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Lesson 19: The Last Cuentista and “El Conejo en la Luna: The Rabbit in the Moon”
50 min
California CCSS: Focus Standards
California CCSS: Supporting Standards
ELD Standards
Student Lesson
Lesson 19: The Last Cuentista and “El Conejo en la Luna: The Rabbit in the Moon”
Student Learning Objectives
1
Content
Students will analyze how Higuera reimagines a traditional legend to develop a theme in The Last Cuentista.
2
Language
Students will explain comparisons and symbolic meaning using compare-contrast language and evidence connectors in discussion and writing.
3
Foundations
Students will use context clues to determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word in context.
Essential Question
How does memory help us understand who we are, and what is lost when memory disappears?
Connections to
Knowledge-Building:
Students continue connecting storytelling to memory, identity, and survival by examining how a traditional legend is reimagined in a modern novel.
Enduring Understanding:
Stories shape how humans remember the past and imagine the future.
Future Lessons:
In Lesson 20, students practice using transition words, phrases, and clauses in their narrative writing. In Lesson 25, students continue to read and analyze The Last Cuentista.
Unit Performance Task:
Students study how Higuera reshapes a legend, a narrative technique that students can apply in their own writing for the performance task.
Lesson Pacing
| Lesson Flow | Purpose of Learning Experience |
|---|---|
Launch5 Minutes | Students recall and summarize the traditional legend, “El Conejo en la Luna,” with a partner. |
Literacy Lab10 Minutes | Students use context clues to determine the meaning of sustenance. |
Learning in Action30 Minutes | Part A: Analyzing Traditional Stories Within Modern Fiction (RL.8.9) Students explain how Higuera’s reimagining of the traditional legend develops a theme in the novel. Students compare the traditional legend of “El Conejo en la Luna” with Petra’s dream sequence in Chapter 19 to identify the impact of the similarities and differences. Students explain how Higuera’s reimagining of the traditional legend develops a theme in the novel. Part B: Determining Theme (RL.8.2, RL.8.9) |
Vocabulary
Vocabulary Addressed in Lesson
- sustenance
- food or support needed to stay alive and keep going
Vocabulary for Additional Support
- changuita
- Spanish for “little monkey”; can be used colloquially to affectionately mean a young lady
Material List
- The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera
- Unit 4 Lesson 19 Student Edition
Routines
- Turn-and-Talk
- Using Context Clues
- Graffiti/Table Talk
- Quick Write
Lesson Sequence
Lesson Texts
Short-Form Text
El Conejo en la Luna: The Rabbit in the Moon
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