Hola todos,
¡Feliz primavera! Happy Spring! Espero que disfruten de esta temporada tan bonita! I hope you enjoy this beautiful time of the year!
We have been having lots of fun in our learning. We've finished our winter activities -- new vocabulary, reading snow stories, and graphing our preference for mitones o guantes -- just to name a few. Now spring is upone us. Here's what we've been up to in marzo and where we're headed in abril. Now that April is here, we have been begun the sprint to year's end. It always goes soooo fast!
All classes: Basic words and phrases, numbers, spring/weather, movement and music
Multiage K-1; K-2: Transporte/transportation. New vocabulary: carro (car), coche (car, Spain), barco (boat), barco de vela (sailboat), tren (tren), motocicleta/moto (motorcycle), bicicleta/bici (bicycle/bike), helicóptero (helicopter), nave espacial (space shuttle), avión (airplane), camión (truck), autobús (bus).
Activities: Acting out the motion for the word (like charades), matching game, matamoscas (fly swatter touch to identify words), clapping out and identifying syllables, tallying which form of transporte we use to get to school, copying the words, and drawing our own transporte which included flying cars, rockets, and skateboards. Next up: Spring, action words, and theme-related work.
Grades 2/3: Transporte. Activities: Similar to K-1, K-2, with extensions in reading, writing, and speaking. Students made their own word sheet, drawing the transporte and writing the word to go with it as well as a sentence about their transporte favorito. We also played Siete Arriba (Heads up, Seven up) with the vocab words. We have been working on how to say when our birthdays are (day first, then month) and are starting on our addresses. Next up: Community; action words; telling time.
Multiage 4/5: Question words, frases útiles, and Spanish speaking countries
We continue to explore Spanish speaking countries around the globe and a few of their neighbors in the Americas. Students are becoming very attached to "their"countries. Among the information that is basic geography, languages, population, flag, major products, currency (money), etc.
We have finished our research and have begun our writing -- taking what we found out in English and putting into Spanish. This will be the basis for a final written and oral presentation. We look forward to sharing the final product.
Spring Sing is just around the corner. As part of our paises unit we have been learning some cool songs by top Spanish speaking artists (and related to my favorite sport.) Maybe you've been hearing them around home? We can't wait to share them at the Sing.
We have also been taking some time to focus on question words: Who (¿Quién?), What (¿Qué), When (¿Cuándo?) Where (¿Dónde), Why (¿Por qué?), because (porque), How (¿Cómo?). How many (¿Cuántos?), How much (¿Cuánto), How much does it cost (¿Cuánto cuesta), Which (¿Cuál?), and Hay -- pronounced "I"-- (there is/there are). In addition to being important basic words, they will provide a foundation for storytelling based on our Spankish speaking country unit.
And of course, we're studying those useful and essential phrases one must know when traveling to a Spanish speaking country.
DISTRICT NEWS & IMPORTANT DATES
World Language Advisory Committee: Monday, April 11, 2011. 7:30 -9:00 pm. Whittier Community Room. With special pre-meeting screening (6:30-7:30) of the award winning documentary Speaking in Tongues: Four children, four languages, one city, one world.
Ethnic Festival: Saturday, May 7, 2011. Julian Middle School. Students from Whittier's WISE Baila will perform.
¡Gracias por todo! Please contact me with any questions or concerns.
Sra. Deaton
