Thanksgiving Storytime Ideas / Ideas para el Día de Acción de Gracias

November is here and I enjoy presenting storytimes that celebrate family and gratitude in the lead up to Thanksgiving.  I thought I would share some of my favorite materials for such bilingual or Spanish program.

Rhymes and Flannelboard

I previously posted my translation of "Five Little Turkeys/Cinco pavos," but I am re-sharing it today with a flannel for this week's Flannel Friday roundup.

Five Little Turkeys
Five little turkeys standing at the door,
one waddled off, and then there were four.
Four little turkeys sitting near a tree,
one waddled off, and then there were three.
Three little turkeys with nothing to do,
one waddled off, and then there were two.
Two little turkeys in the morning sun,
one waddled off, and then there was one.
One little turkey better run away,
For soon it will be Thanksgiving Day.

Cinco pavos
Acerca de la puerta son cinco pavos
Uno se salió, y ahora son cuatro.
Cuatro pavos gordos huelen a los postres
Uno se salió y ahora son tres.
Tres pequeños pavos saltan unos saltos
Uno se salió y ahora son dos.
Dos pavos nerviosos esperan su oportuno
Uno se salió y ahora solo hay uno.
Un pavo queda este día importuno.                                      
Cuando el se sale, ¡no hay ninguno!

Find a PDF of the flannel pieces which you can use as a pattern to create your own on Slideshare.

Books

Movement Song - "Al pavo pavito"

This movement song is also a fun game that is sort of similar to musical chairs.  As explained on Mama Lisa's World:  "This game needs an odd number of children. They dance in a circle. At the end of the song, they count '1, 2, 3' and they gather two by two. The one remaining alone is shouted at with 'Pavo, pavo'. In Spanish, 'pavo' means 'turkey', but it also means 'silly', 'idiotic'."  Though that description may sound a little extreme, the game is actually quite fun, especially with school-age children or mixed-age family audiences in which the parents are participating. This song is from Spain, and I honestly don't know how popular it is in Latin America.  If someone could shed some light on this in the comments, that would be great!  Check out the video below for a video demonstration and the lyrics to the song. 

Extra Activities

Check out this great post from Spanglish Baby with ideas on crafts and games for Thanksgiving, as well as linked printables.

I hope this gives you some ideas for a November bilingual/Spanish storytime!  If you have more suggestions, please share them with us in the comments!

Flannel Friday GIVEAWAY! - Picky Paul (Bilingual)

*NOTE: Please read this entire post to find the details on how to enter a drawing for a version of this flannel set which I a giving away!*

Picky Paul, which I now tell in Spanish and bilingually as Pedro, el mal comedor, is the flannel story that made me first fall in love with using the flannelboard as a storytelling tool.  I learned it when I was working at the Columbus Metropolitan Library as a Spanish Language Program Specialist.  There are several really amazing things about working in youth services for that specific organization.  One is that they have a circulating flannel collection which is housed in the Main Library's Center for Discover (the children's department).  There are hundreds of flannelboard versions of stories and rhymes already made by the talented staff which any YS staff person can request and "check-out" for his or her programming.  That's where I first discovered "Picky Paul," and I'm sharing my version of it with you here today. Unfortunately, I have no idea what book or collection it originally comes from, so if someone does and can share, that would be great!

The story basically goes that a little boy named Paul (Pedro) is a picky eater (un mal comedor).  His dad is always trying to introduce him to new foods, but when he asks Paul if he will try them, his response is, "No I won't!" (¡No lo probaré!)  So Paul's dad takes Paul into the kitchen and introduces him to a variety of foods, including a tomato (un tomate), a green pepper (un pimiento verde), some mushrooms (unas setas), an onion (una cebolla) and some cheese (el queso).  Each time Paul's dad asks if he will try the ingredients and each time comes Paul's response: "No I won't!" (¡No lo probaré! - change the grammar as appropriate in Spanish).  Paul's dad gets out a big bowl (una tazón grande) and stirs, stirs, stirs (la mezcla, mezcla, mezcla).  Then he gets out a rolling pin (un rodillo de amasar) and rolls, rolls, rolls (la estira, estira, estira).  Finally he puts something in the oven and they wait, while a yummy smell fills the kitchen.  The oven timer dings, and out comes a pizza!  This time when Paul's dad asks if he will try the new food his response is "Yes, I will!" (¡Si la probaré!).

I know that this story doesn't have the best message about food behavior, but I love it anyway!  It is super fun to tell and the visual component of the ingredients helps to reinforce new vocabulary that is introduced.  It is also a story that works extremely well in bilingual storytime.  Last month I presented a bilingual storytime on food with one of my previous "Bilingual Storytime at Your Biblioteca" students (new session starts August 5 - register today!).  She had designed the program as part of her final project in the class.  We used this story in addition to What Can You Do with a Paleta / ¿Qué puedes hacer con una paleta? by Carmen Tafolla and No More, Por Favor by Susan Middleton Elya.  It was a blast!  We had a mixed-age audience of wee ones up through school age and they all stayed very engaged throughout.  She surprised the kids at the end with real paletas too, which was a huge success!

Here, as always, is a PDF of the flannel pieces which you can feel free to print and use as a pattern to make your own "Picky Paul / Pedro, el mal comedor."  However, this time around I have a special surprise for all of you Flannel Friday folks - I'm giving this flannel set away to one lucky reader!  Just leave a comment by Tuesday, July 23, 5 PM EST and I will put the names of everyone who commented into a random drawing.  I will announce the winner in the comments, so be sure to select to receive follow-up comments or check back frequently.  I will need the winner to correspond with me via email ASAP so that I can have a valid address to send the flannel.  If I cannot get in touch with the person selected in a timely manner as per my discretion, then I select another name until I do.  Happy flanneling everyone!

Picky Paul / Pedro, el mal comedor from Katie Scherrer

Flannel Friday: Owls! Lechuzas! Búhos!

A while back, Leah Kulikowski shared a totally cute pattern for owls to go with the rhyme "Five Little Hoot Owls."  I also discovered the fingerplay "Wide-Eyed Owl" from Storytime Katie.  Today I am sharing my Spanish translations of each of these.

Cinco lechucitas

Cinco lechucitas sentadas en un árbol.
¡Una se fue volando! ¿Cuántas están quedando?

Cuatro lechucitas sentadas en un árbol.
¡Una se fue volando! ¿Cuántas están quedando?

Tres lechucitas sentadas en un árbol.
¡Una se fue volando! ¿Cuántas están quedando?

Dos lechucitas sentadas en un árbol.
¡Una se fue volando! ¿Cuántas están quedando?

Una lechucita sentada en árbol. 

¡Se fue volando! Ahora, ninguna está quedando.

Leah is so awesome that she has a pattern of her little owls on her blog already, so I'm going to link back to her instead of uploading my pieces as a PDF.  But I do have a video demonstration of this rhyme to share.  This video was produced by the Library of Virginia for my online course "Bilingual Storytime at Your Bilioteca."  The next session of this course is being offered by Library Juice Academy in April.

And finally, Wide-Eyed Owl.  For this rhyme, I like to use an owl puppet or a larger version of one of the owls above.

There’s a Wide-Eyed Owl / El búho con ojos grandes
There's a wide-eyed owl (circle your eyes with your hands)
With a pointed nose (make a beak with your fingers)
Two pointed ears (make ears with your fingers)
And claws for toes (wiggle your "claws")
He lives way up (point way up)
In the tree (way, way up)
And when he looks at you (point to children)
He flaps his wings (flap your wings)
And says, "Whoo! Whoo!" (keep flappin' till the owls come home)

Hay un buho con ojos grandes
Con una nariz puntiaguda
Dos orejitas
Y pezuñas afiladas como deditos
El vive arriba
Muy alto en el árbol
Y cuando les mira
El bate las alitas
Y dice, “Juuu, juuu."

Flannel Friday - Froggy se viste

I'm sure it's been shared in multiple variations before, but with the cold and snow finally arriving here in Kentucky, I wanted to share my flannelboard version of Froggy Gets Dressed, also available in Spanish as Froggy se viste, by Jonathan London.  If you haven't shared this tale on the flannelboard before, go for it!  Especially if you are working with preschool, or even young school age kids.  This story may even be a great fit for early elementary Spanish teachers to consider including in the classroom to reinforce clothing vocabulary.  And, it's guaranteed to get some giggles!

Before I move on to the flannel, though, I'd like to quickly share that there is still time to register for my upcoming online course, Bilingual Storytime at Your Biblioteca, being offered by the Library of Virginia.  I am SO thrilled to finally be teaching this class!  Bilingual folks will find new songs, stories, online resources, and pre-made plans they can use to enhance their programs.  However, this class is for librarians who don't speak Spanish too!  Many resources and techniques are included for making English storytime programs more inclusive of Latino culture and the Spanish language.  I even share some flannelboard patterns and video demonstrations!  There is a pre-requisite for the course, but I will consider waiving it for students who already have experience providing outreach to Latino and Spanish-speaking communities.  If you are interested, please click the link above for full registration information and more details about the course itself.  Now, on to Froggy!

Most people are probably already familiar with this story of a little Frog who wakes up early to find snow on the ground.  He wants to go play, but each time he goes outside, his mom calls his name to let him know he's forgotten a crucial item of clothing.  There is a lot of repetition in the story, and the kids can join in predicting what may happen next.  Here are some of the key words in Spanish: snow/la nieve, frog/la rana, winter/el invierno, socks/las medias, boots/las botas, hat/la gorra, scarf/la bufanda, gloves/los guantes, pants/los pantalones, shirt/la camisa, jacket/la chaqueta, and underwear/la ropa interior.

As always, here is a PDF of the flannelboard which you can download and print to use as a pattern to make creating your own version of this story even easier.  Happy flanneling!  ¡Disfruten el cuento!

Froggy Gets Dressed flannel pattern from Katie Cunningham

Bilingual Storytime: ¡La Piñata!

This week I humbly offer another Flannel Friday bonus, mostly because after this week it may be a while before I am able to share anything again!


A while back I shared ideas for a Fiesta Bilingual Storytime.  In that post I describe how we created our own flannelboard piñata after we read the bilingual book Piñata! by Rebecca Emberley, but I did not put up a picture or pattern at that time.  Here they are!  The "piñata" itself is too large to scan, so the pattern is just of the dulces and juguetes that we put inside the piñata.  To make the piñata, I simply cut out one very large felt circle and attached to it four long skinny felt triangles of different colors with paper streamers on the ends.    My idea was to have the flannel piñata resemble a star-style piñata.  This is a really simple and interactive technique for reinforcing the vocabulary of the specific objects in both English and Spanish, engaging mixed-age audiences in a family storytime setting (older children often help the younger children add objects to the piñata), and to bring the piñata to life with our imaginations.  I hope you have fun with it!

 

Piñata from Katie Cunningham

Flannel Friday: Vamos a la granja / Let's Go to the Farm

This flannel was originally made more me by a wonderful colleague, Maria, at the Columbus Metropolitan Library.  I used her original as the pattern for my version which I am sharing with you all today.  The flannel is for the easy reader The Day the Dog Said, "Cock-a-Doodle-Doo!" by David McPhail, which is also available in Spanish as El día que el perro dijo, "¡Quiquiriquí!"  The basic premise of the story is that a terrible storm comes sweeping through the farmyard, picking up all of the animals into the air, and when they crash back to earth, their voices have been mismatched.  Pretty soon they all begin arguing over who has the best voice.  The quacking cow thinks that the mooing duck has the best voice, etc.  Eventually, they are all swept up by the storm again and when they land this time, their original voices have been restored.

This story is really fun to use with preschool and family storytime audiences.  It's sure to get some laughs!  I usually have all of the kids help me blow in the big wind and sweep the animals up into the air, crashing back to earth with the wrong voices a few times.  I skip the arguing part and instead draw out the humor of the animals making unexpected sounds.  Finally, when their original voices return, the group catches on after the first animal or two and joins in.  This story is great for bilingual and/or Spanish storytimes too.  Bilingual is especially fun because you get to say both "cock-a-doodle-doo" and "quiquiriquí."

I hope you enjoy!

Day the Dog Said from Katie Cunningham

Flannel Friday BONUS! La hormiguita

Because I feel so terribly about how long it has been since I have contributed to Flannel Friday, tonight I am adding a bonus flannel.  This is one of the first flannels I ever made for myself; my skills have improved some over the years!  But even though the flannel pieces themselves aren't the prettiest, I wanted to get this story, "La hormiguita," out there to you all.  I came across this flannel while working at the Columbus Metropolitan Library.  I know it is based on a Mexican folktale, but I have never been able to track down the original story.  I have read every "Little Ant" folktale out there that I could find, but have never found this exact one.

In this story, la hormiguita (the little ant) slips on some ice and hurts her foot on her way to take a loaf of pan (bread) to her abuela (grandma).  Her friend the grillo (cricket) tells her she should demand justice from the escarcha (ice), who says it is actually the fault of the sol (sun), who blames it on the nube (cloud), etc. until the surprise twist at the end.  The script for the story as I like to tell is is available here.

I like this story because it is a cumulative tell that builds on and repeats key Spanish vocabulary.  This means that it is an easy story to tell to incorporate a Latino folktale and some Spanish words into your storytime, even if you don't speak Spanish.

Have fun, and if anyone knows of or finds the original source for this story, I would LOVE to know what it is!

La hormiguita from Katie Cunningham

Flannel Friday! ¿Eres tu mi mamá?

Friday flannelers, I must apologize.  It's been way too long since I added anything new, and I am very sorry! Hopefully, today's contribution will be one that Spanish/bilingual programmers and English programmers alike will be able to use and enjoy.  It is a flannel version of the P.D. Eastman classic, Are You My Mother? which is also available in Spanish as ¿Eres tu mi mamá?  The story is simple enough - a little birdie hatches from his egg, but his mother is no where to be found.  He looks everywhere for her and asks a variety of creatures and objects if they are his mamá - the cat (el gato), the hen (la gallina), the dog (el perro), the cow (la vaca), a car (un coche), a boat (un barco), a plane (un avión) and a BIG thing (una cosa GRANDE) which I have made as a bulldozer for this verion (una maquina excavadora).

I have a couple of extras to go with this post.  First, as always, you will see the PDF version at the bottom of the post.  Because I am not particularly skilled artistically, but I LOVE making and using flannelboards, it is always helpful for me to have some sort of pattern to scale that I can work with.  Hopefully these PDFs are useful for others of you in the same situation.  Secondly, I found an awesome YouTube version of this story in Spanish that a super creative mom made for her child.  It's definitely worth a listen - this mom has some storytime skills!


Finally, because I feel so terribly about being out of the Flannel Friday loop for so long, look for some extras that will be coming your way this week.  Happy flanneling to all!

Eres tu mi mama from Katie Cunningham

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 - Flannel Friday!

I am a big fan of the librarians of Flannel Friday.  If you aren't familiar with this group, they are a wide variety of blogging librarians from across the country who every Friday share something super practical from their storytime toolkit with the rest of us.  Generally, this is a flannelboard story or rhyme, but it could also be a puppet story, prop story or creative dramatic.  They are all about sharing what works, and I LOVE that!  So when I saw a post from Miss Mary Liberry explaining how anyone can jump into the Flannel Friday fun, I decided to join them.  What I intend to contribute to the Flannel Friday network is material and ideas that can be used in Spanish and/or bilingual storytime programs.  I will be sharing my own translations as well as stories, rhymes, etc. that are already available in Spanish.  I will be using the flannels from my own collection, as well as creating new ones inspired by the work of other Flannel Friday contributors, if it can be modified to be used in Spanish.  I hope this will be helpful to bilingual librarians and teachers, as well as to programmers looking to make English storytime or circle time programs more inclusive of Latino culture and the Spanish language.

I follow Miss Mary's blog and really enjoy what she posts, so it's fitting that my first ever Flannel Friday contribution would be inspired by her.  Last week, Miss Mary posted a very cute flannel for the traditional song "Aiken Drum."  When I was reading her post, I started to hum the song to myself, but en español.  The first verse actually fit, and I wondered if the whole song could maintain its rhythm in Spanish.  To my surprise and delight, I found that it could!  My dear friend Raúl checked it over for accuracy, and now it is ready to share with all of you.  The only verse that is modified from the original version shared by Miss Mary is that I changed meatballs to chorizo - a spicy, smoked sausage!  For anyone unfamiliar with the tune to this song, you can listen to an audio file of another version at Songs for Teaching.

Vivía un hombre en la luna, en la luna, en la luna,
Vivía un hombre en la luna,
se llama Aiken Drum.

El tocó un cucharón, un cucharón, un cucharón
El tocó un cucharón,
se llama Aiken Drum

The remaining verses are as follows:

Con pelo de espaguetis...

Con ojos de chorizo...

Con orejas de brécol...

Con una boca de pizza...

Con una nariz de queso...

Please be sure to check out Miss Mary's original post as well as all of the other amazing storytime ideas being contributed weekly by the bloggers in the Flannel Friday network!  You can find all of the ideas being contributed this week at Notes from the Story Room.  Also, one of the things I am going to do with my flannels is to include PDF versions in addition to pictures.  This makes it very easy to recreate what you see to scale by printing the PDF version and using that as patterns for your own version of the flannel.  You will be able to find the PDF's on my SlideShare account.  Happy flanneling!

Aiken Drum Flannelboard

View more documents from Katie Cunningham.

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

Juntos in the Mile High City!

The Reforma National Conference IV: Elevating Latino Services to a Higher Level is this weekend in Denver, CO, and I can't wait!  I will be serving on a panel of librarians presenting the pre-conference "Growing Up with Bilingual Programming: A Tribute to Rose Treviño."  My area will cover bilingual storytimes for preschool and early elementary age children, as well as families.  All of the resources that I will be sharing are available here for you.

This presentation covers the basics of designing a bilingual storytime.
Bilingual Storytime: Preschool, School Age and Families

This document includes recommended Spanish and bilingual movement music and a sample plan for a fiesta-theme bilingual storytime.
Fiesta Plan and Recommended Music

This document is a list of online and print resources for those planning and presenting Bilingual Storytime programs.
Resources

This document is a copy of the flannel pieces that I use to tell The Bossy Gallito / El gallo de bodas on a flannelboard.  The copies can be used as a pattern for creating your own flannel version of this delightful cumulative story.
Bossy Gallito

This document is a copy of the flannel pieces that I use to extend the "Eight Animals" stories by Susan Middleton Elya.
8 Animals

The final piece that I have to share are the files that I used in creating the Piñata Math activity.  In this activity, parents help their children identify shapes and colors, practice counting, compare sizes and identify/extend simple patterns.  The components to this activity are the Bilingual Piñata Math Instructions and the Piñata Math Shape Patterns.

As always, please feel free to send me an email or leave a comment if you have any questions about the resources I've shared here or bilingual storytime in general.  I hope to see lots of you this weekend in Denver!