I love learning all about my students at the beginning of the year. It is so important for me to learn about their personalities, families, and traditions. I think read alouds at the beginning of the year are a great way to learn about students and build a classroom community. The book Where Are You From? is a great way to start that conversation with students. It is lyrically written with beautiful illustrations on every page. The book can serve as a strong mentor text for writing as well as a way for students to practice comprehension skills. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
The main character in this book is always asked where she is from. She tries to explain that she is from here, just like everyone else. However, that answer doesn’t seem to satisfy the people asking. She decides to ask her Abuelo where she is from because he knows everything. He tells her all about the places her ancestors lived and the things they used to do. She is from the Pampas, gauchos, and brown river. She learns she is from the blue ocean and hurricanes.
When she presses for the name of a specific place, he tells her that she comes from his heart and the heart of all of the family members that came before them. The little girl is happy with this answer and proud to know more about where she is from.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
Where Are You From? is a great mentor text for teaching students important reading comprehension strategies, writing skills, and grammar concepts. All of our book companions come with activities that relate to these subject areas. Check out just some of the skills included in our book companion!
- Practice summarizing the book and retelling the important events.
- Have students practice identifying the main idea of the book.
- Integrate descriptive writing by having students describe the different settings in the book.
- Ask students to get creative and continue writing the story.
- Use examples from the book to teach a lesson on homophones and multiple meaning words.
- Teach a lesson on capitalization and when to use uppercase letters.
- Discuss the importance of identity and family.
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
- 30 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 resource is all you will need when it comes to planning your read aloud for the book Where Are You From?. Gone are the days when you have to brainstorm discussion questions, look online for student activities, and spend hours gathering resources. Now everything you need is included in this book companion allowing you to make choices on what you want to use with your students.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal
- The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
- Under My Hijab by Hena Khan
- My Name is Yoon by Helen Recorvits
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!
