FOURTH GRADE UPDATE: OCT. 17

After playing a challenging relay race about famous Hispanic Americans, the Spanish students returned to learning prepositions by playing “Where is Frida Kahlo?”

The prepositions of location they’ve practiced thus far are:

junto a – next to
entre – between
en medio de – in the middle of (as in the middle of a circle)
delante de – infront of
detrás de – behind the
encima de – on top of
debajo de – under the

After reviewing these words, students were introduced to the parts of the sentence and composed, individually or in teams, sentences using magnetic visual cards (“Symtalk”). It was fascinating to see the class analyze the sentences their classmates had made and if needed, find ways to correct, lengthen or minimize a sentence!

Many of the fourth graders have recently started a writing activity where they identify Spanish words to combine into original sentences of their own.
The students have also gone over their latest quiz, and enjoyed reading their homework paragraphs to their classmates.

I found their paragraphs both enjoyable to read and very informative.

THIRD GRADE UPDATE: OCT. 17

After taking their quiz the third graders began exploring one of Spain and Latin America’s most traditional dance forms – Flamenco!

As an introduction to Flamenco the students experimented with some different sound patterns on the castanets. The kids loved making up new tapping patterns, and were especially thrilled to demonstrate their own made-up patterns for the class. The students then saw an authentic Flamenco dress and accessories, before being asked to imagine going on a visit to a Flamenco store. As they watched a film about the dance, they practiced repeating the phrase “I’d like to buy ________.,” which in Spanish is:

“Yo quisiera comprar ______________. “ (yoh-key-sea-eh-rah-comp-rar)

Of the many vocabulary words introduced were:

tela – cloth
una tela con lunares – a polka-dotted cloth
un vestido - a dress
una falda – a skirt
una falda con volantes – a ruffled skirt
un pico – a flamenco scarf
un mantón – a flamenco shawl
un abanico – a fan
un pericón – a dance fan
unas castañuelas – some castanets
unos palillos – some background castanets (not for dancing)
una peineta – a decorative hair comb
una mantilla – a lace veil
unos pantalones – some pants
un bolero – a bolero jacket
un sombrero – a hat
una faja – a sash

Many of the students have started to draw pictures of Flamenco dancers which they’ll be asked to label and present to their class. Oh! I almost forgot to mention that the dance they've been learning about is called “Flamenco,” and not “Flamingo! You may want to go over this with your child. ; )

THIRD GRADE HOMEWORK OCT. 2

For our second meeting day of next week, I'd like the students to return a slip that I will have sent home with them. The slip should have the signature of a parent or guardian stating that their child has been on the Spanish Blog, and viewed the picture of the Royal Palace of Spain, situated in Madrid.

¡Gracias por su gran apoyo! (Thank you for your wonderful support!)

Señora Starr

FOURTH GRADE HOMEWORK: OCT. 2

I'm also very proud of my fouth grade students performance on the Definite Articles quiz. It looks as if I'll be making future quizzes more of a challenge! : )

I'm asking the students to write two paragraphs in English for our second meeting day next week. In the first paragraph, I've asked them to write six sentences answering basic questions about three famous Hispanic/Latino people.

1. Sonia Sotomayor
2. Fernando Valenzuela
3. José Feliciano

In the second paragraph I'd like the students to say whether or not they'd like to have that person's job and why. The paragraph should be about five sentences long.

For Sonia Sotomayor, the students may have to do some of their research on the internet.

¡Hasta pronto! (See you/Talk to you soon!)
Señora Starr