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Esperanza Rising  … by Pam Munoz Ryan

 

 

 

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Title Author Grade level

Esperanza Rising   

Pam Munoz Ryan 4th to 5th grade

 

Genre:
Fiction

 

Summary of the story :
ljljll Coming of age story of a young girl from Mexico who has to leave her country and go to the USA to start a new life.

 

 

 

Possible Design Challenges:

·         Design something to extract the juices from the rosehips (page 35 )( rosehips contain the memories of the roses and that when you drink the tea made from it, you take in the beauty that the plant had known).   Life science , simple machines, state of matter ( solids, liquid, gases )

·         Design a better habitat for the wagon that they used to escape.  Living things and their environment,  tools, state of matter 

·         Design something to hear the earth’s heart beat.  Can that really be?  Is that a metaphor for saying the earth is a living object? Structure of the Earth

·         Design a glove that you can handle a rose thorn ( page 8 ) Properties of Materials,  Life science ( why does it have thorns?), evolution and biodiversity,

·         Can we design a 1930 washing machine and Dryer that uses no electricity but only simple machines  Simple machines,  

·         What material item can we design so the young girls can carry the babies and have their hands free?  Life Science, Properties of Materials,

·         Can we design a tent like structure to keep her mother cool and moist during her sickness?  Life Science, Materials

·         Design a machine to make smoke vapors (page 179).  What causes the vapor?

·         Using the cycle of the harvests, could you design a clock / calendar?  How would it relate to today’s clock/ harvest  ( page 247 ) .  Esperanza birthday was at grape harvest time. Earth & Space,

·         Design a packaging system to transport the rose roots without water for a set period of time ( page 84 )   Life Science, Materials

·         Esperanza and family need to take a bath.  Can we design a hot water heater without using fire?    Use Solar heat and material.

·         Design a way for someone who doesn’t understand how to use a broom to be able to use it without training ( page 116), Levers & machines

 

 
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  Prepared by  Bill Wolfson.  Copyright © 2011
Last Updated 
08/20/2011