Spanish Books! a Summer Read for Dual Language Scholars

Funded Sep 21, 2022

THANK YOU SO MUCH for your great donations!! It is greatly appreciated. Some of the skills being practiced by using these text are reading comprehension, text evidence, citing, visualization, art, and public speaking. I let my students know that there's going to be questions that they are going to have to answer after each chapter, therefore they have to pay attention. On top of enjoying the book, a little motivation to keep them focused in the reading and following along is a jolly rancher. I give them a jolly rancher once they have answered all the questions correctly. Students love it! As I'm reading, I also check for comprehension, sometimes the questions that I'm asking are related to the questions that they will be answering. In addition, I model metacognition skills so when they do their own independent reading, they practice those skills. When they are answering the questions, they must cite the page number they found their answer. Furthermore, at least one of the questions for each chapter has a prompt where they have to draw something, the students love drawing! Continuing with art, after 4 chapters, I put students in groups. Each group must draw an image that best describes their chapter. Once that is done, they have to present in front of the class. They must mention what the chapter is about and describe their image. It is a process, reason why we are still not done, on top of our crazy schedule, but I'm excited for the complete outcome of all their images.

We use the text as a read aloud. Students and I are all on the carpet with their book in hand. Some are laying down, some are leaning against each other, and some are simply sitting, they get comfortable! I am reading aloud modeling metacognition skills as students are listening. Student's must follow along, some actually read aloud with me, which is lovely. When it's time to answer the questions, they may go to their seats or stay in the carpet, they have the liberty to be anywhere as long as they are doing their work.

I know that the students are enjoying the book because they are always asking "¿vamos a leer Charlie hoy?" meaning "are we going to read Charlie today?" or "Today is Tuesday! we get to read Charlie!" or "when are we going to read Charlie again?!" Some of my students actually went ahead and watched the movie! a little spoiler! haha but the movie was in English, so I'm hoping they learn new vocabulary and make connections with the book in Spanish! As they are answering questions and doing their group chapter activity, they are enjoying it and having fun with it! Once again, thank you again for the donations and providing my students with the opportunity to enjoy literature in Spanish.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Lozano