Munoz Ryan author study discussion

Besides the two novels were are reading together and sharing thoughts about, each member has the choice to read either 3 picture books by Ryan or one other of her novels. Once done, you will need to tell how you would use the novel and ideas that would be shared with students.
The other choice is to read three of the picture books by Ryan. How would you use the book with students and what subject areas would the book support? I have Nacho and Lolita, The Flag We Love and Hello Ocean coming. I have read others by Ryan and am excited to see how her non-fiction reads.

I read, The Flag We Love, with my class. We are doing a school Olympics project and our classroom is the United States. We decorated our classroom door with the flag. This book was a wonderful introduction to the importance of the flag, the meaning behind it, the history. It is written in a poetic way, yet has facts written on each page to explain more in depth. My 4th grade class enjoyed the book and it provided us with nice discussion. It, then, led into a math lesson on how to cover our door with an accurate flag. They used measurement, equations with variables, formulas and estimations. The flag turned out nicely. This book made the whole experience!!

I borrowed the book "Riding Freedom" from my niece. She has read a few books from Ryan and has enjoyed them all. It has been fun to have mini book studies on the books with her.

This book is a true story about a girl in the 1860s who wants to ride horse, during her time at an orphanage in Eastern America. It is not allowed for girls to ride horse, at this time so, she runs away and disguises herself as a boy. During this book she drives a stagecoach across the country. She shows that she is horse whisper at this time, has a some very challenging setbacks, and in the end follows her dreams.

I read the novel, The Dreamer, as my third choice. This text is about a boy named Neftali who is a mysterious young boy. As a young boy he is teased, put down, and is alone. He is put down, teased, and feels doubted from his family and others in the community. Neftali loves to enjoy life's treasures and collects them along the way of life. He is full of fear and reaches out to nature and books. They both allow him to escape daily. As he grows, he continues his dream of writing much to his father's dismay. He write with imagination and heart allowing him to be who he has always tried to be, himself. I would read this as a read aloud with my class. I would tie it in to our building of community and believing in one's dreams. Also, I would add this novel into my poetry unit. Neftali took the name of Pablo Neruda. The students can research authors, poets, and any other writer that has influenced them or helped in believing and goal setting.

I read "Paint the Wind." This novel is about a young girl that lived with her overprotective grandmother after her parents were tragically killed. When her grandmother passes away, she goes to live with her maternal grandfather in the Wyoming wilderness, whom she barely knows. The book is about the young girl discovering who she is among these two diverse settings and understanding complicated family histories.

This book would make a great read aloud for intermediate grades or novel study for older students. It would tie nicely into a unit on family histories and traditions. I was also really intrigued by the wild horses that live near her new home. The main character learned how these animals survive in the wilderness using instincts and hierarchy. The book could be expanded with a study on animal instincts and pack mentality.

I read "Riding Freedom" as my third choice. I loved the book! I love horses and have friends that are gifted with horses. I love how Munoz's books seem to have a basic theme of perseverance and strength with each of her characters. It seems to be the backbone for her novels.
This story is about a girl who was orphaned as a toddler. Even at that age she possessed gifted qualities especially with horses. She is able to bond with most horses and can get them to do whatever she wants them to do. She runs away from the horrible orphanage because she did not see any future there. She believed in herself enough to know that she could do this. She ended up living her life as a boy. At the time this was the safest way for her to get what she wanted out of life. She took chances and had difficulties but continued to persevere in order to live the life she wanted.
I would do this as a book study with an intermediate group of kids. I would tie this into our school's focus on character traits and what traits that Charolette exhibited. I would also discuss with the group as to how this time in history was difficult and that sometimes you had to do things that were difficult in order to survive. I would tie this into a geography lesson as well as a history lesson. I would have the students map out the places that she traveled and how she got there.

I read "Riding Freedom" I loved this book as I had to finish it in one evening. Once I picked it up and began to read, I could not put it down. My lesson would be 5th grade level based. I would begin by having students complete a web-quest designed lesson to help the, broaden their understandings of life during the mid 1800's in NH, MA, CA, WY, the wild west, and orphanages. This would be a research web-quest with uploaded links that would help create background knowledge needed to fully understand the author's main character's situation. After a few days of being able to gather research information via ipads or computer lab, I would weave the book into the lesson. I would discuss the genre and history about the author. The next lesson would be based on listening comprehension skills and discussion about the characters of the book and the multitude of character personalities/traits. I feel more comfortable using the self to text reflection analysis for the students to write a compare and contrast essay as their final authentic task using their research notes and their own personal experiences to build their essay. The students will compare and contrast Charley/Charlotte to their own self and what the student learned from this character and how the character impacted their thoughts about their own self. I have done a project based lesson like this before, and the students thoroughly enjoyed being able to pull up the needed info and complete research. It helped the students to build a better learning foundation, too. Modifications could be made for struggling learners with easier links ( more leveled reading) to preview or have the easy read links for the majority of the class and more in depth informative reading for more gifted students who seek more information. The students could pick and choose the links they choose to read, too. The authentic task could also be modified to be a collage for the learners, who struggle to express themselves in writing. They could create a collage and then do the compare and contrast part verbally infront of the class. This could be a really fun project based activity.

"Hello Ocean" by Pam Munoz Ryan is so well written that before I would show my students the amazing illustrations I would have them make their own pictures in their head and see what kinds of feelings or connections they would have as I read the story to them. I would then use this book to help teach the five senses. The way Munoz Ryan describes the ocean makes the reader feel like they can see, hear, touch, feel and taste the ocean. It really gives you the experience like you are at the ocean. It would be a great mentor text for writing as well. There are some vocabulary words that I would discuss to help my students have a better understanding. "Hello Ocean" is also a rhyming book so that could be another teaching point.

"The Crayon Book" by Pam Munoz Ryan can be used for a math lesson. It teaches even and odd numbers. At first the book counts by 2's to 24 and then does the odd numbers to 23. The numeral and number words are on each page which helps reinforce identifying the numbers. "The Crayon Book" would also be great to use for a writing lesson. The crayons are illustrated from different perspectives. This would be a great lesson about how objects look differently depending on how we are looking at them. There are some great vocabulary words to discuss, rhyming words, and primary colors to name a few other ideas that this book could be used for.

"One Hundred is a Family" by Pam Munoz Ryan is about families and how families can grow and can be different. It starts off by counting up from 1 to 10 then after 10 it skip counts by 10s to 100. It has rhyming within the book which gives it a nice rhythm when reading. At the end it brings in the importance of everyone taking care of the earth to make it better for everyone. I read this book to my class and had them decorate a shamrock to show how their family is special and unique.

For my last book, I chose Becoming Naomi Leon. I absolutely loved this story. Two themes that have run throughout the three books I have read are: Perseverance to overcome difficulties and overwhelming love for your family.

Becoming Naomi Leon is about a girl, her brother, and her grandmother. They live in a trailer park. They do not have many material things, but what they do not have, they make up for it with love. Their neighbors are also family (kind of like Esperanza Rising.) Their mother dropped them off with their grandmother when they were young and one day she comes back into the picture. She has a very manipulative boyfriend, that convinced her to get her daughter (but not her son because he is "weird and defective.") Grandma took the kids to Mexico to try and find their father to see if her will help the grandmother win full custody over the kids so their mother will not seperate them.

This book is a level V. I teach 4th grade and would be able to have my two highest groups read this book in a literature circle. After they have read and discussed the book, I would have them use Google Maps to create a map of their journey from California to Mexico, and back again. I would have them plot dates and what big event happened on that date. (We did this with our Lewis and Clark unit, so the students would be familiar with this task and be able to complete independently.)

One way I could use some ideas from the book is to have my students carve something out of soap. That was Naomis's talent and she had that in common with her father and she got to compete in a competition in Mexico, carving ginormous radishes. For our animal habitats unit, we usually have the students create an animal for their exhibit out of clay, we could give our students the options to carve their animal out of soap with a popsicle stick.

I could also use this book as a read aloud and then we could do the maps as a whole class.

I have decided to read "The Flag We Love", "Our California", and "Hello Ocean." I would use "Hello Ocean" during a figurative language unit. It has great examples of similes/metaphors. It would also be a great book to read during our poetry unit. I would use "The Flag We Love" for Social Studies. We learn about when the United States fought the American Revolutionary War and becoming their own country. We learn about the Battle at Fort McHenry and "The Star Spangled Banner" and why Francis Scott Key wrote the poem. I would use it as a more in depth look at the fag. The last book I read and would use in my classroom is "Our California." I like how she used fun illustrations to present the information about California. I would have my students pick a state, research it and present the information with colorful illustrations.

I read "Nacho and Lolita", "The Flag We Love", and "Hello Ocean".

Nacho and Lolita- This book was about a big bird and a little bird who fall in love. The big bird has very colorful feathers in the beginning and the little bird is a gray sparrow. I decided this would be a great book to use for Language Arts. I would begin the lesson having my students use a Venn Diagram to compare/contrast the two birds. Then, I thought it would be fun to come up with some strengths/characteristics to describe each bird. We would write these characteristics down on small pieces of paper and put them inside two separate balloons. (one balloon for Nacho and one balloon for Lolita) This would be a visual to show students that we all are made up of different strengths which makes us all unique and beautiful together. Then, my students would be asked to write about their own strengths. We would display this on a board that says "Together We are strong". I would tie in the part from the story where Nacho tried to fly away with the sparrows for the winter, but couldn't so his friends helped him to safety. Then, instead of feeling sorry for himself he creatively found a way to make his home beautiful for the spring that Lolita returned.

Hello Ocean- I thought this would be a great book to use during a poetry unit of even science. During our habitat unit, I would read this book to help my students really create a visual of what an ocean would look like, feel like, smell like, sound like, and so on. Pam Munoz Ryan does a great job of making the reader feel like we are at the ocean. In a poetry unit, I would have my students write different types of poems based on the topic of the Ocean. We could write a rhyming poem, haiku poems, acrostic poems, and cinquain poems.

The Flag We Love- I was wishing I had known about this book during the Olympics. I love the facts that are included in this book at the bottom of each page. With this book, I would do a person study on Francis Scott Key, the person who was given credit for writing the Star Spangled Banner. We would read a mini book explaining further who Francis Scott Key was and focus on a few vocabulary words from the song. Then, I would ask each of my students to bring in a picture that is important to them. We would use these pictures to inspire my students to write a poem, just like Francis Scott Key was inspired.

Just discovered that EPIC! has some Munoz Ryan picture books if you are looking for the ones for here.

After enjoying both of the book selections for the book study, I grabbed two books from our school library, unsure which one I would choose to read. I ended up reading both Riding Freedom and Paint the Wind and thoroughly enjoyed each!! As mentioned in several other posts, there is a common thread with Munoz Ryan books, perseverance. She does a beautiful job describing how a toddler perseveres through the unfortunate events of being placed in an all boys orphanage, loses a beloved horse and friend.
She then escapes with only enough money for a one-way stage coach ticket, during a time when young girls were not to be traveling on their own. The girl, Charlotte, changes her appearance to resemble a boy and spends many years proving herself as a top-notch stagecoach driver. She gains respect from fellow co-workers and is eventually asked to move to California where she is finally able to purchase a homestead for herself. Also appealing to Charlotte, was the notion she would be able to vote for president. Along the way, Charlotte faces struggles with women not having the same rights as men, being alone, going blind in one eye, and re-training herself to maneuver the stage coach.

This book could be used in the classroom to help students relate to the obstacles women and other minorities have had to overcome in this country. In addition, this book would help students discover our country's history during the 1800's gold rush and westward movement. Students could also gain knowledge of geography through tracking Charlotte's journey throughout her lifetime.

Thank you for this book study, I would never have selected one of Munoz Ryan's books and have had a hard time putting any of her books down. From the other blog posts, there are still a few of her books I hope to seek out and enjoy.

I read the novel, Riding Freedom. It was so good! It would tie very nicely into history, because it is the true story of a woman in the 1800s who ran away from an orphanage and had to pretend to be a boy so as not to get caught. She ended up having to live that lie forever in order to be able to make money and even vote. She was actually the first woman in history to vote, when she did in 1868. This would lead to a good discussion on gender equality (without getting too involved with all of that) and how much our country has changed. It was an excellent and quick read!

Ideas to use with “Riding Freedom”:

Background knowledge as to what is an orphanage is may be important to some students. This could lead to a discussion about orphans in North Dakota (local history), orphan trains, and reasons that orphans could have come West to places like North Dakota. This topic brought to mind another book I read, Jake’s Orphan by Peggy Brooke, that is about an orphan who is brought to North Dakota to work on the farm.

In social studies this year my class has been learning about many events that Charlotte experiences in this book. Further discussion and activities could take place regarding slaves, slaves escaping on the Underground Railroad, the gold rush, Women’s Rights and voting, the pony express, the transcontinental telegraph and railroad, wagon trains, the roles of women and stereotypes during this time period.

Munoz Ryan uses many similes in her writing. Some included in “Riding Freedom”: “you look nervous as a cat” “(ribbons) like silky snakes” “heart was pounding as loud as a drum beating” ”lazy as pigs” “looked pale as milk” “flew across like scared jackrabbits” “news of how the one-eyed stage driver saved the lives of those people spread like warm honey”. An extended lesson could be about figurative language.

Bullying could be addressed when we see how William treats Hayward. There could also be a discussion about the many positive character traits of Charlotte.

Of course, I loved the Author’s note at the end of the book that reveals some of the fact behind the fiction in the book. I had to go online to find some more information on our main character. It would be interesting for students to do some research on the facts behind Charlotte/Charley Parkhurst and compare/contrast to the events in “Riding Freedom”.

Vocab and questions I wrote down while reading:

Chapter One:
Vocab: Ruffian, petticoat, adopted

What’s in a name and how is this important? When the children hear the bell ring, how might they feel? Are they excited, anxious, scared? Will it be Hayward or Charlotte that the couple wants a second look at? What will happen with Freedom?

Chapter Two:
Vocab: prospective, reputation, mollycoddles, chaperon, tendril

How do you think that Charlotte felt when the woman was interested in her, but Mr. Millshark claimed she was just her niece helping out and wasn’t up for adoption? What plan do you think that Charlotte has devised? How will Hayward be able to help her before he leaves?

So many blows to Charlotte in this chapter—loosing Freedom, not being allowed to work in the stables, her best friend, Hayward, being adopted (even though she is truly happy for him)—How much more can she handle?

Chapter Three:
Vocab: hank, brambles,

Why do you think that Vern is going to name the next foal “Charlotte’s Pride”? Do you think that Charlotte will be able to carry out her plan and get on the stagecoach undetected?

Chapter Four:
Vocab: livery, droning, satchel, kerchief,

What do you think will happen to Charlotte now that she has been found in the loft?

Chapter Five:
Vocab: scrawny, coax,

What do you think would happen to Ebeneezer if Mr. Millshark finds out that he knows about Charlotte? Why do you think that Ebeneezer gives Charlotte a chance at driving six-in-the-hand and thus a chance to go to Rhode Island?

In the Middle & Chapter Six:
Vocab: considerate, masquerade, parcels, strongboxes, manifest, reputable

What could happen to Charlotte if she was found doing a “man’s job”? Were you surprised that Ebeneezer still has Charlotte drive the stagecoach with Mr. Millshark on it? What did you think when Charlotte took off her kerchief? Did you think she got to confident or just forgot to be cautious? Do you think that Mr. Millshark will put the familiar face to a name?

Chapter Seven:
Vocab: Argonauts, prospectors, marshal, porter, handbill, converted, ramshackle

How do you think that Charlotte feels knowing the reasons behind Ebeneezer’s kindness? Do you think she needed his blessing? Do you still think about her promise to Hayward about bringing him to her ranch? Why do you suppose Charlotte was willing to approach and talk to the women in front of the saloon who wanted women to be able to vote? Why does Charlotte tell the woman she is brave?

Chapter Eight:
Vocab: feral, shod

When Charlotte gets kicked and ends up in the doctor’s office, what do you think scares her more, the thought of losing the vision in her left eye, or being found out that she is a girl? What could this do to her dreams in California? What did you think about the other stories the doctor told her about women who had pretended to be men? What words can be used to describe Charlotte getting back on the stagecoach? Do you think that Charlotte proved herself when she got everyone safely across the bridge in the storm?

Chapter Nine:
Vocab: foreclose, hillock,

Were you surprised that Charlotte bought the land and allowed Margaret to stay? Were you surprised to see Hayward? Do you think Ebeneezer will join Charlotte on the land she just purchased? Do you think Hayward will stay?

Chapter Ten & The End:
Vocab: Breach

What do you think about Charlotte registering to vote? Do you think that Charlotte sees herself in Sarah? What do you think the answers are to Charlotte’s questions: “Would her one vote make a difference?” Do you agree with her reasons for voting? Were you surprised that Ebeneezer wanted to stay? What did you think about the names for the colt and filly?

I also read "Riding Freedom." I loved the skills that Charlotte had to survive. This book was so much more uplifting to me. There were times of desperation or things needed to be done right away, but I didn't "feel" it within myself this time. I loved reading the notes at the end and learning that this book was based on an actual person.
I also had many of the same ideas as others as to how to use this book in my classroom. There are many topics and historical things to learn about throughout this book. I like the use of figurative language. Civil rights, voting rights, etc.
Pam Munoz Ryan is a fantastic author!!

I read the book "Becoming Naomi Leon". This was another great book. I teach Elementary EL so this book would be great for my 3rd-5th graders. After we read the novel I would have my students map a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico. We would also discuss and analyze the characters. I think it would be fun for the students to find out the meanings of their names and the backgrounds of them. So many great things that could be done with this book.

I read "The Crayon Counting Book." This would be great to implement in my room since we practice skip counting in math. My second graders would love the story and it would be a great conversation to have about patterns counting by two. "Our California" would be a great one a great one to talk about communities for Social Studies. It also would be a great for Genius Hour to get students thinking about places. "The Flag We Love" would be a great book to teach students about communities and our country.

I choose, "The Dreamer" by Ryan. Such a well written book and overall great read. I would use this book to target the following skills:
1. Vocabulary - preteaching vocabulary concepts found in the story, work on definitions, multiple meanings, synonyms/antonyms, and word associations.
2. Articulation - have students who are working on their speech sounds practice reading certain paragraphs of the story while using their good speech sounds.
3. Answering "wh"/comprehension questions - I found a great resource for discussion questions on scholastic.com. It features 18 questions to ask about the story. It's a great print and go activity.
4. Writing/Research - students could write their own ending to the story, research different professions or what it was like in the time period the book was written.

I read "The Dreamer".
I LOVED the storyline, the lay-out and sketches throughout the book.
The things that jumped out at me most were the social-emotional learning that could take place with the use of this text. Topics such as bullying, intimidation, being passive, showing aggression, assertiveness, inclusion, integrity, and self-esteem. More teachable concepts; perseverance, integrity, creativity, collaboration and cooperation.
The interactions between himself and kids at school and the interactions with the father and each member of the family. He found that adult figure that really helped shape his future success, his uncle. He didn't have to feel like an outcast any longer and became comfortable in his own skin.
Language Arts- poetry, onomatopoeia, alliteration
Historical Connection - (Venn Diagrams) between North American Native American people and the South American Native people in the story. The correlation could be made with how African-Americans were treated during the times of slavery and even after becoming free. His father and the business owners did not treat them kindly. Then, when the secret meetings ended with his Uncle losing the newspaper to a fire, it made me think of the Underground Railroad.

I read "Riding Freedom" for my other novel. I love everything about the book. I love the strength of Charlotte and aspire to be more like her. I would like to use this book in one of my small book clubs. At the beginning of the year, we spend a lot of time on women suffrage. I believe this book would be a great read for fifth graders to read during this time. It will connect with them and help them understand how women were once treated.

I read three picture books for my other books. I read Hello Ocean, How do you Raise a Raisin?, and Tony Baloney:Pen Pal.
Hello Ocean and How do you Raise a Raisin? are books that lend themselves to science concepts. The Raisin book can be used to talk about growing seasons and how plants grow. Hello Ocean uses the five senses to tell about the Ocean, so I can see that being used in lower elementary for that and it can be used for poetry for upper elementary grades. It has rhyming, It has great examples of similes/metaphors.
The last book Tony Baloney is all about Pen Pals and when a boy meets his pen pal he finds out that it is a girl. He is not very impressed by this fact and doesn't really want to have much to do with her, even though, they have a lot of the same interests and he was super excited to meet his pen pal because they did have so much in common. In the end he does start talking to her and they end up being really good friends. This book is good for those kids who think they can only be friends with someone that is the same sex as them. This isn't true. It is a good book for social skills and on being friends with someone.

I read Becoming Naomi Leon as my third choice. I enjoyed the book and saw a lot of similarities to Echo and Esperanza Rising. Pam Munoz Ryan really has a very strong style of writing that reappears in all of her novels. I do want to check out a few of her picture books yet too to see if that style carries through to her shorter stories.

The story about Naomi showed a few different themes throughout the book. She had to work hard to overcome challenges since they didn't have a lot of extra things in life. Her family was also very close. The showed a lot of love for one another. I would say the closeness of their family and all the love they had for one another was priceless when compared to material items.

I could see myself using this novel as a literature circle with a higher group of readers. I enjoy doing lit. circles the last half of school and this would be a great addition to my library. I think it would benefit my students for them to see a character that doesn't have a lot of things in life.

Katie and I reflected together about how we could use this book. We teach 4th grade together. We actually attempted the soap carving for a possible art project. It didn't go so well with the brand of soap that we had, but we haven't totally ruled this option out yet. We think a different brand my be easier to manipulate, especially for the students.

I'm so glad I got the opportunity to read these books!

Paint the Wind
First let me say that I do not like books that make me cry. This book made me cry. It was an amazing story of a young girl that has had to endure loss and deprivation (of her mother) that she never should have. I love how Ryan was able to show her growth and development in this story. She is so relate-able to students even if they are unfamiliar with the Wyoming terrain.

Since I teach EL students that range in proficiency from newcomer to advanced how I would use the book would greatly vary. First of all, it would be a stretch to use it with my newcomer students. I would reserve this book for intermediate level. This year I have a combo intermediate/ advanced classed I would use without hesitation.
One of the main focuses I have for my advanced and even intermediate class is to develop a love of reading. I would use this book as a read aloud (guided reading) and focus on the vocabulary. It is very rich in descriptive and academic vocabulary. I would pick 4-5 words that I would teach every chapter or every few chapters, and would have them pick 4-5 words that they want to explore more. This would be worked into an activity based on the book. The concepts in this book are also not completely unfamiliar to many students. I have students that have lost parents, grandparent and are living with extended family members in unfamiliar places. They will connect with Maya and her heartbreaks.
Additionally, there are so many types of animals in this book. Students could choose one and draw a picture of it to emulate the figurative language. this could be tied into a research project on the animals. We have wild horses that live near here and fascinate many students and adults alike. We also have eagles, trout, and small rodents that students can also use for making connections. Anything I can do to facilitate reading comprehension and vocabulary learning in a way that is valuable and relate-able to my students is something I am willing to try.

I read "Riding Freedom" I really enjoyed the books that I read by Pam Munoz Ryan. I am hoping to read more by her.
I would use "Riding Freedom" with upper elementary students. This book would go very well with history and geography. The students could do a timeline of the events in Charlotte's/Charley's life including the accomplishments that happened, the things that she overcame, how she proved herself, etc. They could also trace her route through life on a map of the different places that she went. They could do a comparison of Charlotte's life and their own life; they could then present this information to the class by either being Charlotte in character, explaining why she had to act as a male to survive the things that she did, telling and showing with a powerpoint how transportation changed from the stagecoach times to present day, researching and presenting how the voting rules and history of only men voting has changed over time, etc. So basically each student would have to read the book, do some research of some aspect of something relating to the history of what happened in the book, and present to the class. This project would involve technology because of the research and if they do a powerpoint. It could also involve language arts with how they present or making notes as they go. It would also involve speech because they are getting information to their classmates.
The students will also learn about character from this book as Charlotte never gave up, she worked towards what she wanted, she did what she had to do to survive, she overcame her disability, she worked towards a goal, etc.