BIG Bilingual Storytime Flannel Idea - ¡Los Elefantes!

Today librarians across the country are kicking off Summer Reading programs, many of whom are using the collaborative theme - Dream Big!  ¡Sueñe en grande!  This inspired my Flannel Friday contribution this week - a prop technique for a rhyme about a BIG animal - elephants!  I learned this technique from Freda Mosquera of the Broward County Public Library at our preconference workshop on Bilingual Storytime techniques at the Reforma IV conference this past September.  It goes along to the traditional song "Los Elefantes" which many may be familiar with in English as "One Elephant Went Out to Play."  The song goes like this:

English:
One elephant went out to play
upon a spider's web one day
he had such enormous fun
that he called for another elephant to come


Spanish:
Un elefante se balanceaba
sobre la tela de una araña
como veía que resistía
se fue a llamar a otro elefante.


Dos elefantes se balanceaban
sobre la tela de una araña
come veían que resistía
se fueron a llamar a otro elefante

The song continues calling for more elephants to join in the fun on the spiderweb.  The props that I use with this rhyme are laminated elephants, numbered 1-10, a long string, clothespins and a cute felt elephant hat that I picked up at Michael's made by a company called Darice.  This rhyme is interactive, with each child getting to come up one at a time and add an elephant, so it works best with small groups.  To make the elephants, I used elephant clip art available in Word.  I found a company called The Country Porch selling these same felt elephant hats for $3.99, but I have not ordered from them before, so I cannot endorse them as a vendor.

To use the props, I hand out the elephants to the children and then hold one end of the large string and the children come up one at a time to add their elephant while we sing the appropriate verse of the song.  So the child with the elephant marked "1" comes up first.  He or she gets to wear the elephant hat and add his or her elephant to our spider web.  Then she or he holds the other end of the string and swings it with me while we sing the first verse of the song.  When the verse is finished, it is time for the child with elephant number 2 to come up and join in the fun.  "¿Quien tiene el elefante número dos?  Who has elephant number two?"  This is a great practice of counting and identifying numbers in both English and Spanish, as well as singing and rhyming using a traditional song.

There are many different versions of this song available, including José-Luis Orozco's version from "De Colores," Jorge Anaya's version from "Cha, Cha, Cha," and this YouTube version from Storyblocks.

Check out my previous post first describing this technique for more Elefantes/Elephants bilingual storytime ideas.  Good luck everyone with your Summer Reading!

Bilingual Storytime Flannel Friday - Los tiburones en la mar

The weather is warming up in a very summery way here in Kentucky, so I thought I would share a beachy flannelboard that is very easy and fun to use in both English and Spanish.  This is one of the first flannelboards that I ever made.  It's for the rhyme "The Sharks in the Sea" (to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus") which I translated into "Los tiburones en la mar."  Be sure to check out all of the Flannel Friday contributions for May 25 over at Mel's Desk!

The sharks in the sea go chomp, chomp, chomp
chomp, chomp, chomp,
chomp, chomp, chomp.
The sharks in the sea go chomp, chomp, chomp
All day long.


Los tiburones en la mar hacen chomp, chomp, chomp
chomp, chomp, chomp,
chomp, chomp, chomp.
Los tiburones en la mar hacen chomp, chomp, chomp
todo el día.

The remaining verses are as follows:
The lobsters in the sea go pinch, pinch, pinch / Las langostas en la mar hacen pinch, pinch, pinch
The whale in the sea goes squirt, squirt, squirt / La ballena en la mar hace squirt, squirt, squirt
The clams in the sea go open and shut / Las almejas en la mar se abren y se cierran
The octopus in the sea goes wiggle, wiggle, wiggle / El pulpo en la mar se manea, se manea
The seahorse in the sea rocks back and forth / El caballo de mar se mueve afrente y atrás
The kids in the waves jump up and down / Los niños en la mar saltan arriba y abajo

This flannel is fun to use in any beach or water theme storytime.  Potential books to include are:

I Know the River Loves Me / Yo sé que el río me ama by Maya Christina Gonzalez
¡Salpicar! / Splash! by Flora McDonnell
Bebé Goes to the Beach by Susan Middleton Elya
Bajo las olas 1,2,3 / Under the Sea 1,2,3 by Barbara Knox
Susurro del océano / Ocean Whisper by Dennis Rockill - This is a wordless book.

Of course, for any beach storytime, a fun final activity is to do a shell sort.  This allows parents and children to work together sorting various shells by their attributes, such as size or color.  Sorting in this manner is great preparation for Kindergarten, so this activity would be appropriate for a preschool age audience.  Check out this description of how sorting activities work from the Vermont Center for the Book's Mother Goose - What's the BIG Idea program. 

Here is the PDF if you are like me and prefer to have a pattern that is to scale.

Bilingual Storytime Flannalboard - Los tiburones en la mar

View more documents from Katie Cunningham.

Happy Friday to all!  Enjoy the sunshine this weekend!

Bilingual Storytime Idea - Opening Song

Every storytime needs a canción para empezar and I wanted to quickly share this cute one that I learned from my colleague Kelly Lamm while working on a job swap at the Beaumont Branch of the Lexington Public Library.  In this song, each child gets to say his or her name which is then used in the song as the group claps out the syllables in each name.  It goes like this:

Her (His) name is _____, _____, _____,
Her (His) name is _____,
What's your name?

This song could very easily be used as an opening song in bilingual storytime as well.  It is so short that you could sing it twice, once in each language.  Or you could blend the languages, singing the first line in one language and the final two in the other.  Here is a Spanish translation for the song:

Se llama _____, _____, _____,
Se llama _____,
Es su nombre.

This opening song could be enhanced with flannel board letters or numbers to make the early literacy component more overt, such as putting the number of syllables being clapped on the flannelboard or identifying the first letter of the child's name.  This would be an appropriate extension for preschool age groups.

I could not find an online file or recorded version of this tune to share, so I quickly (and messily - my apologies!) made my own sheet music for it.  This may be helpful for those of you who can tap it out on a keyboard.  If you'd rather use a PDF version one is available through my Google Docs.

What opening songs do you use for bilingual storytime?

Bilingual Storytime Flannel Idea - ¡Música!

Recently I observed a colleague use Raffi's "Ha Ha Thisaway" song in storytime and I was inspired.  I came up with a Spanish version of the song in which the singer learns to play different musical instruments as we place them on the flannelboard.  The rhythm of the song is the same, but the words are totally different, making it a movement song that build vocabulary specific to a theme, in this case music.

Keeping the tune, in place of the English chorus we sing:

"Muévete así, muévete acá

Muévete así, ¡Muévete!"

You can move from side to side or back and forth while singing, and clap out the final three syllables as you sing "¡Mué-ve-te!"

We put the flannel pieces up on the board before each verse to learn the name of the instrument, and pretend to play it and make its music.

"Cuando era niño(a), niño(a), niño(a)

Cuando era niño(a), aprendí mucho.

Aprendí a tocar piano, piano, piano,

Aprendí  a tocar piano, PI-A-NO.

                                              

Aprendí a tocar trompeta…

Aprendí a tocar guitarra…

Aprendí a tocar tambor…"

Again, you can clap out the syllables of the final word, reinforcing phonological awareness.

El piano y la trompeta

Here are pictures of the flannel pieces that I made to go with our version of this song.

La guitarra y el tambor

¡A Bailar!

I have to share this great new CD that I just discovered for bilingual storytime (thanks Robin!). The CD is called ¡A Bailar! Let's Dance! Spanish Learning Songs by Jorge Anaya. Many of the 16 tracks are movement songs, which are great for giving kids a break to get up and move a bit between stories. Kids can move las manos arriba, abajo, adelante, y atras as they sing track #2, "El baile de las manos." Widely recognized tunes are included in Spanish such as "Cabeza y hombros" (Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes) and "Brilla, brilla, estrellita," (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star). And the best part? It doesn't sound like kids' music! You know, the cheesy synthesizers and drum machines that can make even the most passionate children's programmer wince...Instead, the songs all have a Latin beat easy to move to which is sure to even get parents' toes tapping! I definitely recommend checking this one out!

¡Canta con alegría!

I strive to incorporate Spanish movement songs into every bilingual storytime. This helps develop phonological awareness, provides an easy way to remember new Spanish words and phrases, and helps get the wiggles out of the little ones! I have found that some otherwise wonderful Spanish songs, however, are too advanced for a bilingual storytime. Those with less developed skills in Spanish have trouble following along. These are my favorite Spanish and bilingual songs which I have found to work very well in bilingual storytime.

By Dr. Jean Feldman on Ole! Ole! Ole! Dr. Jean en Español

• "Hola amigo" This is my standard opening song. Great for preschool and kindergarten children.
• "Tu ti ta" Super silly!

By José-Luis Orozco

• "Pajarito" on Canto y Cuento. Kids sing, jump, fly, eat, drink and sleep like a bird.
• "Ruedas del camión" on Diez Deditos. "Wheels on the Bus" in Spanish. Even though this song is all in Spanish, bilingual groups can follow along easily, as kids who don't understand Spanish will still recognize the song. Good idea to quickly go over the motions before starting the song.
• "El chocolate" on De Colores. Traditional rhyme from Latin America. Great for phonological awareness! I like to spell CHO-CO-LA-TE out on the feltboard before singing the chant.
• "La araña pequeñita" on De Colores. "Itsy Bitsy Spider" in Spanish. This is a nice one for toddlers too.

By Sarah Jordan on Bilingual Preschool English-Spanish
These songs are a bit of a mouthful, as they are all bilingual. However, they are great fun! These songs would probably work very well in a tandem style bilingual storytime, with one presenter singing along in each language. Or, if you are not bilingual, sing along in English and let the CD do the Spanish. This is a very low pressure way to add español to your storytime!

• "Follow the leader/Sigue al líder" Gallop like a horse, waddle like a duck, hop like a frog, and fly like a bird. Great for farm themes or to get those kids up and moving! Works best for preschool and school age kids.
• "Groovin' and Movin'/Ritmo y movimiento" Who are los chicos más animados?

Another great standby when the wiggles start creeping in is an impromptu version of "Cabeza, hombros, rodillas, pies"..."Heads, shoulders, knees and toes" in Spanish! Mix it up by going really slowly and then very fast. Don't forget the ojos, orejas, boca, nariz!

What music do you find works well in bilingual storytime? Do you also use any of these songs?