integrating the Internet

Esperanza Rising  by author Pam Munoz Ryan is a popular book with many learning resources available online.  Here are a few to explore background information about this book for grade six English/ Language Arts students. You can explore these with a class studying this book or on your own to gain a deeper understanding of the time, place, and people in this book.     For more resources, look at this Connect and Extend - Esperanza Rising Pinterest page.

Integrating the Internet Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan Details
Overview: Students gain a deeper understanding of the story by building their background knowledge of the setting, people and places in the novel, Esperanza Rising.

Objectives: Provide students the choice to explore a variety of sources and report back on their findings to build a deeper understanding of the time, place, events, and experiences of characters in the novel, Esperanza Rising.

Description of the lesson idea: Students can choose from a variety of alternate activities to gain a deeper understanding of Esperanza's journey, both physical and psychological, from one culture to another, from one set of economic circumstances to another, from one country to another by exploring the following online tools:
  • Hear the author read the opening pages of the book
  • Read the author's letter about her grandmother, the inspiration for the book
  • Create a MyMaps, tracking Esperanza's journey from Mexico to California, adding details from the book in each posting
  • Explore a WebQuest - There are link to two different ones available on this page.
Then, share what you have learned about Esperanza with your classmates and listen to what they have learned as well.
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See links and resources below.

Google Mymaps

  • Create a map of Esperanza's journey, and fill it with details from the book using Google MyMaps
  • Here is a link to a support page tutorial by Google
READING BY THE AUTHOR - link

​Author's Letter

  • This link takes you to a letter written by the author about her grandmother, the inspiration for this book.

Another webquest

  • If one Webquest is not enough, here is a link to a second one.