I love collaborating with other elementary language teachers. One of the things I find most helpful is hearing about how others teach a certain concept or topic. I always seem to come away with new inspiration and a great idea to try. So, I’d like to share some ideas on teaching colors in Spanish.
I reflect on my general process for planning lessons in a separate post–check that out if it sounds helpful. Today my focus will be to go through my favorite ways to teach colors in Spanish at the elementary level.
Teaching Colors in Spanish to a Kindergarten Class
When teaching colors in Kindergarten, my teammates and I like to start with just a few colors and then we add more as we go.
If the timing works out, some years I start with just the fall colors (rojo, amarillo, anaranjado, verde, y marrón). We’ve enjoyed using this booklet and activities from Mundo de Pepita. It’s fun being able to connect words in their new language to the world around them. We’re in the Midwest so we get lots of beautiful colors during fall.
Other years it ends up that we’re not starting colors until after the excitement of fall has passed. In that case, we usually start with these 5 colors: rojo, verde, azul, amarillo, y rosado. A colleague (thanks, Sra. Burkel!) came up with a cute song that we use and she was nice enough to let me turn it into a video–check it out here.
Unit Pacing in Kindergarten
- Introduce & practice 5 colors: 2 or 3 lessons
- Add additional colors & practice: 2 lessons
- All colors: 4 or 5 lessons
- Review: 1 or 2 lessons
- *Assess: 1 or 2 lessons
Here are my google slides for the first 4 lessons to get you started!
*My PLC team and I have had many good conversations about the necessity of assessment (especially in kindergarten). Do we want to spend time on it here? How many colors are we expecting students to master at this time? Ultimately, since I’m responsible for teaching this power standard and putting grades on the report card, I do assess here. We expect them to be able to identify 5 colors by the end of this unit. Students who are partway to meeting the learning goal have more chances later in the school year to show me what they know.
Activities for Teaching Colors in Spanish
When I think about all the different kinds of activities I use within a unit, the list gets fairly long. Even though our lessons are only 30 minutes, each one is filled with several different activities.
I’d like to share many different activities for teaching colors with you–pick and choose what might work best for you and your students!
Mundo de Pepita Booklet–Arturo y la Bota
This is one of my all time favorite Mundo de Pepita booklets. Arturo goes fishing and catches different colored fish. I’ll let you guess what he catches in the end. 😃 Its simplicity is perfect for kindergarten students and the ending is silly and fun.
After we read the story as a whole group, I send students to their seats. We work on coloring the fish one at a time. I generally call out a color and have students find that color crayon and hold it up. That way students who need a little help can get on the same page before everyone starts coloring.
When using booklets with students, we always use them over a few different lessons. My favorite way to wrap it up is to bring a small stuffed animal for each student to read their story to. It is so sweet to see students sitting all over the classroom and hear them reading in Spanish to a stuffie.
Digital Matching Game–Whole group
As I said before, I often plan several activities for one lesson. I like to do quick whole group games at the start or end (or both!) of class.
Playing a matching or memory game is something we do often in my class. You can choose to just play one round or more than that if you have more time.
A volunteer student picks which number to look under and then everyone repeats the color after I move the cover. We make it into a cooperative game and see how long it takes to find all the matches.
Seesaw Activities
After working on a whole group activity, I find it important to transition students to some independent work time. The Seesaw app is a great tool for this. I linked two activities that are so fun to do with kindergarten or first grade students when working on Spanish colors.
Seesaw Activity: Color Scavenger Hunt *Seriously, this one is so fun. I walk around smiling to myself as I watch and listen to students gleefully taking photos of different colors around their classroom.
Seesaw Activity: Color Sort *Simple but effective. Students are asked to sort images based on their color. Each time they move an image, they should listen to the color word in Spanish. Great additional input!
Kahoot
Kahoot is a fun and techy review game to play towards the end of a unit. I wrote about teaching this game to my kindergarten students in a previous post–read more here.
For younger grades (kinder and 1st) I usually only create two answer options. Although I’m always reading the question and answer options for the class, this game also has students reading a fair amount so I prefer to keep it simple.
I find Kahoot to be energizing and engaging for students. It’s a fun way to connect spoken language with the visuals of the game. I also like that it’s a way for kids to answer on their own and for me to see how they’re doing with the content.
I use this Spanish colors Kahoot towards the end of our unit.
Colors of a Country
We set up our K-5 program to focus on one country during each year. Students learn about the culture and traditions of the country throughout the school year. One way we do that is by incorporating the country wherever we can!
Our kindergarten students learn about México so when we learn colors, we talk about the colors of México. In addition to talking about the colors of the flag, we talk about the colors we see in different pictures of México. Here’s an example of what I mean.
Books for Teaching Colors in Spanish
Oso Pardo, Oso Pardo ¿Qué ves ahí? by Bill Martin Jr & Eric Carle
I’ve always loved reading stories to students that they are familiar with in English. Their eyes always light up when I get out this book. Reading it in Spanish is such a fun way to work on colors and I appreciate that it adds the animal vocabulary as well. This is a fun one to have kids repeat after you as you read.
Isabel and her Colores go to School by Alexandra Alessandri
A new favorite for sure! We read this book last year and I fell in love with the story and illustrations. The author beautifully describes the languages of English and Spanish as being different colors. Several of my students connected with Isabel because they already speak Spanish and are learning English at school too. I highly recommend this book!
Videos for Teaching Colors in Spanish
I have a whole list of my favorite videos for teaching different topics in Spanish here. BUT! Here are two of my favorite videos for teaching colors.
Movement Ideas for Teaching Colors in Spanish
We know kids need to move (I wrote a whole post on that here) and I have a great movement activity to use with colors!
Color Freeze Dance
Choose a fun and bouncy dance type song and have students dance until you pause the music. Shout out a color and they have to find that color in the classroom before they freeze. I have students point to the color they found. Everyone repeats the color and then we all dance again.
Stand Up / Sit Down
So simple but a great way to review colors in Spanish. If you’re wearing…stand up! You can play until everyone is standing. OR Switch it up sometimes and say if you’re wearing…sit down. If they’re already sitting, they should stay seated.
This activity is perfect for when an activity wraps up and there are still two or three minutes left in class.
Recycle colors in future grade levels
One of my favorite things about teaching multiple grade levels is seeing students grow and be able to do more with each year. It’s important to recycle or reuse content they’ve learned previously so that they continue to work towards mastery. Plus, it helps students build confidence in their new language.
1st grade
After being introduced to colors in kindergarten, 1st grade students are ready to do more with them! It is super fun to have students share their opinions about the different colors. I love that their knowledge of the color words enables them to focus on using opinion phrases like “me gusta” and “no me gusta.”
We also use this I Spy game with the phrase “yo veo.” This is a perfect game to use whole group and then send kids off to work in pairs. I also use this game with sub plans (after kids are familiar with how to play).
A big part of our first grade curriculum is learning about the rainforest of Costa Rica. Students love learning to talk about and describe rainforest animals and we use colors as part of that description.
Lastly, we use a color story called ¿Dónde Vives, Dinosaurio? in 1st grade. It’s wonderfully simple and students enjoy answering the questions throughout the story.
2nd grade
A big part of our 2nd grade curriculum is learning to talk about school. An easy way to recycle colors is when we’re learning school supplies. Students do very well with describing their different school supplies, both the color and size.
Final Thoughts on Teaching Colors in Spanish
As teachers, we end up teaching the same or similar content for many years. One thing I’ve done to keep it interesting and more exciting for me each year is I switch up which activities I use.
After using the song, El Gusano Tutu, for several years, I wanted a change. We still listened to the song El Gusano Tutu but we spent more time reading and working with Oso Pardo. If you find yourself growing weary of a certain topic or activity, I encourage you to try something else that grabs your attention more.
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Let’s face it, elementary students can be squirmy. Like, roll around on the floor or hang upside down from their chair squirmy. This has only increased in the last few years! Our job as elementary Spanish teachers is to help students capture that awesome energy and focus it on our learning goals. Instead of feeling frustrated when students move at inopportune times, I started planning for movement in my lessons. Looking for all the possible ways to get my students moving for a purpose has helped immensely.
We know that kids need to move. It’s not just a nice thing to include in our teaching, it’s necessary. Moving helps students focus, creates a positive mood, and can ultimately help students learn.
4 Ways to Include Movement in Your Lessons
- Planned brain breaks
- Unplanned brain breaks due to necessity
- Transitional movement
- Lesson activity that has movement
Let’s talk through each place movement can occur in class.
Planned Brain Breaks
Brain breaks. It’s been a buzzword for a while now and that’s a good thing!
My lessons are only 30 minutes but if I know the length of a certain activity will push students’ ability to focus, I’ll plan a brain break either part way through or right at the end of that activity.
If you haven’t seen ¡Vamos, Go Noodle!, they have fun songs and activities that invite students to follow along.
That said, I’m more likely to pull up one of my favorite 1,2,3 Andrés songs and play freeze dance. When I stop the music, kids freeze, I say a word we’ve been working on and we all repeat and/or act it out. Then we’re back to dancing.
Unplanned Brain Breaks
We’ve all been there. You look around the room and for whatever reason, it’s not happening. The kids are acting like bumps on a log or they’re a bit too wound up.
For these unplanned movement breaks, I usually refrain from using video brain breaks. Instead, I opt to do a quick & focused teacher-led movement break.
All students stand and we start by marching in place while we count to 10 in Spanish. Then we do another action and count to 9. We work our way down to one, which is always “give yourself a big hug.” Actions I like to include are stomping, tip toes, jumping, clapping, big claps, tiny claps (just pointer fingers), crocodile arms in various sizes. I also do silly voices along with the sizes (low voice for the big crocodile or the stomping feet and high voice for the baby crocodile and tippy toes).
This kind of movement break doesn’t disrupt the timing of our lesson too much. I find it allows the group to refocus together and get back on track.
Transitional Movement
It might seem like a bit much to actually plan out movement that happens during transitions.
I will admit to being an overplanner, but stay with me on this. I’ve found it so helpful to intentionally think about and plan for how I use the transitional time in my lessons. Students definitely get squirrely if I ask them to sit in one spot for the whole lesson. SO, I try to plan activities that will have them moving from one spot to another.
Perhaps we start as a whole group at the carpet and then I send them off around the room to work on something with a partner. Or they head back to their desk or table spot for an individual task. If they need some extra motivation to get moving, I task them with specific directions.
- Walk on your heels back to your desk
- Bunny hop to the carpet
- Tip toe to line up
- Crab walk to your group spot
The simple act of moving from one place in the room to another can be enough of a movement break to allow students to reset and focus on their next activity.
Lesson Activity that Includes Movement
Perhaps the most obvious place to plan for movement within our lessons is within the instructional activity itself. There are a number of different activities I use throughout the school year that ask students to move for a language purpose (while also achieving the goal of overall movement as well!).
4 Corners
Opinion Corners
Opinion Corners is also an easy one to set up and it’s adaptable to a variety of topics. Students simply move to a sign to demonstrate their opinion of whatever the teacher brings up. Learning sports vocabulary? Show pictures of different sports (one at a time) and students move to a sign (I like it, I don’t like it, etc.). Learning different colors? Food? Activities? Use it over and over again!
Walk to Read
Walk to Read activities are something I came up with because I’m seriously always looking to get my students moving. Do I sound like a broken record yet?
Basically, students have to move to find a clue (hanging on the wall of your classroom or in the hallway). Once they read the clue, they head back to their desk to color something on a poster (they’re using information from the clue here). Then they’re up looking for the next clue!
Freeze Dance
I love to plan a Freeze Dance session when we’re just starting to work on a new vocabulary topic. It’s a great way for students to continue receiving target language input but in a new way. Plus, we get to move around AND listen to música in Spanish. Win, win, win!
We listen to part of a song and then I pause the music. Everyone freezes and then repeats a word after me. If there are actions that go with the words, do those too. An extension of this activity is to have student leaders shout out a word for the class to repeat. This works well once students are a bit more confident with their new words.
*I encourage you to be mindful of your specific students for this activity. There are some class groups I choose not to play Freeze Dance with as the unstructured movement time causes some issues.
Tour the School
Teaching about the different places at school? Go there! Every year my second graders learn how to talk about where they’re going at school. On our first day of the unit, I line my class up and we take a field trip around our school building. At each stop, students hear me talk about the place in Spanish. I ask a bunch of yes/no questions to keep them engaged with Spanish. Then we move on to another place.
Our final project in this unit has students moving to the different places in school taking pictures that they then use to create a video. More movement!
Scavenger Hunt around School (or at least part of it)
Learning about the rainforest and different rainforest animals is a favorite unit in my first grade classes. I love to hang photos of rainforest animals in the first grade hallways. Then during class I send small groups out on a “rainforest adventure.” They are tasked with finding animals and taking a photo with their iPad. They can then use those photos for another activity in class.
This type of activity can be done with a variety of different topics. Once you start brainstorming and intentionally planning for movement within your lessons, it gets easier and easier to find ways to include it often.
Final Thoughts on Planning for Movement
Some students need to move more often than others. Allowing certain students to move in non-distracting ways can be a game changer. I have found that one on one conversations with students about positive ways they can move during whole group instruction to be quite helpful.
I can think of some students who prefer to do their individual work while standing instead of sitting. Years ago I would have asked them to sit but I now realize, it doesn’t matter!
Another student likes to stand and move around in the back of the classroom while we do whole group work. That way he has tons of room and is not distracting to those around him.
Our job as teachers is always a work in progress. I encourage you to start small and just try one new movement activity–see how it goes!
I don’t know about you, but I love the puzzle that is lesson planning for my elementary Spanish classes. I love looking at the big picture, a specific unit, and the nitty gritty of each daily lesson. I’d love to share with you how I plan lessons for my elementary Spanish classes.
I’m an over-planner and constantly worry about having extra time at the end of a lesson (seriously, that never happens when you have 30 minute lessons!). I often end up having an entire activity that we run out of time for and I have to push off until next time. All that to say, I love planning ahead and also am ever flexible when looking at lesson planning for my classes.
I tend to follow a similar structure for each of my lessons. I’m sure you’ll agree that elementary students benefit from familiar procedures and expectations. I find their self confidence in their new language grows when they know what they can expect from our Spanish lessons.
Lesson Plan Structure for Elementary Spanish Class
Introduction
-Song
-Welcome video
-Conversation question
-Go over the learning goal *every lesson!
I usually do a combination of these ideas. It’s nice to mix things up so there are a variety of attention grabbers throughout our lessons.
Part 1
-Whole group review of previous content followed by introduction of new content
-Whole group game or activity
Part 2
–Partner or solo practice activity
Conclusion
–Gather as a whole group again
–Review learning goals, shorter version of game or activity
–Goodbye song or chant
Let me share my lesson planning worksheet with you!
Click the image below to sign up to receive my lesson planning worksheet. You can edit the google slides if you’re a techy planner OR! make copies from a pdf if you’re a pen and paper planner like me.
How I plan lessons for Spanish class
Basic housekeeping–I number my lessons for each grade level. Starting with number 1 and continuing until the last lesson of the year. Depending on how the schedule works out and when we have days off, each classroom could be on different lessons as the year moves forward. However, I find it helps me keep track of which group needs which lesson to keep them numbered.
I add in extra lessons for holidays or other cultural topics not included in our curriculum as we have time. Some years we might be finishing up a project and not have extra time to do a lesson for el Día de San Valentín in a particular grade. If we have time, however, it’s fun to expand on these exciting or special days in class.
One last thing to keep in mind when planning lessons for elementary Spanish class…kids need to move. Movement breaks are so important! These can be planned right into the lesson or done as a spur of the moment activity as needed. I intentionally think about at which points in my lessons students will be able to move. I find this helps me keep it more balanced and students are sitting for extended periods of time less often. Even moving into partner groups is a chance to get up and stretch / move / get the wiggles out!
A gentle reminder–while it’s wonderful to research and collaborate with others, ultimately, I’ve found it so important to plan for lessons that make the most sense to the individual teacher. We’re most successful when we work to our own strengths and plan lessons we know will work best for our students each year.
Happy planning!