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.

Thank you for reading this far! Sign up for my email newsletter to get EXCLUSIVE FREE resources delivered to your inbox! I also host surprise giveaways in my newsletter so make sure you sign up HERE. Until next time friends! ¡Hasta luego!

Earth Day Activities in SPANISH

Earth Day is a great opportunity to have conversations with our students about how we can all play a role in taking care of our planet! This is one of my favorite spring holidays so I'll be sharing videos, books, and freebies you can use in your classroom. Keep reading to find Earth Day activities in SPANISH!

Videos

I like to build background knowledge and preteach vocabulary by using engaging videos. BrainPop in SPANISH has a FREE video and resources about "Humanos y el Ambiente." It is a great resource that includes vocabulary organizers, questions, and related readings. I love using this resource since everything is ready to print and go! 

Other fun videos from YouTube are listed below.

El libro de la Tierra: a fun little read aloud that is BILINGUAL

El Planeta Tierra: short and cute read aloud for the younger students in SPANISH

¿Qué le pasa al Planeta?: a more in depth read aloud about how kids can help our planet in SPANISH

Día de la Tierra: engaging song/video about taking care of our planet in SPANISH

*Please note: Preview the videos as needed to make sure they are appropriate for and meet the needs of your students. 

Books

These are some of my favorite books in Spanish about recycling and taking care of our planet. I found these 4 on Amazon because you know I love their super fast shipping! I hope you find these useful and can add them to your classroom library. 

Día de la Tierra

Yo Soy Tierra

Los Guardianes de la Tierra

¿Por qué debo reciclar?

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

Resources

I have a couple of resources in my TpT store to help you plan and get your Earth Day unit organized. Word wall resources, graphic organizers, flipbooks, and directed drawings! Check them out HERE or click each image.

Thank you for reading this far! Sign up for my email newsletter to get EXCLUSIVE FREE resources delivered to your inbox! I also host surprise giveaways in my newsletter so make sure you sign up HERE. Until next time friends! ¡Hasta luego!

Martin Luther King, Jr. Books and Activities in SPANISH

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day will be here pretty soon! Today I am sharing SPANISH videos, SPANISH books, and printable activities to help you plan your MLK lessons for your bilingual kiddos! Keep reading to grab a FREEBIE. 

Videos: I always like to build background knowledge by showing students a video. This helps get them thinking and able to make connections during the lesson. Two of my favorite videos about MLK in SPANISH are: 

1. Martin Luther King, Jr. on BrainPOP Español

2. Martin Luther King, Jr. Español by Studies Weekly on YouTube

Books: I know how hard it is to find grade level appropriate texts in SPANISH about MLK. Here are four of my favorites. These books make perfect additions to your library for MLK and even biography units! 

1. ¿Quién fue Martin Luther King, Jr.? 

2. Martin Luther King Jr. (Social Studies Readers Spanish Edition)

3. Celebra El Dia de Martin Luther King, Jr. Con La Clase de La Sra. Park

4. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Mi Mini Biografía)

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

Resources: One of my favorite resources to use throughout the week is my Martin Luther King, Jr. in SPANISH pack. You can find it in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. This SPANISH pack has a comprehension story, chunked option for differentiation, fold and read booklet, flipbook, fact and opinion activities, and timeline. You can focus on one activity per day and always refer back to the printable fold and read book OR one of the picture books/read alouds. 

Finally, here is a fun FREEBIE exclusive to my blog readers. (That means you won't find this FREEBIE anywhere else). This mini book prints on one page and it's perfect to introduce any MLK unit. Just click the picture or CLICK HERE to grab your download. Share the link to my blog with your bilingual teacher friends so that they can grab their download too. 

Until next time friends! ¡Hasta luego!

Celebrating Day of the Dead in the Bilingual Classroom

Día de los Muertos is such a beautiful tradition. I love to teach my students about Day of the Dead and make cultural connections they can relate to. I'll be sharing some books, read alouds, and activities you can use in your Bilingual classroom! There's a FREEBIE for you too, so keep reading! 

Books and Read Alouds

What better way to teach about this important tradition than with books and read alouds. My favorite and a best seller is this bilingual book: El Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead. I ordered this one from Scholastic Book Clubs. However, I also found it on Amazon and with prime shipping you can still get it in time to celebrate Día de los Muertos! Check out my top three favorite books with my Amazon Affiliate link AND check out the YouTube read alouds that are so fun for our students!

• Book 1: El Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead
• See the book here on Amazon
• See the YouTube read aloud here

• Book 2: Day of the Dead
• See the book here on Amazon
• See the YouTube read aloud here

• Book 3: Día de los Muertos
• See the book here on Amazon
• See the YouTube read aloud here

Classroom altar

Create a giant classroom altar with mini altars created by students and their families. I like to have students bring in their own altar in remembrance of a family member or loved one that has passed away. Once they bring it, we create big altar made up of all of their altars. We add plenty of marigolds, plastic tea light candles, and our own papel picado we create using Astrobrights colorful paper. I like to incorporate as many meaningful elements as I can. I save all Día de los Muertos ideas on this PINTEREST board. Feel free to look around and save what you like!

Activities

I have created both printable and digital activities to help celebrate and teach about Día de los Muertos.

The printable Día de los Muertos activities include:

• Fold, Read and Learn book with comprehension questions
• Trifold with vocabulary, comprehension and writing tasks
• Flipbook for students to research and fill in information
• Craft for students to create their own Día de los Muertos marigold wreath
• PLUS letters to make a Día de los Muertos bulletin board with student work!

This Fix the Sentences resource is sure to be a hit with your students! They will look for the errors in each sentence, then retype the sentence correctly. It has a Day of the Dead theme perfect for this festivity!

Since some of our students are not in the classroom right now I have also created Boom Cards (digital task cards) to focus on Día de los Muertos vocabulary and context clues. These digital task cards are self-grading and interactive. They are super colorful, have the cutest Day of the Dead clipart, and will keep your students engaged! Check out the BUNDLE HERE!

• Día de los Muertos - ABC Order
• Día de los Muertos - Sentences/Context Clues
• Día de los Muertos - Syllables
• Día de los Muertos - Sugar Skull Colors

FREEBIE

Thank you for reading this far. I hope you found a few ideas of things to implement and help celebrate this beautiful tradition. CLICK here to download these adorable bookmarks to help celebrate and teach about Día de los Muertos. This is an exclusive freebie just for my blog readers which means it is not available for download anywhere else. Share the link to this post with your bilingual teacher friends so that they can come download their own set of bookmarks. 

Until next time friends! ¡Hasta luego!

*This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. This means I make a small commission at NO EXTRA CHARGE to you when you purchase through my links. Thank you for your support, come back soon!