Round Is A Tortilla

Book: Round is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes

Summary: This book is about a Hispanic girl that sees a variety of shapes in her everyday life. The geometrical shapes take on objects from her heritage including tortillas, tortilla chips, and ventanas.

Author: Roseanne Greenfield Thong is a known multicultural author. She has lived in many places around the world including Mexico and Hong Kong. Her multicultural children’s books about Asian and Hispanic cultures are influenced by her living amongst them. 
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 Illustrated by: John Parra uses his culture to influence his mainly Hispanic themed children’s book illustrations. To create an authentic setting, and characters for an accurate representation in the illustrations, Parra is known to look up reference photos and read historically accurate information.
Round is a Tortilla. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/roseanne-greenfield-thong/round-tortilla/

            “Thong uses simple rhymes (“Rectangles are carts / with bells that chime / and cold paletas / in summertime”) to introduce shapes and Spanish words whose meanings—if not apparent from the illustrations—can be derived from the glossary. This charming concept book will engage readers and help them recognize shapes in everyday objects.”(Round is a Tortilla)

Before reading Round is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes, as a class we would discuss what kind of shapes are in the world, in order to engage their mind about everyday objects and the shapes they contain. 

After reading the book, and discussing the glossary of Spanish words in the back of the book, the kids can choose between pre made construction paper cut outs of circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, ovals, and stars, like the book. They will pick one of the shapes, and like our main character, come up with something that fits the shape they picked. Using crayons and colored pencils they design their object to fit one of the shapes they see in their everyday life. 
 
Below is the printable cut outs for the activity: 

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