Monday, February 1

K-4 Children  learned to say the date in Spanish.  They learned how to express things they like.  We started out with favorite animals. We will work on expressing dislikes with foods and activities next week.  I love working with our K-4 children!  They love singing songs and participating in oral language activities.  We talked about Valentine's Day, which  is also called, El Dia de la Amistad, Friendship Day, in Spanish. We concluded our class with a story in Spanish,  Buenas noches, Luna.

K-5  K- 5 has a group of very talented singers!  There are about six or seven children who have beautiful soprano voices which I hear when the children sing songs.  All of the children sing very well, but I can't help noticing the six or seven children who truly have angelic voices!  I think we will form a Spanish choir in the near future!  K-5 also talked about Valentine's Day and named things that are red.  We have a new stuffed animal in class who is red.  The children actually offered lyrics in Spanish since I do not  yet have a song about our new red baby gorilla stuffed animal. ( I compose the lyrics to the songs children sing based on the target vocabulary.  I was so pleased with their song about our new animal. * Here is the children's song about her:  Gorila, roja, gorila roja, muy muy suave, muy muy suave.  Dos orejas chicas, una nariz roja, no le tengo miedo, No le tengo miedo.  The melody is Are You Sleeping?     Red Gorila, Red Gorila, you are very very soft, very very soft.  Two small ears a red nose, I am not afraid of you. I am not afraid of you.  Children also heard a story about a hungry  little mouse.

Grade 1  Students learned how to talk about things that are red.  They made a book which they will take home next week.  They also learned how to express the date in Spanish.  Our first graders are very eager to learn Spanish and know so much!

Grade 2  Grade 2 completed a bilingual book in Spanish about things that are red.  They took the books home and I hope they will share them with you.  Our second graders are very interested in learning Spanish and pronounce words quite well in Spanish.  I am proud of them.

Grade 3.  Grade 3 presented their sentences about themselves using adjectives in Spanish.  Their homework assignment is to record the meals they eat everyday for one week in Spanish.  EX: El lunes me comi pan, huevos, pollo, ensalada, un bistec y papas.  On Monday, I ate bread, eggs, chicken, salad, steak and potatoes.  The foods they mention should be actual food they have eaten. It is such a pleasure working with our third graders.  They are a very creative group of youngsters!

Grade 4  Students presented their homework from last week.  Their  new assignment is to  describe  ten friends using adjectives from the list I provided or other adjectives in Spanish.  Most students wrote five descriptions in class, so they will only have to write five more.  Fourth graders have shown so much progress in Spanish.  It is a pleasure working with these students.  The sentences should say, ___________(Name of friend) es amable, respetuoso, y paciente.  (Students may use four or five adjectives per description if they wish).

I love using stuffed animals in our songs.  I worked at The Chicago Zoological Society for a number of years before I  became a teacher.  I often share that information with the children.  They always look very surprised when I tell them I worked with real lions and tigers and bears, and elephants!