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!

Muzzy throughout the years

The Muzzy series video is the most requested activity in elementary Spanish class. Students enjoy it year after year and never seem to tire of it. For me, it is a way of evaluating progress. In grades K-3 we view the video several times per year. In the beginning, students start to sing the songs, emulate the language and make connections from the repetition and picture clues. Soon, students start to comment on words they know. When they can write students keep track of words they recognize and they are inspired to grow their lists by learning more. By grade 3, students are fully understanding story-lines and are explaining them to younger students.They are proud of their accomplishments. 

Ruin presentations Spanish II

Lines of Nazca

Spanish II is presenting projects this week on ancient ruins. Doing research, giving presentations and peer review are important skills but even more valuable for our class is how it helps students make memorable connections to Latin American countries. This is the beginning of the mind maps they will draw upon to create personal maps by heart in the spring.  

Calendarios in 2/3!

The 2/3 class is applying their Spanish vocabulary to create calendars for 2014. Along the way they learn to set up a calendar (in English and in Spanish), how dates are expressed differently and cultural differences in holidays and celebrations. Why do we start a calendar on Sunday? How do you know which day comes first on the next month? Why are there more days in some months than others? Why don't Spanish calendars have the 4th of July as a holiday? Why aren't days of the week capitalized in Spanish when we do that in English? So many answers to discover...

Ancient Ruins

Spanish II students are working with partners to prepare research projects on some of the ruins in Latin America. Presentations will include: Chichen-Itza, Teotihuacan, Lines of Nazca, Tiwanaku, Copan, Tikal, Machu Picchu and more. Students are becoming pros at finding quality resources, sifting through difficulty archaeological info, citing resources and learning more about the history of those countries where Spanish is primarily spoken today. Students will share the information they have learned using power point presentations in Spanish for real-life context.