Last Stop on Market Street

So, there are only 3 days left of school and we are wrapping up our language workshop for the year. I decided to read the book Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña as my final book of the year. This book has won lots of awards:
Winner of the 2016 Newbery Medal
A 2016 Caldecott Honor Book
A 2016 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book
A New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of 2015
A Wall Street Journal Best Children's Book of 2015

This book definitely has some heavy themes. I admit that I was worried it would be too abstract for my kinder kiddos. Boy, was I wrong! These kids continue to impress me with their thinking. Now, there's no way they could have participated in such a complex, deep text in the beginning or even the middle of the year. This is really a culmination of the work we've done all year to encourage close reading. Check out my lesson plan:

Last Stop on Market Street

One of my kiddos (normally a very quiet guy), surprised me with his incredible thinking regarding what he thought one of the themes of this book might be. Check out his thinking: