Inside: Lesson plans for El capibara con botas Spanish class book. Teaching El capibara con botas by Mira Canion in Spanish class. El capibara con botas lesson plans for Chapters 1-4.
Author: Allison Wienhold
Originally published October 6, 2017 & most recently updated January 14, 2025.
When to Teach El capibara con botas
When this post was first published in 2017, it was the first time I taught a novel in the first quarter of Spanish 1. Since then, I have taught the novel El capibara con botas six times to different groups of students. The earliest I used it was in 8th grade Exploratory Spanish. This was a group that had 1 quarter of Spanish in 8th grade. But, some brand-new students did well with this comprehensible reader.
El capibara con botas by Mira Canion is the ultimate first reader since it contains just 55 new vocabulary words and now has a teacher’s guide. It is the perfect 1st book for early Spanish 1. It would work well in elementary and middle school Spanish as well.
Here is what we did before starting the novel El capibara con botas, as well as for chapters 1-4.
Before starting the novel El capibara con botas
You can see much more in-depth my plan before starting the novel in this post.
Plus my review of El Capibara con botas in this post.
Below are the highlights with links.
Capibara Vocabulary preparation (high-frequency verbs)
- Super 7 Unit with special person interviews using Super 7 Present Tense Spanish BUNDLE
- Somos Units 1-3 (We completed unit 5 this year right before starting the novel. We did units 1-3 in exploratory previous years).
- El capibara especial story – Miss Maestra
Culture and content preparation for El Capibara con botas
My comprehensible Ecuador Reading
My Capibara & Ecuador stations
This digital Google Doc activity is also a perfect sub plan.
- Animals of South America Introduction (from Kristen Duncan)
Chapter by Chapter Lesson Ideas for Capibara con botas
Below is what we did moving through the novel. Please remember this was my first time teaching this book, so I was learning as I went.
El capibara con botas Chapter 1 Lesson Plans
Kindergarten Day
Since we started the novel during Homecoming week, I hyped up pajama day into Kindergarten style reading of the novel. Students brought in blankets and pillows and made a big nest while I read to them. We discussed projected questions as we went.
We played Quizlet Live as an entertaining time-filler at the end of a class.
I keep links to already created kahoots, quizlet live & quizizz to use for instances like this.
Students created their capibara using this template. They wrote out in Spanish an introduction of their capibara. Students then shared these with multiple partners and we compared them to the main character Carlos all in Spanish. I usually do not do many craftitivties, but this was perfect for homecoming week and provided a lot of repetitions of “es” “es de” and “tiene.” We also compared the parents of the fictional capibara and the one in the book.
Chapter 2 of El Capibara con botas plans
Teacher Read
Since it is the first novel they have ever read, I read to the students, while they followed along in their own copy. I stopped as we went discussing questions that were projected.
Readers Theater
We had actors with props portray the entertaining conversation and farts in chapter 2.
Quizizz – Ch1-2
This class had never used this site and loved how you can move at your own pace.
A written summary of Ch1-2
At the end of a class, I gave students a few minutes to just retell as much as they could about the book. Most did a great job as baby parrots regurgitating the story.
Reading Assessment Ch1-2
The next day, we did a simple reading assessment matching characters and descriptions and answering a few true-false statements. From the data on this assessment, as well as feedback on the back of our quiz we were moving way too slowly for most students, so I switched it up with more options for differentiation the next day. (This is why it is so important to ask for feedback!)
Capibara con botas Chapter 3
Reading Club Reading
After feedback, I decided to do chapter 3 in more of a differentiated reading club with options. If students did well on their assessment and felt confident as readers, they could read the chapter alone and complete activities in the slide show of activities posted on Google Classroom. This included comprehension questions, fill-in-the-blank vocabulary practice, and open-ended chapter retell.
Those who wanted to be read to, discuss, and complete activities together, sat with me. This was a GAME CHANGER for my most challenging classes. Some of the students had been acting out since they were Bored and we were moving too slowly. They flourished when given more autonomy and control. It was a great reminder for me to make sure I am reaching the high flyers, as well as those who need more support.
Scrambled Sentences
In another idea from Kristen Duncan, students worked with pairs on a whiteboard to unscramble projected words into sentences. (Ex. es / Ecuador / de / Carlos – Carlos es de Ecuador). We discussed and corrected them together.
As an extension, I wrote the same sentences plus more on colored paper, each word, and punctuation on a separate piece.
Students worked with a partner to manipulate these cards into a full sentence.
Once they finished a sentence and checked it, they would return their set and get a new one.
This was very helpful for the little words like la, del, un, etc. It was a tricky way to sneak in adjective agreement and word order as well. Most students said it was very helpful since my perfectionists have been complaining about not being able to put together sentences like they would like to.
Chapter 4 of Capibara con botas Lesson Plans
Differentiated Reading Based on Class
I have one small section that I will probably always read to them. There are a few students who could read alone, but as a collective, they always chose to read with me and complete activities together. In the other section, I gave the option to read with me or read alone. Once done reading I had a few activity options in the slide show on Classroom, which they could choose from.
Order of events
As a simple reading practice, I had sentence strips of ten main events of the novel. Students worked in pairs to order the events and then checked using their books.
Listening Assessment Ch.1-4
Students listened to sentences from the novel and matched them with pictures from the book.
More resources for teaching the novel Capibara
- Updated – Use Spanish Novel Conversation Cards to support speaking practice & assessments
- The official teacher’s guide
- Quizlets of Vocab – Capibara
- My El capibara con botas Pinterest Board for more ideas for cultural expansion.
- Next post – Teaching Capibara Chapters 5-9
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Here are resources to teach the purchased novel El capibara con botas.
Update – Pair El Capibara con botas & the Movie Encanto
Encanto would be perfect for after you finish the novel El capibara con botas.
- Encanto in Spanish class
- Encanto Movie Guide for Spanish class
- Grab a Freebie below to teach about the culture in Encanto & Intro the characters
