Reading Tips to Avoid the Summer Slide in the Bilingual Classroom

Are you looking for ideas and ways to help our bilingual students avoid the summer slide? Reading, reading, and more reading can definitely help. Here are a few of my favorite tips to engage our bilingual students with reading activities during the summer. 

At the end of the year, many teachers are looking for end of the year gifts and ideas. In my opinion, the best gift we can give our students is a book! I still have books my teachers gifted me years and years ago. I love collecting books and instilling this love for books in students. Quick tip: check out Scholastic Book Clubs for special promotions like their monthly $1 book. You can also check out some of my favorite books on my IG or on my Amazon storefront. 

Along with a book, you can also print one of these Reading Summer Bingos (available in English and Spanish). You can have students complete a line or complete the entire page. The best thing about this is that it is available as a printable page AND you also get access to the Google Slides version in case you want to assign it virtually. Once you have your own copy in your Google Drive, you can share it with parents as needed! Wooohooo lots of summer reading activities to keep your students motivated and engaged. 

Finally, I like to print and send home a Summer Activity packet. I have a PreK-1st grade version and a 2nd-4th grade version. These packets have 6 weeks worth of activities your students can work on at their own pace. Each week follows the same routine and there's plenty of reading, writing, and vocabulary skills your students can practice in a fun, engaging way! Quick tip: You can also assign these AFTER summer and use them as warm ups during back to school season! Win-win!

What are some of your favorite reading activities to avoid the summer slide? Let me know! 

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Cinco de Mayo Activities in SPANISH

Cinco de Mayo is fast approaching! Do you teach or celebrate Cinco de Mayo in your bilingual classroom? Today I'll be sharing my favorite videos, books, and activities to help you plan your Cinco de Mayo lessons in SPANISH! 

I have to begin by stating one important detail: Cinco de Mayo is NOT Mexico's Independence Day. This is a common misconception. Instead, Cinco de Mayo celebrates Mexico's victory over France at the Batalla de Puebla (Battle of Puebla). 

Fun fact: Other than in the state of Puebla, Cinco de Mayo is mostly celebrated in the United States!

Videos

In order to build background knowledge and make connections, I like to start my Cinco de Mayo unit with videos. A KWL chart (Tabla de SQA) can help students jot down: what they know, what they want to learn, and what they learn. In Spanish SQA chart stands for: Lo que sé, lo que quiero saber y lo que aprendí. This is a perfect tool to engage your students in the learning process. 

Here are a few videos you can use with your students. *However, please preview these videos yourself to make certain they are a good match for your students.

• Batalla de Puebla para niños | 5 de mayo: This video gives information on the history of the Batalla de Puebla and talks a bit about the celebrations nowadays.
• 5 de Mayo Batalla de Puebla Para Niños: This video gives historical information and then shows small clips of fun parades and celebrations. 
• Celebrate! It's Cinco De Mayo Bilingual read aloud: This English/Spanish read aloud is engaging and students can make connections with both languages. 

Books

Here are four books you can get from Amazon and get them just in time to celebrate Cinco de Mayo! These are Spanish or Bilingual books you can use. If you need books in English just enter it at the search bar on Amazon.

• ¡Es Cinco de Mayo!
• Celebramos Cinco de Mayo
• El Cinco de Mayo
• ¡Celebremos! ¡Es el Cinco de Mayo!

*Please note: these are affiliate links and I do earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Resources

The following resources in my TpT store can help you plan and get your Cinco de Mayo unit organized. Word wall resources, graphic organizers, Boom Cards, and directed drawings! Check them out HERE or click each image.

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