Inside: Teaching Robo en la noche by Kristy Placido in Spanish class. Resources for teaching Robo en la noche as a part of a bigger unit about the environment and Costa Rica.
Author: Allison Wienhold
Published: June 3, 2015 & most recently updated on February 10, 2026
One of my favorite books of the year from Spanish 3 was Robo en la noche by Kristy Placido. We read it in the past tense as a part of a bigger unit about the environment and Costa Rica. I relied heavily on the Robo en la noche teachers’ guide.
We also actually read the book to start out Spanish 4, as they had never read a novel. They loved the storyline and although the reading level may have been a bit low for them, it provided a lot of high-level discussions and gave them great confidence to go on to read La Calaca Alegre and Cajas de Cartón. Update check out How to Teach Comprehensible Spanish Books & 20 Activities for Spanish Class Novels.
Before the novel Robo en la noche
We started out the unit by completing these Robo en la Noche stations using realia about the environment in Spanish. They are perfect for a sub plan before the novel or during if you are gone.
*Update you can now get these in my website store as well El Medio Ambiente y Costa Rica Spanish Earth Day Stations.
Learn more in this blog post.
During the novel Robo en la Noche
During the novel, we completed many activities from the teacher’s guide. An especially great resource is having students explore the Costa Rica MINAE website, so they can see this organization actually exists.
We also talked about the Escuela de Botellas Peace Corps project. It shows a way to eliminate trash by using it to create a school. This awesome resource used to be an interactive online book that had a recording of a native speaker as you turned the pages. It actually takes place in Guatemala and could be used as part of a unit on Esperanza or schools around the world.
*Update use these Spanish Novel Conversation Cards to support conversation during the novel and for speaking assessments.
After the novel Robo en la Noche
My first year teaching Robo, there were two assessments at the end of the novel. We did individual speaking assessments, which can be found in the teacher’s guide. Plus we did a modified Choice Board based on the one shared by the author Kristy Placido. Some of the projects can be found below.
UPDATE – Robo en la Noche
I taught the novel 7 years over 2 differently schools in both Spanish 3 & 4. We did it in unique ways each year.
In my second school we used Standard Based Grading in Spanish class. So, a choice project no longer fit our standards. Instead we usually did the following at the end of the book. We usually did a small reading and listening assessment during the book.
- Final Writing Assessment
- Spanish Speaking Assessment using Spanish Novel Conversation Cards
Once we were doing the AAPPL test in Spanish class, we moved to more AAPPL aligned assessments. The writing was more about the environment AAPPL style instead of discussing what happened in the book.
In later years I added a movie to this unit.
Update: Movies that deal with the environment for a Robo en la Noche unit. Best Spanish Earth Day Movies. I’ve used both Pachamama & El Camino de Xico with students as a part of this unit.
- El camino de Xico & Spanish movie guide El camino de Xico
- Pachamama & Pachamama Movie Guide
- Spanish Class Documentaries – many related to the environment
Other Great Ideas and resources to add to this unit
- Earth day in Spanish Class – El medio ambiente
- Blog posts for Robo en la noche– shared by Sharon Birch
- My Medio Ambiente Pinterest Board
- Blog posts for Robo en la noche – shared by Cynthia Hitz
- Movie talk with Rio – shared by Erin Bas
One Year my students read the sequel Noche de Oro
They enjoyed that it was super similar to El Internado. But, overall we like using Robo better.
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