Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday, and it provides a great opportunity to teach traits like empathy and gratitude. Last Stop on Market Street is a mentor text that works well for modeling empathy for our students along with many other skills. It is a beautiful and heart warming story; one all students will enjoy. In this post, I’ll share ways you can use Last Stop on Market Street as one of your November mentor texts.

BACKGROUND INFO ON LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET

As a child, author Matt de la Pena, grew up in the border town of National City, California. His mom was white, and his father was a first generation Mexican-American. He often felt unseen and experienced low expectations in school. His life experiences have led him to write about kids like himself to help them see themselves in literature. His hope is to help them learn to love reading. This article about Last Stop on Market Street offers more background on the story.

about my Last Stop on Market Street Book Companion

Book companion resources include a broad range of activities for reading, writing, and the content areas. With my book companions, I organize them in a before-during-after format with both printable and digital options. Over the last year, I have focused my book companion creations on titles that address social emotional learning.

This year, I am sharing my unit for the book, Last Stop on Market Street as my gift to you over these four days. To get the resource, you’ll need to complete the form below, and the unit will be delivered to your inbox.

All you need to do is write up the lesson plan in the format your division requires. I give you the printables and the digital version you can use on your smartboard for modeling. If you want to go paperless, no problem. Assign one page at a time through Google classroom.

The Last Stop on Market Street unit includes both black and white pages for printing and color for Google Slides TM. You’ll find materials for lots of skill options including a schema builder about city living, vocabulary introduction and word cards, an character traits anchor chart and organizer, sequencing events Stop and Jot activity, making connections anchor chart and organizer, making comparisons, visualizing using text evidence, discussion task cards, and two writing prompts

The image above shows the digital version of a few pages. I like using these pages for shared writing and group discussion. I suggest giving the students the printable version to use with collaborative groups or learning partners.

how to use last stop on market street to teach about empathy with your students

Last Stop on Market Street sparks conversations

Of course, if you follow my blog, you know how much I love mentor text lessons. Throughout my site, you’ll find many posts about mentor texts for both comprehension and writing. I also think mentor texts can spark conversations that help with social emotional issues too. If you’re having trouble with disrespect for example, there are great books that can be chosen to provide positive examples. Here are just a few discussion questions for Last Stop on Market Street:

• Why do you think CJ feels the way he does about not having a car? How does his Nana help him see things differently?
• Discuss the various characters CJ and Nana encounter during their bus ride. How do they show kindness and community spirit? What can we learn from their actions?
• In the book, CJ and Nana volunteer at a soup kitchen. How do you think this experience affects CJ’s understanding of others?

Showing Gratitude in the classroom

Another idea using Last Stop on Market Street is to choose a week to focus on gratitude. I just added a Gratitude Journal option to this book companion. It includes a cover and three 1/2 page writing prompts for students to write just one paragraph about something they are grateful for each day and a space to illustrate. It’s a simple project, but I think pausing to reflect is good for them too. You can refer back to the book for examples of CJ and Nana’s gratitude (trees, the bus, the folks they meet, and what they gain by helping others).

Classroom Community Projects

Finally, in Last Stop on Market Street, CJ and Nana work in a soup kitchen to help those in the community. There are a plethora of ways kids can help in the community and beyond. As a group, you might brainstorm ways that you as a classroom community can show kindness in the broader community. You might collect canned goods, art supplies, gently used books, or self care items others may need and donate them. You could even take a fieldtrip to a soup kitchen and volunteer. Giving to the community feels good, and the kids gain much more from this giving.

Having empathy for others certainly goes with our Thanksgiving posts. There are so many situations happening in our communities where showing empathy makes a huge difference. We can offer a helping hand with disaster clean ups, make cards for our service men and women, collect donations for projects in need, and show empathy right in our classrooms by supporting each other.

GRAB A COPY OF MY LAST STOP ON MARKET PLACE UNIT

Interested in done for you activities to use with this great book? The resource I created to go with this book can be purchased HERE on Teachers Pay Teachers or through the direct link to my website shop below. Be sure to check for a coupon using the pop up in the bottom left corner.

other social emotional book companions you might like:

If you are looking for other SEL Book Companions, you can check out what I have available HERE if one of the units below aren’t a good match.

Other mentor text posts on my site:

• Discover the Magic of Jan Brett
• Using Twas the Night Before Christmas as a Mentor Text
• 10+ Thanksgiving Resources Your Kids Will Love

Thanks so much for all you do every single day for your students and their families. I very much appreciate your hard work, hope that these resources are load of fun for your students, and that they lighten your load in the coming weeks and months. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with those you love most!

view other related posts

This post was part of a blog hop event for Thanksgiving. You can check out other related posts using the links below.