Fantastic Spanish Language Resource

Scholastic Classroom Magazines in Spanish

I just received the September issues of Scholastic's classroom magazine, Let's Find Out in Spanish.  I remembered using and loving the Scholastic News magazines as a classroom teacher and was thrilled to be able to order Let's Find Out as a homeschooler.  Let's Find Out is written on a Pre-K/K level, but I think it would also be appropriate for 1st grade beginning language learners.  

Homeschoolers have two options for ordering.  One is to call Scholastic at 1-800-SCHOLASTIC and order one subscription per child.  I'm not sure what the cost is for ordering under 10 subscriptions as it isn't listed on the website, but I believe it is under $10/subscription.  The downside to ordering one subscription/child (unless you have 10 children) is that you will not have access to the online activities.  The other option is to order the 10-subscription minimum at Scholastic.com.  **If you do not already have an account, you have to sign up first.  If you have any trouble signing up online, give them a call.  Their customer service is outstanding, and they are very willing to work with homeschoolers.**  Ordering 10 subscriptions gives you the educator discount and access to all the online activities.  It amounts to $55.00 ($5.50/subscription), which is a big chunk of change.  I fretted for 2 days trying to decide whether or not to make the purchase.  I ended up going for it, thinking that I would send the excess issues to the school in Honduras where I once worked.  

After looking over the online materials tonight, I've decided it's one of the best purchases I've made.  The online materials are fantastic.  There are short videos to go along with the theme for each magazine.  The videos are educational and simple with fantastic pictures, perfect for a language-learner.  There are also games (in Spanish) to go along with each unit, as well as printable worksheets.  The best part is that Scholastic has done all the work of putting the units together.  No more scouring the web for additional activities to go along with a theme.  Each month's 4 issues arrive with ideas for extension activities, poems, and lesson plans plus the additional online activities.  The amount of resources you get with a 10-subscription purchase is well worth the cost.

These are all the goodies that came with our September issue:  A magazine for 4 weeks, lesson plans/activities for each week, 2 large posters (the noses poster is pictures, and there is another on the back of it), worksheets to copy, and a list of online resources to accompany each week.

For a list of topics that will be covered this year, click here. 

Signing up with Scholastic.com as a homeschooler also gives you access to the Scholastic Book Clubs.  Club Leo is their Spanish book club, offering levels Pre-K-6 (although the selection is much better at the lower levels).  The Book Clubs are one of the most economical ways (besides the library) to access books in Spanish.

Side note: I know that many years ago when I taught 1st grade dual-immersion, Scholastic offered each grade level of Scholastic News in Spanish, but I couldn't find them available on their website.  I was only able to find Let's Find Out and then some older level (grade 6 and up) magazines.