Too Many Tamales is part of our Starts With a Story Collection, which includes more than 550 picture book companions based on high quality children’s literature that support you in delivering highly-engaging interactive read alouds with follow up activities. Learn more about this children’s book below! - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
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SUMMARY
"Too Many Tamales" by Gary Soto tells the delightful and humorous story of Maria, a young girl who gets caught up in a mischievous culinary adventure on Christmas Eve. Eager to feel grown-up, Maria puts on her mother's ring and helps make tamales for their holiday feast. However, in the midst of the cooking frenzy, she accidentally loses the ring in the tamale dough. Panicked, Maria and her cousins decide to eat all the tamales in order to find the ring. As the tamales quickly disappear, the kids soon realize they have a hilarious and stomach-churning problem on their hands. With a delightful blend of cultural traditions, family dynamics, and a sprinkle of holiday magic, "Too Many Tamales" teaches lessons about honesty, family bonds, and the true meaning of Christmas. In the end, Maria learns valuable lessons about the importance of honesty, forgiveness, and the spirit of the season.
 USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
Our read aloud lesson plans for this picture book come with reading comprehension questions (with sample student responses), 30 writing prompts, teaching ideas for grammar skills, social emotional learning discussion ideas, and more. Check out our list below to get a sneak peek at some of the skills this resource teaches.
- Encourage students to use their summarizing and retelling strategies.
- Discuss the different characters in the story and analyze their thoughts and actions.
- Discuss the books plot and examine the problem and solution.
- Teach a lesson on making connections to enhance comprehension.
- Find examples of antonyms in the book.
- Introduce the purpose of adverbs and practice using them.
- Use examples from the book to teach a lesson on punctuation.
NO-PREP PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES:
If you are looking for “ready to go” activities for the first day of school, be sure to check out the book companion. With it you’ll receive all of the following resources to align with this specific book:
- comprehension questions
- 30Â writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
This book is a must have for your school or classroom library. Your students are going to love completing these activities for the book and you will be impressed with how much they learn. You will want to read this book to your class every year.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will love the similar books listed below, which can all be found in our free picture book list.
- As Cool As It Gets by Jory John
- Dasher: How a Little Doe Changed Christmas Forever by Matt Tavares
- Elf by David Berenbaum
- Madeline's Christmas by Ludwig Bemelmans
- Mooseltoe by Margie Palatini
- The Christmas Owl by Gideon Sterer
- The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett
- The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
- The Crayons' Christmas by Drew Daywalt
TRY OUT A SAMPLE COMPANION
It's hard to explain how amazing the Starts with a Story book companions are because there is just so much goodness included in each one. It's best if you experience using one for yourself. Sign up below & we'll send you an entire book companion to try out for FREE!
