Curriculum

Contents of Curriculum Unit:

• Overview
• Subjects/Teaching Modalities
• Grade Levels
• Description
• Sample Lesson
• Discussion Points

Overview

Tina Springs into Summer / Tina se lanza al verano is a versatile reading tool presented in a side-by-side layout in English and Spanish. The reading integrates language arts and social studies with a culturally diverse flavor.

Subjects/Teaching Modalities:

• As a tool for teaching Spanish to advanced students of the language.
• As a reading for Hispanic/Latino students who are literate in Spanish.
• As a reading for students of English as a Second Language.
• As a reading for students in bilingual education classrooms.
• As a reading for mainstream English-speaking students in the areas of Social Studies and Language Arts.
• As a guide and motivator for journal writing.

Teachers may expand on the possibilities this short novel offers. The lessons may be divided according to the students’ abilities and strengths. 

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This unit is designed for third to fifth grade classrooms with students ranging in age from eight to eleven. The focus and presentation of the lesson will vary according to the students’ age and reading level.

Description:

Tina Springs into Summer/Tina se lanza al verano offers a glimpse into the world of Tina Medina as she begins her summer vacation. This makes the novel a good reading choice toward the end of the school year, or at the very beginning, when children have just returned from their summer break.

Tina is eleven years old, and the product of an inter-racial marriage between an Afro-Cuban father who’s a firefighter, and an Irish-American mother who’s a school librarian.  Tina lives in a culturally diverse neighborhood with a well-established sense of community.

Each of the subtopics presented throughout the nine chapters opens the doors to productive discussion. The beginning of the story is a third-person narrative, but by the second chapter Tina herself is the narrator as she writes in her new diary. 

Sample Lessons and Discussion Points are included in the full curriculum.

If you have questions,  need additional  information, or would like a copy of the curriculum in Spanish,  send an E-mail to Teresa Bevin. 

Read an Excerpt from Tina Springs into Summer / Tina se lanza al verano

“This appealing book with its illustrations can serve as a wonderful learning tool for children in grades 3-6. Bevin clearly understands the thoughts, feelings, and typical behaviors of pre-teen youngsters from multi-cultural urban backgrounds...”
- Dr. Nancy Boyd Webb, Professor of Sociology; author and editor, Play Therapy for Children in Crisis and Mass Trauma and Violence

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