Teacher’s Guide to Welcome to Washington Fina Mendoza by Kitty Felde, Grades 3-5: Information about Congress, citizenship, quizzes, math problems, … fun facts, recipes, and a coloring page

Use this high interest resource to combine ELA, math, and social studies lessons built around the Readers’ Favorite Award winning novel Welcome to Washington Fina Mendoza, about the daughter of a congressman who solves mysteries on Capitol Hill. The Teacher’s Guide can also be used with THE FINA MENDOZA MYSTERIES podcast series based on the book. This 32-page guide includes cross-curricular lessons, research projects, and fun activities that allow students to practice close reading, listening skills, and improve text-based vocabulary in English and Spanish. Questions challenge students to analyze and comprehend story elements. The guide also introduces basic civics instruction with an emphasis on how Congress works and a writing exercise where students send a letter or postcard to their representative. There is even a fractions exercise based on recipes mentioned in the book.