Dear Parents,
                           Grades K-4 and 5 and lst learned a new song with new vocabulary.  The song is about spring.  They are really making progress.  I can conduct part of the class entirely in Spanish .   I am very proud of them.  As you know, my approach to second language acquisition is to introduce vocabulary  and grammatical structures in a relaxed, "natural" atmosphere.  In many ways, it is the manner in which your children learned their first language at home.  The activity which  produces a product, such as the picture of a butterfly  garden the children completed, is NOT the main emphasis of the "lesson."  The language used to instruct the students in producing the picture and reinforcement of the target vocabulary  during the activity is the object of the particular class.

Grade 2 has a dialogue to practice at home about two students meeting at school.  I modified the dialogue for some students who said it was too difficult.  Those students need to practice  two lines of dialogue for their presentation.  The rest of the class needs to practice either Student 1 or Student 2's part.    They may read their part on Monday. Some students may want to memorize their part.  I would love that!  We read the entire dialogue four or five times in class. If your child needs help in reading their lines, please call me.  I would be more than happy to assist them. I also want second graders to gather photographs, draw portraits or find pictures in magazines that resemble their parents, grandparents, siblings and cousins for a family tree project.  I think we are going to do this activity in class in the form of a mural. Perhaps a Family Tree Garden!

Grade 3, 4 and 5 took a short quiz on numbers.  Grade 3 will be given information on their final project of the year next week. They have one month to complete the project. I do not want them to begin during our school-wide testing period! 

Grade 3's project is to write and illustrate a picture book in Spanish for children.  They may use any material they wish.  It should be a minimum of twelve pages.  Detailed information will be distributed to children next week. 

Grades 4, 5 and 6 have are responsible for preparing a project as well.  Their project is to plan a trip to a Spanish-speaking country.  Students were assigned a country in class and asked to begin gathering basic information they will bring to class next week.  The information they need is:  How will they travel to the country?  How much will transportation cost?  Where will they stay?  What tourist sites will they visit?  What will they eat once there?   All of that informtion can be in English.  Part of the project is to prepare a short dialogue in Spanish which takes place in a restaurant or open-air market.  It can also take the form of a dialogue with a Spanish-speaking student at a cafe asking questions about his/her school and leisure activities.  Students will receive all of this information in a hand-out next week.

I can't believe we are almost finished with this school year. Realmente, el tiempo vuela--Time flies!  Thank you for your continued cooperation and interest in our second language program.
                                                          Srta. Linda