El dia de los muertos

El día de los muertos...

The students learned about the Mesoamerican rooted tradition of celebrating life and death. After discussing the history and meaning of the holiday they enjoyed creating crafts to take home.

 

 

We are finishing up and moving on

Kindergarten- We began our parts of the body lessons.  We talked about our main outer body parts.

The kinder class has learned two songs and labeled their parts of the body.  I am very impressed by their willingness to learn and curiosity.

First Grade- Is learning about places, people and the importance of their jobs in the community.  We made an anchor chart to help us remember all of these.  

Second Grade-  Landforms, ecosystems, animals, and much more.  We began this week by learning the names of 5 landforms and created a fun way of reviewing them.  

One of the second grade students (Charlie) has done a magnificent job at illustrating and completing his vocabulary review assignment.

Third Grade- Finished the last of our phonics!! The students will receive a copy of all the Spanish syllables learned.  

Fourth Grade-Finished the last of our phonics!! The students will receive a copy of all the Spanish syllables learned.  

Third and fourth should be bringing this home soon.  It is just an extra reference for when they begin to read in Spanish.  It was a long 3 lessons of pure phonics but i think it will help us out in the long run!! Way to go third and fourth grade.

Fifth Grade- Spanish Conquistadors and Explorers.  We reviewed Columbus, De Vaca, Pineda, Coronado and Cortes.  The students created a foldable to jot down important facts about these explorers.

New Spanish Review/Homework Folders

This week the students took home a review/homework folder. These folders will be used as a study aide that will include their current vocabulary lists and other ongoing vocabulary such as months of the year, days of the week, numbers, and colors.   

Inside the folders there is a list of suggested Spanish homework assignments.  The recommended number of assignments is two per week.  

These folders are to stay at home and updated with work that comes home with two hole punches at the top.

I have also been made aware of a couple of pages that need to be resent or updated because of illegibility or it was in English as opposed to Spanish.  I will be getting those out to everyone and putting them here on my blog as well, so if you would like to print them put please feel free to do so.    

I hope this answers a few questions but please feel free to email me at anytime or comment on the blog if you have any questions or concern, if it’s not clear to you it may not be clear to others.  

En la clase de español

We are making tons of progress!  The students and I have been working really hard to create some great projects and have fun learning Spanish.  Here are some examples and a snippet of what we are doing in our class time.  

Kinder-  Pets, pets, pets!! We are learning about a special part of the family...our pets!! 

First-  Along with our morning song, first grade is learning new greetings and farewells in Spanish to use them with their friends.  

Second-  Continuing descriptions of illustrations we are reviewing positional words in Spanish by adding on to our personal illustrations and creating an anchor chart to practice.  

Third/Fourth-  Phonics in Spanish.  Learning 9 letters and sounds, which include the vowels and 4 consonants.  We are also learning to listen to beginning syllables on Spanish words that will later help us read and write in Spanish.  

Fifth-  This week fifth grade is being introduced to workstations which will include Read to Self, Listen to Reading, Working with Words, and Work on Writing all in Spanish.  During this time I will work with small groups to improve their reading, writing, speaking, and comprehension skills.

Whats been going on?

Kinder- Has been learning about family.  This week they made a family portrait and labeled family members in Spanish.

First- Created "Un océano amigable" by listening to "El Pez Arco Iris," discussing and then using their Spanish vocabulary to decorate a fish that depicted being a good friend.  

Second- Practiced their adjectives through an interactive whole class activity and then applying their knowledge of adjectives to draw a picture and label.

Third/Fourth/Fifth- Continued to discuss how to listen and follow instructions in Spanish.  We also discussed the need to begin to use their Spanish as much as possible in the classroom.  Greetings and farewells were introduced and will be continued next class time.  

Until next time!! Please feel free to contact me via email at anytime at abrandon@houstonisd.org.  

Spanish Apps for Apple Products

Apps, apps, apps!!  Games are a great way to get a child interested in learning.  Through play we learn so here are a few free apps that can be downloaded onto Apple products that will aide in their Spanish learning:

Duolingo

Platform: iOS/Android Price: Free We’ve already listed the main Duolingo website and mentioned why it’s such a great resource when it comes to learning Spanish, but having a mobile application is actually the best way to keep up with your progress. You’ll get awards for successfully completing a lesson, which motivates you to continue learning, and of course, it allows you to share your progress with your friends and family.

Spanish Touch Trainer

Platform: iOS/Android Price: Free Just like the previous app, the Spanish Touch Trainer is a must-have. Learn how to construct proper sentences in Spanish and expand your vocabulary with this interactive app. Even though it feels like you’re playing a game on your smartphone, this app actually helps you learn Spanish really well.

The Bravolol Parrot

Platform: iOS/Android Price: Free The Bravolol Parrot will teach you over 800 Spanish phrases and vocabularies. You’ll listen the parrot saying a phrase, and then you’ll record it yourself so that you can compare your skills and learn faster. Everything is categorized in specific scenarios that you might find yourself into. There’s no need for internet connection when using the app, and you can save your favorite phrases and words for faster access later on.

Cat Spanish

Price: Free

Description

As an iOS app to learn Spanish, Cat Spanish is also one of the most unique apps out there.

A spin-off project by the same creators of Memrise, Cat Spanish is a Spanish app with a humorous slant: all the pictures, features and design are themed around cats!  Inside the app, you’ll move along a track to complete challenges, which are oriented around commonly used Spanish phrases. Generally, there are lessons that show a (cat-themed) picture, along with a Spanish phrase and its English translation. After familiarizing yourself with phrases, you’re give multiple choice quizzes to see how much you remember.  What’s really unique about the Cat Spanish app is that the cat photos aren’t just random cat pictures taken from the web, they’re actually relevant to the Spanish phrase you’re learning.  In addition, there are brief grammar lessons in between to let you understand the grammar component of the Spanish phrase you just learned. For example, after learning “tengo miedo” (I’m afraid), it’ll explain that instead of saying I am afraid, in Spanish we say, “I have fear”.