Gary Soto
Lesson plans for Too Many Tamales and other books

| Biography and Background | | The Afterlife | | Baseball in April | | Chato and the Party Animals | | Here's My Dollar | | La Bamba | | Local News | | Novio Boy | | Pacific Crossing | | Petty Crimes (including "Born Worker") | | Taking Sides | | Too Many Tamales |

Biography and Background

The author's official site.

The author's biography at Wikipedia.

26-lesson unit designed for 7th grade, includes several of Soto's works, ends with students sharing their own writing. 116 pages; Adobe Reader required.

An essay on "classroom issues and strategies" for working with Soto.

Biography and links to other resources from the Academy of American Poets.

The Afterlife

To avoid writing a story that begins with a bang and winds down with a whimper, in this lesson student writers start stories at the end. After choosing a momentous event in their lives, they write about its climax; they then use this "ending" as a unique and powerful introduction to a longer story that describes the events that led to the climax. This lesson focuses on organization and idea development.

The Afterlife Reading Skills and Strategies. Access requires Adobe Reader.

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  Background information, character summary, vocabulary words.
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  Students use a graphic organizer to make inferences about character motivation. Vocabulary practice, making predictions.
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  Students find evidence in the story to determine author's purpose. Vocabulary practice, making predictions.
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  Graphic organizer, writing task.
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  Graphic organizer to analyze characters and infer theme.
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  6 discussion questions and 2 post-reading activities.
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  10 questions.

Baseball in April

Graphic organizer (character analysis), vocabulary practice, and editing practice. This document requires Adobe Reader or compatible application for access.

"Seventh Grade"
Pre-reading, background information, vocabulary, text of the story, postreading comprehension and analysis activities, practice with writing, more.

Chato and the Party Animals

Suggestions for before and after reading.

Here's My Dollar

Students note details as they read. Includes text-dependent questions, vocabulary words, a culminating task, and additional learning activities. Word processor required for access.

La Bamba

Students note details as they read. Includes text-dependent questions, vocabulary words, a culminating task, and additional learning activities. Word processor required for access.

Local News

Local News Reading Skills and Strategies. Access requires Adobe Reader.

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  Author bio, character summaries, vocabulary words.
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  Graphic organizer for finding cause and effect; vocabulary development.
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  Graphic organizer for summarizing conflicts; vocabulary development.
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  Practice with making inferences and finding synonyms.
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  Students express the meaning of a Spanish word in their own dialect.
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  Given 3 themes, students identify stories are best associated with each. Graphic organizer.
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  5 discussion questions and 4 post-reading activities.
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  10 questions.

Novio Boy

Novio Boy Reading Skills and Strategies. Access requires Adobe Reader.

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  Background information, introduction to characters, vocabulary words.
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  Graphic organizer for character analysis; vocabulary development, making predictions.
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  Graphic organizer for making inferences; practice with vocabulary (idioms), extending the novel.
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  Definition of comedy, graphic organizer for analysis.
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  Students analyze dialogue and complete character maps.
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  5 discussion questions and 2 post-reading activities.
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  10 questions.

Pacific Crossing

Click here : these lesson plans have been moved to a separate page.

Petty Crimes

Students note details as they read. Includes summary, text-dependent questions and suggested evidence-based answers, academic vocabulary, a culminating writing task with prompt and model response, and additional learning activities. Word processor required for access.

Interactive guided reading questions.

This unit plan uses Soto's "Born Worker" and 4 other works to help students further develop their knowledge of the connections between literature and the arts and be able to connect their personal experiences with people who have immigrated to the United States. All of the stories can be found in McDougal Littel's The Language of Literature . Designed for 8th grade.

Taking Sides

Designed for grades 8 and 9, this site offers a summary, theme openers, crosscurricular activities, research assignments, and suggestions for additional reading.

Too Many Tamales

Using "Tortillas Like Africa" and Too Many Tamales , students explore literary elements of a story or poem.