Reading Short Biographies for Lower School

During Hispanic Heritage Month (and all year long) I like to present to my students Hispanic and Latinos who are leaders and have contributed to the community.

One of the major challenges is finding resources for their age. I want them to be able to understand what they are reading, but I also want to talk about important details and accomplishments from these leaders.

Here are some pre-reading strategies I have found helpful when lower school students have to read biographies.

Pre-reading warm up: I like to talk to my students a little bit about our leaders. Ask questions like “have you heard about this leader?” or “what do you think about this accomplishment?”. Making them guess where the person is from or what was/is their occupation builds some excitement.

Giving a word bank with important/key words: During the reading there are some words that are key to identify/describe our leader. Introduce the words or have a work bank ready for reference.

Yes/No post-reading facts: This is a easy/low prep way to check comprehension after reading. You can make this a game or competition in your classroom.

Check this freebie with 3 readings with comprehension questions about Frida Kahlo, Sonia Sotomayor and Dolores Huerta. Please click here to download this freebie.

I hope you find this resource useful for your classes. Let me know in the comments what pre or post reading activities you do in your class.

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Resources you will like

Hispanic Leaders in Spanish – Digital Task Cards – Distance Learning

This digital resource is great for your students to review short bios about 4 Hispanic leaders: Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Pura Belpre and Sonia Sotomayor. You will find short readings with audio files and comprehension questions. You will find 24 Boom Cards on this resource.

Questions Included

• High frequency and themed vocabulary questions (activista, jueza, bibliotecaria, padres, lucha, campesinos, derechos, primera, son, fue, es, de)
• Choose the correct description/occupation for the following leaders: Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Pura Belpre and Sonia Sotomayor
• 4 readings with audio
• 4 readings with short questions