Dear Parents,
It was a pleasure talking to you tonight at our Open House. I hope you enjoyed looking at our student-authored books. I am so proud of the children's interest in learning Spanish.
I was able to speak to some of you about our plans for a Parents As Authors Tea in the spring. I would like parents to write a book in any language to share with other parents, students, and staff. It can be similar to your child's book. We will display the books and parents and students will have the opportunity to present their work if they wish to do so. My vision for this activity is a fun evening of parents and their children sharing their books with the St. John's Day School Family. I will send you some ideas in the next few months about this activity. The books may be in any language, in fact, I am hoping that bilingual parents will produce a bilingual book to share!
Thank you for participating in our Open House. I really enjoyed talking to parents and I loved seeing children's reactions to discovering their book on display for all to read! As the credit card commercial notes, "Priceless."
Srta. Linda
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Monday, September 22, 2014
Dear Parents,
Here is a brief summary of our activities in Spanish class today.
K-4 and K-5 I am so pleased with the progress your children are making in Spanish. We are learning a new song every week. This week, I presented Maria tenia un borreguito, Mary Had a Little Lamb, to the students. I have several new stuffed animals this week, one, of course is a little lamb! Students also sang Estrellita brillaras, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, in Spanish. I distributed toy food items to students and asked them to tell me that they liked or didn't like the particular food. We are having authentic conversations in class now. As I mentioned, I can conduct the class almost entirely in the target language which is Spanish. We concluded by hearing a story in Spanish. I will be reading a different book every week to conclude our lessons. The picture clues assist students to understand the meaning of the text. Students love listening to the stories!
1st grade We also answered questions about different foods using the manipulatives mentioned above. We reviewed basic questions about age, days of the week, months of the year, colors, simple commands in Spanish. It is so rewarding to be able to build on concepts and vocabulary the students learned in the past two years. Please come out tomorrow night to see your child's book in the foyer of the main building. I will have a special display of your child's work in Spanish.
2nd grade We reviewed the list of commands in Spanish. The students discussed the second group of words. I asked them to please try to review them before next week. We also used the manipulatives to discuss food preferences.
3rd grade We reviewed the commands in Spanish and took a short oral quiz on their meaning. We also worked with the manipulatives to form sentences about food we like and do not like. The students were assigned the second group of vocabulary words to learn for next week. Most students already learned them as well as last week's group of words. I have some extremely motivated second language learners in this class! Please ask your child about the list of words.
4th grade We have a new dialogue to learn for next week. Students are working in groups of three for this activity. They need to learn one student's lines of conversation, either, Elena, Pablo, or Joaquin, the three students in the dialogue. If they can memorize the lines, that is ideal, but it is not necessary. Please ask your child whose lines they are learning. Last year I had students who learned both parts of a two student dialogue! Again, that was the option the particular student chose. Any student who wishes to learn all three parts or perhaps only two may do so. We discussed the meaning of the dialogue. I chose may cognates to help students understand without the use of a dictionary. Most of the sentences also contain known vocabulary. Please contact me if you have any questions about the assignment. If you would like to come to school to hear any of the dialogue presentations, you are more than welcome to do so. They are really fun! Please let me know of your interest so I can obtain a suitable area for us to use. The art room is small. Students need to present their dialogue on September 29.
I look forward to seeing all of you tomorrow night. Thank you for your interest and support
Srta. Linda
Here is a brief summary of our activities in Spanish class today.
K-4 and K-5 I am so pleased with the progress your children are making in Spanish. We are learning a new song every week. This week, I presented Maria tenia un borreguito, Mary Had a Little Lamb, to the students. I have several new stuffed animals this week, one, of course is a little lamb! Students also sang Estrellita brillaras, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, in Spanish. I distributed toy food items to students and asked them to tell me that they liked or didn't like the particular food. We are having authentic conversations in class now. As I mentioned, I can conduct the class almost entirely in the target language which is Spanish. We concluded by hearing a story in Spanish. I will be reading a different book every week to conclude our lessons. The picture clues assist students to understand the meaning of the text. Students love listening to the stories!
1st grade We also answered questions about different foods using the manipulatives mentioned above. We reviewed basic questions about age, days of the week, months of the year, colors, simple commands in Spanish. It is so rewarding to be able to build on concepts and vocabulary the students learned in the past two years. Please come out tomorrow night to see your child's book in the foyer of the main building. I will have a special display of your child's work in Spanish.
2nd grade We reviewed the list of commands in Spanish. The students discussed the second group of words. I asked them to please try to review them before next week. We also used the manipulatives to discuss food preferences.
3rd grade We reviewed the commands in Spanish and took a short oral quiz on their meaning. We also worked with the manipulatives to form sentences about food we like and do not like. The students were assigned the second group of vocabulary words to learn for next week. Most students already learned them as well as last week's group of words. I have some extremely motivated second language learners in this class! Please ask your child about the list of words.
4th grade We have a new dialogue to learn for next week. Students are working in groups of three for this activity. They need to learn one student's lines of conversation, either, Elena, Pablo, or Joaquin, the three students in the dialogue. If they can memorize the lines, that is ideal, but it is not necessary. Please ask your child whose lines they are learning. Last year I had students who learned both parts of a two student dialogue! Again, that was the option the particular student chose. Any student who wishes to learn all three parts or perhaps only two may do so. We discussed the meaning of the dialogue. I chose may cognates to help students understand without the use of a dictionary. Most of the sentences also contain known vocabulary. Please contact me if you have any questions about the assignment. If you would like to come to school to hear any of the dialogue presentations, you are more than welcome to do so. They are really fun! Please let me know of your interest so I can obtain a suitable area for us to use. The art room is small. Students need to present their dialogue on September 29.
I look forward to seeing all of you tomorrow night. Thank you for your interest and support
Srta. Linda
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Dear Parents of 5th and 6t Graders,
Presentation of the dialogues was wonderful! I am very proud of your children. Some of the 5th graders needed to work on their presentations for a chance t o improve their grade. I asked selected students to continue practicing with their partners or alone. I will remind them on Monday by stopping by their classroom. Students had a week to practice, but I am giving some student extra time to study. They will have the opportunity to present again in two weeks.
We continued reviewing basic expressions and classroom commands in Spanish orally. Everyone did much much better this week. Ask you child to see the list of twenty expressions. You can help him or her to learn them by saying the expressions in English and asking them to give you the correct Spanish word or words.
I hope to see you at Open House on Tuesday. I will be in the foyer of the main building with a display of student-authored books in Spanish.
Srta. Linda
Presentation of the dialogues was wonderful! I am very proud of your children. Some of the 5th graders needed to work on their presentations for a chance t o improve their grade. I asked selected students to continue practicing with their partners or alone. I will remind them on Monday by stopping by their classroom. Students had a week to practice, but I am giving some student extra time to study. They will have the opportunity to present again in two weeks.
We continued reviewing basic expressions and classroom commands in Spanish orally. Everyone did much much better this week. Ask you child to see the list of twenty expressions. You can help him or her to learn them by saying the expressions in English and asking them to give you the correct Spanish word or words.
I hope to see you at Open House on Tuesday. I will be in the foyer of the main building with a display of student-authored books in Spanish.
Srta. Linda
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Dear 5th and 6th Graders and Parents,
Tomorrow we will be presenting our dialogues with your partners in class. If you do not have a partner, make sure you have learned either Student A or Student B to present with me or with a student I choose to present with you. A student informed me that they did not have a partner. That is fine. ALL students have to learn one part of the dialogue for an oral language grade.
Some students still have one of the books they created last year or two years ago. i am so pleased that they saved their work! If you have any of the books at home, please bring them to school tomorrow. I would like to display them with other students' books. Just to refresh your memory, the books we created as individual projects were about: Clothing, Numbers, Foods, and Time. PLEASE look for your book. If you can't find it or discarded it, I understand. However, the books were really beautiful and I would like to share them with parents on Tuesday evening at Parent Open House.
Tomorrow we will be presenting our dialogues with your partners in class. If you do not have a partner, make sure you have learned either Student A or Student B to present with me or with a student I choose to present with you. A student informed me that they did not have a partner. That is fine. ALL students have to learn one part of the dialogue for an oral language grade.
Some students still have one of the books they created last year or two years ago. i am so pleased that they saved their work! If you have any of the books at home, please bring them to school tomorrow. I would like to display them with other students' books. Just to refresh your memory, the books we created as individual projects were about: Clothing, Numbers, Foods, and Time. PLEASE look for your book. If you can't find it or discarded it, I understand. However, the books were really beautiful and I would like to share them with parents on Tuesday evening at Parent Open House.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Dear Parents of K-4 through 4th Grade. Here is a description of what your children learned this week in Spanish.
K-4, K-5: We all learned our new song, Estrellita, in Spanish. I teach things songs to help students acquire new vocabulary. For example, in the Spanish version of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, children learned seven new vocabulary words! I will send the words home with your child's teacher as soon as possible. We also reviewed parts of the body and colors using bright, high-interest dinosaur pictures. This activity was a great success! Children love dinosaurs. They were asked to find parts of the body to make the face of a whimsical dinosaur. We completed the lesson by listening to Corduroy in Spanish. It was so much fun.
K-5 The class also make a color sheet to take home. They will be making one for more colors next week.
1st and 2nd: Children read their books to the entire class since we did not have time to do so last week. I am so pleased that children can read some sentences in Spanish. We began to explore more sentence structures expressing likes and dislikes, which is one of the standards for foreign language. All of the concepts taught are identified as standards for the teaching of foreign language distributed by The State Department of Education.
3rd Grade: We counted to 100 in Spanish. We also completed a list of commands and useful expressions in Spanish. I would like the children to learn the first eight words or phrases for next week. I sent the list home on Monday with the children. If it was left in class, it's ok. Students do need to bring the list back next week. I discussed allowing children to look over the list in class if time permits.
4th Grade: I collected students' drawings and sentences about their favorite season. I will collate them and present them in the form of a book at Open House. Students also received the same list of words third grade was given. 4th grade needs to study the list for a short quiz next week. I know students may not learn all the terms, but I would like them to try to learn as many as possible. There are about twenty expressions. I encourage students to go above and beyond what we complete in class and many of them wish to do so. For example, some students wanted to write entire sentences with the expressions. I hope they do so! However, applying the expression in a sentence is an optional assignment.
Thank you for your interest in our Spanish program. I hope to see you at Open House next week. I am going to have a table set up somewhere in the main buiding, so please look for it!
K-4, K-5: We all learned our new song, Estrellita, in Spanish. I teach things songs to help students acquire new vocabulary. For example, in the Spanish version of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, children learned seven new vocabulary words! I will send the words home with your child's teacher as soon as possible. We also reviewed parts of the body and colors using bright, high-interest dinosaur pictures. This activity was a great success! Children love dinosaurs. They were asked to find parts of the body to make the face of a whimsical dinosaur. We completed the lesson by listening to Corduroy in Spanish. It was so much fun.
K-5 The class also make a color sheet to take home. They will be making one for more colors next week.
1st and 2nd: Children read their books to the entire class since we did not have time to do so last week. I am so pleased that children can read some sentences in Spanish. We began to explore more sentence structures expressing likes and dislikes, which is one of the standards for foreign language. All of the concepts taught are identified as standards for the teaching of foreign language distributed by The State Department of Education.
3rd Grade: We counted to 100 in Spanish. We also completed a list of commands and useful expressions in Spanish. I would like the children to learn the first eight words or phrases for next week. I sent the list home on Monday with the children. If it was left in class, it's ok. Students do need to bring the list back next week. I discussed allowing children to look over the list in class if time permits.
4th Grade: I collected students' drawings and sentences about their favorite season. I will collate them and present them in the form of a book at Open House. Students also received the same list of words third grade was given. 4th grade needs to study the list for a short quiz next week. I know students may not learn all the terms, but I would like them to try to learn as many as possible. There are about twenty expressions. I encourage students to go above and beyond what we complete in class and many of them wish to do so. For example, some students wanted to write entire sentences with the expressions. I hope they do so! However, applying the expression in a sentence is an optional assignment.
Thank you for your interest in our Spanish program. I hope to see you at Open House next week. I am going to have a table set up somewhere in the main buiding, so please look for it!
Monday, September 15, 2014
Dear Parents of 5th and 6th graders,
We worked on new vocabulary this week. Students were given a quiz (oral) on their understanding of the lsit I distributed to them last week. Students need to reviw those words for next week.
Our new homework assignment is a short dialogue students need to present this Friday, September 19th. They are working with a partner to learn their lines. I prefer that the students present the dialogue without reading it if possible. As I mentioned, the dialogue is very short. We will be working on creating our own short dialogues to present in the future.
Students are grasping the concept of verb conjugations in the present tense. I have introduced some verbs in the past tense, but I want to concentrate on the present indicative tense for a few more weeks. We will cover the past tense this semester!
I will be at Open House next week. We are preparing a table with student authored books. Please stop by and take a look at books students in Grades 1,2, 3, and 4 have written.
Thank you for your interest in our foreign language program.
Miss Linda
We worked on new vocabulary this week. Students were given a quiz (oral) on their understanding of the lsit I distributed to them last week. Students need to reviw those words for next week.
Our new homework assignment is a short dialogue students need to present this Friday, September 19th. They are working with a partner to learn their lines. I prefer that the students present the dialogue without reading it if possible. As I mentioned, the dialogue is very short. We will be working on creating our own short dialogues to present in the future.
Students are grasping the concept of verb conjugations in the present tense. I have introduced some verbs in the past tense, but I want to concentrate on the present indicative tense for a few more weeks. We will cover the past tense this semester!
I will be at Open House next week. We are preparing a table with student authored books. Please stop by and take a look at books students in Grades 1,2, 3, and 4 have written.
Thank you for your interest in our foreign language program.
Miss Linda
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Happy Grandparents' Day! I really enjoy teaching your grandchildren! They are wonderful children!
Dear Parents,
Grades K-4 and K-5 had lots of fun on Monday. I can conduct most of the class in Spanish with the K-5 children. Thye understand so much. We reviewed days of the week and months of the year, all basic questions in Spanish, and met our new friend, El Sr. Mono. Mr. Monkey. The only problem is that some students insisted that Mr. Monkey is really Miss Monkey because she has long eyelashes and pink inside of her ears. So, I changed her name to Srta. Mono--Miss Monkey. She joins Elefante, Leoncito, Pancho and Pepe who all assist the children in their mastery of Spanish language skills. I couldn't do it alone! One class learned a new song, "Estrellita." It is the Spanish version of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." All will be learning the new song.
Grades 1 and 1 shared their original books about what they like to eat. Thank you so much for helping your child to complete this assignment/project. I also want to thank Miss Connie and Miss Lisa for making sure everyone was aware of the importance of completing their book and remembering to bring it to class!
Grade 3 worked on new vocabulary which they used in simple sentences in class. I asked the students to please try to continue composing sentences at home. They have a sheet with classroom objects and a small visual they created to learn the meaning of the words. The sentences can include adjectives if students wish. Most of the students wanted to go "above and beyond" the assignment. I had forgotten that we learned that expression last year!
Grade 4 shared their simple descriptions of their room. I stressed the importance of coming to class prepared with their worksheets and notebooks. We began an assignment about the four seasons. Students need to complete their work at home by illustrating their favorite season and tellling why they like that particular season. The pages will be used to make a class book about the four seasons. All students copied the four seasons in Spanish and the sentence they need to complete. If they did not complete it, we will do so next week, but the illustration must be completed at home and brought to school on Monday.
Thank you for your interest and cooperation in our Spanish Language Program.
Miss Linda
Dear Parents,
Grades K-4 and K-5 had lots of fun on Monday. I can conduct most of the class in Spanish with the K-5 children. Thye understand so much. We reviewed days of the week and months of the year, all basic questions in Spanish, and met our new friend, El Sr. Mono. Mr. Monkey. The only problem is that some students insisted that Mr. Monkey is really Miss Monkey because she has long eyelashes and pink inside of her ears. So, I changed her name to Srta. Mono--Miss Monkey. She joins Elefante, Leoncito, Pancho and Pepe who all assist the children in their mastery of Spanish language skills. I couldn't do it alone! One class learned a new song, "Estrellita." It is the Spanish version of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." All will be learning the new song.
Grades 1 and 1 shared their original books about what they like to eat. Thank you so much for helping your child to complete this assignment/project. I also want to thank Miss Connie and Miss Lisa for making sure everyone was aware of the importance of completing their book and remembering to bring it to class!
Grade 3 worked on new vocabulary which they used in simple sentences in class. I asked the students to please try to continue composing sentences at home. They have a sheet with classroom objects and a small visual they created to learn the meaning of the words. The sentences can include adjectives if students wish. Most of the students wanted to go "above and beyond" the assignment. I had forgotten that we learned that expression last year!
Grade 4 shared their simple descriptions of their room. I stressed the importance of coming to class prepared with their worksheets and notebooks. We began an assignment about the four seasons. Students need to complete their work at home by illustrating their favorite season and tellling why they like that particular season. The pages will be used to make a class book about the four seasons. All students copied the four seasons in Spanish and the sentence they need to complete. If they did not complete it, we will do so next week, but the illustration must be completed at home and brought to school on Monday.
Thank you for your interest and cooperation in our Spanish Language Program.
Miss Linda
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Dear Parents of 5th and 6th Graders,
We shared our sentences about meals. Students did a very good job with this assignment. I will be calling parents of students who are not doing their homework assignments. Fortunately, there are not many students who fall into this category. On Friday, these two classes also received their first edition of a Spanish language newsletter/magazine created by Scholastic Magazines. Sixth grade was able to take a copy home with them. I hope they will read through the articles and do some of the activities on the activity page if they can. I want this magazine to be fun for students and to become part of their reading for pleasure activities. The magazine is not difficult for beginning students. We also discussed a list of Spanish commands. I would like the students to study the twenty or so words for a short quiz next week. They will match the Spanish command with its English translation.
Fifth grade has a worksheet with basic commands in Spanish to complete. They will NOT be taking the same quiz the sixth graders are taking since we did not finish matching the command in Spanish with its English meaning. They should try to complete the worksheet for next Friday. They are familiar with most of the words already if they were enrolled in my class last year.
If you have any questions, please email me or leave a comment for me on this blog.
Srta. Linda
We shared our sentences about meals. Students did a very good job with this assignment. I will be calling parents of students who are not doing their homework assignments. Fortunately, there are not many students who fall into this category. On Friday, these two classes also received their first edition of a Spanish language newsletter/magazine created by Scholastic Magazines. Sixth grade was able to take a copy home with them. I hope they will read through the articles and do some of the activities on the activity page if they can. I want this magazine to be fun for students and to become part of their reading for pleasure activities. The magazine is not difficult for beginning students. We also discussed a list of Spanish commands. I would like the students to study the twenty or so words for a short quiz next week. They will match the Spanish command with its English translation.
Fifth grade has a worksheet with basic commands in Spanish to complete. They will NOT be taking the same quiz the sixth graders are taking since we did not finish matching the command in Spanish with its English meaning. They should try to complete the worksheet for next Friday. They are familiar with most of the words already if they were enrolled in my class last year.
If you have any questions, please email me or leave a comment for me on this blog.
Srta. Linda
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Dear Fourth Graders,
Please try to bring the books you created last year in our Spanish class. Pop them into your backpack today so you don't forget! I am planning an exhibition of your work for all to see very soon. Mil gracias, estudiantes. ( A thousand thanks).
Atentamente,
Srta. Linda.
Remember these titles from last year? Sr. = Mr.
Srta. = Miss
Sra. = Mrs.
Hasta el lunes. Remember the days of the week?
domingo- Sunday
lunes Monday
martes Tuesday
miercoles Wednesday. (There is an accent on the 1st e.)
jueves Thursday
viernes Friday
sabado Saturday Accent on the a.
Days and months are written with a lowercase letter in Spanish, but not in English!
Please try to bring the books you created last year in our Spanish class. Pop them into your backpack today so you don't forget! I am planning an exhibition of your work for all to see very soon. Mil gracias, estudiantes. ( A thousand thanks).
Atentamente,
Srta. Linda.
Remember these titles from last year? Sr. = Mr.
Srta. = Miss
Sra. = Mrs.
Hasta el lunes. Remember the days of the week?
domingo- Sunday
lunes Monday
martes Tuesday
miercoles Wednesday. (There is an accent on the 1st e.)
jueves Thursday
viernes Friday
sabado Saturday Accent on the a.
Days and months are written with a lowercase letter in Spanish, but not in English!
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Dear Parents of Fourth Graders:
Last year your child created a book in Spanish that I would like to display this year along with other student work. Would you please have your child bring his/her book to school on Monday, September 8th? All of the books were beautiful, but we didn't have time to properly display them with all of the end-of-the-year activities. The books will be returned. I know some of the students really wanted to have their books back! I didn't keep any of them.
I want to clarify that K-4 thru Grade 4 have Spanish on Mondays. Students in grades 2-6 have notebooks they must bring to class for Spanish. If they are using a 3-ring binder, there must be a section exclusively for Spanish. This way, they can keep track of assignments and save hand-outs. We do not have a textbook so saving all hand-outs is extremely important.
Grades 5 and 6 have their Spanish class on Fridays. They need to bring their notebooks on Fridays.
I appreciate your cooperation and support. We are making excellent progress in Spanish! Thank you so much for your interest in our foreign language program.
Atentamente,
Srta. Linda
Last year your child created a book in Spanish that I would like to display this year along with other student work. Would you please have your child bring his/her book to school on Monday, September 8th? All of the books were beautiful, but we didn't have time to properly display them with all of the end-of-the-year activities. The books will be returned. I know some of the students really wanted to have their books back! I didn't keep any of them.
I want to clarify that K-4 thru Grade 4 have Spanish on Mondays. Students in grades 2-6 have notebooks they must bring to class for Spanish. If they are using a 3-ring binder, there must be a section exclusively for Spanish. This way, they can keep track of assignments and save hand-outs. We do not have a textbook so saving all hand-outs is extremely important.
Grades 5 and 6 have their Spanish class on Fridays. They need to bring their notebooks on Fridays.
I appreciate your cooperation and support. We are making excellent progress in Spanish! Thank you so much for your interest in our foreign language program.
Atentamente,
Srta. Linda
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