Six Bethlehem Area School District elementary Spanish teachers, including the Elementary Lead Spanish Teacher Jen Cierech, came together for an evening bilingual story time and craft activity at the Bethlehem Public Library’s main branch on Church Street May 24. It was a fine clear evening, so the event was held outdoors on the lawn beside the Japanese garden.

The event began with a story read in English and Spanish. “Senorita Mariposa” written by Ben Gundersheimer, and illustrated by Marcos Almada Rivero, was read by Stefania Rodriguez, who teaches Spanish at Governor Wolf and Fountain Hill elementary schools, and by Ana Arzuga, who teaches Spanish at Freemansburg ES.

The craft portion of the evening was decorating paper butterfly wings, and attaching the wings, and also wiggle eyes and metallic antennae to a craft stick to make a butterfly puppet. The craft project was demonstrated and students were assisted by teachers Jen Cierech, lead Spanish teacher, based at Spring Garden ES; Cecile Thibaud, who teaches Spanish at Lincoln ES and William Penn ES; Mara Otera, who teaches Spanish at Donegan ES; and Kristen Danner, who teaches Spanish at Hanover and Asa Packer elementary schools.

Edana Hoy, best known to patrons of the children’s library as Miss Dana, said, “The school district contacted me about the possibility of having a bilingual storytime for families. One of the elementary level Spanish teachers emailed me with the idea and we did offer one session in the fall. The butterfly presentation was nicely done and having it outside in the garden was a treat, given that it was wonderful weather.”

Hoy said, “Previously, or I should say prior to COVID, we did have a once per month bilingual English/Spanish session for families, offered by two teachers, which was held on a Saturday and did have a following of families. Since that time, Moravian University has been offering World Stories one Saturday per month during the school year. We have had professors present picture books in Spanish, Greek, French, Arabic, Italian and German. They also provide background on the featured country and an art project! Each session has been a wonderful experience.”

BASD will host two districtwide elementary (and possibly middle school) events in the fall for students and their families to celebrate Hispanic Heritage. One will be held at Broughgal MS, and the other at Northeast MS. More information will be available about these events on the BASDSCHOOLS.ORG website later this summer.