Gazpacho for My Muchacho

I'm always on the look out for books that use both English and Spanish. As a non-Spanish speaker, books  written in English with sporadic Spanish words  are a great, natural, non-intimidating way to introduce new words into our (Z-man and my) vocabulary. Some of our favorites are Fire! Fuego! Brave Bomberos, Rubia and the Three Osos, and, now, Gazpacho for Nacho.

Gazpacho for Nacho is a  book about a boy who only eats gazpacho. Frustrated by Nacho's limited palate, his Mami takes him shopping to buy the legumbres needed and then teaches Nacho how to make the soup. 

First, Z-man and I read the book several times over a week or so. Actually, first I pre-read the book by myself. I've noticed that if I struggle through pronunciation, Z often looses interest in the book. 

After he knew the book well, we decided to act it out. Z-man picked a costume (but didn't want to wear it) and then pretended to buy the pepino and other veggies. He made food out of play dough and we practiced following the recipe. While doing these activities, I was very intentional about using the Spanish words in the book as a way to reinforce their meaning. 

Then, we headed to the grocery store to buy tomates, one pepino, one pimiento. I called him "Nacho" and he called me "Mami" as we did this. So fun!

At home, we gathered the rest of the ingredients, put on our aprons and chef hats and began el trabajo. He cut and measured and poured and stirred. We put it in the fridge to chill. 

I'm not sure my guy will be demanding "Mas gazpacho!" like Nacho does, but he did ask for pepinos instead of cucumbers and that makes this a success for me and my muchacho!

Tracing as We Travel

As a transition activity in my classroom, I provide maps and markers to my kids, asking them to trace different paths you can take. Metro maps work really well with the different colored lines and clear paths. Fine motor skills and geography all at once!

I can hardly wait for my next train trip and NYC subway journey with Z-man so we can try this together!

Making the Most of Bath Time!

Z-man is loving baths right now. He's discovered bubble baths and loves trying to find the objects that sink under the bubbles. Other ones float back up after we drop them in so they are easy to find.  

Using foam letters, we make boats, hooking the letters together. We try to build the boats strong and stable enough for the sinking objects to now float on the boats. 

With the same foam letters, I put them on different parts of Z's body. For example, I put the M on his mouth, the L on his leg, or the N on his nose and then sing this little song to the tune of If You're Happy And You Know It: There's a M on your mouth, on your mouth. There's a M on your mouth, on your mouth. It's not farther south, it's just on your mouth. There's a M on your mouth, on your mouth. (I change the farther south part for anything goofy that rhymes with the body part. Knee: It gives me so much glee that there's a...You get it.)

Every time he takes the letter off and looks at it. Rhyming, body part identification, AND letter recognition? Win.

To end bathtime, I rinse Z-mandown with water. As I rinse each part of his body, I name it in Spanish. I pour water over his back and say "espalda" and pour it over his legs and say "piernas." I ask him to "voltate" when I want him to turn. 

My Z and I have so much fun that often the water turns cold and his fingers turn into raisins! He doesn't even know we are learning!