For the last two Octobers we have done letter-focused learning along with many others around the internet as part of 31 Days of ABCs, hosted by All Done Monkey, and this year it’s on a hiatus.**
In its place, I thought we could have fun learning the Spanish letters with a fall theme. Currently we are practicing the Spanish alphabet as a whole in the Learn Spanish with Kids series, and focusing on one letter a day will help reinforce that learning. I do not know if I will be able to think of something fall-ish for each letter, but I am going to try! Up first is A de araña (ah day ah-RAHN-yah), that’s how they say “S is for spider” in Spanish.
For Beginners
To keep things simple for beginners I made some fun and easy printables that focus solely on the letter and the chosen fall word. You can print one for your family from the link at the end of this post. My kids are my test market and the data came back as a thumbs up for this one. (We have done fun projects like this in English with this printable from TheMeasuredMom.com) The printable I made has a lowercase and capital letter to choose from, and a sheet of spider images.
My four-year-old is just beginning to learn his letters and my five-year-old is practicing the formation of the lowercase letters, so I printed one of each. I love Spanish lessons that incorporate more than just Spanish, so I modeled the letter formation with the glue bottle as my “marker” for each of the kiddos, then asked them to put the glue on like they were writing the letter.
While the kids are gluing on the spiders, you can say things like “The word for spider in Spanish is araña,” or “In Spanish this is the letter a.” (Pronounced ah.) Have the kids take turns practicing saying the new letter and the new word. We even sang the letter A to the tune of “Jingle Bells,” you know, like Elmo does at the end of Elmo’s World?
In addition, I wrote the letter A on a sentence strip and glued one of the extra spider pictures next to it. This will hang above our kitchen table so we can practice it and see it each day as we eat. Then I can add to it for each letter that gets introduced.
I have these clipboards Velcroed to the wall above our school desk and we use it to hang our most current project that needs to dry. Ta-da!
More Preschool & Elementary Age Ideas
Click this link to print out a fun counting story I made about spiders, or you can also hop on over to Spanish Playground for some free Itsy Bitsy Spider Sequencing Cards in Spanish. When you click over, you will also find a YouTube video that sings the song for you. You can listen to the song and have your kids tell the story with the pictures as it plays.
More Ideas for Older Students
Check out these interesting facts about spiders–all in Spanish! This would be a great article to have your junior high or high school students read. Then ask them to summarize some facts for you in a short oral report.
More ABC Fun
For more ideas and a fun FREE printable to practice the letter “A” in Spanish, check out my post: La letra A! And be sure to peruse the treasure trove of alphabet activities from each year of 31 Days of ABCs over at All Done Monkey.
