Matching English and Spanish SEL Book Sets

Schools have raved about our Spanish Social Emotional Learning Read Alouds.  We’ve received compliments on how they support language growth through themes, and how the multiple titles about each social emotional skill drives the learning farther.

Our customers kept asking "Will you let me know when these come out in English?  We need the exact same thing in English!”  They asked, we delivered: English Social Emotional Learning Read Alouds.

This was a really personal project!  Rob and I looked at all of the books he read to our daughter who is now in third grade.  One perk of being a book curator is that you test books with your little one before you recommend them to schools.  In the end, we shortlisted 160 titles from 77 publishers.   

English Themes to Match the Spanish Themes

Our Spanish books in Pre-K through second grade are categorized by social emotional learning themes.  We felt that books in English that match the SEL themes in Spanish will allow for bridging and co-planning across languages.  The matching themes will deepen student understanding of content, and increase comprehension in both languages.  We matched all 36 social emotional learning themes in the primary grades. 

Translations from Spanish to English!

We went on the hunt for authentic titles in Spanish that were so outstanding that they had been translated to English.  You’ll be thrilled to know that many of our bestselling Spanish titles are available in English, and have been added to the English SEL collection.  We often see great American talent translated to Spanish.  This was our chance to showcase hispanohablantes - showing students that they’re equally gifted! 

Even Greater Diversity

We didn’t want only translations because then both teachers would hear “We already read this with _____.”   We curated stories that were complementary.  English books tend to be more diverse.  That’s why we focused on broadening horizons with books that presented windows into other cultures.  Students will see many, many Hispanic authors, illustrators, characters and experiences.  They will also read stories from African, Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander creators.  

Unique Titles for Each Grade

Students will hear different stories across grade levels.  For each grade level, Pre-K through second grade, we selected unique titles.  We agree that some stories should be read across grade levels, but it’s so much more engaging when we as teachers get to present a book the kids have never seen before!  We thought: “A new story, a new beginning, and a more captive audience!”

 We think the collection is pretty special.  Our operations team is currently assembling the English collections as I write.  If you would like to pre-order your English Social Emotional Collections, you can do so online or email us at sales@hexagrammbooks.com to request a quote.

Happy Reading!