"Paletero Man" Book Companion Activities

Looking for a light-hearted and vibrant picture book to read aloud for Hispanic Heritage Month? Paletero Man, by Lucky Diaz, is just what you’re looking for. This is a delightful tall tale that celebrates Latino culture, summer in Los Angeles, and the effects of kindness on a community.

Students will: dig into characterization; write a book review; retell the story; identify story elements; compare and contrast the text to the author’s note; determine the theme; and more! The included activities were designed to encourage students to use higher-level thinking skills, require students to provide text evidence to support their thinking, and challenge them to provide their own opinions and/or perspectives.

This Resource Includes:

• Reader Response Questions (1 page) – short-answer response questions
• Story Elements Graphic Organizer (1 page) – Students will fill in the boxes with words and pictures to represent the story elements.
• Retell the Story - BME (1 page) – Students will retell the beginning, middle, and end of the story with text and illustrations.
• Sequencing (1 page) - Students will write a sentence and draw a picture to show the correct order of events in the story.
• Plot Map (1 page) - Students will fill out the plot map with important events from the story.
• Making Connections (1 page) - Students will choose an event from the story and write it on the cart. Then, they will make connections to the event and describe it in the popsicles.
• Text to Text (1 page) - Students will compare and contrast the Author’s note to the story using a graphic organizer.
• Character Traits (1 page) - Students will choose the most important character trait that describes the characters in the story. Then, for each character, they will give 1-2 examples from the text that support the trait they chose.
• Cause & Effect (1 page) - Students will fill in the missing information with either the cause or the effect.
• Sensory Details (1 page) - Students will describe their favorite paleta or ice cream flavor using all five senses with sensory and figurative language.
• Theme (1 page) - Students will answer the questions to determine the theme of the story and provide text evidence.
• Making Inferences (1 page) - Students will use clues and schema to come up with 2 inferences they made from the text.
• Vendor Cart Advertisement (1 page) - Students will come up with a product to sell at their vendor cart and create an advertisement to persuade customers to purchase their product.
• Crossword Puzzle (1 page) – Students will complete a crossword puzzle by matching words from the story to their meanings.
• Word Search (1 page) – Students will find the words hidden in the puzzle. Words can share letters and go in any direction.
• Cool to Be Kind (1 page) - Students will brainstorm and then list the ways they can be kind towards someone at school.
• Book Review (1 page) – Students will rate and write a review of the book.
• ANSWER KEYS (4 pages)