fun activity for the beginning of the school year

RESOURCES TO KICK-START 2019 IN YOUR SPANISH CLASS

by Carolina | Jan 1, 2019 | Freebies, fun activity for the beginning of the school year

Happy New Year! Wishing everyone who reads this blog an awesome year! I wanted to start my first blog of the year by recommending some free and paid resources for your classes. Here is the list:

Printable Calendar

I updated the calendar I shared last year. I added some images and now the pages are not dated. This will allow you to save the files for the upcoming years. Click here to download your free pages.

Feliz Año Nuevo Sign

I also shared this last year! This sign is great to welcome your students back to your class! Click here to download it.

End of The Year Traditions

It’s never too late to share with your students the traditions people practice in some Spanish speaking countries: El Año Viejo, las doce uvas y la maleta.

El Día de Reyes

I wrote a short story to use with my kindergarten students. This story works great to introduce the lower elementary grades to the Día de Reyes celebration in Puerto Rico. Download the story here. After reading the story, I had my kindergarten students decorate small paper bags and put grass in the bags for the camels. I made sure to let them know that this is something some children in Puerto Rico do the night before January 6th. Since this is not a tradition that belongs to our culture, I will be the one putting something little in the bags. Usually a pencil with a small eraser.

Remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This is one of my goals for the new year, finding ways to incorporate and make connections with social justice topics in our curriculum. Last year I shared some printables to use in Spanish class. Click here to download them.

I also have an activity packet with teaching tips available on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Last, but not least, this is a fun ice breaker activity that will be get everyone moving. I recommend this activity for grades 3 and up! Click here to download the activity.

Have fun!

Mystery Student in Elementary Spanish Class

by Carolina | Aug 21, 2017 | activities for the first week of school, first day of school, first week., fun activity for the beginning of the school year, get to know your students, mystery student

At this point in the year, some of you are already back to school or getting ready for it! I still have a few days left until I see my students. I have some new things I would love to try this year. At a conference I attended this summer, a teacher shared with me that at the beginning of the school year she sends home a survey for her students to fill out along with their parents. I know homeroom teachers do it, and I recall getting a few of these when my own children were in preschool. How in the world is it that it never occurred to me that I could do this with my students? That’s why I love the teaching community, so much sharing and helping each other!

After doing some research, I adapted one that I will share with my students. I plan to use it in class in something like “el estudiante misterioso”which basically will be like sharing with the class special facts about this person, taking a few guesses, and then revealing the name of the mystery student. After revealing the name, I will again ask the class to give some facts about this person. For example,
1. ¿Cuántos hermanos tiene Anna?
2. ¿Quién tiene hermanos en la clase?
3. ¿Cuántos hermanos tienes?
This way other student can relate with the mystery student.

I’m not sure where I will take it from there. Maybe the mystery student will have a special place to sit in class or will have a special job. Please share your ideas in the comments. I will be so excited to hear them all and update this post with them!

Download your pages for “El estudiante misterioso” HERE!

Have an awesome school year!