Cora Cooks Pancit | 5-Day Read-Aloud Unit | Grades 1–3

Bring “Cora Cooks Pancit” by Dorina Lazo Gilmore into your classroom with this engaging, ready-to-teach 5-day read-aloud unit.

Through interactive read-alouds, layered texts, discussion, and purposeful writing, students explore family, culture, Filipino traditions, identity, responsibility, and the ways food can connect us to our families and communities.

What’s Included

• 5 complete interactive read-aloud lessons
• Carefully selected layered texts
• Learning goals and success criteria
• Essential question
• Before-, during-, and after-reading discussion prompts
• Community Circle questions
• Collaborative anchor chart activities
• Oral language opportunities
• Differentiated Quick Writes for Grades 1–3
• Follow-up activities and reflection opportunities
• Connections to Gholdy Muhammad’s 5 Pursuits
• Ontario Language Curriculum (2023) connections
• Ready-to-print materials

Students Will Explore

• Family traditions and cultural identity
• Filipino culture and traditions
• The role food plays in family and community
• Responsibility and independence
• Family relationships
• How traditions are passed from one generation to another
• How our experiences shape our identities
• How food and stories can connect people

Perfect For

• Interactive read-alouds
• Reading comprehension
• Oral language and discussion
• Writing
• Culturally responsive literacy
• Filipino heritage and culture
• Exploring family traditions
• Identity and belonging
• Multicultural learning
• Grades 1–3

This low-prep unit provides meaningful literacy learning while giving students opportunities to explore culture, family, identity, and tradition through a beloved story.