The first week!

Hola padres! We have made it through our first week of school! I told the scholars this morning that I was so proud of them; I know it can be a tough and tiring week, but they did a great job and still have smiles on their faces. It has been so fun to see their them every morning and be able to greet them with the greetings that we learned this week in class: hola, buenos dias, ?como estas?, muy bien, muy mal, and asi, asi. They have really caught on and and eagerly used the hand motions I have shown them to converse with me.

Kindergarten: In Kindergarten this week, I have been working closely with the teachers and learned that they are studying same and different in math. I have then worked with them on igual and diferente, which means same and different in Spanish. They seem to catch on and I hope that I am not confusing them, but emphasizing concepts they are learning.
In P.E. the scholars were excited to play the Spanish version of duck, duck, goose or pato, pato, gonzo. What fun it was for them to see that they could do exactly what they normally do in English, in Spanish! I think they really enjoyed it and we will definitely play it again. We also worked on gross motor skills in squads and worked on some color and number recognition which I hope to work in more seamlessly as we progress through the year. Right now, this is all a bit of experimentation as I see how this will best work for both grades, but I do think it can be done.

First Grade: In first grade, I plan to follow the Sing N Speak Spanish workbook that all the students should have. This is a comprehensive curriculum that includes music, worksheets and flashcards that help reinforce the vocabulary and concepts taught. Instead of homework, we will do the worksheets together in class.
In terms of integrating curriculum with Spanish class, after talking to Mr. Record, my plan is to spend a few minutes at the end of each class discussing some geography, history or science concepts that the children have learned and teaching some of these words to them in Spanish. I know right now they are learning about the continents and I hope to be able to cover those words with them in the next week or so.

Again, I am very excited about this year and hope that your children are too. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. I will also be presenting next Tuesday night at curriculum night and hope to see you there!

Sra. Hamilton