Sonrisas Spanish Curriculum for Preschool

I frequently get messages from readers looking for ways to begin teaching Spanish to preschoolers. The reality is that there are not a lot of Spanish curricula out there for this age group, and I'm always happy to learn about new ones. So when Sonrisas Spanish reached out to me and asked me to take a look and share their curricula, I agreed.


Name of program: Sonrisas Spanish: Calendar Time
Target age: Preschool
Amount of materials: Moderate
Price: $189

Calendar Time from Sonrisas Spanish is a detailed curriculum that helps teachers establish a conversational (and educational) classroom. Students will spend time talking and learning all those basic Spanish words, such as colors, numbers, seasons, days of the week, months, and more.

The educator's guide is comprehensive with and introduction and detailed information on how to set up a calendar time, lists for daily questions and activities, and a template for organizing your lessons. You decide how often you'll have class, and therefore which activities you'll cover in each class meeting.

The lessons consist of 7 parts:

1. Daily Questions
2. Review
3. Daily Activities
4. Alphabet Activity
5. Geography Activity
6. Month Activities
7. Season Activities

But the lessons are flexible; you can choose which activities you'd like to focus on using the suggestions listed in the front of the guide. You are provided a blank template of a lesson plan that you can print and fill out according to your needs or preferred activities. (If you need help, Sonrisas has included a scope and sequence for one year that you can reference.) It also has a checklist that you can use as your plan your lessons so that you can be sure you've covered everything.

I have to stop right here and talk about how much I love how Sonrisas has taken the time to include geography in this program. Most preschool curricula don't bother to discuss other countries. I just LOVE how Sonrisas explores not just the United States with preschoolers, but also Spain and all of the countries in Latin America. The program comes with four large laminated posters for your classroom, including a world map. As part of the lesson, you'll show your preschooler where the country of the week is located, and you'll also discuss how you would get there (cue the topic of transportation!). And you can introduce the names of nearby oceans and countries.

The program also comes with 69 small (8.5 x 11), full-color posters (don't you love them?!) that cover:

• the alphabet
• the 12 months of the year
• the seasons
• weather & common weather phrases
• the days of the week
• colors

The thing I really love about beginning Spanish programs is that they can be used a) with younger children, and b) as an immersive preschool curriculum. Essentially, they cover the same topics that English preK programs cover...but in Spanish.

Calendar Time can be used as a stand-alone curriculum, or it can be used together with Sonrisas Spanish I (more about that next week!). I would definitely supplement it with bilingual (Spanish) children's books on the topic of the lesson.

Overall, it is an excellent curriculum for those of you looking to start teaching your preschoolers Spanish.


Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post with Sonrisas Spanish. All thoughts and opinions are my own.