Dear Parents,
              Costume Day was fun!  Some of the students wanted me to call the name of the character they represented when I took roll instead of their name.   I am happy to report that Spider Man, Dorothy, Godzilla, and all of my pirates and princesses were in attendance on Monday!
K-4 and 5 continued counting in Spanish.  I would like students to be able to count to 100!  I know they can do it. Some children can already count to 40 in Spanish. Students heard a new story about how a dinosaur says, "Goodnight."  All stories are read in Spanish. Picture books offer opportunities for students to acquire new vocabulary without direct translations.

1st grade began to make their clocks.  Students can tell time to the hour in Spanish.  Each child will take home a clock next week with directions so they can practice numbers and telling time at home. 

Grade 2 wrote some sentences expressing their likes and dislikes in Spanish.  They may continue at home in they like, but it is NOT a formal homework assignment becaue of all of the events and activities taking place this week.

Grade 3 also wrote sentences expressing likes and dislikes.  Again, I did not assign a formal homework assignment, but encouraged students to try to compose more sentences on their own if they wish.  I was very pleased that third grade did so well on the assignment which actually was prepared for 5th and 6th graders.

Grade 4 wrote and shared sentences telling what they like and dislike.  We will continue with this activity in the form of a dialogue next week.  Again, students who wish to compose more sentences may do so, but there is no formal homework assignment for next week.

I hope to see you all at Eaglefest on Thursday.  Hasta el jueves.
                                                          Atentamente,
                                                                    Miss Linda

Dear 5th and 6th Grade Parents,
                   Students presented their dialogues in class today.  They did a superior job on their presentations.  Students also read sentences they created using the target expression: A mi me gusta combined with a verb or a verb and prepositional phrase from the worksheet I prepared for them to use as a guide.  There is no class next Friday,  October 31.  The school will be closed.
I asked students to  create an original dialogue based on today's presentations for our next class on November 7th, Friday.
They all have the worksheet to use as a guide.  These hand-outs are extremely important.  The instructions are:  Change the names of the students in the dialogue.  Change the countries.  Change the sentences stating what the student likes.  Add sentences/lines of dialogue stating activities students do NOT like.  For example:  No me gusta bailar.  No me gustar jugar al tenis.  No me gusta escribir cuentos, etc.  There should be a balance of likes and dislikes.  ALL of the vocabulary needed to complete this assignment is on the worksheet.  Please contact me if your child loses or misplaces the worksheet.  There are also translations included on the worksheet.  Some students wanted to use other verbs not mentioned on the worksheet.  This is fine.  Translating verbs from  a translator on the computer should not be a problem.  Problems occur when students try to translate entire thoughts from English to Spanish.  Unless the ideas are simple,  the translations are sometimes awkward or incorrect.  This is why I gave a worksheet to the class to use for their own original dialogue. 
Have a wonderful weekend.  See you at Eaglefest on Thursday!

                                   Miss Linda

Dear 1st through 4th grade parents,
                    We did a short cultural activity about The Day of the Dead, El Dia de los Muertos.  this celebration is celebrated in Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries.  Students were told the significance of the celebration and were asked to compare it to North American celebrations.  I pointed out that it has nothing to do with Halloween.  Each child decorated an ofrenda, an altar which people set up in their homes to honor their loved ones who have died.
I also discussed other ways people celebrate the day. Knowledge of the culture of Spanish-speaking people is an objective identified by the Mississippi State Department of Education.
Next week we will talk more about the celebration as well as begin a new unit in our study of Spanish. More information will follow about the new unit.
 K-4 and 5 learned a new song, Calabaza, Calabaza.  Calabaza means pumpkin.  We also practiced a conversation about foods we like and don't like.  Children are going to participate in a make-believe meal using paper plates and utensils next week to simulate eating at a table where people speak only Spanish.  I can't wait.  They will learn how to say about ten new words related to eating dinner.  This activity is called authentic learning, but I am thinking that some children are going to ask me where the real food is! 
Thank you for your cooperation and interest in our foreign language program at St. John's.
                                                 Atentamente,
                                                       Srta. Linda

Dear 5th and 5th Grade Parents,
            The parts of the body posters were very creative!  I will try to put them on display so everyone can see them.  I had listed about eighteen vocabulary words for students to use.  Some students used only five or six, so I graded accordingly.  Students were asked to label at least twenty parts in class. 
Next week's homework has two parts.  The first part is composing twenty sentences telling what students like to do.  Me gusta bailar. I like to dance.  Me gusta pasar tiempo con mi familia. I like to spend time with my family.  It is all on the worksheet, including translations.  I distributed a worksheet with detailed instructions and an example.  We also created and shared sentences orally in class.  The second part is a two-person dialogue for students to present in class next Friday.  Most of the students began the sentences in class.  If your child loses the worksheets, please contact me.  I will be at school on Monday and will distribute another copy to the student. Please make sure your child has a Spanish notebook.  Two students said they do not have one.  It can be a spiral notebook or a section in their 3-ring binder exclusively for Spanish.  The notebook is REQUIRED.
I would like to explain that Spanish is an academic class and students receive a letter grade in the  class.  The new directories are available explaining consequences of not completing homework or projects.   Students'  nine week grade may be lowered based upon how many missed assignments they have recorded. Students will have an opportunity to complete missed assignments if their absence was excused.  Students who do not complete assignments who were not absent will have the opportunity to make-up the assignment at the discretion of the teacher.  Please consult the new directory for more information about homework policies for all classes and excused absences.  I will notify you when assignments are missed so you can speak to your child about it.  Please contact me if emergencies and or other situations occur that make it difficult for your child to do the homework assignment.  I believe there is a section in the directory about family vacations and making arrangements with teachers beforehand in order to complete the assignments that will be missed.
Thank you for your cooperation and interest in Spanish.  I love teaching your child Spanish! We are really making progress!
                                                          Atentamente,
                                                                    Miss Linda

Dear Fifth and Sixth Grade Parents:
                           Homework for fifth and sixth graders is to label parts of the body, at least twenty, using the figure of an animal, human, funny cartoon character, or a picture from a magazine.  The figure can be drawn or painted on a poster or on a plain 8 and one-half by 11 piece of paper.  The object is to review the parts of the body in Spanish.  I did a quick check on this vocabulary skill last week and students were not sure of basic vocabulary introduced last year.  Some of the parts should include: la cara- face, los ojos-eyes, la boca-mouth, las orejas-ears, la cabeza, head, el cuello-neck, la pierna-leg, los pies-feet, el codo-elbow, el pelo-hair, el estomago-stomach, los brazos-arms, los dedos-fingers, los dientes-teeth.
I hope some students make a poster so I can use their work as a visual for other classes.
                    

Dear Parents of 4th Graders:
                           I was not in class on Monday and forgot to ask my substitute, Mrs. Driskell, to tell fourth grade students to review their dialogues for our next class. Since there is no school on Monday, October 13, our next class will be Monday. October20. Some students may want to write their own dialogues, which was an assignment I gave to my 5th and 6th graders!  I definitely feel that any student who wants to write an original dialogue may do so.  I think that is fantastic!  It is not, however, a formal assignment.  Each class has different assignments based on the instruction they receive in my class.  I often group activities in the following manner:  K-4 and K-5  have similar activities.  lst Grade:  Students usually have lessons unique to their grade level, but ocassionally they will share lessons with 2nd gradel.  3rd:  My third graders also have lessons which are rarely the same as other grade levels.  4th, 5th, and 6th:  these three grade levels often have the same lessons in class. 
Note:  6th Grade often has additional work in class and additional homework.  Please check the blog and your child's Spanish notebook.  All students in Grades 3,4,5, and 6 are required to maintain a Spanish notebook which they take home.

Dear Fifth and Sixth Grade Parents,
     Students have an assignment due on Friday, October 10th.  They have done this assignment last year, so it is something they are capable of doing.  I asked students to write an original dialogue in Spanish based on the two dialogues they have already presented this semester.  I am asking students to use the two dialogues as a guide.  They may simply change the names and countries and cities mentioned in the dialogue, or change the names of the students to other names.  My goal here is to have the students become familiar with greetings, questions, nationalities, countries, and cities in Spanish.  For example, the previous dialogue was between three students from Mexico, Spain, and The United States.
Students all have notebooks in which they keep their hand-outs and class lessons.  I passed out extra dialogues in class on Friday.  One or two students asked for a duplicate.  I would like  you to encourage your child to be responsible for maintaining his or her folder.  All handouts need to be kept for use in future assignments.  Accepting responsibility for one's assignments is a very important study skill which has been shown to assist students in achieving their academic goals.  I need your help in this matter.  Of course, I can continue to distribute extra copies, but I feel that I am not encouraging students to be responsible in doing so.  Thank you for your support and interest in our Spanish Language Program.
               Srta. Linda

Dear Parents,
           Monday was a very busy day in Spanish class. Here is a brief description of what your child did in class.
K-4 and K-5 :  Children sang all of our songs in Spanish, including our new song, Estrellita Brillaras--Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  I will be sending home the words to all of the songs so you can sing at home with your child!   We are finishing our unit on foods.  I am thinking about asking parents to help their child with a poster showing the foods they like to eat and the name of the food in Spanish.  More information will follow after this grading period.  I read a story to the children in Spanish about an owl who could not sleep.  All of the stories I are designed to help students acquire new vocabulary in Spanish. 
1st :  I introduced telling time to the hour to the first graders.  They did an excellent job with this activity.  We will be making clocks soon so children can practrice at home.  Please review the numbers from 1 to 12 in Spanish with your child if you can: uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez, once, doce.  Your child know these numbers as we have counted in Spanish up to twenty.  Some children can go beyond twenty in Spanish. 

2nd grade:  All students have notebooks which I will keep in class unless there is homeowork.  I introduced short paragraphs about the culture and history of Mexico to the students.  We will be working on learning about different cultures for the next few weeks along with our study of language.  Each student copied down an informative paragraph and will be adding paragraphs to their notebook in the coming weeks.  The paragraphs are in English with key vocabulary words in Spanish, such as, bandera-flag, mariachi- traditional Mexican music, calavera-skull, popular image in art created by Jose Posadas.
3d grade:  The third graders also learned paragraphs containing information about various topics related to Mexican culture.  They took their paragraphs home in their notebooks. Please ask them to share the paragraph with you.

4th:  Fourth grade presented their dialogues.  They did very well.  Several students needed to practice more in the future with their partners.  I will give students a chance to present their dialogues again.  Students should continue practricing the two dialogues they have presented to improve their fluency in Spanish. 
Thank you for your interest in our Spanish Language Program.  I enjoy working with you children.  Students are at the intermediate level of production already.  I am so pleased. Please contact me if you have any questions about the activities.
                         Atentamente,
                              Srta. Linda