Food!

Spanish II students are studying food words in Spanish! They have been looking at grocery lists and restaurant menus to see how much they can identify without resources. Soon they will write menus from their "own" restaurants and practice ordering in the language. Earlier this month, students wrote and presented new student orientations to Parker in Spanish in preparation to receive our October visitors from Barcelona!

My Dream House

Spanish III students are becoming Spanish writing masters! They are currently working on ads to sell their dream houses, though they have been spending the past few weeks learning to write in journals, write letters, write better sentences and to write translations! Soon they will be writing our first Spanish newsletter for the year!

Virtual Trips

Spanish I is discovering the great cities of Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla and Granada in Spain as they take "virtual" trips to the country. Small groups have been given tasks to complete: Travel Agent, Trip Planner, Culinary Expert and Activities Coordinator. With the help of Matt and the library resources, students are planning trips to Spain. Soon they will create presentations featuring their "visit" to share with the class. I can't wait to see what students chose to see, explore and buy when they were "abroad"!

4/5 Class

The 4/5 class has been using greeting words to create small skits! They are so much fun you might just see one or two of them show up at an upcoming assembly. This week we began talking about where Spanish came from and how so many countries ended up speaking the language. We have been practicing our Spanish pronunciation and map skills as we learn the names and the capitals of these countries. I love to hear the students asking great questions like "What is the English name for El Salvador?" And, "Why is Spain so far from the other Spanish speaking countries? Global discovery is such an exciting part of learning a new language!

2/3 Fall

The 2/3 students have been studying school supply vocabulary this month. We have been experimenting with studying the words using a new online vocabulary system and with flashcards. In class, we are playing games using the supplies and talking about other fun ways to acquire new words. The school supply words are opening the door for us to begin talking in Spanish about classroom needs. Already, the students are really enjoying trying to name as many things in the room as they can! 

K/1 Spanish

K/1 students are exploring the colors and signs of autumn as they begin their unit of study on the seasons. Rosalba and I have been reading stories and doing crafts with the children to reinforce the new vocabulary. Students are also learning a few fall songs and a welcome song in the language. Later this week we will design paper monarch butterflies to send to school children in Mexico. We will be collecting pennies to help to send Spanish picture books to schools in Mexico so that they too can learn more about the paths of the Monarchs. We are looking forward to watching via internet for the butterflies to arrive in the sanctuaries of Mexico later this fall! 

Bienvenidos Fall!

Welcome Fall and welcome back to La Clase de Espanol! I am looking forward to a great year working with your children as they explore Spanish language and culture! I am so excited to also welcome new faculty member Rosalba to the Spanish team. She is a native speaker from Mexico and will be working in the PreK 3 and 4 classes with our Integrated Spanish program. She will also be joining me in the K/1 class. Rosalba brings wonderful ideas to the group and we are already off and running with many new plans! Stay tuned for more updates! Hasta Pronto! Erin

Iron Chef - Mexico!

4/5 students showed their food genius and strong team work while simulating Iron Chef for their end of the year celebration! Cilantro, leche condensada and limes were no match for the talents of this group. Small groups competed in the categories of appetizers, entrees, desserts and snacks. Each round was more impressive than the last as students came up with innovative food -from microwave fudge with a banana-Tia Maria topping to a black olives stuffed with jalapenos. They were rated on presentation, taste and use of the secret ingredient. It was fun to be a taster and even more fun for the kids to eat all the leftovers at the end of the day! 

2/3 Celebration

As a culminating project for the Latin American Celebrations unit, students from the 2/3 class prepared authentic Mexican recipes to share at our class fiesta. Meanwhile, another group from the class is rehearsing with instruments for their Mariachi ensemble to share from the music unit and others are practicing traditional dances. 

Spanish III Film Projects

Spanish III students preparing film spoof - Harriet Potter 

By 8th grade, students are able to demonstrate that they can use the language in real life scenarios. Drama provides a fun way to practice intonation, accent and sentence structure in a way that replicates everyday conversation while using topics that are interesting and current to their world. Films give students the opportunity to hear and see their work so that they can self-critique and do retakes for improvement.

Building international relationships

A 4th grade student shows her presentation about meeting her pen pal while in Barcelona, Spain.

Mapping Latin America by Heart

 Mapping Latin America by Heart - Spanish II
After spending the fall and winter learning the names, geography, shape, culture and more about each country of Latin America students began their own mind maps for their final project of the year.

4/5 Los Planetas

The 4/5 class was a hard act to follow after their excellent performance at assembly! They performed a short play about the planets all in Spanish and they were proud of their hard work! Acting out the words really hooks the brain and the positive feedback from the audience inspires students to increase their risk taking in conversation. I am looking forward to seeing the students use this new vocabulary as they begin written projects about their own imaginary planet worlds this week. Wonderfully creative ideas have already entered the planning process!

K/1 Assembly

K/1 Spanish presented at assembly Friday! The audience loved learning along with them as they taught an interactive song about cooking utensils, "Soy una Taza!" They also shared a song about the continents. They are learning about the world around them and all of the languages that are spoken. This will provide a good basis for visualizing where Spanish is spoken and why things like weather and customs may differ from our own.

Barcelona 2014

2/3 Weather News! On the Air!

Lucrecia

One of our students was graciously hosted in Lucrecia's (Spanish singer) home during the exchange to Barcelona. A multiple award winner, Lucrecia's music and work on the children's show Los Lunnis, has become a wonderful tool for our classroom. Enjoy a sample of her talented work!

4/5 Nature Unit Posters

Back in Time

Spanish III students created timelines using preterite tense to record one specific event from each year from birth until this last year of middle school.

Barcelona Boot Camp!

"Barcelona Boot Camp" training is over and soon 9 adventurous middle school students along with 2 courageous teachers will be off to explore Barcelona as they embark on our first ever exchange trip to Spain. We had an amazing time hosting students from the St. Peter's School last spring and we are looking forward to seeing our friends from Spain again! Stay tuned for more pics and updates... 

Design Thinking

Spanish III students are taking part in a pilot project for a Global Learning Institute. We have been using "design thinking" to brainstorm lessons our students can teach to others to learn Spanish. Here is a glimpse into our first days of the process...

What If????

We had dances and chatting and fun apps...

Or, what if....

We could build models that teach concepts? 

4/5 Games

4/5's are using games to show concepts they learned this term. After creation they will test them, fine tune them and then play them with the younger students to see what they can teach. Naming just a few..."The Chocolate Game", "The Tornado" and "The Lilypad"! 

Coming soon...The "All Spanish" puppet theater brought to you by the 4/5 class. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our puppets from art class to Spanish class to begin the adventure!

Dame tu Mano - Give Me Your Hand

K/1 students dance to Spanish song "Dame tu Mano" from the Los Lunnis show. 

K/1 Legends

K/1's are enjoying legends in Spanish. They learned about how pictures can tell stories in many languages. 

Volcano Dogs

Hard at work

Graffiti Board

With the Graffiti Board students are literally communicating across the board! All grade levels can write notes to each other in Spanish on this fun new classroom feature. Last week's theme was favorite movies and this week it is favorite animals. Students are enjoying learning new vocabulary, experimenting with writing and checking the board for new "likes" and "comments" each day. Sometimes I wonder, do they even realize they are communicating in the target language? Great risk taking opportunity for even my quietest learner. Que dices tu?

Graffiti Board

Catching Fire - Si, me gusta!

PreK Spanish

Integrated Spanish continues...last week I visited the "zapato" shop which always seemed to be "cerrado" when I arrived and then I had to beg it to be "abierto". This week I enjoyed reading with students and making paper "osos". One student helped me to make a special "hola" oso to hang around class when I was away to make sure that students were speaking their Spanish!

2/3 Weather reporters on the job

The 2/3 class is hard at work in the studio to bring you the latest weather updates from around the world. Stay tuned for video clips coming soon!