Starting the School Year: Kindergarten

This year, my kindergarten and fourth grade students are learning about Spain.  In kindergarten, students receive a basic introduction to the country, while in fourth grade, we delve deeper into its history, culture, and traditions.

Kindergarten:
Kindergarten students are currently learning colors, family members, and the adjectives grande, mediano, and pequeño.  (We are leading up to the story of the Three Bears.)  This is perfect for teaching about flags.  I begin this lesson by sitting in a circle with my students on the rug.  I show them an American flag and a Spanish flag.

I hold up the American flag, point to each part, and ask what color it is.  We learn that the American flag has three colors: red, white, and blue.  I call on students to touch different colors on the flag.  (Touch the color red.  Touch the color blue.  Touch the color white.)  We look at some pictures of the American flag, like a photo of our school with the flag waving outside, and we identify the colors of the flag again: red, white, and blue.

Then I hold up the Spanish flag, point to each part, and ask what color it is.  Note: The official colors of the Spanish flag are el rojo and el gualda, but in kindergarten, I use el rojo and el amarillo because amarillo is a much higher-frequency word than gualda.

After going over the colors, I review grande, mediana, and pequeña with flags of different sizes.  First I hold up flags of two different sizes and having students point to the size I say.  Then I call on students to touch flags of different sizes.  (Heidi, touch the large flag of Spain.  Jamal, touch the small flag of the United States.)  After this, I hold up one flag at a time and ask my students which size it is: grande, mediana, or pequeña. (Credit to Janice Holter Kittock, who does a similar lesson with the Swedish flag.)

After this, I give students a coloring sheet with the Spanish flag.  There are two options for coloring the Spanish flag:
1) Give students a blank flag with just the stripes.  Students color the stripes red and yellow.  Give students the coat of arms on a different sheet of paper.  Students color the coat of arms, cut it out, and paste it on the flag.  (Credit to Gisela Schramm-Nagel, who does this with her students.)
2) Give students a flag with the stripes and the coat of arms.  Students color the flag.

Option 1 is perfect if you want to make the flag during class.  Option 2 is perfect if you want students to color the flag at home. 

Below is a link to a Google drive folder with three files: 1) a blank flag, 2) a coat of arms to glue onto the flag, and 3) a flag with a coat of arms. 

Spanish Flag Files
Download files at your own risk.