Book and Dessert

We have checked out this very cute bilingual book from the library several times. The book is written mostly in English but very cleverly inserts a Spanish vocabulary word or two on each page. Not to ruin the surprise ending but the animals attempt to make a cake which ends up on the floor. To salvage their dessert, they turn the cake into pineapple upsidedown cake.

The book includes a recipe for pineapple upsidedown cake at the end of the story so the boys and I decided to make it for our dessert.

What my child is reading...

Our stack of library books stands at about twenty five this week. I declared before we entered the building that we were only going to pick out five new books since we have a few left over at home from last week. Well, I forgot about the ten that I had reserved and waiting for me about our new topic of study, bugs. We have checked out quite a few books lately that neither I nor the boys have liked so they were only read once and returned to the library shortly after. Here our favorites from the last couple of weeks.

The hands-down favorite was Mañana Iguana. We read this book every day for over a week. It is a bilingual book but it mostly written in English with a few Spanish words thrown in. I thought that this would turn the boys off to it, but the funny story and repetition kept their interest. I had to stop at the end of each page the first couple of times through to make sure that they were understanding. Basically, it is the story of the Little Ren Hen, but it takes place in the desert with an Iguana playing the part of the overworked "hen" and his friends, Conejo (rabbit), Tortuga (turtle), and Culebra (snake) as his lazy friends who make up excuses why they can't help or that they will do it "mañana" (tomorrow.) I highly recommend this book. If you do not know any Spanish, there is a pronunciation guide for the handful of Spanish words. I just noticed on Amazon that this is a series of books so I am going to look for more at the library.

We read quite a few bunny books leftover from Easter. Our favorite was the Spanish version of the Runaway Bunny called Conejito Andarin. Diego's favorite part was definitely the drawing of the bunnies changing into trees, clouds, and sailboats. He liked to tease me afterwards about going muy, muy, lejos (very faraway.) He would tell me he is going to Saturno and that I have to change into an astronaut to go and get him.

Another favorite library book this past week was En el baño (In the Bathroom.) This funny little book was published in Venezuela and I can't find it on Amazon. It is a toliet training book that explains that toilets are very children and adults but they are NOT for animals. Each page shows what would happen if each animal tried to use the bathroom (the elephant would break the toilet, the mouse would fall in, the goat would each the toilet paper.) Little gross, I know, but it kept the boys giggling.

Head over to Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns to see other great book reviews.

Move over Eric Carle

We have checked out and read the book "Oso polar, oso polar" (Polar Bear, Polar Bear) many times from the library and it is one of the boys' favorites. Recently we found a copy of "Oso pardo, Oso pardo" (Brown Bear, Brown Bear) and it was equally popular with the boys. The following project, I am very proud to say, was completely Diego's idea. He wanted to make his own book with a Black Bear (Oso Negro). I provided him with a stack of paper and helped him with the cover paper. This was a great opportunity to talk about cover pages, authors, and illustrators. Besides that, Diego grabbed his crayon and started illustrating "Oso Negro, Oso negro, Que hueles allí?" (Black Bear, Black Bear, What do you smell?) I wrote down his words and we stapled it together like a book. He told me that he would like to take it to the library so that Mema and Papa (my parents) can check it out to learn more Spanish. :)

What my child is reading...

I have been meaning to do a post about our favorite books lately, but I never seem to get around to it. I really would like to have record of some of them so that I remember to check them out again. We are very lucky to have a library system FULL of great books in Spanish. However, since it is made up of over ten libraries, I have to look for the books online and order them to be delivered to my closest library to prevent driving all over town.

Mateo is obsessed with dinosaurs right now. I mean OBSESSED. He has never had a favorite stuffed animal or lovey that he was really attached to. He has found love now in the form of little plastic dinosaurs. He eats with them, bathes with them, reads with them, and carries them everywhere. I think that is why I love these books so much- the little boy reminds me so much of Mateo. This is a series of books about a little boy, Dani, who finds a box of old dinosaurs in the attic, fixes them up, and carries them around in a little blue bucket. So far we have found four at our library and I am looking for a couple more. They are available in English too.

The next couple of books are all from a series of books made by a company called The Magic Castle. They are also available in English and I highly recommend them. They would make fairly easy early readers and (the Spanish versions) would be great for beginning to intermediate Spanish learners.

This book is about a little boy who finds a spaceship with an astronaut ready for take-off. Pablo wants to go to the moon also but he keeps remembering more and more things that he would like to take with him. After filling the ship with his pets, food, toys, and materials to build a house, the ship can't lift off of the ground.

We have read this book so many times that I probably should just buy it. A little boy finds a dinosaur that grants him a wish. The boy wishes that the dinosaur with stay with him all day and be his friend. The two get into trouble when the boy tries to teach the dinosaur tricks.

Besides dinosaurs Mateo also loves hippopotamuses. This is mostly due to a book that I will mention next time. I checked out this book just because of the main character but it turned out to be one of our favorites. The little hippopotamus gets hurt because he is playing dangerously and his mother and father show him how to behave safely. My favorite part of the book is a "Be Careful book" that they suggest you make at the end of the book. It covers not touching poison, not talking to strangers, etc. It is a great way to talk about safety at a level that preschoolers can understand and we plan to make our own safety book soon as a StArt project.

Head over to Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns to see other great book recommendations.

Reading in English

First of all, I need to send a big "GRACIAS" to Debbie and Selena at Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn for our new book "Green Eggs and Ham." We were the lucky winners of her recent giveaway. The book came with an added bonus of bubble wrap that kept the boys entertained for quite awhile. :)

If you follow this blog, you know that we speak and read to the boys only in Spanish. I often get asked by friends and family when we are going to "teach" them English. This is WAY too big of a topic to completely cover here but I would like to touch on it. Living in the United States and being surrounded by the English language, it would be nearly impossible NOT to learn to speak English. The more difficult challenge is to provide enough exposure to Spanish to make the boys truly fluent. The English that Diego does know is from some television programs, playing with neighborhood children, and my family (who unfortunately do not live close.) I continue speaking to the boys in Spanish even when we are around English speakers (even my parents.) However, I encourage them to speak to the boys, ask them questions, and read to them in English whenever they are around. I have tried on several occasions to read a book to Diego in English. He flat out refuses to listen. Last night when we received our new "Green Eggs and Ham" book, I was excited to read it to him since it is one of my favorite books. I explained to D that the book was written in English so Mami had to read it in English. He very politely told me, "No, español por favor." I thought for a minute about the monumentous task of translating a Dr. Seuss book into Spanish off the top of my head and insisted that he let me read it in English. He reluctantly agreed and really enjoyed the book. I am sure that he did not understand all of the words but I pointed at the pictures and stopped after each page and translated a few key words. I still plan to read most of our books in Spanish but I think that I will start reading one English book a day also.

What my child is reading...

Our favorite book of the week was Mariposa Mariposa (Butterfly Butterfly). I could not find a picture of this book on Amazon but you can find it here. It is a very simple and colorful book about a little girl who finds and then loses a butterfly. While she is looking for the butterfly she finds other creepy crawlers (un gusano (worm), un escarabajo (beetle), etc.) This is an excellent book to learn the vocabulary of bugs and colors. All Spanish.

1.

We have checked Si Llevas un Ratón a la Escuela out from the library several times. D grabbed it again on the way out this week. We love all of the books in this series and as I am sure you know, they are available in English. D's favorite part of this book is when the mouse makes a mouse house out of blocks and furniture out of play-doh. I caught D making little chairs while playing with his play-doh this week.

El Primer Halloween de Clifford. Clifford and Halloween. Enough said.

What my child is reading...

M is about to turn 18 months (my, how times flies) and is very into books right now. D has always been a book worm but M just started to sit down with books for more than two seconds. Today I am posting a couple of M's favorite books this week.

Muu. Bee. Asi fue is a book about different animals and the sounds that they make. We have liked all of the Sandra Boynton books. You can read them in English and in Spanish. They are board books which are great for my Mr. Destructo.

¿Dónde está el ombliguito? by Karen Kat is a lift-a-flap book. Each page ask where a certain body part is and the child lift the tab to see it. This book is also available in English.

Este no es mi perrito is a must-have for babies. Each page shows a different dog and explains that it can not be my dog because (for example) it is has soft fur and then the child can actually touch the soft fur. These books are available in English as well.

Libros (Books)-Otoño and more

I checked out a few books about fall from the library. D, to be honest, was not very interested. I pick five or six books every night and have him choose which four he wants to read. I put the new library books in the mix hoping that he will pick them. The last couple of weeks he has become very opinionated about his book selection (don't ya hate it when they have their own opinions :) and refuses to listen to a book that he hasn't chosen. I have "tricked" him into listening to a couple of them by reading them loudly to his little brother and usually curiosity will get the best of him and he will gradually come over to see what is going on. Anyway, I have included the two fall books and the other non-fall books that we have read this week.

El primer otoño de Clifford was, like all Clifford books in our house, a big hit. My kids can not get enough of that big red dog. This book is all in Spanish.

el otoño by Josep Parramon

This is a simple book about what happens in the Fall. This book is entirely in Spanish published in Spain. There was no picture on Amazon.

This book, Counting Ovejas by Sarah Weeks was the absolute favorite of the week. A little boy who can't sleep counts sheep of different colors. This is a simple bilingual book with a pronunciation guide for non-Spanish speaking parents. Good book for learning or reviewing color words.

Another popular book with my kiddos. Siesta by Ginger Fogelsong Guy is a bilingual book about two children gathering items for a campout in their backyard. Another good book for reviewing color words.

This book has made several repeat performances this week. Borreguita y el coyote is about a

clever little lamb that outwits a coyote that plans to eat him. This book is written in Spanish but an

English version also exist.