Lucía the Luchadora

Guest Post by Cynthia Leonor Garza

My new picture book, Lucía the Luchadora, illustrated by Alyssa Bermudez, is about a little girl who wants to be a superhero. When Lucía is told by the boys that girls can’t be superheroes, she gets mad, spicy mad, but with the help of abuela, comes up with an ingenious plan. She returns to the playground with her identity concealed behind a lucha libre mask and cape and becomes a playground sensation. Soon, all the other kids are dressed up as luchadores, too, but when Lucía witnesses the boys telling another girl she can’t be a superhero, Lucía must make a decision: Remain hidden behind the mask or reveal her true identity, which a real luchadora must never do.

There are lots of ways this book can be used in the classroom to teach both younger and older students and English language learners. Dr. Rebecca Palacios, an inductee of the National Teachers Hall of Fame and preschool educator for over 30 years, developed a curriculum guide to go along with the book. Here are some activities drawn from the guide:

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL CONNECTIONS: After reading Lucía the Luchadora, explore social-emotional questions by asking:

·       At times Lucía felt “mad, spicy mad.” Why did she feel this way? How did she resolve her feelings?

·       Lucía felt so strong with her mask on. Why do you think she felt this way? 

·       How did Lucía help the pink crusader who felt so sad? Why was this important for her to do? 

·       Why are feelings important in our lives? How can we help others with their feelings?

  

ONOMATOPOEIA: Lucía the Luchadora also has lots of fun onomatopoeia like POW and BAM!  Have a ten-minute word scavenger hunt to find these words. Discuss what they mean. How do these words affect the story?

CULTURE: Explore the cultural aspects of the book. Look at the illustrations and have students find pictures they don’t recognize or words in Spanish. What might those pictures represent, and what do the Spanish words mean?

There is also an Author’s Note on luchadores, luchadoras and lucha libre at the end of the book as well as an illustration of lucha libre legend El Santo inside the book. Have older students research a famous luchador or luchadora. What is the difference between a rudo and técnico? Where do luchadores today live? What are they fighting for? Why is the mask so important in Mexican wrestling?

STEM & ART: Have some art and math fun by having the students create their own masks. Have them engineer a design and figure out how to fit a mask on a face. Discuss the symmetry of the design and which tools and resources would be best for creating such a mask. Have the students use geometric figures to make their masks, and incorporate some of art and design elements from the book.

Last, everyone needs a lucha libre name. Have students write about a fun alter ego!

BIO: Cynthia Leonor Garza spent most of her childhood under the hot South Texas sun running around with her three brothers. She's a journalist who has worked for several newspapers and her commentaries have appeared on NPR and in The Atlantic. Of all the lucha libre masks she owns, her favorite one is pink and gold. She currently lives with her two young daughters and husband in Nairobi, Kenya.  Lucía the Luchadora is her first picture book.

COME ON, FEEL THE NOISE!

guest post by Nancy Viau

Kids love sound words, and onomatopoeia is often taught as early as kindergarten. Students know that onomatopoeia makes reading aloud fun, but do they know that they can use onomatopoeia in their writing now and for many years to come? Why not help them create an Onomatopoeia Resource List?

Encourage students to listen for the sounds in and around their classroom—the tick, tock of clock, hands clapping, fingers snapping, water splashing, shoes clacking, birds tweeting, etc. Name the onomatopoeia and begin your list as a class (tick, tock, clap, snap, splash, clack, tweet). Students copy the words in their writing journals, leaving plenty of room for additions.

Introduce Storm Song, one of my titles. Prepare for reading by asking students what sounds they hear during a storm, then read it straight through. Talk about what happens in the story and ask if the story contains any onomatopoeia. Have kids add these words to their lists.

Next, do the same thing with City Street Beat, my latest rhyming picture book. Like Storm Song, it’s filled with onomatopoeia. As you read it aloud, you’ll find that students have acquired quite an ear for sound words.

At this point, Onomatopoeia Resource Lists should contain approximately 100 words! Here’s a cool fact: My personal ORL has 402 words—YAY! 

Extended Activities:

Come On, Write the Noise: Students imagine a noisy setting such as a city, pool, zoo, amusement park, airport, farm, pet store, or home. After brainstorming noises in pairs, they get those pencils TAPPING and use at least 10 sound words in a one-page story.

Come On, Spell the Noise: Add the word “onomatopoeia” to spelling tests. Getting 12 letters in perfect order is something to be proud of. WHOOT!

Come On, Find the Noise: Work with the school librarian and help kids ZIG and ZAG, SHUFFLE and ZOOM through the library to find titles that contain onomatopoeia. 

Here are some helpful lists:

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/onomatopoeia

https://www.librarything.com/tag/onomatopoeia

BOOM! Your students understand the importance of onomatopoeia and now have a resource list to use, and add to, for the next decade.

Nancy Viau is the author of three picture books: City Street Beat, Look What I Can Do! and Storm Song, and two middle-grade novels: Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head and Just One Thing! (Fall 2016). In her interactive, energetic story hours, assembly programs, and writing workshops, Viau gets young readers rhyming and writing on the spot. She’s a Jersey girl with ties to both the country and the seashore, and finds inspiration in nature, travel, and her job as a librarian assistant. www.NancyViau.com

VIVID WORDS AND ACTION VERBS

by Mary Quattlebaum

How might you encourage students (of any age) to attend to language?  To begin to delight in and revise for sound, rhythm and strong, active verbs, whether for poetry or prose?

Reading aloud and pointing out these qualities certainly helps.  One of my favorite books to explore is In the Spin of Things by Rebecca Kai Dotlich (Wordsong 2003).  Twenty-three poems about ordinary things like lawn mowers, ice cubes, and wind chimes revolve around sound and motion.  These poems encourage writers to focus closely on the world around them, whether it’s the “squish, squish, squeegee-squish” of windshield wipers, the “whittle and whirrs” of a pencil sharpener, or the twang, rap, and snap of a rubber band.

* Read aloud “Ode to a Washing Machine,” “Scissors” and “Soda Can.”

* Have students  jot down words or phrases that seem especially vivid and interesting.  Jot down sounds (onomatopoeia), alliteration, verbs, patterns of sounds (several words with long “o,” short “i,” etc.).  Share and discuss.  With verbs, substitute bland words for more active ones and ask students to describe the difference.

* As a group, choose something (fire truck, cake mixer) not in Dotlich’s book.  Have each child name a sound or action associated with that thing to create a group poem.

* Ask students to listen at home to their washing machine, a pair of scissors cutting, or a kicked soda can.  What sounds did they hear? Ask them to listen to two or three other things (toaster, shower, vacuum cleaner, etc.) and make a list of sounds they hear, descriptive words (color, shape, texture), and verbs and movements.

* Write a poem or short prose passage about this thing using some of the words on their list.  Do not try to rhyme. Have the poem or passage begin and end with a sound or movement.

* Read aloud.

www.maryquattlebaum.com