Spanish Homework

Dear Parents,
                Grades K-4, K-5 and Grade 1 do not have written homework.  On Monday,  K-4, and K-5 created a leaf rubbing which will be displayed in the Spanish Resource Room next week. The purpose of the activity was to provide an opportunity for the children to engage in meaningful interaction in Spanish.  Students learned a song in Spanish about what happens to leaves in the autumn. The words to the song are sung to to tune of " The Itsy, Bitsy Spider."  (We also danced to the part that says that the leaves dance).  The children loved that part!  Children make motions of falling or rising leaves with their hands.  They get up and dance at the end. (Se ponen a bailar).

                       Las hojitas de otono                                 The little autumn leaves fall from the trees,
                             de los arboles se caen.                         The wind comes and lifts them up
                       Viene el viento y las levanta                      and they begin to dance around,
                        Y se ponen a bailar                                    La, la, la, la, la la.
                       La la la la la la la.
While children made their leaves, they were asked questions in Spanish about colors and  naming objects in Spanish. Miss Savannah and I will use this method of acquiring second language proficiency throughout the year.  Please contact me if you would like more information about The Natural Language Approach developed by Dr. Stephen Krashen.    I also will speak to the children in Spanish as they work telling them what they are doing in Spanish, e.g; " Estas coloreando la hojita."
"You are coloring the little leaf."  I also use TPR, Total Physical Response to teach simple commands such as, " Sit down"  and "Stand up."  I said, " Ponganse en fila" last week and everyone got in line.
TPR uses physical gestures to show what the words mean.  It is a very effective way to quickly learn a second languge. * Otono is pronounced o TONE yo.  I cannot indicate diacritical marks on this machine! 

Grade 2 needed a review of numbers. They have a number sheet to complete and study.  The numbers are from 21- 50.  We covered that last year, but need to revisit it.  That worksheet is due Monday, September 9th due to the holiday. Children do NOT have to learn all of the numbers by the 9th!

Grades 3 and 4 presented their homework.  They can tell foods they like and don't like in Spanish. I will expand that to other preferences concerning games, sports, subjects, etc.  In a few weeks, students will be able to have a conversation about preferences completely in Spanish.  We had a very productive first year of study!  I am able to build on those skills this year. Their homework is to describe school supplies, our new vocabulary.  The words are:  libro, cuaderno, tijeras, colores, mochila, lapiz, papel, pizarron, pegadura, borrador. They have the list in their notebooks. They were asked to compose at least one sentence with each word, but I encouraged students to write as many as they like.  I don't like to limit them if they  want to go above and beyond the assignment.  Some students asked if 50 would be OK.  Model for sentences:  La pegadura es morada. El borrador es rosado. This will be due on the 9th of September. 

6th grade presented their paragraphs, Mi vida--My Life.  They did an excellent job.  Please ask them to read their paragraph to you and explain what it says if you need them to do so.  I know some parents  and grandparents speak Spanish.  Their homework is listed above, but I taught them how  to add to whom the object belongs, possessive form in Spanish.  Their model is:  El cuaderno de la maestra es verde.  La pegadura de la directora  es morada.  They may compose as many sentences as they wish, but at least ten were required.  Very few students write only ten!
Please note:  I have not been able to figure out indicating  accents in Spanish on this computer, so they are not present in this post.  Your child has all of the vocabulary words written with all the necessary accent marks.  For example, Papa has a written accent on the final a,  lapiz, on the first a, pizarron on the o. These accents are essential as they change the pronounciation of the word.

Please contact me at: linda.delascuevas@sjdslaurel.com is you have questions about the homework.
Que tengan un buen fin de semana.  Have a good weekend.
                                                    Srta. Linda