Dear Parents and Grandparents,
                             I am so very happy with the progress of all of our students! Yesterday's presentations of dialogues in Spanish by Grades 4, 5, and 6 were fantastic.  Some students referred to their script, but most of the students memorized their lines.  All students in Grades 2 through 6 have a dialogue to study for next week.  Of course, the scripts are not identical for all grades.  Grades 2 and 3 have a very short dialogue emphasizing previously learned vocabulary.  Students will make the presentation with a partner.  I encouraged children to team up with a classmate who can help them to read their lines.  We practiced in class on Monday.  I will leave additional copies of the dialogue with Melissa in the Main Office if students lose their copy or for  those students  who were not in attendance on Monday.

Grade 3 also has new vocabulary to learn from our food unit.  They interviewed one another (in Spanish) about what foods they eat.  I require students to come to class with their Spanish notebooks, but some still do not bring them to class.  Please remind your child about that for me.
Most students finished their paragraph stating food classmates eat. They just need to study the paragraph.  Others need to finish the paragraph for next Monday, March 3.  Please ask your child to share the new vocabulary with you.  I am very proud of your children!
Grades K-4, 5 and 1st grade are also learning the names of common foods. Grades K-4 , K-5 and Grade 1 have  many  students who absolutely amaze me with their desire to learn new words and expressions. I love it!

Grade 2 played a game based on the names of foods.  Grade 2 also has students very eager to learn Spanish.  I am proud of them!  Miss Lisa has their dialogue.  They will be working in class to learn the dialogue.  Kane, Carter, and Caden volunteered to help students with the dialogue. 

Thank you for your interest in our Spanish Language Program.  Please contact me if you have any questions about assignments. 

                                                  Atentamente,
                                                      Srta. Linda

K-5 is learning farm animals.  They will soon begin learning "De Colores" in Spanish. It is a traditional Spanish folk song which includes the names of some farm animals, hence our work on learning farm animals in Spanish.  They know the days of the week and are really making excellent progress learning the months of the year and the four seasons. I am very proud of them!

Grade 1 continues to make excellent progress understanding and responding correctly to basic questions in Spanish. We will begin a unit on food next week. 

Grade 2 played a game to learn the names of animals.  They have mastered the days of the week and do well with the months of the year.  I want to begin short, simple dialogues in Spanish with second graders.  On Monday, they will receive their first dialogue in Spanish to try to learn or at least be able to read and present in front of other students.  The interest level is very high with this group of second language learners.  They have some excellent class leaders who love working with other students on the task  at hand.  I appreciate that!
    Once again, I want to thank parents, St. John's teachers, teaching assistants, and Miss Stone for their support of the Spanish Resource Program. 
  

Dear Parents and Students,
                  We had class on Friday, so any homework that was given is for March 3, not Feb. 24th.  The assignment that was given to 4th, 5th and 6th graders two weeks ago is due on the 24th, Monday.  It is a dialogue in Spanish. We practiced on Friday and everyone did a great job.  Some students memorized their lines and really were involved in blocking for stage productions!  I loved it! I told students they may bring any props they feel will make the skit look authentic.  These would be books, a lunch bag, backpack, etc.  I am thinking someone will show up with a huge clock to see what time it is.  Students know what I mean.  The presentation will be done in Spanish class, and has nothing to do with Air Jam.

Third grade received new vocabulary to learn for Feb. 24th.  They are progressing very well. A student told me at the end of class, " I had so much fun. I love this class."  It made my day, needless to say.

4th, 5th and 6th have a new dialogue for March 3rd.  It is short and has translations on the page.  Of course, students can read the lines or try to memorize them. 

No homework for Grades K-5, 1 and 2.  I will write a summary of wht we did tonight. I am on my way to the Chili Cook-Off! 

Tomorrow is Spanish for this week only.  We will have our regular Spanish class on Monday.
We will be practicing the dialogue which 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students will present with their partner on Monday.  I will provide a partner for students who were absent and did not pair up with anyone.  Students may read the dialogue, but it would make me extremely happy if some students would try to present their lines from memory.  There is NO new vocabulary in the dialogue except for Student 2's lines at the very end of the dialogue.  Students: please bring your copy of the dialogue.  I  will have a few extra copies, but really would like to see that students kept dialogue in a safe place and used it to practice.
                                              Hasta el viernes,
                                                 Srta. Linda

  Third Grade Only:  Some students said they are finished with their crossword puzzle in Spanish.  They may turn it in next week if they so desire.  Please contact me if clarification is needed. Assignment is officially due on the 24th.

Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Graders:  All students received a dialogue to learn and present on February 24th in class.  I will leave  some extra copies of the dialogue with classroom teachers if students lose their copy.  Students will receive an oral language grade on this assignment.  Oral fluency has been the major emphasis of the class.  I will share the rubric that I use to evaluate students' oral language next week on this blog. 
                                                   Have a great (sunny) weekend!

                                                                       Miss Linda

Dear Parents,
              Grades 3, 4, and 5 have a homework assignment I would like to describe before my weekly posts for each grade's  Monday activities in Spanish.
                Grade 3 has a crossword puzzle to complete based on telling time and writing numerals in Spanish.  I explained the activity to Miss Cockrell's class, but did not work with Miss Bower's students yet.  I will distribute the sheets to Miss Bower's students on Wednesday after Chapel.   I explained to the students that I would like them to attempt to complete the crossword without looking at the companion sheet with possible answers and clocks.  Of course, they may use the sheet to help them answer correctly.  The homework is due on February 24.  Update:  All third graders have the crosswork puzzle assignment. 

Grades 4, 5, and 6 have a skit in Spanish to learn.  Working with a partner, the students will present the skit which emphasizes previously introduced themes and vocabulary.  Each student received a copy of the skit.  They chose a partner and worked in class.  There are onlyeight lines of dialogue to learn.  The students have until February 24, two weeks,  to learn their part.  It is not necessary to work with their particular partner outside of school.  I suggested that the students practice during recess for a few minutes or after lunch.  I also suggested practicing on the phone  if they are allowed to do so during the week.  If students cannot present without reading their part, that is fine.  I will not lower their oral language grade.  I really prefer that they try to memorize their lines.  The presentation will be much more fluid in this manner.  Please send me an email if you do not understand this project.   Thank you,
                                                            Srta. Linda

Dear Parents,
          Sixth grade will take a test on numbers in Spanish from thirty-nine to one hundred.  They need to know how to write these numbers. Since we studied the numbers from one to thirty last year, they really only need to learn:  cuarenta, cincuenta, sesenta, setenta, ochenta, noventa, cien.  40,  50, 60, 70, 80, 90  and 100.  The other numbers are combinations of these words with the numbers: uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve.  EX:  41- cuarenta y uno.  57- cincuenta y siete.  95-noventa y cinco.   Y means "and."  So, the homework is to study those seven words, which is not a lot for our amazing sixth graders.   I know they can do it! 

Dear K-3 Parents,
             K-3 children had many fun activities to do this morning in Spanish.  We started by singing all of our songs in Spanish, "Buenos Dias,"  "Asi me lavo las manos," Uno, dos, tres deditos," and "Elefante."  We then reviewed all colors while learning the days of the week with a calendar page for febrero, February.  Children worked in two groups.  One group reviewed parts of the body with me  while the other group did their calendar and colors with Miss Jeanette.   This way, individual children receive more practice speaking Spanish.  All children answer in Spanish when roll is called.  We are working with responding to questions in Spanish about how old child is, how they feel, and what is their name. 
Students can count from one to ten so I am working on adding eleven to twenty. 
             Next week we will continue with learning the names of more animals in Spanish.  WE will also begin learning the names of some foods.
             Thank you for your interest in our Spanish Language Program.  I appreciate your support.
                                                        Miss Linda

   Dear Parents,
            All students in grades 3 through 6 took their second written language test in Spanish on Monday. I am pleased to report that everyone passed the quiz!  I did not return the tests to students on Wednesday because there is no need for a retest on this material.  Students were informed on Monday  about taking the first Spanish test again if they needed to improve their test score.  I passed back their tests to them and went over the material with everyone. Next Monday students will have the opportunity to retake the FIRST test.  Students have the questions and answers in their Spanish notebook. 
Questions for Retest:   Que clase te gusta mas?    Quien ensena la clase? A que hora tienes la clase?  Como es la clase?  Tienes mucha tarea en la clase?   Possible responses:  Me gusta la lectura.  La Sra. Bowers ensena la clase.  Tengo la clase a las ocho.  La clase es interesante, buena, y divertida.  Tengo mucha tarea en la clase. 

What is your favorite class?  Who teaches the class.  What time do you have the class?  How is the class?  Do you have lots of homework in the class?

Dear Parents and Grandparents,
                       Here is a play by play of what we did in Spanish class yesterday.
It is more exciting than last Sunday's Superbowl! (for me, I am a Colorado fan).

K-4 We always review all songs. Songs are a fun way to learn target vocabulary.  We learned weather terms: rain-lluvia, snow-nieve, sunny day-Hace sol, windy day-hace viento. We also reviewed  farm animals. The new song was:  Asi, me lavo las manos. This song, sung to the tune of "Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush," reinforces the terms for parts of the body.

 K-5 We learned weather terms, the same as K-4.  We also did a great job with the song to reinforce parts of the body, "Asi me lavo las manos." 

1st-  We reviewed classroom vocabulary and the verb "to have- tener"  I distributed items (realia) to the students.  I then asked the question, "Quien tiene__________?"  Students who had the item needed to respond, " Yo tengo el /la__________.  This was so much fun!  We also reviewed animals by singing, "Uno, dos, tres, _________(name of animal). 

2nd-  We completed a worksheet designed to learn position of adjectives in Spanish.  It also was a review of rooms in a house and furniture from last year.  This lesson went extremely well.  I have several students who like to help by being "teachers."  They each took two students to help  while I worked with other students.  Thank you, Kane and Carter!  Way to go! Teaching others is a great way to reinforce what one knows. Students have flash cards to review vocabulary.  They may leave the cards at home.  Some of them did not bring them back, so I decided to have students leave cards at home to study.

Grades 3-6   These students took a test on basic questions in Spanish.  I glanced at the results as students handed in their work.  They look much better than last week's quiz.  The questions are very basic:  How old are you?  What is your name? What is your friend's favorite class?  I really want students to learn some basic written language skills in Spanish, although the main emphasis of their instruction is oral language proficiency.  Most  students did well on last week's test.  Some students scored a "C."  There were many A's and B's.  If a student does really well, I grade the paper, A plus, plus, plus.  These test do NOT affect the students' overall grade in the class unless a student consistently fails tests.  Students had two weeks to study and prepare for the five questions. I am aware of students who have difficulty reading and writing  English and know that that may be carried over into their written work in Spanish.  I am working with those students. 
I will return the tests to students on Wednesday.  Students who did not do well on either the first test or the second will have a chance to retake the test on Monday. 

6th Grade-  Students need to continue learning how to write the number words in Spanish from thirty nine to one hundred.  Here is what they need to study since they already know how to write the numbers from one to ten:  40 cuarenta, 50 cincuenta, 60 sesenta, 70 setenta, 80 ochenta, 90 noventa, 100 cien.  41 will be cuarenta y uno.  42, cuarenta y dos, etc. They will have a test on numbers from 40 - 100 on Monday.  I will say the number in English and they will be required to write the number in Spanish.

Dear Parents,
        Grades 3 thru 6 will take a short quiz onMonday.  They copied the questions and answers which were mentioned in my previous blog.  New students are never required to take any exams other students are taking.  Some material is new to all students and when that occurs, everyone needs to take the exam.  This is not the case for Monday's exam. 

I also am requiring that sixth grade students only learn to write the numbers in Spanish from one to thirty-nine.  They will take a "dictado," a written test based on words or short sentences I say to them, on Monday. This will be based on the number words from one to thirty-nine in Spanish.   They took home vocabulary sheets with basic words they need to know.  This is NOT new to sixth graders who were in my class as fifth graders last year!  Again, new students do not have to take the exam if they are not ready to do so.

                                        GO BRONCOS!  GO SEAHAWKS! (For parents who are Seattle fans).

Dear K-3 Parents,
         Children learned The Itsey Bitsey Spider in Spanish.  I prepared a sheet for them to take home so you can sing the song with them. The melody is the same as the song in English.
They loved singing.  Miss Jeanette helped them to remember the gestures they learned to make to the verses in English.  The gestures are the same in Spanish--little fingers together, then ring finter, middle, index and finally thumb when Spider gets all the way up the spout.  (We don't say spout in Spanish. She just climbed and climbed and climbed! Subio, subio, subio.
 We sang the other songs we know: Buenos Dias, Elefante, and Uno dos, tres deditos, substituting the names of farm animals in Spanish, oveja-sheep, vaca- cow, cochinito- pig, patito-duckling, and gallina-hen.  We reviewed numbers and simple questions: Como te llamas- What is your name? Me llamo- My name is.  We learned the days of the week.  Different positions are associated with each day: Hands together praying for Sunday - lying down ready to get up for school for Monday, sitting position for Tuesday, On knees for Wednesday, Standing for Thursday, Swaying back and forth hands on hips for Friday, Dancing for Saturday. Hoy es lunes, lunes, lunes. Es lunes hoy, etc. for each day.  Children love this song.
I made up the melody for the song, so please ask your children to sing it for you at home.

We finished the class with a review of parts of the body.  Children know: ojos, nariz, cabexa, orejas and boca: Eyes, nose, head, ears and mouth.  Some also know: dientes and pelo: teeth and hair.  the colors we reinforced by asking children what color they were using to color their spider.  They need to name the spider for next week.  We will be learning: Mi  arana se llama: Mi (a rah' nya) se (ya ma.  
Thank you for your interest in our Spanish program.