Yo/I

Games: Students can play a “Yo tengo” game where cards have certain characteristics. Whenever their characteristic card is read, students will ask a characteristic question and so on. The point is for the student with the characteristic to say, e.g., Yo tengo (I have).

Toys: Students can ask for a specific game or toy by saying “Yo quiero el hombre araña (I want the spiderman).

Recess: When students are dismissed for recess, the adult can model the word ‘yo’ by choosing a game to play for recess by saying, e.g., Yo quiero jugar beísbol (I want to play baseball).

Here are some suggested books on YouTube that can assist in teaching the core word:

• Qué Soy Yo?: By Phoebe McGuffee y Brenda Doran | Book from Unite Literacy
  • This book focuses on 4 animals, a zebra, elephant, giraffe and peacock. It provides hints, describing the characteristics of each animal and then asking the student to guess what animal am I.

• El pez pucheros: By Deborah Diesen | Children’s Book Read Aloud
  • This book focuses on a pouting pessimistic fish who turns his attitude around.

• Si yo tuviera un pequeño barco: By Calee M. Lee | Children’s Book Read Aloud
  • This book is about what you would do if you had a little red boat, where you would go, who would you meet, etc.

• Yo soy la Tierra: By Rebecca y James McDonald | Mi Casita de Español | Children’s Book Read Aloud
  • This book is about the earth and how we live on earth. It's a great book to introduce the sciences and the topic of taking care of our earth.

• Tu y yo el cuento mas bonito del mundo: By Elisenda Roca Guridi | Children's Book Read Aloud
  • This book is about waiting for a new sibling to arrive at home, it talks about the waiting process, how it will be when the baby arrives and the jealousy an older sibling can feel with the arrival.

Social Interactions: During free time in the classroom, the teacher can set up multiple stations of interactive games for the students and ask students to indicate with which partner they want to rotate stations with. “Yo quiero jugar con Edwin.”

Students can take turns saying affirmations to themselves in the mirror and to each other to uplift one another, e.g., “Yo soy valiente, tu y yo somos valientes.”

Model: The adult can model how to find the noun “yo” on the student's communication device and model how to combine the core word into multi-word utterances.

I Spy Game: Adults can create a sensory bin with many different objects. Students can take turns exploring the items in the sensory bin and take turns describing them saying “Yo veo... algo azul y brilloso!”

Gardening: The adult can prompt the students to search for a specific plant in the garden that they would like to water. Then the teacher will go around and name the different plants “Quien quiere regar los jitomates?” and prompt the student to say “Yo.”

Stretching/Exercises: Students can take turns each day of the week, leading classroom exercises and stretches (e.g., turning around, stretching hands. The teacher can ask who wants to lead todays exercise and the student can be prompted to select “yo” on their communication device.

• Yo soy un artista | Canción para trabajar los instrumentos musicales
• Yo tengo una casita | Cancion Infantil | ChiquitinesTV
• Sí, yo puedo! | Canciones Infantiles | Super Simple Español
• Aqui vivo yo | Canciones para niños | PlayKids en Español
• Yo puedo | Canciones para niños | Juega con Tana
• Palabras de uso frecuente canción | Ms. Ruiz | Kindergarten Sight Word Song in Spanish

All about me: For this activity, students can present about themselves in the form of a paragraph or use this bubble map and include their name, interest, and any other information incorporating the pronoun “yo”. They can practice “Yo soy...” (e.g., Yo soy el hijo mayor).

Poem: Students can create a “Yo soy...” poem. After the poems are done, students can read each other's and give feedback, making comments and sharing ideas with, “Yo creo que...” (I think that...)

Math activity: Students can practice addition, and subtraction, by completing word problems with the core word as a class. Adults can create prompts such as, “Yo tengo $30. Yo necesito comprar dos bolsas de pan bimbo. Cada bolsa cuesta $4, ¿cuánto dinero me queda despues de mi compra?” (I have $30. I need two buy two bags of bread. Each bag is $4, how much money do I have after my purchase?)

Art Activity: Students can draw a picture of themselves and different information/characteristics that shows who they are (e.g., self-portrait, Colombian flag). Students can present their drawings to their class e.g., Yo soy alto...Yo soy colombiano (I am tall, I am Colombian).

Art Activity: Students can make a little book of all the things they can do with drawings, and actual pictures of them doing these different things. They can present it to their teacher and classmates as well as take it home to share with family. Adults can prompt them to say “Yo puedo” as their sentence starter, e.g., Yo puedo contar hasta diez! Yo puedo hacer a gente reir.”

Tarheel Reader: Students can use Tarheel Reader to write books related to the core word yo. These books can then be shared with other students and read aloud.

WORD WALL:  Create a WordWall and add ‘yo’ to the list.

READING and the Word Wall: Sound out the letters together. Have the students find the word on the AAC system.

WRITING and the Word Wall: Using a pencil or alternative pencil, have students try to type the word on the keyboard or write the word together.

Spanish Yo Go Verbs Song:

Choosing Words for the Classroom Word Wall with Dr. Caroline Musselwhite Video Courtesy of Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium.