Art Treasures: more good stuff from Spain

Continuing the theme of the last few blog posts, I have some more finds to share from my recent lap around Spain. Today’s haul: art related treasures.

On our trip we went to several art museums: Prado, Reina Sofía, Thyssen Bournemisza (all in Madrid), El Greco (Toledo), Picasso (Barcelona), Guggenheim (Bilbao), & Dalí (Figueres).

One significant change compared to my last trip is that several museums are no longer allowing photography of any kind. It used to be “no flash”; now it’s “no foto”. Bummer.

Since integrating art into our classes is one of my favorite things, I wanted to find some treasures to refresh my collection.

The first jewel is a Picasso memory & art game (Find it here). I made a DIY version of a similar idea on Shutterfly, and we have used it extensively in class, so I thought the Picasso addition would be cool. It is, with one exception: the cards are tiny! The Shutterfly cards are about the size of a coaster; these cards are about 1/3 that size. Nonetheless, it is well made & will be fun to use.

Next, this kids’ biography of Picasso. (Find it here) There are many other titles in this series that look interesting for our SSR library & biographies unit.

Finally, this book of Cubist masks has a variety of designs that can be cut out & colored. I’m thinking of using these resources in conjunction with Agentes Secretos this year, and may use the masks with an art/identity unit in my advanced intermediate class. (Find it here).

New year, new books!

In my previous post, I shared some book reconnaissance from our recent trip to Spain. Today I want to share four books that I bought and plan to use in my classes this year.

“Cuadernos de vacaciones” were all over stores throughout our trip, so this one caught my eye: Esto NO es un cuaderno de vacaciones. It has a variety of puzzles, reading comprehension tasks, and fun facts that will be cool brain breaks and warmups. [Buy it here]

From the 9-12 age category:

I think this series is in translation, but it looks intriguing and compelling: Agatha Mistery. [Buy it here]

Los Futbolísimos is another series that looks like a lot of fun. This has the advantage of cultural references and a story line that soccer fans will enjoy. [Buy it here]

Finally, La Chica Invisible is the latest from Blue Jeans, and it looks soooooooo good. The Canciones Para Paula series by the same author was absolutely devoured by some of my most reluctant heritage readers last year, so I’m excited to offer them more of what they like (after I finish reading it!) I think Internado fans will really like it. [Buy it here)

A little slice of book paradise

I took advantage of being in Madrid to go to Casa del Libro, an awesome bookstore in Spain. I bought a few books and would have bought dozens more if I had won el Gordo or if my family didn’t like to eat every day. 😉

Instead, I took pictures of titles and series that caught my eye. I was on the hunt for three major categories: books that interest me, books for my AP students (mostly adolescent/YA stuff) and for heritage learners. My classroom library is steadily growing and I was looking to add some diversity to the options currently available.

And I also took some pics of our Spanish daughter’s bookshelf:

When in France…

We are in the middle of our epic family Tour de España adventure and had really hoped to see Spain play in the World Cup while in Spain. That didn’t pan out, so we did the next best thing: we went to France for the day. It was AWESOME watching France play & win in the final with a few thousand of my new French besties! Here are a few unedited photos & videos from today’s adventure.