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?

Cuentos y más - Arlington, VA Bilingual Storytimes on YouTube!

I am currently teaching an online course offered through the Library of Virginia called - Connecting with the Spanish-Speaking Community: What You Need to Know Before Offering a Bilingual Storytime in Your Library.  I wanted to get a better idea of what various libraries in Virginia are doing to serve Latino children and families and in digging around, I came across Cuentos y Más - bilingual storytimes on YouTube, brought to you by the Arlington Public Library.  I'm blown away!  Way to go Virginia, and way to go librarian/host Maria Aguilar!  This is super innovative and the videos are very high quality.  On demand bilingual programming that families can access as their schedule allows.  I love that in the one that I saw, in addition to storytime, the program was exposing families to an educational resource available in the community.  The format is fantastic - fun, stories and exposure to community resources.

I would love to hear more about successful and innovative strategies in Virginia or elsewhere in the Southeast for connecting Latinos and Spanish-speakers with libraries.

Bilingual Storytime Idea - ¡Arroz con Leche!

What's my professional New Year's resolution? 

To embody the spirit of Día and help foster a culture of literacy throughout the year at the Village Branch library.  How am I doing this?  Well, one way involves our Bilingual Family Storytime program.  I am tweaking the format of this program a bit so that it is a monthly family literacy event, drawing on themes relevant to the Latino community.  Our first program is Wednesday, January 11 at 6 PM on the theme of "Arroz con Leche" - ¡que sabroso!

We will be sharing The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred by Samantha Vamos and illustrated by Rafael Lopez along with Jorge Argueta's Arroz con leche / Rice Pudding, which is a bilingual recipe/poem illustrated by Fernando Vilela.  We'll be turning this book into a creative dramatic to further narrative skill development as we move through each of the steps in the recipe, as well as practicing some math concepts as we measure the appropriate amounts of the ingredients.  This activity will exercise our imaginations as well!  Of course we will also be sharing the traditional song "Arroz con leche."  We will be using the version on the CD Juguemos a cantar as we sing and dance and play musical instruments.

Following the program, parents and children will have the opportunity to interact together at three discovery centers designed to reinforce further skill development in fun ways.  One station will be a tasting of real arroz con leche - a table top poster will prompt parents to ask their children specific questions as they try the tasty treat.  The other two are activities from the "Para los Niños" program out of the Houston Children's Museum.  And the cinnamon on top?  Every family who comes will get to take home their very own copy of Arroz con Leche: Popular Songs and Rhymes from Latin America by Lulu Delacre, courtesy of the Friends of the Lexington Public Library and Scholastic Literacy Partners.

I am so very excited for this tasty program and hope to see many families in attendance.  ¡Nos vemos en la biblioteca!

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

Bilingual Storytime Idea - Thanksgiving

¡Feliz Día de Acción de Gracias - Gobble, gobble!  This week the Village Branch will close early on Wednesday night, so we celebrated Thanksgiving early at Bilingual Family Storytime.

A colleague, Lowena Latiff, shared a song called "Mr. Turkey" with me which I translated into a rhyme to use with our beautiful Folkmanis turkey puppet.  I know that all children's librarians already know this, but Folkmanis puppets are truly the best.  We used our turkey friend for a fun fingerplay too.  Thanks to Raul Garces for helping me edit my translations.

Mr. Turkey                                   
I heard Mr. Turkey say                    
"Gobble, gobble, gobble.              
Soon will be Thanksgiving Day,    
gobble, gobble, gobble.                  
You may think that it is fun                
But I think, I will run                        
And hide until the day is done      
Gobble, gobble, gobble."              

Señor Pavo                                                                                     

Oí a Señor Pavo                                                                               

Dice “Gobble, gobble, gobble,                                                  

El día de gracias viene pronto                                                    

El día que me asusta tonto                                                          

Para tí es divertido                                                                         

Pero me da mucho miedo                                                           

Entonces voy a esconderme                                                      

Hasta que este día termine                                                        

Gobble, gobble, gobble.”

Y se fue el Señor Pavo.

I found this cute turkey glove pic at
Learningand Teaching with Preschoolers.

                                                     
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!                        

We merged the theme of Thansgiving with family, as there are not a lot of good bilingual read alouds on the theme of Thanksgiving.  The book that works the best, of course, is Pat Mora's Gracias = Thanks, which is what we read first.  We then read We Are Cousins = Somos primos by Diane Gonzales Bertrand.  After all, for close-knit families, your cousins are your default best friends, and for other families, Thanksgiving may be one of the few times of year when you visit with your cousins.  Then we had a lot of fun singing and dancing to José-Luis Orozco's version of "La tía Mónica."  I was hesitant to use this book at first (even though it is very interactive and builds body part vocabulary) because it is so long (about 5 minutes).  However, I am so glad that I did.  The families had a blast!  This is definitely one to work into your regular bilingual storytime music rotation!  We closed with Juanito Counts to Ten = Johnny cuenta hasta diez by Lee Merrill Byrd.  In this cute story, Juanito counts out kisses to the various people in his family and daily life, and we practice our counting in English and Spanish, helping to develop important Kindergarten Readiness skills.

So even though I will be enjoying my Thanksgiving with a Tofurkey instead of a turkey, I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday spent relaxing with the ones you love in however many languages you live.

Para los Niños - A resource to know for bilingual storytime!

As part of the "Growing Up Bilingual" workshop at the Reforma National Conference IV, I was introduced to the "Para los Niños" program.  This is too great a resource to keep to myself!  The program was developed by the Children's Museum of Houston.  Tiffany Fontenot of CMH and Freda Mosquera, who has implemented the program at Broward County Library in Florida, gave us an in depth demonstration.  The great thing about this program is that all of the materials are available to download and use in English and Spanish.  Also, all of the materials needed for the learning activities are very cheap, making the activities easy for families to replicate at home.

So what is "Para los Niños"?  It is a family learning program developed for Spanish-speaking families, though available in English as well.  There are 8 workshop themes, such as "Math at Home," "Raise a Reader" and "Self-Esteem."  Each theme has at least 5 activities that accompany it, and most of the activities tie back to picture book that the families can share together.  There are multiple ways that this program could be implemented.  For example, Freda Mosquera shared how her library offered these workshops at a community center that served many Spanish-speaking families.  The course of the program was 8 weeks, one theme each week.  The programs would start with a storytime for the families, and then the families could work together on each of activity stations.  I plan to implement parts of this program into my Bilingual Family Storytime program, setting up two to three activity stations each month for families to explore together following our stories and songs.

So go check this program out!  Do you know of other great ready-to-use resources for bilingual storytimes?  Share them with us here!

Bilingual Storytime Ideas - Halloween!

I love Halloween!  It's always been my favorite holiday, and I love celebrating it with my storytime families.  Every year we do a program of "Slightly Spooky Stories / Cuentos algo escalofriantes" with just enough fright for little ones.  Here's the presentation of what we will be doing this year.

Bilingual Storytime for Halloween

View more presentations from Katie Cunningham.

We will open the program up with On Halloween Night / La noche de Halloween by Judith Zocchi, which provides a nice overview of the holiday.  The bilingual edition is good, though unfortunately the rhyme is lost in the Spanish translation.  Next it's time to sing!  We'll use the tune of "Did You Ever See a Lassie" to sing our Halloween version - ¿Has visto a una calabaza?  Mil gracias to my colega Jackie for proofing my translation of this song.  Then it's time for my favorite Halloween story, the 2008 Pura Belpré medal winner for illustration and honor recipient for narrative, Los Gatos Black on Halloween by the late Marisa Montes.  Introducing this book is a great moment for sharing with parents the power of playing with rhyme and sound in developing phonological awareness.  Speaking of the power of rhyme, we'll next move to an English version of "Five Little Pumpkins" shared by a colleague and a Spanish version of "Cinco calabazas" from Jorge Anaya's Cha, Cha, Cha CD.  Monsters come out to play next as we share Go Away Big Green Monster / Fuera de aquí, horrible monstruo verde and a bilingual version of "If You're a Monster and You Know It / Si eres un monstruo y lo sabes."  We'll end the storytime with another Halloween classic - The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything / La viejecita que no le tenía miedo a nada by Linda Williams.  I love to make the telling of this tale more interactive by using flannel pieces and musical instruments.  I give all of the kids an instrument to play to make the sounds of the different clothes: a drum for the zapatos, maracas for the pantalones, bells for the camisa, rhythm sticks for the guantes, and egg shakers for the sombrero - and of course, we are all our own instruments for the "Boo, Buu, Boo" of the cabeza!

What a great week for programs - we have another celebration next week for Día de los Muertos!  How are you celebrating either or both of these beautiful holidays with your families or communities?