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Anytime you read a book to a child it is an opportunity to teach. Recently, I invested in several of Oliver Jeffers' books in Spanish. They will become a springboard to teach and cement extra vocabulary. Here is what I did with the book Arriba y abajo
:Arriba y Abajo is a sweet story about a penguin who wants to fly. In the end, the flying adventures make him realize that he would rather be with his friend, the little boy in the book.
First of all, I picked out the words that I thought would be important to introduce to my students. Here is my list which are mostly opposites along with a description of which picture each word is in the Go Fish cards below (scroll down to see link):
arriba-up (little guy pointing down)
abajo-down (little guy pointing up)
tocar and jugar- to play (Each has a different meaning. Tocar is to play an instrument and jugar is to play a game. While the word "tocar" is not in the book there is a great illustration of each of these actions-see above) (Tocar-a tuba and jugar-backgammon like in the story)
juntos-together (penguin baby and mom)
solo-alone (penguin baby by itself)
volar-to fly (little guy with green cape)
aterrizar-to land (helicopter landing)
las alas-wings (pilot wings)
I created cards of the above vocabulary and we played Go Fish with them to solidify the meanings in their memory.
To make the cards I cut up the graphics from the below file and put them on 3 by 5 index cards cut in half or these bulletin board cards I found at JoAnn's.
? Set in Peru, the text follows the original rhyme (It is printed in both English and Spanish) except it is no longer a lamb and María is dressed in the traditional clothing of the area.
meanders through a garden with a cat as the antagonist of the story. The unlucky feline is in search of a meal of tasty bird. However, he only succeeds in getting a mouthful of feathers.
is a great book for younger elementary-aged kids. Set on a farm, the book visits several of the animals and describes them using opposites. The text also rhymes so you can use this book to introduce 
is one of those books. In the story a little boy takes the moon for a walk. They encounter clouds, howling dogs, dew on the ground, and their reflections in a stream. The language of the book is rhythmic with rhyming words throughout.
is a great book to use when teaching colors to kids in Spanish. What makes this story better than your average "color book" is that they aren't just named, but rather a plot line makes the introduction of the primary and secondary colors more interesting. Three white mice find three jars of paint that they mix to make orange, green, and purple. They then proceed to paint paper in all the colors but leave one spot white so they can hide from the cat. There is a bit of humor even in the book when the mice get messy from the paint and wash themselves in the cat's water dish.
is no exception. This cute story is about a little boy who gets stuck on the moon with a martian. They figure out how to fix their ships and eventually are able to return home. Their method of escape from the moon is humorous and downright cute. With this book you can introduce some of the main vocabulary by making card to play Go Fish or Memory. 
provides a tremendous amount of repetition in each page. The premise of the plot is a house full of nappers that pile onto one bed. With each page, the list of sleepers is repeated with another character added.
and 
. We then go through the process of counting out how many feet and paws to put on a piece of paper to correspond with the number in the book. A great way to review numbers!
! It is a great rhyming book about the tropical forest that introduces kids to different animals and fruits. It also has a moral lesson. Being greedy leads to losing all you desired and maybe even some friendships, too. Tico Tango starts to steal from his fellow jungle-mates. Each time a robbery occurs another fruit is added to the list of goods. In the end, Tico Tango has to apologize in order to maintain his friendships and gain a little fruit to eat.
is a short and sweet book with beautiful illustrations. Each page talks about what bear likes to do in certain weather conditions. For example, when there is wind he loves to fly a kite. When it rains, he likes to sing. I tend to use this book with my early elementary students as we introduce a unit on weather and the seasons.
! Not only is there humor in the story line, there is also a ton of vocabulary of clothes. What makes it a great teaching book is that the clothing vocabulary is repeated over and over again in a delightful (not boring) way. In the story, Froggy wakes up in the middle of the winter and decides to go out and play in the snow. Each time he reaches the great outdoors his mom reminds him that he forgot to put something on. So he heads back inside to take off part of the clothing so that he can add the missing article. In the end, it all becomes too much for Froggy, and he decides to go back to bed.
out there that you can use for teaching purposes. Check them out!
is a cute story about a dog that is afraid of the noises he is hearing in the house. The poor puppy goes through all kinds of scenarios on what could be causing the noises. In the end, he gets a delightful surprise that isn't scary at all!
explores the different sounds on a farm in both Spanish and English and would be a great addition to talking about onomatopoeia. 
and fell in love with it. Even my students request it! A few weeks ago I had a student ask, "Can you pull out that map book again in Spanish? I want to know the name of the place I dream of going to."
is a precious story by 