Description
What our La Tomatina lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: La Tomatina is a high-interest reading comprehension lesson plan. As such, students will practice various close reading and comprehension skills. In addition, they will learn more about this fun and squishy festival. This lesson is for students in 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade.
Classroom Procedure
Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the yellow box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand.
Teacher Notes
The teacher notes page provides an extra paragraph of information to help guide the lesson. It explains that you can teach this lesson in a whole-class setting or as an independent, small-group activity. You can use the blank lines to write down any other ideas or thoughts you have about the topic as you prepare.
LA TOMATINA LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Intro to the Festival
The La Tomatina lesson plan contains two pages of content. One of Spain’s most famous and unique celebrations is a festival called La Tomatina. During the celebration, thousands of people hurl tomatoes at each other in a massive food fight! The event takes place on the last Wednesday of August and attracts participants from all over the world.
La Tomatina takes place in Buñol, a small town in the Valencia region of Spain. Although Buñol has a population of around 9,000 people, the festival attracts up to 20,000 participants yearly. Due to the large number of visitors, the town’s streets become packed with people. Participants must purchase tickets to join the event, and the number of tickets is limited to ensure the safety and comfort of those who get to attend.
History of La Tomatina
The history of La Tomatina dates back to 1945. The most famous story explaining how it began is about a group of young people who started a food fight during a parade. They grabbed tomatoes from a nearby vegetable stand and began throwing them at each other. The following year, the same group repeated the event, and it quickly became an annual tradition. Though it started as a spontaneous and unofficial event, La Tomatina gained popularity over time and became official in 1957.
In the early years, the fun event faced some challenges. For a period in the 1950s, local authorities banned the festival due to concerns about safety and public order. However, after a large protest and a symbolic “burial of the tomato,” the ban was lifted. From that point forward, the town of Buñol embraced La Tomatina as an official event. Today, it is organized with safety in mind, and the local government plays a significant role in ensuring the festival runs smoothly.
Historically, the festival was not as organized as it is now. Participants would simply gather in the town square with crates of tomatoes, and the food fight would last until all the tomatoes were gone. There were no strict rules, and people would come and go as they pleased. Over time, however, officials introduced regulations to ensure the safety of participants. In fact, the tomatoes they use now are specially grown just for the festival.
The Festival Today
Today, La Tomatina follows a very clear and structured schedule. Before the official start of the festival, there’s a tradition where someone tries to climb a greasy pole to reach a ham at the top. This is called palo jabón, and while everyone waits for the tomato fight to begin, the crowd cheers as people attempt this slippery challenge.
The event officially starts at 11 a.m. with the firing of water cannons. Trucks full of ripe tomatoes drive into the main square, Plaza del Pueblo, and dump the tomatoes onto the streets. Participants, who usually wear old clothes or protective gear, eagerly wait to grab the tomatoes and begin throwing them. The tomato fight lasts for precisely one hour, after which local workers and fire trucks clean the messy streets.
Fun Facts
One of the most interesting parts of La Tomatina is the sheer volume of tomatoes they use. Each year, approximately 150,000 tomatoes are brought to Buñol for the festival. Remember, the tomatoes are specially grown for the event. They are chosen for their ripeness, which makes them perfect for throwing. After the event, the streets are left covered in tomato pulp. Surprisingly, the tomatoes’ acidity helps clean the streets.
One important rule of the festival is that participants must squash the tomatoes before throwing them. This prevents injuries caused by hard tomatoes. Additionally, people can only throw tomatoes and nothing else. Participants are encouraged to wear goggles to protect their eyes and to throw tomatoes gently to avoid hurting others. These safety measures help make sure everyone can enjoy the event without getting hurt.
The amusing event involves more than just a food fight, though. It includes music, parades, dancing, and fireworks throughout the week leading up to the main event. Local restaurants also join in the fun by serving unique tomato-based dishes, and many people enjoy the lively atmosphere surrounding the festival. This exciting celebration has inspired similar events in other parts of the world.
This messy festival is a vibrant and joyous celebration that highlights the fun and playful side of Spanish culture. It brings people from different backgrounds together for a day of excitement, laughter, and a little mess. Whether you’re a participant or a spectator, La Tomatina is an unforgettable experience!
LA TOMATINA LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The La Tomatina lesson plan includes two worksheets: an activity worksheet and a practice worksheet. Each one will help students solidify their grasp of the material they learned throughout the lesson. You can refer to the classroom procedure guidelines to know when to hand out each worksheet.
MOCK LA TOMATINA ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
Students will get to participate in a mock La Tomatina tomato fight! They won’t use real tomatoes. After they finish the fight, they will answer the questions on the worksheet page.
PRACTICE WORKSHEET
The practice worksheet requires students to answer a series of 10 questions. These questions all relate to the content pages, so students will need to refer to them often for the answers. In addition, each question provides which reading tool the question corresponds to, such as text feature, vocabulary, or comprehension.
Worksheet Answer Keys
At the end of the lesson plan document is an answer key for the practice worksheet. The correct answers are all in red to make it easier for you to compare them with students’ responses. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.
