For Fifth and Sixth Grade: 
 On Friday, Fifth and Sixth grades were given a new homework assignment for next Friday. They need to compose sentences telling what various family members eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  They copied down the model sentences and we did examples of what they are expected to write.  We learned the names for family members last year, but here is a list they can use:   mama- Mom, Papa-dad, hermano- brother,  hermana- sister, abuelo, grandpa, abuela-grandma, primo- cousin, boy,  prima- cousin, girl, tia-aunt, tio-uncle. 

EX: Mi mama come pan y fruta para el desayuno.  Mom eats bread and fruit for breakfast.
        Mi papa come ensalada para el almuerzo.    Dad eats salad for lunch.
         Mi hermano come pollo y papas para la cena.  My brother eats chicken and potatoes for dinner.   Students were given a list of possible foods to use in their sentences.  They may also tell me what friends eat, for example,  Mi amiga Sarah come frambuesas para el desayuno.  Myfriend Sarah eats raspberries for breakfast.  The more practice sentences the students complete, the better, but I require at least ten to receive credit for the assignment. 
 Students who wish, may use other forms of the verbs they learned for "to eat," such as:
Nosotros comemos tomatos para el almuerzo.  We eat tomatoes for lunch. 
Ellos comen coliflor y zanahorias para la cena.  They eat coliflower and carrots for dinner.

ALL STUDENTS RECEIVED A LIST OF FORMS OF THE VERB TO EAT- COMER .
They must keep the hand-outs in their notebook for reference.  They also, as mentioned, received lists of foods in Spanish with their English translation.  I passed out EXTRA sheets of both hand-outs on Friday. 
Please contact me if you need clarification about the assignment.  Just leave a comment on the blog for me to read.
    Have a wonderful holiday. 
Miss Linda

Dear Parents,
 Fifth and Sixth grade will be meeting on Fridays beginning this week.  Please see last week's blog for their homework. I will be writing a special blog for them on Friday explaining their homework, which  will be due on September 8th due to the holiday next Monday.
Grades K-4, and K-5 did a wonderful job with their numbers, colors, days of the week, and months of the year.  I conducted most of the class in Spanish and read a story to the students in Spanish  as well. I am going to try to arrange a visit to your child's Spanish class so you can see how well your child is doing in Spanish.  Everyone understood so well. I am so proud of your children.  Learning a second language at an early age really helps children master the language and develop the accent of a Spanish-speaker.  Thank you for your support and participation in St. John's Foreign Language Program!
 Grades 1 and 2 have a project which will be due on September 8th. They received a detailed informaion sheet about the project.  They need to create a book in Spanish about the foods they like to eat.  All of this information is on the sheet.  I will bring some extra sheets to school on Friday and give them to Miss Connie and Miss Lisa if your child lost his sheet.  Please contact me if you do not understand the project.  You can leave me an email message at: linda.delascuevas@sjdslaurel.com.
I need to change my email since I changed my name!  Leave me your phone number in your message and I will call you if you prefer.  The book can be six pages long or sixteen!  Some students wanted to know if it could be twenty pages!  I have very highly motivated youngsters in class!  Thank you!  You may help with the art work and execution of the book.  It should have a cover and title.  All of this information is on the hand-out.

Grades 3 and 4 continued to work with composing sentences in class.  We did some oral language work as well.  Your children are amazing. I love working with them. 

Dear Parents,
Grades K-4 through 2nd do not have any homework.  First and second graders will receive information about their first project next Monday.  We reviewed vocabulary and continued our unit on foods.  I will be sending home a list of the names of foods in Spanish for first and second graders to use in their project next week.

Grades 3 and 4 received a worksheet with a list of adjectives to use to compose sentences telling about foods.  They may complete the list if they can at home.  We completed half of the sentences in class.  If the students lost their list, please have them write ten sentences using the following words:  delicioso, bueno para la salud, malo para la salud.  Delicious, unhealthy, or bad for one's health, good for one's health or healthy. As you can see, I am working on helping students make healthy eating choices. If all of this is too hard, please do not worry. I will work on it with students in class, but I know they can handle it if they were enrolled last year.  Anyone who was not enrolled does not have to complete this assignment. I am pleased that several new students successfully completed last week's homework with no problem based on instruction in the classroom last Monday and, apparently, a strong desire to learn Spanish!  Way to go, New Students!
 Grades 5 and 6 have three verbs to use in sentences for homework.  We completed examples in class. I never send students home without instructing them about the required homework assignment.  Students who were not enrolled last year DO NOT have to complete the homework. Grades 5 and 6 will be learning a dialogue for their first project.  More information will be given in class next week.  We did many dialogues last year, so students are familiar with learning their part for an oral presentation or "skit."  Intensive review was not necessary with my fifth and sixth graders.  They really remembered vocabulary and concepts acquired last year.  We only need to work on number and gender agreement, which takes some time since English does not require agreement between adjectives and nouns. 
If you have questions, please do not hesitate to send me an email or leave a comment on this blog.
Gracias,
Srta. Linda

Dear Fifth and Sixth Grade Parents:
           I distributed a list of food vocabulary  to students this morning, which they can use   to compose their homeowork sentences for Monday. I assigned twenty additional sentences.  Please remember that new students do NOT have to complete the assignment.  Any student who was not enrolled in my class last year will not have to complete last Monday's assignment.  They will be given alternate homework assignments in the future.  Any project based on our study of culture, however, will be for ALL students enrolled this year.  We usually do the study of various Spanish-speaking countries in English, therefore, a student's language proficiency in Spanish does not prohibit them from completing the project.  Thank you.  Have a great weekend.
Miss Linda

Dear Parents,
          I am excited about another year of instructing your children!  Our first class was Monday.  We are working on the second floor of the Main Building now. 
 K-5  We reviewed most of our songs and drew pictures of the foods we like to eat.  We learned the names of some of the foods and will continue next week with our food unit.  Then, we will learn how to express activities we like to do in Spanish.  Everyone remembered what we learned last year so well! We also learned how to say fork, knife and spoon in Spanish:  tenedor, cuchillo, y cuchara. (cucharita- teaspoon).

1st grade  We answered basic questions about ourselves.  The students did very well. We also reviewed colors, numbers, seasons, and the days of the week.  Our first graders are ready for new adventures in Spanish! 
 
2nd  grade  We had a basic review of concepts which were introduced last year.  I want to review foods and began describing  favorite activities and things students don't like--likes and dislikes next week with our second graders. 

3rd grade  4th, 5th, and 6th  We began working with the verb" to have" in Spanish.  Students were encouraged to write simple sentences using the names of foods and bring back their sentences next week to discuss.  Sixth grade was asked to write at least twenty new sentences in Spanish.  Model:  Yo tengo los tomates rojos.  El tiene la lechuga verde. 
I told students they may use any nouns that we learned last year in their sentences.  Note:  If students are having difficulty composing sentences,  we will work on them next week.  NEW STUDENTS OR STUDENTS WHO WERE NOT ENROLLED IN SPANISH  ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE HOMEWORK.  I am using food vocabulary  to link up with our new horticulture program.
Please contact me if you have any questions.  You can leave a comment  on this blog, leave me a phone message, or leave your name and number with Melissa or Kathy in the office if the directory hasn't been distributed yet.   I will return your call promptly.
  Bienvenidos al curso de lenguaje extranjero de St. John's.