Props!

Props really enhance storytelling as students enjoy playing with the toys and costumes and are inspired to add new details.  My cooperating teacher had a wonderful supply of props and accessories, and I'm excited to start gathering my own!  I called my mom and asked her if my 300-item Beanie Baby collection had ever gotten donated.  By some miracle, it's stayed in my old bedroom for the last 5 years, so it'll be my jump-start animal collection for stories!  Gotta love Beanie Babies :)  I also stopped by Deseret Industries and picked up these lovely fellows:

They'll make excellent story-telling characters/props since the words are easy cognates that students remember (mono, girafa, y hipopótamo) and they have a lot of character.  The hippo sits up on his own, but looks grumpy/sad all the time.  The giraffe is happy, and those horns are perfect handles for riding him somewhere.  And the monkey is simply cute, pink, and funny-looking with really long arms and legs that even have velcro on them so we can make him hang on to things.  When I mentioned I was getting these for my class, the cashier asked what grade I taught.  She wasn't expecting my answer: middle and high school!  I love my job :D