Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources for Riding Freedom

Use Riding Freedom by Pam Muñoz Ryan to turn your read aloud or small group work into a time to improve comprehension and talk about the text in purposeful ways.

This fictionalized story of the real life of Charlotte Parkhurst follows Charlotte from a young orphan to a landowner in the 1800s. Charlotte is unlike many girls of her time; happier in the stable than in the kitchen, has aspirations of working as a stagecoach driver, and a desire to own her own horse farm one day. Her determination, bravery, and toughness are traits that will not only have readers rooting for her, but are a great springboard for a Book Club focused on determining character traits and how they contribute to a story.

Explore lesson plans and activities to help you teach with Riding Freedom in the drop down below.

Instructional Overview

The first page of Book Club for Riding Freedom Instructional Overview

Instructional Overview

The instructional overview includes instructional background for character traits, instructional objectives for each of the Book Club meetings, and a list of the materials and preparation necessary to host the Riding Freedom Book Club.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Management Resources

The first page of Book Club for Riding Freedom Management Resources

Management Resources

The management resources include a Book Club Calendar, conversation prompts, Student Self-Evaluation forms, Reading Response Board (with optional Common Core alignment), and an Expectations for Book Club anchor chart.

Meeting 1

As students begin to identify character traits for Charlotte, the main character in Pam Muñoz Ryan's Riding Freedom, it will be helpful to understand the time period in history that this story takes place in. The importance of Charlotte's determination, bravery, and grit becomes more apparent when students understand how unusual it was for girls to display these traits.

Meeting 2

This Riding Freedom Book Club meeting explores identifying character traits that are explicitly stated as well as those that are inferred from the text. The use of a thinking map for character traits will help readers organize their thinking.

Meeting 3

As readers dive deeper into understanding the characters in Riding Freedom by Pam Muñoz Ryan, they will be able to differentiate major and minor characters and identify the important role that each type of character plays in the story.

Meeting 4

The focus of this Book Club meeting is for readers to use the character traits that they have identified for the major and minor characters in Riding Freedom to determine how the different characters impact the story. An interactive activity of "What If..." will bring this concept to life for students.

Meeting 5

The final Book Club meeting for Pam Muñoz Ryan's Riding Freedom encourages readers to reflect on how determining character traits helped them as they read and exploring the role character traits have in identifying the theme of the story.

Vocabulary Connections with Riding Freedom

The first page of Vocabulary Connections with Riding Freedom

Vocabulary Connections with Riding Freedom

This set of vocabulary development resources for Riding Freedom highlights the words that are most important for students to know and understand while reading the book.  Through engaging in fun word games, matching words to definitions, and practicing how to categorize words, students will develop the vocabulary necessary to comprehend this story and many others.

Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Focus Assessment and Rubric

The first page of Book Club for Riding Freedom Focus Assessment and Rubric

Focus Assessment and Rubric

Use this six-question assessment to determine whether or not students understand the key concepts associated with character traits.

Running Record with Riding Freedom

Thumbnail for Running Record with Riding Freedom

Running Record with Riding Freedom

Use this Running Record to assess oral reading fluency with Riding Freedom. Track meaning, structure, and visual accuracy using the first 100 words of the text to determine whether or not this book is a good fit for the readers in your classroom.

Management Resources - Spanish

The first page of Book Club for Riding Freedom Management Resources

Management Resources - Spanish

The management resources include a Book Club Calendar, conversation prompts, Student Self-Evaluation forms, Reading Response Board (with optional Common Core alignment), and an Expectations for Book Club anchor chart.

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About the Book

The cover for the book Riding Freedom
Title: Riding Freedom
Author: Pam Muñoz Ryan
Genre: Historical Fiction
Themes: Friendship, Women's History Month, Perseverance, History
ISBN: 9780590957663
Publisher's Summary:
By the age of 12, Charlotte Parkhurst knows the world of the 1860s holds more opportunities for boys than girls. So she cuts off her hair, dons boys' clothing, and begins a new life that gives her many privileges, including the right to vote.
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