Me han dicho un dicho...

The Latin Baby Book Club is celebrating El día de los niños, El día de los libros over at their blog.  Please stop by and see how proverbs or dichos are an important part of literacy as well as culture. In Small Phrases, Wordly Lessons I share my thoughts on sayings - and the lessons they teach.  I also suggest a few books classroom teachers can use to anchor lessons about idiomatic expressions and proverbs.

My Mother's Hair

When I was a little girl, I would sit on my mother's bed and watch her reflection in the mirror as she rolled her long, dark hair up in curlers. She would wrap her hair around pink tubes which she'd secure with long metal clips. Later, when her hair had set, she would unfasten the clips, letting the curls fall on her shoulders, springy and soft. Then, she would brush her hair out, and the resulting effect was... beautiful.

Hairs-Pelitos, a bilingual picture book by Sandra Cisneros, shares fond memories and descriptions about family members and their hair. Please visit Latin Baby Book Club for my review of this very special book.

Bilingual Book Review - Super Cilantro Girl

Stop on over to Latin Baby Book Club for my review of Super Cilantro Girl – La Superniña del cilantro. It's a story about the fears of 1st generation children and overcoming obstacles.

I use this book in my 4th grade bilingual classroom as a springboard for lessons about immigration, discussions about being separated from loved ones, and to inspire creative writing.

Bilingual Book Review - Oh No! Gotta Go!

Please stop over at Latin Baby Book Club, where I've shared my book review of Oh No, Gotta Go!, a bilingual story-in-verse of a little girl who realizes she needs a bathroom while riding in the car. Susan Middleton Elya weaves Spanish words and phrases into the verses in such a way that invites the reader, bilingual or not, to chime in. Go there to read about it!