Grandma, Cho Cho and Me

Gather students in a circle and ask them to describe what breakfast looks like in their homes. Chart responses, guiding students to notice differences in foods, timing and who eats together. Explain that families around the world have different food traditions and today’s story will explore one.

Show the cover and selected illustrations. Ask students to describe colors, characters and foods they see. Encourage predictions about what the story might be about and where it takes place.

Introduce key words such as breakfast, tradition, migrate, and Jamaica. Use visuals or simple definitions. Have students repeat words and use them in oral sentences.

Show a map and locate Jamaica and your current location. Discuss how people sometimes move from one place to another and bring traditions with them.

Display images of foods from the story. Ask students to describe shapes, colors and textures using descriptive language.

As you read, pause and ask students to listen for reasons why the family eats big breakfasts. Restate and clarify answers together.

Pause on illustration-heavy pages and ask students what the pictures show that the words do not say. Discuss emotions, setting, and actions.

Ask students to retell the steps of preparing breakfast in order as the story progresses.

Ask students to connect moments in the story to their own family experiences with food or relatives.

Model thinking aloud by asking questions such as: Why do you think Grandma teaches the child to cook? What does this tell us about their relationship?

Guide students through a structured discussion to determine the central message of the story. Begin by asking students what Grandma wanted the child to understand by the end of the book. Record student responses and revisit key pages to support ideas. Have students explain how food, family, history, and love connect to the main idea. Older students can cite specific examples from the text and illustrations.

• What foods do the child and Grandma prepare for breakfast?
• Where did Grandma grow up before coming to America?
• How does Grandma explain the reasons for eating big breakfasts throughout the story?
• Why do you think Grandma wants the child to cook instead of doing it alone?
• Why might eating together be important for this family?
• Why did farmers need big breakfasts before working all day?
• What is the most important message Grandma wants the child to learn?
• How does the story show love without showing the word “love” very often?

Students create a short narrative (dictated, shared writing, or independent writing depending on age) about a food or family tradition in their own lives. Teachers should model the process by sharing a personal example. Encourage students to include who is involved, what happens, and why the tradition matters.

Using a T-chart, compare breakfast traditions from the book with those familiar to students. Discuss how environment, work and culture influence food choices. Guide students to understand that differences are valuable and meaningful rather than right or wrong.

Invite students to participate in an oral storytelling circle where they retell part of the story or share a family memory connected to food. Model respectful listening and encourage students to ask follow-up questions. This builds oral language and cultural appreciation.

Ask students to reflect on how the story helps them understand who they are and where they come from. Students may draw, write or verbally share one way food or family traditions help them feel connected to others. Teachers can display responses as a class identity wall.

Set up a dramatic play area with pretend cooking tools, bowls, menus and pictures of foods from the story. Students role-play cooking breakfast together, practicing cooperation, sequencing and expressive language.

Students design their own illustrated recipe cards for a favorite breakfast food. Younger students may draw and label ingredients, while older students can write simple steps. Compile cards into a class cookbook.

Invite students to create a morning song or rhythm inspired by the book’s repeated routines. Use simple instruments or clapping patterns to represent cooking actions.

Students create artwork representing breakfast foods from different cultures. Display the artwork with captions explaining what the food is and where it comes from.

Explore Jamaican culture using child‑friendly books or videos.

• Research foods grown on farms and how farmers work.
• Learn how families around the world eat breakfast.
• Interview a family member about a favorite food tradition.
• Create a simple class book about global breakfasts.