Dear Parents,
    On Monday, January 13th, all  Spanish classes met for the first time since Christmas vacation.  We had to review some concepts, but I was very pleased with all of the concepts my students retained over the vacation!  So many of them wanted me to ask them to tell the time in Spanish!  I don't think I will ever have to wear a watch in class again.  I would like to thank all of the parents who worked with their children at home to reinforce the concept of telling time in Spanish.  I really appreciate your interest in our  Spanish Language Resource Program. Students were eager to share their work with you at home.  I am so pleased!

K-4  Students learned a new song: Uno, Dos Tres Deditos. (Little Fingers) We changed the words to gatitos (kittens), and ovejas (sheep).  We will be adding other farm animals in two weeks when we meet again. 
We also reviewed questions in Spanish, including, Que dia es?  What day is it?  We also read a story about winter, El invierno.  We know the four seasons in Spanish.  Invierno, Primavera, Verano, y Otono.  I am going to read a story every week now in Spanish to the students.  The children  have acquired enough Spanish to understand simple picture books which, of course, have many brightly colored illustrations the children can  use as picture clues. 
 
K-5  Students also learned the new song described above with the addition of farm animals. We will be learning the names of animals in the coming weeks.  We reviewed colors and all basic questions in Spanish.  We also reviewed the months of the year and days of the week. I am so proud of K-4 and K-5 students'progress in Spanish. 

1st grade  Students played the game, " Quien tiene?"  Who Has It?  I distributed different classroom objects, such as, pencil, eraser, books, paper, pencil sharpener, etc.  Each student had to answer in a complete  Spanish sentence when asked, "Quien tiene?"  We also began to classify objects as "grande" (large), or "chico" (small).  We reviewed days and months as well.
Students are completing a color book with Miss Connie in their classroom. 

2nd Grade  Students played the game described above.  They wanted to review telling time in Spanish.Actually, many students said they continued studying telling time during vacation.  It made me so happy to hear that!  My second graders really love Spanish class. I want to thank all parents for their continued support and cooperation. 

Grades 3,4 5 and 6.  Students will be taking a quiz in two weeks.  They will be required to answer five questions in Spanish in written form.  All students copied the questions and completed their answers in class. I checked the answers to make sure they have correctly spelled sentences to study. Their homework is to study their responses for the exam on January 27.  I distributed new spiral notebooks to students who did not have their Spanish notebook. They MUST bring the notebook to class.  We are really at the intermediate level in Spanish now.  There will be lots of written work from now until May.  Students need to be prepared for class with their notebooks and pens or pencils. 

Questions:  Que clase te gusta mas?  Como es la clase?  A que hora tienes la clase? Quien ensena la clase?  Tienes mucha tarea en la clase?  ( Students have questions with accents and the  question marks Spanish requires).   What is your favorite class?  How would you describe it? What time do you have the class?  Who teaches the class?  Do you have lots of homework in the class? *

Vocabulary Words  Adjectives to describe the class are: buena, infomativa, excelente, divertida, interesante.  Good,  informative, excellent, fun, interesting.  Classes are: physical ed. , computers, Spanish, reading, math, history, art, music, science, language.  Educacion fisica, computadoras, espanol, lectura, matematicas, historia, arte, musica, lenguaje. 

6th grade also began to conjugate "ar"  verbs in Spanish.  The model verb is "hablar." 
Yo hablo, tu hablas, el/ella/ usted habla, nosotros hablamos, ellos/ellas/ Uds. hablan.  (To speak).

Possible responses:  Me gusta mas la clase de lectura. La clase es excelente, interesante, y divertida. Tengo la clase a las nueve y media.  La Senora Bowers ensena la clase.  Tengo mucha tarea en la clase.  (mas has an accent on the a.  Educacion fisica--accents on the o and first i in fisica.
We are right on track with our pacing plan in reading, writing, and oral language.  I need to work more on students' knowledge of the culture and history of Spanish-speaking people.

Que tengan un buen fin de semana.   Have a great weekend.