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Good Spanish-language or bilingual books to read this summer!



The summer is the perfect time to check out some great bilingual titles with some fun themes. Included also are rhymes, finger plays and craft ideas.


Creativity 

Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood by Isabel F. Campoy and Theresa Howell.
Gr. 2-5: This book begins with a girl named Mira who tries to make her city less gray by giving colorful drawings to the people in the neighborhood.  She meets a man whose pocket is full of paintbrushes. He looks at the dull gray walls and sees something beautiful.  He gives Mira a brush. She paints and the neighbors join in, painting and dancing and singing to Latin rhythms. 

Mouse Paint/ Pintura de raton.  by Ellen Stoll Walsh
PrS-K: When three white mice discover three jars of paint, the stage is set for children to learn how mixing the colors in different ways creates entirely new but familiar colors.

Activities:
Paint Craft: Provide rojo, amarillo, and azul paints, crayons, or markers and blank sheets of paper for drawing. Have children create morado, verde, and anaranjado with these three primary colors, just like the mice.
Mural Craft: Roll out a large piece of butcher paper on the floor.  Let children kneel around the paper and create a mural like the one from Maybe Something Beautiful. Give each child a specific assignment for their section of the mural. The resulting artwork could be displayed on a wall.
Song: Play De Colores,  a traditional Mexican song. A terrific version can be found on the CD De Colores and Other Latin-American Folk Songs for Children by Jose-Luis Orozco, which is also available for download on iTunes. It is the custom for everyone to hold hands while singing.

Monsters

Marisol McDonald and the Monster/Marisol McDonald y el monstruo by Monica Brown.
K-Gr 3: Marisol is concerned about the monster under her bed. The biracial little girl loves words that begin with the letter M. All except for the word monster. She decides to make her own monster- nice one named Melodia. 

¡Gruñon!  by Adam Stower
K-Gr 3: This is a great monster story. Troll is Oliver's best friend. Together they run a troll cafe where Oliver bakes delicious cakes that the trolls love. When Oliver's little sister Dolly suddenly disappears, the trolls look everywhere. Everywhere but the mountain where the Grunon lives.
Donde Viven los monstruos (Where the Wild Things Are) by Maurice Sendak
PreS-Gr 2: "Wild Things" became "monsters" in the Spanish translation of Where the Wild Things Are. 

Activities:
Masks Craft:  You can find a monster mask craft and other ideas at http://ow.ly/H2PS30aOk4h


More books and ideas in the next blog post!!

~Miss Elena




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