Using Mystery Pictures to Teach Numbers in Spanish

Numbers are tricky in another language. They are especially hard for elementary students who are still learning numbers in their native tongue. Recently, I started using hundreds chart mystery pictures to help my younger students review numbers 1-100.  It has worked out really well!

Here is how I go about it...

First, you need to find some mystery pictures already set up for you. Look at the bottom of this post for a list of resources.

I then take my mystery picture and cut off the list of colors and numbers at the bottom so the student doesn't have access to them.

With colored pencils in hand, the student listens as I call off in Spanish the color and the number. I don't go in the order listed on the page, but rather I jump around between the colors and the numbers. I use the strip with the numbers printed on it to mark off what numbers I have called. By skipping around like this it keeps it interesting for the student and keeps them guessing as to the picture. Eventually though it becomes obvious that there is a pattern emerging. When this happens I then have the student start speaking in Spanish. I will point to a box and they have to guess the color and say the number of the box in Spanish. More often than not they are right on their guesses. 

For younger students you may have to really breakdown the numbers in order for them to find them. Normally, I say the number {like 45} then I use the chart to have them count by tens to find the first part of the number. Once they find the forty we go down to the next row to look for the other number (in the ones column). The students may have to count to get there, but that is ok.  Just more practice for them!

Here are the charts I use. The first resource has the most options and includes different themes. For example the pictures in this post are of the pumpkin chart. I used this as I was doing a pumpkin unit in Spanish with my students.

Mega Pack of Mystery Pictures

Halloween Mystery Pictures

Thanksgiving

Ocean Animals

Christmas

Spring

Winter

PUMPKIN FREEBIE!

And if you want to go a bit higher here are charts up to 120!

Teaching Emotions in Spanish {Free Printable}

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Over the past few weeks I have been teaching a pumpkin unit to my students. One of the activities that I stumbled upon as we worked through the material is to teach emotions.  Having blank pumpkins to put faces on just naturally works with reviewing the vocabulary for different feelings.

By far, the BEST Spanish children's book that I have encountered to deal with a variety of emotion vocabulary is Así Me Siento Yo. (You can read my review here.) Not only does this book incorporate rhyming words, the illustrations really drive home what emotion is being talked about on each page. 

First, I read the book to my students. We then use the following printable. I call out the type of pumpkin (for example: la calabaza triste, la calabaza enojada) and they have to draw the appropriate face on one of the pumpkins on the page. It is amazing to see the creativity in my students...for example, I had a few students not draw a face on their "shy pumpkin" because in their view a shy person tends to turn away from others and you can't see his or her face. Brilliant!

This short lesson has really helped to cement some of the vocabulary on emotions that I have been struggling to teach to my students. Fall would be a great time to review once again feelings with your students! After all, every pumpkin needs a face filled with emotion.

Pumpkin Faces Printable


If you work with young kids this set from Lego Education looks awesome!

Polar Animals Unit in Spanish

I live in Alaska so I am very familiar with the cold, snow, and the animals of this region.  We  have had moose walk down our street. One year a caribou herd entered town in the depth of the cold. So since my students are somewhat familiar with the arctic (We actually live in a boreal forest area than the arctic.), I decided to do a polar unit with my students. I have lived in Argentina {love that country!} and been to the southernmost city in the world (Ushuaia) so I have a little familiarity with the other side of the world. So why not add the antarctic to our studies since South America at least comes somewhat close to it and hosts penguins and other animals from that region.  Here is a list of resources if you would like to teach about the two poles and the animals that live there...

I start out this unit by teaching the continents and then talking about which continents are in or near the arctic and antarctic. We then move onto animal names.  Here is the list we work with including the regions that they are located in. "Los Dos" indicates that they are both arctic and antarctic animals. {Note: A moose is not an arctic animal...more sub-arctic, but many people include them in the list.}

Foca-seal   los dos 

Morsa-walrus   ártico

Zorro-fox   ártico

Alce-moose   ártico

Oso polar-polar bear   ártico

Pingüino-penguin   antártida

Orca-killer whale   los dos

Ballena-whale   los dos

Caribú-caribou   ártico

Buey almizclero-musk ox   ártico

Please see all the resources below that I use to teach this unit...

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Books to Read

Mi primer Atlas -I love using this children's atlas all in Spanish. For this unit, I use it to show and discuss the polar regions.

El Habitat Del Artico

El Habitat De La Antartida

Arriba y Abajo-A sweet book with a penguin as one of the main characters. Read my review of it here.

Perdido y Encontrado -Another great book by the same author as Arriba y Abajo . Here is my review with teaching ideas for the book.

El Invierno-A book to discuss more about winter.

Copos y Cristales: Un Libro Sobre la Nieve

Adivina Que Esta Creciendo Dentro de Este Huevo -While this book is all about animals that come from eggs it does have great information on penguins (antarctic) and octopi (both arctic and antarctic).  There are several other animals in the book, however, that would not pertain to a polar animal unit.

Teachers Pay Teachers Units

I use a lot of the available resources at Teachers Pay Teachers so that I don't have to reinvent the wheel!  It saves me so much time!

Penguin Prepositions-Posters that teach prepositions using penguins and ice.

Polar Bears and Penguins-Great little booklets and fact sheets all in Spanish about these two "polar opposite" animals.

Penguin Preposition Practice

Los Continentes-I teach the continents in Spanish with this unit and we discuss what continents are involved in the arctic and antarctic and which ones are close to those two regions.

Find and Tally Arctic and Antarctic Animals

Polar Vocabulary in Spanish

Foca, Foca Reader


Activities

This science activity to show how animals survive the cold.

Roll and Draw a Penguin-How about a game in which all you need is a die, this printable and a pencil? An excellent way to incorporate some more words into your students' vocabulary. This is a competitive game. Roll the die and draw in the penguin part. The first person to complete his or her penguin with all five parts wins.

Tira y Dibuja Un Pingüino

File Folder Game for Preterite and Imperfect

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Anytime you can get students to practice grammar in a different way especially in game form more learning happens than just straight drill. The concept of when you use the preterite and the imperfect in Spanish can be a hard one for students. One of the best ways is just to practice deciding which tense works in different types of sentences. 

I have a simple game using Mini File Folders and cards cut from cardstock (two inches by about one and a half inches) that I use with my more advanced students to work on the concept of the two past tenses. Each student needs a mini folder (these can also be made with big folders, but I like the compactness of storing this game with the mini size). In each folder you have a side for the preterite and for the imperfect. You need to draw an outline of about the size of the cards you will be using. Each side needs five outlines (see the above picture). The goal is to have a spot for each person/verb form in the preterite and the imperfect.  So for example on the left hand side you would have in the preterite these spots:

Yo

Tú

Él, Ella, Ud.

Nosotros

Ellos, Ellas, Uds.

Then you need the same on the right hand side for the imperfect. You then need to create cards with the verb not conjugated that would either take the preterite or the imperfect. Here are some examples:

Nosotros____________(ver) un accidente.

Todos los lunes Carla______________(ir) al cine.

Yo estudiaba cuando ella____________(llamar).

Ayer Lisa y Carmen no_____________(hacer) la tarea.

Create enough cards in the pile so that each student could fill his/her file with an example of each (basically so they could cover all their spaces), but then create some extra cards.  

Here's how you play:

Students take turns picking up a card and deciding what tense to use. They then say their sentence outloud conjugating the verb correctly. They place the card on the correct tense and person in the file folder.  If a student picks up a card for a space they already have covered it is like missing a turn, and they place the card at the bottom of the file. The object of the game is to fill your folder first by covering all the spaces. 

This game can be used with other concepts in the language like ser vs. estar.

Teaching Prepositions

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Teaching prepositions can be some of the easiest and hardest teaching experiences. Hard because for some reason the prepositions are not easily memorized. Easy because there is a plethora of fun activities that you can do to teach them. 

Let's start out with some great books that have a lot of prepositional words in them:

Vamos Froggy-My students LOVE Froggy books. In this one Froggy has misplaced several items and has to find them before heading out on a bike ride with his dad.  The main prepositions used are debajo, dentro, and en.

Se Venden Gorras-A great classic, Caps for Sale, that uses prepositions.

Where Is the Green Sheep? / Donde esta la oveja verde?-Lots of prepositions in this one. For younger elementary and preschool.

Lupe Lupita, ¿dónde estás?-Another book with lots of prepositions. It comes in "big book" form or as a board book.

So what are some activities you can do to teach the prepositions?

I normally introduce my students to them through the use of Blobby Robby and a plastic cup. I put him in relation to the cup and then tell them the preposition that is being displayed. For example, I put him close to the cup and say "cerca de" or I put him under the cup and say "debajo de". All my students know that when they see Blobby Robby we are going to review prepositions.

Another activity I do with house and body parts vocabulary is to get a blank outline of a house (see the above picture) and these Monsters Stickers . I then give the students instructions like "Tomen el monstruo con dos cabezas y ponganlo debajo de la cama." The students then have to take the correct monster and place him in the house correctly. Even the high school students I work with LOVE this activity!

Another item that I will be getting very soon for my younger students is the Positional Words Resource Box. This looks like so much fun! While the set is made to work with students that speak English there is no reason why it can't be used with another language. You as the teacher can give instructions on how to position the objects or you can do the extra work of creating cards in the target language like the set has.

Another activity that I do from time to time is to take some TOOB toys and give instructions to my students on where to place them in the room. Depending on which TOOB you use you can review the words for those items also. You can also hide the animals beforehand and then give instructions in Spanish for the students to find them.

So what cool ideas do you use for teaching prepositions? I would love to hear them!

Great Book on Emotions in Spanish

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There are very few books out there in Spanish that I have run across that focus on emotions, but recently I found Así me siento yo , which presents several emotions in a great format! The book has a rhyme for each of the emotions covered. Each rhyme describes a situation that elicits an emotional response. I love the artwork in this book as the colors and scenes really portray the emotions that are being talked about. Even when my students don't know the Spanish word many times they can guess the feeling by looking at the illustrations.

Besides the very familiar emotions of happiness and sadness the book covers the following: tonto, asustado, resentido, enojado, agradecido, frustrado, timido, aburrido, emocionado, celoso, and orgulloso.

I will be using this book to introduce emotions and to teach the verbs "estar" and "sentirse". For more ideas on teaching emotions, see this post on teaching emotions with ping pong balls.

Also, this set from Lego Education looks amazing. What an awesome way to work with young kids and introduce them to feelings vocabulary!

Build Me Emotions Brick Set

El Increíble Niño Comelibros

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If you have read my blog for any amount of time you know that I love Oliver Jeffers' books in Spanish. Here are all my posts on the books I have used in my classes that are written and illustrated by him. El increíble niño comelibros is a cute book about a boy who loves eating books and becomes smarter with each book he consumes. The story line promotes reading and is great for delving into different categories of Spanish vocabulary and exploring some grammar points.

Here are some categories of vocabulary and grammar that you can touch on after reading the book:

Comelibros- A compound word.  See my posts on teaching compound words.

Types of Books- novelas, diccionarios, almanaques, libros de bromas, libros de historias, etc.

Verbs like gustar and encantar

Comparatives and Superlatives- Since the boy becomes smarter the more he eats and then is deemed the smartest person in the world you can discuss how to form comparatives and superlatives. There are the "mal", "peor", "bueno", "mejor" so you can talk about irregular comparatives. 

Preterite and Imperfect- The book is written in the past tense and gives great examples of how the preterite and imperfect work together in Spanish.

Emotions and Conditions- The book has the following words: enfermo, verde (for being sick), vergüenza, triste, complicada

Words related to digestion- comer, atiborrarse, devorar, la boca, la barriga, morder, masticar, tragar, la digestion

El Increíble Niño Comelibros is not to be missed!