Murciélagos en la Biblioteca

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Are you getting geared up for fall yet? I recently came across a children's book in Spanish that would be great for the fall or the month of October. I actually read it to some of my students this summer. They adored it! Murciélagos en la Biblioteca is a cute story about bats. For me, the words "bats" and "cute" don't normally go together, but the story line and the illustrations are just so precious that I couldn't help but love this book. One night a whole group of bats find that a window in the library is open. They fly in and spend a night of reading.  The book has been translated from English in such a way that it is still written in rhyme which adds more fun to the reading of the story. Brian Lies has written other bat books in the series, but unfortunately I don't see them available in Spanish. Maybe in the future...

Here are some other great books for the month of October...

Chumba la Cachumba- This is a great book to teach the concept of telling time in Spanish to young children. The illustrations are humorous and the words come from a traditional Hispanic song. Here is Luis Pescetti singing the song with a group of kids in Mexico.

Así me siento yo  is a great book for teaching emotions. After reading the book we do pumpkin faces based on the emotions we read about. Here is the post with more information and a FREE printable.

Another list of books for the fall.

A pumpkin unit in Spanish for October contains a vocabulary list, free printable, and children's books suggestions.

So what are you doing this October with your Spanish students? I would love to hear your ideas!

Teaching Prepositions and Food Vocabulary

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This summer I did a plant unit with some of my Spanish students. In the process of teaching the unit I came across Arriba, Abajo y Alrededor . This cute book talks about how different vegetables grow. Some grow up. Some grow down. And others grow round and round (those that grow on vines). I love the fact that three preposition words are taught and repeated throughout the book. It has been my experience that prepositions are hard for students to remember. As we read through the book, I would have my students do hand motions. If I read "arriba" they would point up. Or if I read "alrededor" they would do a circular motion with their fingers. Most of the food words are vegetables: potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, etc. Another good activity is to fold a piece of paper into eighths (fold it in half three times). Then for each "box" on the page You call out a vegetable for each preposition: pimientos arriba; zanahorias abajo; calabazas alrededor. See if your students can draw the veggies in the correct position. You can then add more fun to it by giving them illogical ways that the vegetables grow like "calabazas abajo".

For more ideas to teach food and prepositions look at these posts...

Plant unit

Food people

Teaching prepositions