Monday, May 4th

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

K-4  K- 4 did an excellent job on their basic questions about themselves in Spanish. Students also heard a story in Spanish about the family values of love, the importance of doing their best in school, and having confidence in their abilities.

K-5  We are practicing our song for graduation.  Students also reviewed all basic questions about themselves and their world in Spanish.  I am very proud of our K-5 students and look forward to working with them next year.  It will be the students fourth year of the study of Spanish as a second language and I am confident they are on the road to becoming bilingual children.

1st Grade    We played a memory game involving a trip to the zoo and the market.  These games help student learn targeted vocabulary.  They are also a lot of fun!

2nd Grade   Students also played the memory game to polish their vocabulary skills in Spanish.  Targeted vocabulary included animals and foods and the past tense of the verbs to go and to buy.

3rd Grade  We reviewed responding to questions in Spanish. Our third graders are very interested in learning Spanish.  Some of them are asking for books in Spanish to read outside of our classroom.  I am going to try to establish a lending library for those students.  I had a book on the table  that I use as a desk. A student picked it up and exclaimed, " I can read this in Spanish and I know what everything means."  I was so happy.  We played the vocabulary memory game. Several students won prizes.

4th Grade;  Students took their test on the countries of South America. I am very proud of our fourth graders.  They consider learning Spanish very important.  Our study of South America meets the standard for knowledge of the culture of Spanish-speaking countries as determined by the Mississippi State Standards for the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Fourth graders have a final homework assignment  which is due next Monday.  They need to design and deliver a lesson in Spanish based on anything they have learned in class.  They will need a colorful poster or other visual to capture the interest of their students.  Students chose their topics already.  Some of them are: Colors, Animals, Foods, Incan Culture, and Numbers. They have a hand-out explaining in detail what they need to do.  The last part of the assignment  mentions a test or oral evaluation.  Students DO NOT have to do this part unless they desire to do so.  It was required of my 5th and 6th graders.  Some of the students in those classes actually prepared a real evaluation for each student in class!  It was so much fun to watch the "teachers" delivering the lesson and then observe their students taking the test they had prepared.  I did not expect students to actually take the test after the presentations!  It was a very special moment for me as their instructor to notice how motivated and dedicated the students are in Spanish class.  Making copies of the test for each student was entirely optional, but every student in the 6th grade did that part of the assignment.  Way to go, Sixth Graders!  Fourth graders may design an evaluation if they wish.  Please call me if you have any questions about the assignment.  It is the same assignment minus the evaluation section that the 5th and 6th graders completed.

Thank you for your interest and support in our program.

      Miss Linda