL.K.1
Retell what happens in The Lion and the Mouse.
Tortoise and...
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
RL.K.7
SL.K.1
Retell what happens in the beginning, middle, and end of The Tortoise & The Hare.
Grasshopper and...
Retell what happens in The Grasshopper and the Ants.
Writing
W.K.1
W.K.5
W.K.7
W.K.8
SL.K.1
Write a letter to Jerry Pinkney explaining which story is your favorite and why.
Assessment
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