As World Language educators it is hard to find a single off-the-shelf curriculum that fits the needs of each elementary program. Some programs have less frequent class sessions than others, some are required by their schools (or have the wonderful opportunity) to make strong connections with other subjects, some have more heritage speakers in the student population, and so on! It’s also important to shape a program according to the needs and interests of the community. All this is just to make it clear that I don’t offer a set “one size fits all” curriculum for this reason.
I have shifted to using more stories with my students, but I also supplement them with songs, games, crafts, picture books, holidays, celebrations, culture, cross-curricular connections, clip-chats, and other activities. I don’t teach a unit just focusing on weather, days of the week, months, the alphabet, foods, and so on. I include these topics in our daily routine when we do calendar time. The stories focus on high-frequency vocabulary and expressions as well as vocabulary related to clothing, family members, colors, numbers, and more!
These are some of the stories I use by grade level. It might seem like a lot, but the stories themselves have a lot of repetition and recycle a lot of the same vocabulary. This is also based on the frequency and length of time I see my students. I see my kindergarten students in small groups, once a week for 30 minutes and my 1st through 3rd grade students twice a week for 40 minutes each time. I mostly follow the resources in the order presented and sometimes I recycle stories and use them again the following year to refresh some of the vocabulary and high frequency words.
Kindergarten
¡Qué nombre tan bonito!
La ardilla y la bellota
Yo soy un pavo
Vamos a hacer un muñeco de nieve
La Marimonda
Corazón de melón
Los pollitos
¿De qué color soy?
First Grade
Me gusta como soy
Cinco calabazas
La iguana quiere lechuga
Las luces del invierno brillan ya
Una nariz para el muñeco de nieve
Corazón de melón (using other extension activities included)
El árbol furioso
Frida Kahlo
Todas las familias son diferentes
El cocodrilo va al bosque (coming soon to TpT)
Second Grade
Mi identidad (coming soon to TpT)
Monarca va a Michoacán
Día de Muertos (In connection with the monarch butterfly migration and a cross-cultural collaboration with science and art)
Gracias Madre Tierra
La Noche de las Velitas
¿Dónde está mi chaqueta?
Monarca vuela en la primavera
Carlos, el niño hada by Dr. Juan A. Ríos Vega (told using Story Listening) – Book and resources not included
Simón, el globito (coming soon to TpT)
Bundle coming to TpT soon!
Third Grade
La caja de identidad (coming soon to TpT)
Colorea el mundo (Clip chat)
Día de Muertos – Los alebrijes (cross-cultural connection with art)
Celebraciones en mi familia
Corre Año Viejo, Corre Todas las familias son diferentes (Illustrate story for classroom library)
Sirenas by Jessica Love ( told using Story Listening) – Book or resources not included
El perrito va a la escuela (Clip chat)
El gato y el perro (Clip chat)
Lola explora Colombia
Bundle coming to TpT soon!
Have fun! 
Hi Carolina,
I agree with her that we can always learn from one another, whether the person is a seasoned educator or a newbie. I loved your blog, and it has excellent resources for teachers. I teach Spanish to High School students, but I am doing my Master’s in instructional technology right now. The discussion activity for this week was to find blogs related to our teaching and comment on them. I loved yours. I will surely share the information with other Spanish teachers, and they will also enjoy it as I did.
Ivis Fernandez
Hi Ivis, thanks you so much for your comment and for sharing with other teachers about my blog. I appreciate it a lot!