Instructions: As you read the bilingual story and Spanish words come up, ask your children what they think they mean. After they guess and you give them the answer from the vocabulary key at the end of the story, get them to repeat the words with you.
After a fantastic summer, the first day of school had finally arrived! Twin sisters Aila and Olivia had been looking forward to this day since they heard the other niños in the neighborhood talk about all the great things they do at school, but the girls hadn’t experienced it themselves yet.
For the first time ever, their mother hadn’t waited for them to wake up. She gently approached them and whispered:
– “Time to get up and go to school, hijas.”
And as if she had said some magical words, the twins instantly got up and started getting dressed. They had been staring at their uniforme for the past week, thinking that wearing it was as cool as playing dress-up.
– “Will you stay at school with us, mamá?” Aila asked, a bit nervous
– “No, mi amor, school is only for kids.” her mom replied, but she instantly added, “Don’t worry. I’ll be waiting for you when you finish and we will go to the park and celebrate your first day. You’ll see how time flies when you are having fun.”
Olivia was eating her breakfast silently. She was usually a cheerful, chatty girl but she seemed to be deep in thought.
– “A penny for your thoughts!” said her mom, breaking the silence.
– “I was just wondering what our profesor will be like.” she said.
– “He is wonderful.” her mom said. “His name is Mateo and you will really like him.” “Ok, let’s go to la escuela!” she added.
They were leaving the house when Aila noticed that Rufus, the dog, was following them. She turned at him and said:
– “You can’t come, Rufus! School is only for kids and you are a dog!” and she hopped into the car.
Los cinco exploradores
– “Do you want to play?” Aila asked a boy with a red mochila on his back.
They were in the schoolyard waiting for the rest of the children to arrive. He smiled at her and nodded. After a few minutes, Aila, Olivia and 2 other children were jumping the rope excitedly. Suddenly, they saw a boy with freckles and red hair crying.
– “What’s wrong?” the boy with the red backpack, whose name was Tomás, asked.
– “I lost my new cuaderno” replied Hugo. “I had it this morning and I don’t know where I left it.” he kept sobbing.
– “Don’t worry,” Olivia said, “We’ll help you find it and on our way we can explore the school.”
Los cinco exploradores yelled in excitement as they explored their new school discovering classes and hallways.
– “Look! There’s a small door over there that only children can go through! What do you think is inside?” Hugo asked.
– “Let’s go in!” said the fifth explorer, a tall girl called Flora.
They tip-toed into the mysterious place and carefully opened the small door.
– “What if we get into trouble?” asked Hugo.
– “Nobody has told us we can’t come in here.” said Olivia.
So they walked in, holding hands, and suddenly they were surrounded by piles and piles of drawings, juguetes to play with, crayons, lápices de colores to draw with, and so much more.
– “It’s a secret room for children!” someone shouted.
They looked at all the paintings and realized that all the creative things that older children had made were carefully stored there. Tomás stood next to a clown that had been built with Lego, paper and cardboard, and then decorated with plastilina. Meanwhile, Flora and Aila played in a homemade dollhouse and Olivia checked the alphabet board. The crying boy, Hugo, had completely forgotten about his lost cuaderno and was happily playing with a paper airplane.
– “Is this what we are going to do at schooool?” Aila asked astonished.
– “I want to start learning right now!” Olivia said.
– “Let’s do everything together from now on” Ben added.
– “Yes! We can play together during every recreo and explore new things!”, said Flora
– “I never want to leave school”, Tomás exclaimed.
They all jumped and screamed in excitement. The bell suddenly rang and they ran back to the school yard. On the way, Aila saw something yellow on the floor. She got closer and realized it was Hugo’s notebook.
– “Look what I found!” she exclaimed as she presented it to him.
– “¡Gracias!” He said, and then he added: “School is amazing and so are my new amigos.”
Vocabulary
Niños- children
Hijas- daughters
Uniforme- uniform
Mamá- mom
Mi amor- my love
Profesor- teacher
La escuela- school
Los cinco exploradores- the five explorers
Mochila- backpack
Cuaderno- notebook
Juguetes- toys
Lápices de colores- colored pencils
Plastilina- play dough
Recreo- recess
Gracias- thank you
Amigos- friends