Activities to do at home with our children

Thousands of children are staying at home around the world due to Coronavirus. I am posting some activities that you can do at home with your niños and niñas.

If you want to read children’s books on line visit the International Children's Digital Library. Please read to your child everyday. There are books in many different languages.

English: http://en.childrenslibrary.org

Spanish: http://es.childrenslibrary.org

#yomequedoencasa  #maybesomethingbeautiful

Author and illustrator, Rafael Lopez is posting black and white drawings from his books that didn't make to the final cut.

He says, “This way young readers will discover drawings never seen before and an opportunity to color them in their own way. If you like to share your drawing post it on social media with a hashtag like #yomequedoencasa, or #maybesomethingbeautiful.”

Other illustrators are joining to this great idea!

Joe Cepeda

Steve Musgrave

If you are an illustrator, you can post your art on social media and add   #yomequedoencasa  or #maybesomethingbeautiful

Educational Website

starfall.com

Starfall.com® opened in September 2002 as a free public service to teach children to read. Since then it has expanded to include language arts and mathematics for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and third grade.

Just Ask!: Be Different, Be Brave, Be You

Written by Sonia Sotomayor and illustrated by Rafael López

•                 Age Range: 4 - 8 years
•             Grade Level: Preschool - 3
•             Hardcover: 32 pages
•             Publisher: Philomel Books
•             Language: English
•             ISBN-10: 0525514120
•             ISBN-13: 978-0525514121

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and award-winning artist Rafael Lopez create a kind and caring book about the differences that make each of us unique.

Feeling different, especially as a kid, can be tough. But in the same way that different types of plants and flowers make a garden more beautiful and enjoyable, different types of people make our world more vibrant and wonderful.

In Just Ask, United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor celebrates the different abilities kids (and people of all ages) have. Using her own experience as a child who was diagnosed with diabetes, Justice Sotomayor writes about children with all sorts of challenges--and looks at the special powers those kids have as well. As the kids work together to build a community garden, asking questions of each other along the way, this book encourages readers to do the same: When we come across someone who is different from us but we're not sure why, all we have to do is Just Ask.

Disponible también en español  

¡Solo pregunta!: Sé Diferente, Sé Valiente, Sé Tú 

"An affirmative, delightfully diverse overview of disabilities." 

--Kirkus Reviews

Sonia Sotomayor talks about her book,

Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You

Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln

Written by Margarita Engle

Illustrated Rafael López

•                 Age Range: 4 - 8 years
•             Grade Level: Preschool - 3
•             Hardcover: 40 pages
•             Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers 
•             Language: English
•             ISBN-10: 148148740X
•             ISBN-13: 978-1481487405

  

In soaring words and stunning illustrations, Margarita Engle and Rafael López tell the story of Teresa Carreño, a child prodigy who played piano for Abraham Lincoln.

As a little girl, Teresa Carreño loved to let her hands dance across the beautiful keys of the piano. If she felt sad, music cheered her up, and when she was happy, the piano helped her share that joy. Soon she was writing her own songs and performing in grand cathedrals. Then a revolution in Venezuela forced her family to flee to the United States. Teresa felt lonely in this unfamiliar place, where few of the people she met spoke Spanish. Worst of all, there was fighting in her new home, too—the Civil War.

Still, Teresa kept playing, and soon she grew famous as the talented Piano Girl who could play anything from a folk song to a sonata. So famous, in fact, that President Abraham Lincoln wanted her to play at the White House! Yet with the country torn apart by war, could Teresa’s music bring comfort to those who needed it most?

Review

* “Engle's free verse whirls and twirls, playful and vivacious, while López's vivid, colorful artwork elevates this story to heavenly heights. Like a concerto for the heart.” Author: Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Lyrical, imagery-rich text . . . Patterned mixed-media illustrations use color to evoke the lushness of Venezuela, the darkness of war, and the beauty of music. Concluding with a historical note, the biography’s vibrant images and language form a melodious composition.” Author: Booklist