8 Ideas for Spanish Club

Last year I started cultural explorations of a specific country spread out over 6-8 club meetings. We learned about Spain in the fall and Mexico in the Spring. This year we'll study Peru in the fall and probably Panama in the Spring. The nice thing about this format is that I can keep it basically the same and just plug in specific country activities. Read on to see what kinds of activities I include in each semester.

1. Paint a flag - elementary kids love painting and yes it's messy but they're actually pretty good about cleaning up after. I just use butcher paper and tempura paint and if the flag has a seal then I print it out as big as I can get it on a piece of paper and we glue it on. You could also make this an individual activity with smaller flags but I like the teamwork aspect. Since it's the first thing we do it helps the club members get to know each other.

Don't forget to eat a flag snack! Toothpicks and fruit and marshmallows in the color of your flag!

2. Learn a dance - for Mexico we learned el jarabe tapatio or the Mexican hat dance. For Spain we did el flamenco. There are TONS of videos youtube showing the steps or easy enough dances to copy. I just googled "name of the dance + for kids."

For Peru we will learn an easy version of the La Marinera. I actually attended a session on La Marinera at ACTFL 2 years ago and I'm excited to finally try it out. Here is the video we will use.


We practice our dance at the end of each meeting when the kiddos are starting to get a little crazy. Sometimes we just have 5 minutes left and sometimes 15 but either way it's a good way to wrap up Spanish Club.
3. Make some art - For Mexico we made Frida Kahlo self portraits complete with construction paper cejas glued on. For Spain we made Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali self portraits. For Peru we will make construction paper arpilleras - maybe one depicting our city and our school! We are also going to make our own Nazca Lines. 

This is where Pinterest will be your best friend. It's kind of funny but I now get a lot of art teacher pins in my feed but if you search for "country + crafts for kids" or "country + activities for kids" you should get tons of ideas. And I think even high schoolers would like some of them!
4. Go sightseeing - I didn't do this last year but I used to do "sightseeing" club meetings where I would project different landmarks on SMARTboards around the school and the kids would take their pictures in front of them. It was hilarious and fun. This year I plan on doing it using a green screen. We will learn about Machu Picchu and then have our picture taken as if we were there. Later I'll print the pictures and the kids will get a souvenir of their "trip." Here are some tips to get you started!
5. Learn a few words of another language - most kids no matter their age don't realize that there is more than just Spanish spoken in many Spanish speaking countries. This is another thing I'm adding this year after spending a week in Mexico this summer and learning a few words in Maya. This video is a cute way for my students to learn a few words in Quechua. 

6. Do some math - This one kind of falls under learn a few words of an indigenous language. I wish I would have done this when we studied Mexico but it would have been cool to play with numbers using the Maya writing system. For Peru I'm thinking we might make our own quipus. Learn more here. 

7. Make some food - This one is a no brainer. I used to actually do nothing but cooking. It was like a cooking club but with Spanish flair. Not surprisingly that got expensive and stressful so now I just do one a semester. For Mexico we made pico de gallo - super easy for elementary kiddos. For Spain we made gazpacho. Not sure about Peru yet. I need to check with my Peruvian friends to see what they suggest. (If you have ideas for something easy please comment below!) 

I had a Donors Choose project that was just for cooking supplies!

8. Invite a guest speaker - this is also something I haven't made happen yet but I really really want to. If you have someone that is from the country you are teaching about see if they can visit your Spanish Club for the afternoon or do a skype call. Have students brainstorm and practice questions they want to ask before the visit. And later you can have them make thank you cards! 

Other things to consider - what are your club rules? How and when can a student be asked to leave your club? Do you need a permission slip? What are your school's policies regarding after school clubs? How often and where will you meet? Will your school reimburse you for supplies? Will members be expected to pay dues? Will you have officers? A secret handshake? You get the idea. Make sure you have thought through all that and include it in your sign up form.

Of course it depends on what level you teach to. At the elementary level I limit mine to 3rd-5th graders and a max of 20 kids. Everyone must have a permission slip with parent contact information on it and all of our clubs have a three strike policy in regards to behavior and late pick ups. 

So that will be Spanish Club this year for me. What are your favorite Spanish Club activities? Share in the comments below!

I make my forms in Canva -  it's easy!

Calendar Notebooks for Spanish Class

Earlier this year I wrote about how I set up and do calendar time in my elementary Spanish classes. You can read Part One here and Part Two here. I also mentioned that I was trying something new with having calendar notebooks. It was an idea I found on either Pinterest or Instagram from a second grade teacher who did it daily for calendar math.

I implemented them in the last two months of school and they were a such BIG hit in first and second grade that I think I might expand to other grades.

What you need:

Three ring binders - enough for each student plus a couple extra
Sheet protectors
Dry erase markers - I sent a quick email to the other teachers at my school and the general consensus was the smaller ones are better for this kind of thing.
Calendar pages - get your copy here.
Other pages with song lyrics or writing pages with things you want practiced regularly

I quickly made this title page with my bitmoji and google slides

How I used them:

Firstly, I was lucky to have a student teacher around the time I was implementing these so I was able to assemble them while she did her solo week. I have two different versions of the Mi Calendario pages - one for first grade and one for second grade. I printed them on different colored paper so that students could easily find which page they should be on. I also included the song lyrics to most of the songs & chants we sing on a regular basis or that I want to introduce. Just having the words in front of them is good for literacy and it's wonderful for visual learners like me!

First grade calendar page

I keep my binders in six different tubs under my SMART board so I can quickly pass them out. In the tubs are the binders and socks for erasing when they're done. I used to keep the markers in there too but my kiddos were having a hard time putting the caps on and I had a lot of dried out markers. So now I keep them in a cup on my desk and quickly pass them out.


The students LOVED filling out the pages. I filled one out as an example and walked around to make sure everyone was on task and getting the right answers. The first grade page is simpler and just includes days of the week, weather, and clothing. The second grade page has the day, month, date, season, weather and temperature. On the back side was clothing and they even had their own bear to dress!

Second grade calendar page

They do take some time - about 10 minutes, which in a 25 minute class is an eternity. If you have a longer class however these are a perfect way to start the lesson. They were also great for those random classes at the end of the year where one group is off schedule because of field trips, assemblies, parties etc. If one class was way ahead I could pull these out for a fun review. When they're done they simply wipe off their answers and put their binder back in the box!

One thing I realized while doing them was that I hadn't included enough clothing - specifically warm weather clothing so I had to update those pages and will make new copies before the start of the year. I was also tasked with making sandals, a water bottle, and hot chocolate for our class weather bear - this after I'd already made pajamas, slippers, a hoodie, and sweater. 2nd graders can be very demanding!

So those are my calendar notebooks. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions! How do you do calendar in your class? Share in the comments below.