Author Study of Patricia Polacco

Materials:
Computer lab
Copies of: The Keeping Quilt
The Blessing Cup
Thank You, Mr. Falker
The Art of Miss Chew
The Junkyard Wonders
Mr. Lincolns Way
Mr. Waynes Masterpiece
Supplies for the mini-projects teacher discretion
CCSS:
RL1
RL2
RL 3
RL 6
RL 9
RL10

W3
W9
W10

SL1
SL4

Plan:
Day 1:
Introduce and begin scavenger hunt.
Day 2:
Finish scavenger hunt and share mini-poster.
Day 3:
Introduce and read, The Keeping Quilt. After reading The
Keeping Quilt discuss the book. Focus on the main points of the book:
family, love, tradition. Discuss with the students this main point:
Patricia Polacco drew these pictures in black and white. Yet, a little bit
of each picture is not in black and white. What do you notice in each of
these picture? Why do you think she made a point of having it (wait till
they identify what it is) in color? What do you think shes trying to
say?
Pass out chart to students. Have a poster-sized chart on the board for
you.
Fill in the first row in the poster chart together. Have students copy in
their chart.
Theme: child learns from family history, family, love, tradition.

Mini-project: Give each student a small piece of card stock. About 8in
x 5in (a little bigger or smaller depending on your preference). On the
front have them draw something that they have that is special to them
that they would like to pass on to future family members. On the back
have them write their name and a brief description as to why its
special to them and why they want to pass it down. Attach each quilt
square together to make one big quilt.
Day 4:
Introduce and read, The Blessing Cup. Discuss the similarities
between this book and The Keeping Quilt. Both deal with family, both
focus on family, love, and tradition. Both sets of illustrations are the
same black and white with one object emphasized in color. Discuss
the themes of the story family, tradition, and love.
Add todays information to the chart while the students copy it to their
chart.
Discuss with the students, Annas family doesnt have a lot of money,
their country kicked them out, they had to leave almost all of their
possessions behind, and the dad almost died. Yet, the family believes
that they are rich. Are they? What makes a family rich? Jot ideas on
the board about what makes a family rich. Remind them that every
family is rich in their own way. Have them think about ways their
family is rich.
Themes: Child learns from adult, courage, survival, kindness,
perseverance, prejudice, conduct, friendship, family, love, tradition
Mini-project: Have them write a paragraph on how their family is rich
and have them draw a picture to accompany it. Display all work on a
bulletin board for people to view.
Day 5:
Introduce and read, Thank You, Mr. Falker. Discuss with the kids
the themes of this book - bullying, kindness, courage, perseverance.
Also discuss the different feelings that Trisha felt in the book and what
caused those changes. Add to the third line of the chart and have the
students copy it onto their chart. Discuss with students different ways
that teachers have helped them in the past. It could be a teacher from
any subject area. How did the teacher help them? Discuss the
feelings of the students before and after the teachers helped them.
Compare their experiences with Trishas (text-to-self connections).
Themes: child learns from adult, courage, respect others, kindness,
believe in yourself, bullying, perseverance.

Mini-project: Have each student write a letter to a teacher who helped

them. It could be a teacher from a previous year. Have them explain
what was wrong, how the teacher helped them, and how they felt
afterwards. Have them actually send their letter to their teacher.
Day 6:
Introduce and read, The Junkyard Wonders. Discuss with the kids
the themes of this book bullying, kindness, courage, friendship, love,
strength there are so many. Also discuss the different feelings that
Trisha felt in the book and what caused those changes. Compare this
book with Thank You, Mr. Falker. Add to the fourth line in the chart and
have the students copy it onto their chart. Discuss with the students
what makes each one of the characters a wonder and whether the
term junkyard wonder is an insult or a compliment. Talk about how
every person is a wonder in their own way.
Theme: child learns from adult, bullying, kindness, courage, friendship,
love, strength.
Mini-project: Put each students name in a bag and have each student
pick a name out of the bag. Using the patricia polacco postcards from
the website, have the students write a postcard to each other
explaining how they are a wonder and what is special about them.
Collect the postcards (read them to make sure theyre appropriate) and
then actually mail them to the homes.
Day 7:
Introduce and read, The Art of Miss Chew. Discuss with the
students the themes of this book: how the child learns from the adult,
kindness, believe in yourself, imagination, manners/conduct. Discuss
the feelings Trisha experienced in this story. Discuss the debate in the
book should Trisha spend all of her time studying for tests or should
she spend her time in art classes?
Add to the next line of the chart and have the students copy it into
their own chart.
Themes: child learns from adult, kindness, believe in yourself,
imagination, manners/conduct.
Mini-project: Which do you feel is more important? Should Trisha
spend her time studying for tests or should she be allowed to go to her
art classes? Explain your opinion.

Day 8:
Introduce and read, Mr. Waynes Masterpiece. Discuss with the
students the themes of the book: child learns from adults, faith,
courage, kindness, believe in yourself. Discuss the feelings that Trisha
experienced in the story. Discuss with students how everyone has
something that they fear. Create a list of things that cause fear to the
students.
Add to the next line of the chart and have the students copy it into
their own chart.
Themes: child learns from adult, kindness, believe in yourself,
imagination
Mini-project: Find something in school that really scares you. It could
be climbing the rope in gym, reading out loud, singing in music class,
doing math problems at the board, taking testsanything. Explain
why its so fearful to you and what you could do to overcome your fear.
Day 9:
Introduce and read, Mr. Lincolns Way. Discuss with the students
the themes of the book: child learning from adult, respect, kindness,
accepting others differences, bullying, prejudice/racism,
manners/conduct, friendship.
Add to the last line of the chart and have the students copy it in theirs.
Discuss what causes prejudice and racism. Discuss ways of
overcoming it.
No mini-project.
Day 10:
Review completed chart. Discuss common themes found
throughout the books. Discuss what makes these books special and
why they are important to read. Point out that these true stories
involved complex issues of love, family, friendship, learning, courage,
bullying, and prejudice. Patricia experienced these issues back in the
1960s. These problems still exist today. Why is it important for us to
read her stories and what can we learn from them?

Complete any unfinished mini-projects. Display all mini-projects on the

Patricia Polacco Wall of Fame (I create my wall in the hallway so I have
lots of space and others can see their work).
**Possible final project: Each student creates a Weebly dedicated to
Patricia Polacco and her books. My decision to do the final project
depends on time and student enthusiasm.

Chart for Patricia Polacco books:

Title

Characters

Events

Feelings

Themes