Reading Activities for Hispanic Heritage Month

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I love incorporating reading in my lesson plans, but it’s not always my students’ favorite thing. Because of that, I will often “sneak” in a quick reading activity here, or there, but not spend the entire class period reading a text, because that’s just not as engaging for them. Here’s 5 ideas for how you can “sneak” in reading on famous Hispanics all month long. Plus, I have an easy bell ringer you can use as a post and go start of class every day! Check out these reading activities for Hispanic Heritage Month!

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Reading Activities for Hispanic Heritage Month

Station Activities

I love stations and you’ve heard me talk about how to make them run smoothly before in my post on streamlining stations for Spanish class. Put a few of the readings at a station and use them to practice reading in a station or center rotation. You could even use the bell ringer activity I’m going to share in just a minute as the comprehension activity at your station!

Free Voluntary Reading

I have a much more in-depth post explaining Free Voluntary Reading (FVR), so if you’re new to the concept make sure you check that out here! These readings make a great option for another reading option to add to your classroom library. They include a “cover” and last page so you print, staple, then you have a mini book for your classes.

Translation

A simple option is to have students do a horizontal translation with a paragraph. They read the paragraph and then re-write it from another perspective. For example, “she” instead of “I”, or “we” instead of “they”! Horizontal translation is also a great way to practice shifting perspectives.

While we don’t ALWAYS want our students to translate to show comprehension, it’s fine to mix it up. You could always have them just translate a reading to show understanding!

Warm Up

Pull out one of the readings and use it for warm up. You can create comprehension questions, or have students translate – or just use the ones I’ve already made for you! Grab a free pdf in Spanish and English in the free resource library on my blog.

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Mentor Text

Especially after doing the bell ringer questions all month, use a reading as a mentor text. Students read it, then write their own version about themselves or their lives, or another person in history. The PDF in the free resource library has these instructions, too!