Abuela's Weave Free Unit Study and Lapbook

Author: Omar Castañeda
Illustrator: Enrique O. Sanchez
ISBN: 1880000202
Summary: “A Guatemalan girl and her grandmother grow closer as they weave some special creations and then make a trip to the market in hopes of selling them.”

Abuela’s Weave is set in Guatemala. You could have your child label the map with the capital city (Guatemala City), Lake Atitlan (Northwest of Guatemala City) and other areas of importance such as where the grasslands (south), tropical forests (north) and mountains (west) are located.Guatemala Map
Guatemala Outline Map

You could also have your student color the flag of Guatemala.
Flag without the arms
Flag with arms

Culture: The Maya
Esperanza and her abuela (Grandmother) are descendents of the Ancient Maya. The Maya lived in Central America in the area of southern Mexico and Guatemala. Around A.D. 1000 the Mayan way of life changed and the civilization declined and the people moved out of their great cities. Today the ruins of the Mayan civilization can still be seen in place like Tikal in northern Guatemala. The ancient Maya were experts in math, astronomy, and science. The Maya were the only ones at the time in Central America that developed a system of writing using hieroglyphs. If your child has sufficient interest you could check out a book at the library about their hieroglyphs. The Mayan also had their own calendars and counting system.

ancestors-people in your family that came before you (i.e. your great-great grandparents, great grandparents, etc.)

Similes
A simile is a comparison between two things that uses the words “like” or “as”. There are several similes used in the book…

“She wanted to catch just a sight of her grandmother’s shawl, like a blackbird hopping from branch to branch in a forest of people.”

“the tapestry’s colors shone as brightly as the sun over Guatemala’s Lake Atitlan.”

Have your own student write some similes describing the beautiful tapestries in the book.

Weaving and looms
the loom that is shown in the book is called a back strap loom because of the strap that is worn around the back of the weaver. The loom consists of only ropes, sticks and the strap. This type of loom could be own by almost anyone and used almost anywhere. For your younger child you could have them weave paper. Take two pieces of contrasting colored paper. Cut one of the sheets into 1 inch strips. Cut the other paper in 1 inch strips horizontally but leave about a one inch border around all four edges. The child can then weave the papers.

Colors
Since the colors are so bold and bright in many of the illustrations your child could go over the concept of cool and warm colors. The warm colors (reds, oranges, and yellows) dominate many of the pictures with the cool colors (greens, blues, purples) in the backgrounds and interwoven with the warm colors in the tapestries. You could also talk about the concept of neutral colors (browns, grays, black, white) since these are used as a background to let the tapestries “pop off the page”. There is a great color theory lesson website you could check out with your child.

Mayan number system
The Maya had the concept of zero and a number system based on 20.

Please see the documents below for an introduction to the Mayan number system along with activities using the Mayan number system. Use the parts that are appropriate for your child’s age and ability level.
Mayan Numbers- prepared document
Mayan Numbers Worksheet

Marketplace
Since part of the story is set in a marketplace, it might be fun to set up a marketplace in your own house. Your child can decide what he/she wants to sell and you could set prices for items. You could even create your own money for the marketplace! Many times kids will really get into an activity like this. Another activity would be to work with your older child on making change…for example, if your total is $4.35 and you give the clerk a $10 bill how much change will you get back?

Quetzal
The Resplendent Quetzal is the national bird of Guatemala and lives in most of Central America. It has long been considered sacred by the Mayan. It is also a symbol of liberty because it has been observed that many times it will try to kill itself if caged. The male’s tail feathers can grow up to 3 feet in length, but the females have much shorter feathers.

Quetzal print-out
Jan Brett Quetzal coloring page

Birthmarks
You may want to have a discussion about birthmarks and the different types. Some of the types of birthmarks are called stork bites (small irregular pink marks), strawberry mark (red and bumpy resembling a strawberry), café au lait spot (small light brown colored area) or a port wine stain (deep wine color blotch on the face). It is not entirely clear what causes birthmarks.

Teasing
You could talk about teasing and how damaging it is to the receiver. Esperanza’s abuela was teased and then tried to avoid the stares by covering her face when they went to the market. This might be a good time to review the golden rule (Matthew 7:12). We don’t like being teased so we shouldn’t do it to others. Romans 13:10 is another good verse to add to this topic. Proverbs 18:21 speaks of the power our tongues have over people…to either destroy them or build them up.

Beauty
You could also talk about how our world puts so much emphasis on beauty and that those who have flaws are looked down upon. God puts more emphasis on the condition (or “beauty”) of our hearts than what is on the outside. (I Samuel 16:7)

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