I am teaching the novel El capibara con botas by Mira Canion as the first ever novel in Spanish 1. It has a comprehensive teacher’s guide and you can find all posts I have for the novel using the label Capibara, including teaching chapters 1-4.
For each chapter it is pretty much the same for how we read. For my lower level class, I read to them, discussing as we go. For my other section, I usually give the option to read with me and discuss, or read on their own and complete activities from the slide show posed on Google Classroom. With that in mind, here are some additional activities we did for chapters 5-9.
Chapter 5
Story Time with Sra. W
Since this chapter is pretty science heavy with the introduction to the water cycle all in Spanish, I read this chapter to both sections, so we could stop and discuss the science of deforestation.
Making Predictions
I introduced using “va a” to make simple predictions about what was going to happen. Students worked in groups to write predictions and we shared and discussed them.
Chapter 6
Marker Game
Using true/false statements about the chapter we played the fun marker game.
Mid book writing assessment
Students were asked to retell as much of the story from the first six chapters as they could in Spanish. It really showed them how much they could reproduce from memory! (Even though many complained as usually asking is they could do it in English;) #sorrynotsorry
Chapter 7
Running Dictation
Using 9 sentences from the chapter students completed a running dictation to retell what happened. It was the first time this group completed the activity and a usually reluctant group was very engaged and all worked hard. I post each sentence individually in our hallway, which gets the blood pumping as they run to retell the sentence to a writer, which is then passed to an artist. As an extension once a group finished, they put them in order (I do not number them in the hallway) and then retell the chapter. I explain how I use running dictation in this post.
Chapters 8 & 9
Due to some students getting bored that we were moving too slow, we started reading two chapters at a time. When we do this we usually read one chapter, do a small comprehension activity, read the next chapter and then do another activity. These chapters are all only about two pages, so once you get going two chapters in a class period works well.
Quizlet Live
To review previous vocab, as well as introduce some new vocabulary as well we did this Quizlet Live over chapters 3-10.
Differentiated Reading
I always read out loud and discuss as a group with my class that needs more support. The other class has the choice to read with me or on their own. After reading they wrote down causes and effects of the chapters.
Cultural Expansion – Islas Galápagos
As a sub-plan and cultural extension, while I was at a conference, my students read about animals of the Galapagos Islands and completed reading activities using Cultural Corner: Galapagos Islands Reading from Carrie Toth.
What activities have worked well for you for this portion of the book? You can see all posts for the novel using the label Capibara.
Updated resources & blog posts for teaching the novel
Cool resource for las Islas Galápagos: https://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the-scenes/streetview/treks/galapagos-islands/
Do you follow the lesson plans that are provided for Capibara con botas to a "T", or just do the activities you've described in your blog?
We are still just on Chapter 5 and we are in the third quarter! I feel like we are going so slow!
What I describe in these blog posts is basically all we did. So most chapters all we did was rad and maybe one activity.