2022 Spanish Resource Libraries

I hate to bring up the subject of going back to school in the middle of July, but I just have to share with you an important new and FREE resource! Just in time for school to start, some of the TpT Spanish teachers have released their annual Spanish Resource Library. They've been doing this since 2015, and if this is the first time you've learned about this, the great news is that you can go back and upload all of the previous years' resources, too!

2022 Elementary Spanish Resource Library

This year's resource includes links to 20+ resources for PreK and Elementary Spanish teachers that you can download and start using right away.

Directions are on the 2nd page of this PDF to download the entire Google Folder that says: 2022 Spanish Elementary Free Resources

The included resources are:

• 3 Palabras en línea juego de ortografía
• 10 Introductions and Greetings
• Actividades para el primer día de clases
• An Emergency Activity
• Buenos Días - Spanish Canción Infantil Nursery Rhyme
• Centros Fonéticos - Syllable Clip Cards
• Comprehension
• Easy Print Spanish Numbers
• Empareja
• Hojas de escritura
• Interactive Notebook
• Mascotas - Minibooks
• Microcuentos - Spanish Comic activity
• Preposition Gato Activity
• Spanish Building Block Sight Words
• Spanish Cognates Matching Cards
• Spanish Reading Comprehension
• Spring Poem in Spanish
• Tira y Lee
• TL Blend Syllables in Spanish
• Yo aprendo las silabas
  
  

2022 Secondary Spanish Resource Library

This year's resource contains 25+ resources for secondary Spanish teachers.

Many are digital or distance-learning friendly and are ready for your 6th - 12th grade Spanish classes during back to school and beyond. This is a digital resource library hosted on Google Drive. Download this free PDF to get the link. Then, click on the link to access a Google Folder with all of the secondary Spanish resources.

Each PDF resource has one free activity and many have links to more freebies - so take the time to read through the PDFs and follow everyone on social media and right here on TpT - you'll be glad you did!

The included resources are:

• Find Someone Who Tiene
• 4 Song Tournament
• Introductions and Greetings
• Activities Dolores Huerta
• Possessive Adjectives Flip Book
• AP Spanish Unit 3 Lesson
• Calendar Talk
• School Calendar
• Emergency Activity
• Free Write Worksheet
• Interactive Notebook Sample
• IR Y LA CIUDAD
• Mystery Picture Marc Anthony
• Songs for Spanish Class
• Regular Present Tense Verbs
• Snap and Chat
• Reading - Spanish Introductions
• I Can Statements - School Unit
• Spanish False Cognates
• Spanish Weather Listening
• TFJ Social Justice
• Time Filler Project
• Todo Sobre Mí
• Interactive Notebook Spanish 1 - 2
• Weekend Gallery Walk

Click the images above or the titles to go to their TpT pages for downloading. 

Happy teaching!

St. Patrick's Day Mini Vocabulary Puzzles

 

It seems as though St. Patrick's Day sneaks up on me EVERY single year. But I still had time to come up with a free printable activity! This set of St. Patrick's Day Mini Puzzles is headed into the inboxes of all my newsletter subscribers by Wednesday morning. You'll also be able to buy it in my TpT store. 

This year's download is designed to help young students boost their vocabulary while practicing their reading skills.

With this print-and-go activity, all they have to do is cut out the puzzle pieces in the Answer Box and then match them to the image that depicts their word. All the words are related to St. Patrick's Day.

And you can choose to give them the full-color version, or add more time to the activity by having them color in the images first. And, yes, they are available in both English and Spanish. Just choose which version works best for you.

If you'd like to get a copy, scroll to the bottom of this post and be sure to subscribe to my newsletter below. It'll be going out Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. 

Other St. Patrick's Day Posts You May Enjoy

• Bilingual Activities to Celebrate Saint Patrick's Day
• St. Patrick's Day Bilingual Activity Pack
• 3 Fun St. Patrick's Day Activities
• Free Spanish St. Patrick's Day Printables

My Other St. Patrick's Day Printables

Hey! Consider getting one of my other printable activity sets dedicated to this holiday. There's something for kids of different ages, including a Preschool - Kindergarten Activity Pack, a Book of Words to color and practice writing skills, and finally a Brief History of Los San Patricios for older students. Read more about them here.

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Juan Diego & Our Lady of Guadalupe Reading Passage

 

Can Stock Photo - Shakzu

December 12th is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. When I was growing up, her image was everywhere in my 'Buelita's house: on candles, jewelry, little cards that she carried in her purse, and other places. 

If you don't know the story behind the Virgin of Guadalupe, read on!

The Legend of Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe

Legend has it that on December 12th, 1531, Our Lady of Guadalupe (the Virgin Mary) appeared and spoke to Juan Diego, an indigenous Mexican whose birth name was Cuauhtlatoatzin. It was one of four instances in which she appeared to him.

Not much is known about Juan Diego’s early life, other than his indigenous heritage and the fact that he and his wife had no children. They both were some of the first converts to Catholicism shortly after the arrival of 12 Franciscan missionaries in Mexico in 1524.

The story goes that on December 9, 1531, Juan Diego was on his way to mass when he had a vision of the Virgin Mary. She was bathed in a heavenly light and told him to tell the bishop to build a shrine for her there on Tepeyac Hill, just outside Mexico City... and she spoke to him in his native tongue - Náhuatl - not in Spanish.

Of course, the bishop didn’t believe Juan Diego but said he would think about it. Diego saw Mary again later that day and suggested she send someone else. But at her urging, he agreed to make her request again in the morning. This time, the bishop asked for proof of the vision. Diego immediately sought out The Virgin on Tepeyac and she told him to return the following day. 

However, the next day, Diego’s uncle fell ill and he stayed home to take care of him (Diego’s wife had died two years before). But his uncle’s condition became so bad overnight that on December 12th, Diego went out in search of a priest to administer the last rites. While doing so, Mary once again appeared to him, though he avoided going up Tepeyac Hill for fear of seeing her.  She told Diego that his uncle would be fine and then directed Diego, who was wearing a heavy tilma (cloak) to stay warm, to fill it with roses and take them to the bishop as proof. Despite it being winter, he found the flowers blooming on the rocky hill and filled his tilma. But when he took them to the bishop, not only did fresh Castilian roses spill from his tilma, but a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe shone from the inside of his cloak. The bishop was convinced and immediately ordered a shrine to be built.

Juan Diego was allowed to live in a small hut near the Basilica and spent the rest of his life serving the poor and needy in Mary’s name.

To this day, the tilma hangs in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It has survived 500 years and shows no sign of cracking or fading. And careful testing has shown, “the image was made using no underdrawing, no sizing, no protective over-varnish and no brush strokes.”

The Printable Mini-Lesson

For a few years now, I've been wanting to offer a reading passage on the legend of Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe. I finally uploaded it to my TpT shop this morning. 

If you'd like to use this mini lesson with your own students or children, you can find it here in my TpT store. This one-page reading passage shares this legend based in Mexico. The informational text is written for students in 4th - 8th grade, and it includes an 8-question comprehension quiz plus answer key.

And, as always, it is available in both English and Spanish.

Enjoy!

Amazing TpT Giveaway: $1250 in Gift Cards!

 

For all of you preparing for the coming school year, this post is for you!

A fabulous group of Spanish educators have gotten together to offer a grand giveaway of $250 TpT gift cards...for FIVE winners! That's $1250 worth of gift card goodness. 

There are tons of ways to enter and learn about the wonderful products offered by new (to you?) teachers who love Spanish. Entering is easy! Just visit laprofeplotts.com to enter. 

And there are lots of ways to submit entries: follow IG accounts, visit FB pages, sign up for newsletters, and more! You can pick which options appeal to you. The more you do, the more entries you get and the better your chances. 

I am one of those participating in the giveaway, so I cannot enter, but if I could, I have a huge wish list on TpT that I could put this $250 toward purchasing! And I bet you do, too. 

So don't wait. Go and enter!

¡Buena suerte!

TpT's Teacher Appreciation Sale

 

If ever there was a year that teachers deserved some extra love and appreciation, this is it. Every teacher that I know has gone above and beyond what anyone would have ever expected of them.

So this year's Teacher Appreciation Week is in sharp focus. 

If you're a teacher reading this, thank you. Thank you for juggling, adapting, learning (on the go), being flexible, being lenient, being patient, stressing, making it work, chucking what doesn't, and for sacrificing for your students. 

If it were within my power, I'd give you a massive bonus or raise and an extra month off to sleep straight through. 

Since I can't, I figured I would at least share TpT's Teacher Appreciation Sale which starts today and runs through tomorrow. Tons of stores are on sale. Lots of great products. And there are some awesome gift card giveaways happening on Instagram. If you are a Spanish teacher, go and enter to win a $100 gift card to TpT!

If you're a parent, don't forget about my FREE Thank You Writing Pages that your children can use to write their teachers a thank you note. They are in English and Spanish.

TpT April Sale & New Products

 

TpT is having another sale!  

If there's anything on your wish list that you've been holding off on getting, now's the time to do it! It starts today and runs through tomorrow.

And just in case you haven't seen them, I have a lot of new products that have been uploaded recently. I'm listing them below in order of age range for you to look over. 

Happy shopping!

Paleta Board Game (PreK - 1st)

A simple board game that teaches number recognition (1 - 5) and basic counting.

Popsicle/Paleta Activity Sheets (PreK - Kindergarten)

Perfect for summer! This activity pack will keep your little one learning those important skills needed for school success. Click the link to see a list.

Bilingual Number Puzzle Cards (PreK - 1st)

Boost number recognition and counting skills with these three sets of puzzle cards to teach your children numbers 1 - 20 by ones and 20 to 100 by tens in two languages!

Mars Word Search (3rd - 6th)

Is your child following the Mars' rover news? Introduce your young students to vocabulary associated with the Red Planet using this easy word search.

A Brief History of Paella (4th - 8th)

Celebrate Spain with this one-page history on the Spanish dish, paella! 

Juan Felipe Herrera Reading Passage (4th-8th)

Introduce your students to the former U.S. Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera with this one-page reading passage that comes with a reading comprehension quiz. Perfect for National Poetry Month!

The Real History of Cinco de Mayo BOOM CARDS (4th - 8th)

If you're using digital Boom Cards in your classroom, check out my latest set for teaching students the true history of Cinco de Mayo. No chips and salsa here!

Famous Couples in History & TpT Sale

 

Time for an update on printable education materials!

Famous Couples in History: A Growing Set

With Valentine's Day coming up I was inspired to start a set of reading passages that features famous couples in history. Each couple comes with a one-page reading passage and a comprehension question quiz. Answer keys are included.

This set currently features five couples:

• Cleopatra & Marc Antony
  
• Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera
• Coretta Scott & Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Queen Isabella I & King Ferdinand II
• Jacqueline Bouvier & John F. Kennedy

This is a growing set and more couples will be added in the coming months. 

All of the pages are available in English and Spanish. 

Find it here in my TpT store.

The TpT Sale

The TpT sale starts TOMORROW! 

Take advantage of these sales when TpT has them. Go through your wish lists and stock up for the coming month or two. Think ahead to what your teaching subjects will be. Off the top of my head, I think of 

• 100 Days of School
• Women's History Month
• Read Across America Day
• St. Patrick's Day
• Earth Day
• National Poetry Month
• and Día de los Niños, Día de los Libros

Printable Activities for Martin Luther King, Jr Day

I don't know what this coming weekend before the inauguration holds. All I know is that this year has started in such a way that the words of Martin Luther King, Jr ring in my ears...

“Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”

and...

“We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.”

There's a lot of hate and anger in this country right now. And a lot of misinformation or outright lies. 

The only way I know to combat all of this is by focusing on our children. Mahatma Gandhi once said, "If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children."

So what better way to start, than with Martin Luther King, Jr. himself? Here is a list (in order of target age) of my printable activities for learning about the activist and civil rights movement leader.

Martin Luther King Jr. Bilingual Coloring Activity

FREE! A simple color-by-number activity for introducing Martin Luther King, Jr. to younger children in preschool and lower elementary.

Martin Luther King Jr. Writing Triptych Activity

In this writing triptych, kids can read a little bit about Martin Luther King, Jr. and read some quotes from his famous speech. They can color it, and draw or paste a picture of themselves on one of the folds of the triptych. Then they can think about the quotes and write a few words (short paragraph) sharing their own hopes for this country.

Martin Luther King Jr. Writing Activity

This simple activity allows students to write their own ending to Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech. They simply color in the base sheet and write in their ending, before coloring in and attaching a flap-style poster to the top.

A Martin Luther King Jr. Glossary

Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day with this easy, noprep, printable poster and glossary! Available in full color or black-and-white, you can decorate your classroom or have your students color in the poster and read the glossary which features words related to Dr. King.

Bilingual Martin Luther King, Jr. Activities BUNDLE

SAVE! When you purchase my MLK BUNDLE!

A Mini-Lesson on Bill Meléndez

Last month, I shared the new Peanuts playlists that they released in honor of the 70th anniversary of the iconic comic strip. While doing a little research, I was delighted to learn about Bill Meléndez and the amazing impact he had on the animation industry. If you don't know who he is, read on! Then learn about other important Latinos in history that your children should know.

Who was Bill Melendez?

Bill Melendez was a Mexican–American animator, voice actor, producer, and director. His real name was José Cuauhtémoc Meléndez and he was born in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. His father, who was passionate about Aztec history, named him after the valiant and final Aztec emperor. 

In 1928, José’s family moved to the United States. José loved art and drawing and when he was old enough, he studied art at Chauinard Art Institute (now the California Institute of the Arts). 

Bill Melendez at Disney

When he was 22 years old, José sent copies of his drawing to Walt Disney, who turned around and hired him. José began his career as a cartoonist working on big Disney films such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi, as well as various Mickey Mouse shorts. But Disney claimed his “ethnic” name was too long for the the credits and had to shorten it. From then on, he was known as “Bill” Melendez.

By 1941, Disney had seen many great successes on screen. Cartoonists, who had been promised pay raises only to have them retracted, became angry, especially after top animator and strike leader Art Babbitt was fired. The next day, they went on strike in the famous 1941 Disney Strike. The U.S. president (FDR) eventually sent a federal mediator to settle things and Disney eventually agreed to the formation of the cartoonists’ union.

But Bill’s relationship with Walt Disney was damaged and not long afterward, he was hired by Warner Brothers Cartoons where he was an animator for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series. He worked on the characters Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig, among others.

Bill Melendez & Snoopy

In 1948, he left to begin producing and directing television commercials (he created thousands of them!) and during this time, he met Charles M. Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip. The two formed a strong and lasting friendship. Bill was the only person Charles would allow to animate his Peanuts characters for television. In total, he was involved in around 70 TV specials and took the lead after Charles Schulz passed away. Bill was also the voice actor for the Snoopy and Woodstock characters.

Bill founded his own company - Bill Melendez Productions - in 1963. It still exists today and is run by one of his sons, Steven Melendez.

He also animated the 1979 TV special “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” as well as specials for the cartoon strips Garfield and Cathy.

Over his lifetime, Bill received 22 Emmy and 5 Grammy nominations, 8 Emmy Awards, 1 Oscar, and 2 Peabody Awards. 

He died in 2008 at the age of 91.

Video Interview & Photographs

The Television Academy Foundation conducted a four-hour interview with Bill Melendez in 2001. Don't worry! You don't have to watch it all in one sitting! It's been broken up into segments for you to watch on their website. It's excellent. Here's a snippet in which he describes how he came to be the voice actor for Snoopy...

You can also see some great photos on Looney Tunes Wiki.

Printable

In honor of Bill's birthday this Sunday (he would have been 104!), I created this one-page reading passage to share with your students or children. It has most of the information you read above. You can get it for free for a limited time by signing up for my newsletter. If you are already a subscriber, keep an eye out for it in your inbox this coming weekend!

Or you can purchase it directly from my TpT store.

Snoopy Stuff for Kids

Your kids may enjoy some of these Snoopy-themed school supplies...

Or they may prefer some Snoopy toys!

You May Also Like Learning About...

Here are some of my other posts and reading passages that you may enjoy.

• Free Vicente Fernández Reading Passage
• Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz - Lesson Plans, Videos, and Books for Kids
• Arturo Alfonso Schomburg Reading Passage
• Dolores Huerta Lesson Plans, Activities, Coloring Sheets and More
  
  
• Teach for Justice Lesson Plans
• Hispanic Poets: One-Page Reading Passages
• Spanish Biography Video Series

A More Complete History: Hispanic Activists

Traditional history programs have long omitted or downplayed the critical role that Hispanics have played in U.S. history. But many of these activists have advocated and created sweeping social change or contributed to the restitution of societal wrongs through their actions.

That is why I'm so pleased to share with you a grant project that I've finally completed and published on Teachers Pay Teachers.

A More Complete History - Unit 1: Hispanic Activists is a comprehensive Teach for Justice unit that focuses on five important (and often forgotten) historical figures of the 1900s. Designed for high school students, this 150 page unit is comprised of lesson plans for both in-person and virtual learning. It uses articles and mini-documentaries as secondary sources. And it includes: 

• challenging pre-reading questions,
• literal comprehension questions,
• higher-level questions,
• social-emotional connections, 
• essay questions, 
• project based learning options, 
• vocabulary worksheets,
• and research & present topics. 

Answer keys and options for worksheets and summative assessments that allow for differentiated learning are also included.

The five figures covered in this unit are:

• Jovita Idár
• Sylvia Mendez
• Ralph Lazo
• Willie Velásquez
• and Helen Rodríguez Trías

These are in-depth lessons to challenge students and highlight figures who have fought for equality in the press, education, politics, health, and society. They fought not just for their own families, but for Hispanics as a whole and other marginalized groups.

These lesson plans are only available in English as they are centered around English secondary sources.

If you'd like to see a sample, Lesson 4: Willie Velásquez is available free for download.

If you use these lesson in your home or school classroom, please let me know. I welcome feedback. And if you send me a few photographs, I'll send you a special gift. 

This project was made possible by the Teachers Pay Teachers' Teach for Justice Grant Program. I'm so thankful to have been selected to participate.

Enjoy!

Free Digital Libraries of Bilingual Materials

This is a truly amazing opportunity. If you will be homeschooling, you need to know about TeachersPayTeachers. The site sells downloadable lessons, activities, craftivities, and a bajillion other things that are designed directly by teachers. It helps them supplement their incomes, but more importantly, you know that the materials cover the concepts you are teaching. And if you just need a quick reading passage or experiment to supplement OR you need a complete curriculum for (example) 5th-grade math, you can find it on TpT. 

This is especially important for those of you with Spanish/bilingual children because you can find resources on here that you are looking for and can't find elsewhere. There are a lot of dual-language/immersion/Spanish teachers that sell their materials for as little as $2. 

NOW, that said, many of the Spanish educators have gone in together to create two amazing FREE packages. 

The first is an Elementary Spanish Distance Learning Resource Library. It contains 27 FREE resources for Elementary Spanish teachers and includes things like Boom Cards, digital stickers, minibooks, stories, and more. My new set of alebrije counting Boom Cards is included. 

And the second is a Secondary Spanish Distance Learning Resource Library. This is great for older children and includes 26 amazing resources. From vocabulary to verb conjugation to cognates and lesson plans, this is such a great set!

Both of these are worth signing up (for free) on TpT to download.

And while you are there on TpT, take advantage of their two-day Back-to-School Sale! Most sellers participate... and you know I am! My entire shop is on sale. Check out my freebies while you are there! And stock up on items in your wishlists that you need for the coming year.

Enjoy!

MommyMaestra's 2020 Back-to-School Fiesta!

Hola, MommyMaestra Readers!

August is here and that means that it is time for my annual Back-to-School Fiesta! And I'm so excited about the lineup! Several Spanish-learning curricula for different age levels, music albums, science kits, books and more are on the list. You don't want to miss this.

Normally, this comes after a quiet summer spent with my family, but it has been nonstop busy for me this year. Still, I'm excited about the upcoming weeks. During my BTS Fiesta, I share new, helpful, or just plain fun products and services that will help you make your coming school year more effective and/or enjoyable. You'll find resources for homeschoolers, parents, and teachers. So keep an eye on this website because I have a wonderful lineup for you every Monday through Friday this month.

A few notes on important things I want to sneak in today because the other days are already full.

First, don't miss the TpT Back-to-School Sale this coming Tuesday & Wednesday, August 4th and 5th. Everything in my shop will be on sale at their maximum 25% off... including new products. This is the perfect time to go through your wish list and stock up on items that you've been waiting for!

The coupon code is also good for my shop here on MommyMaestra.com, but it doesn't have all the items that are listed on TpT. However, the discount will be good through the end of the month!

And finally, if you aren't already signed up for my newsletter, please consider doing so. There will be a few freebies available only to my newsletter subscribers. This month's free download is an updated version of these Back-to-School Labels. I use them to make the first day special for my kids. I leave them a little gift to open, usually fun school supplies and books. I wrap them up to make it a little more exciting and leave one of these labels being sure to write the grade they're entering in the space provided. 

If you are shopping for the coming school year, please check here because you might win something!

Good luck to all and ENJOY!

Celebrate World Bee Day!

Jon Sullivan / Public domain

Did you know that today is World Bee Day? Bees play SUCH an IMPORTANT role in our earth's ecosystem. Without bees to pollinate 75% of the world's flowering plants, entire ecosystems would would be affected or lost. The honey bee alone pollinates 35% of the world's food crops. Here in the U.S., the honey crop was worth more than $300 million just seven years ago.

But bees all around the world are in decline. We need to educate our children about bees and foster a sense of appreciation and preservation in our youth.

To celebrate World Bee Day, I've put together this packet. Bees of the World Fandex & Activity Sheets is designed to teach your children/students all about bee biology with reading passages, coloring pages, worksheets, and a printable board game. In addition, they'll learn about 9 different types of bees using the printable fandex, which also serves as a reference for the worksheets. This file is English only, but I'll work on getting a Spanish version available by June 1st.

You can find it (and a list of the bee species covered), here in my TpT shop. 

MommyMaestra subscribers! Be on the lookout for a free download in this month's newsletter. It is a sample of the big packet. I hope your kids have as much fun playing it as I did making it.

Long live the bees!

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Teacher Appreciation Week TpT Sale

It's Teacher Appreciation Week!

And as they do every year, TeachersPayTeachers is having a sitewide sale. NOW is the time to go through your wishlist and buy what you've been waiting for.

Everything in my store is fully discounted the maximum that they allow (20%), PLUS an extra 5% from TpT itself. Go and stock up, friends!

Here are a few suggestions...