last post!

Hola padres! Wanted to let you know that this will be my last post of the year! It is so hard to imagine that school is ending next week. It has been such a joy working with your children this year. Although at the beginning there was some shifting in terms of teachers, the scholars have been very accommodating in terms of who was leading them and I so appreciate their flexibility.

In PE this week, we have continued with games of ships across the ocean and today am giving them some free time with the jump ropes and hula hoops. I know the scholars are anxious for the school year to be over, so some free time to burn off their energy always goes over well this time of year.

For Spanish this week, we reviewed our days of the week and months of the year and the scholars did well! These are some concepts that we learned early on in the year and I was pleased to see that they remembered quite a bit. Next week for our final class we will do more review and possibly some reading of a book or two. I am sorry for the year to end, but excited to continue with this group next year as I will be teaching K-3 Spanish. Thank you for all of your support and help this year. May you all have wonderful and safe summers!

Sinceramente,
Sra. Hamilton

Bingo, a puzzle and PE on the back field

Hola padres! This week has been interesting with our adjusted concert practice schedule. I have held some PE out on the back field as it allows more room for them to run and enjoy the games we are playing. Thank you for helping the scholars remember to bring their water bottles.

In Spanish, we have had a few different activities. We have put together a turtle puzzle in one class and in another, we have finished a coloring activity on la casa. We will end Spanish this week with a game of Bingo to help us review.

I also wanted to thank you all for all of your thoughtful notes and gifts this week! Thank you so much for making this week so special and enjoyable for all of us; we truly appreciate it!!!

Sra. Hamilton

cinco de mayo, soccer and our next two weeks

Hola padres! This week in first grade Spanish we are wrapping up our unit on la casa. Next week my plan is to present a lesson on cinco de mayo and then start in on our review with games and worksheets. Hopefully this will work nicely with the schedule changes due to the concert practices.

In PE, we are continuing with soccer and today we began simple soccer games in class. I know there are varying levels of soccer skill and knowledge in all classes and I am encouraging scholars that we are not playing to win, but to have fun and to learn. Please encourage your scholar to have fun no matter how the game goes as it is simply for practice for everyone in class. I hope they enjoy the games!

Gracias,
Sra. Hamilton

our first quiz, la casa and next month

Hola padres! We had our first quiz this week and the scholars did well! They are always so nervous and don't realize how much they actually know. Hopefully, this quiz will show them that they actually DO know quite a bit of Spanish. I am so proud of them. I don't have them any more this week for Spanish, so next week we will start our new unit on la casa. In May, we will do a lesson on cinco de mayo which I am hoping they will remember mostly from last year, but I know that review is always good. After that, we will mostly review with games and other fun activities. I am hoping it will be a good way to end our year together. I have so enjoyed them and hope they have too.

Sra. Hamilton

our first quiz, lots of PE this week, soccer and Paraguay!

Hola padres! It has been an interesting week as we have adjusted to the testing schedule. We have mostly had PE out on the back field and I have introduced the scholars to a new game called Barnyard which is a tag game that had the scholars running laps whenever they got tagged. It is perfect for the back field and really allowed the scholars to stretch their legs and get their energy out. I hoped it helped keep the scholars settled in class.

Tomorrow in Spanish we will be having a final review of our familia vocabulary and then on Tuesday we will have our first quiz. I have assured the scholars that they don't need to worry. I will give them a word bank to choose from and part of our review will be writing the words so they will have practice doing that. They are well equipped for the quiz and should do just fine. There is no need for extra study outside of class.

Next week in PE we will begin a 2 week soccer unit. This will be a very basic introduction focusing on dribbling and passing.

Thankfully on Wednesday we had our regular schedule and I was able to start our study of Paraguay which is so exciting because it has a special connection to Arizona. This is the article I have read to the scholars:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/kids-in-paraguay-make-music-out-of-trash/2013/02/15/c57390b2-486b-11e2-b6f0-e851e741d196_story.html

I also showed them a video that allowed them to hear the music these children play and taught them what the orchestra means to the community.

If you get a chance, I highly recommend visiting the Musical Instrument Museum in Mesa which has a display on the landfill orchestra from Paraguay. The museum itself is unique to Arizona and the one of the only of its kind. We are so lucky to have it so close by.

Once we are done with our familia quiz on Tuesday, we will start our last unit of the year on la casa. Most of May will be spent on review as our schedule again changes due to concert practices. I hope to solidify the vocabulary we have learned over the year and end the year on a fun note.

Sra. Hamilton

review, field day and more review

Hola padres! What a fun, fun day we had yesterday! Thank you to all who helped out; I couldn't have done it without you! I think the scholars enjoyed it and we were so lucky to have such great weather.

This week Spanish has been on the lighter side since my mail focus was the planning and execution of field day. We have read some books and played some review games. As far as I can tell, the kinder-1st specials schedule will consist mostly of PE for me as our schedule changes to allow the best environment for testing. Please be sure to send your scholars with their water bottles as we will be out on the back field and it will be warm and there really is no shade. I cannot allow them into the building for water or to use the bathroom due to testing, so I will make sure they do all that before coming out to the back field. Thanks for your understanding and support! I appreciate all of your help!
Sincerely,
Sra. Hamilton

field day, field day and more field day!

Hola padres! I feel like we haven't done much Spanish this week as I have been gearing all my energies towards field day, making sure everything is ready and that the scholars themselves are ready! I could still use some volunteers on that day. So far I have just enough and I always like to have a few extra hands on deck for unexpected things that come up. So if you could spare the time or an extra pop up tent, I would appreciate it! Thank you! Here is the link:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0949afa62fa31-k1field1

The next few weeks will be a little discombobulated with 2-4 field day and also AZMerit testing, so I will do my best to keep us moving forward with Spanish as much as the schedule allows. We'll see how it goes! Have a wonderfully long weekend and I look forward to next week!
Sra. Hamilton