Hola padres! For both Kinder and first we have continued this week with learning and practicing our family vocabulary. We will continue this unit next week with some beginning bilingual readers and question and answer games.
Your scholars are also doing an amazing job learning la fecha or the date! I begin every class with the exercise of having them tell me the day of the week, the actual numerical date of the month, the month and the year and so many of them are now able to do it on their own! I am so excited that it is sinking in as I feel that they will really know their months, days of the week and numbers this way.
In PE, we have begun our jump rope unit. The scholars have enthusiastically taken this task on and are wholeheartedly helping each other out. I mention to them that this is a skill that could take a few classes to learn. Please remind them of this and if it is at all possible, have them practice at home. I am doing my best to emphasize safety with the scholars, but we have had couple of casualties and I am so sorry. I am doing my best to make sure they are spaced out enough so that they don't hit each other, but accidents happen. Thankfully, they seem to really enjoy the unit so far.
Just a quick suggestion in terms of some Spanish you can do at home. Pocoyo is an adorable little cartoon that you can find easily on YouTube completely in Spanish. The animation is of such high quality that despite the fact that your child may not understand it all, they will know what is going on by the cartoon itself. It is a great way for your child to practice hearing the language spoken. Please give it a try!
Adios,
Sra. Hamilton
Friday, January 31, 2014
Thursday, January 23, 2014
invierno, Nicaragua and Robbing the Cookie Jar
Hola padres! We are now well into the swing of things for second semester. In the beginning part of the week, I concentrated on winter or invierno and the different aspects of the season. We talked about snow or nieve and also read Froggy se viste which is a story the kids love and so do I.
I introduced the Jump Rope for Heart program to the scholars as well this week. Please remember that participation in the fundraising is not required by the scholars. If they would like to collect donations, it is only on a volunteer basis. Everyone will participate in the jump rope contest on Valentine's Day. Thank you to all who have already collected some donations.I hope to do a good job of keeping up with the various prizes that go along with the donations. Wish me luck! Our jump rope unit will begin next week.
In PE, we have moved on to a new game called Rob the Cookie Jar. I think it will take a few classes to get the hang of it, but so far the scholars are enjoying the team work it requires to attain the right amount of cookies for their team to win.
This month's Spanish speaking country is Nicaragua. There are many interesting facts that we are learning about this country. Be sure to ask your scholars what is unique and different about it. I'm sure there will be lots to share. Ask them why so many of the Central American flags look so similar. I bet you will learn something new!
Today in Spanish, we have begun our unit on family. We are starting slow and recalling our adjective vocabulary to describe our family members. We will continue this unit the next couple of weeks.
Thank you again for all of your encouraging words and support. They mean so much to me. Have a wonderful week!
Adios,
Sra. Hamilton
I introduced the Jump Rope for Heart program to the scholars as well this week. Please remember that participation in the fundraising is not required by the scholars. If they would like to collect donations, it is only on a volunteer basis. Everyone will participate in the jump rope contest on Valentine's Day. Thank you to all who have already collected some donations.I hope to do a good job of keeping up with the various prizes that go along with the donations. Wish me luck! Our jump rope unit will begin next week.
In PE, we have moved on to a new game called Rob the Cookie Jar. I think it will take a few classes to get the hang of it, but so far the scholars are enjoying the team work it requires to attain the right amount of cookies for their team to win.
This month's Spanish speaking country is Nicaragua. There are many interesting facts that we are learning about this country. Be sure to ask your scholars what is unique and different about it. I'm sure there will be lots to share. Ask them why so many of the Central American flags look so similar. I bet you will learn something new!
Today in Spanish, we have begun our unit on family. We are starting slow and recalling our adjective vocabulary to describe our family members. We will continue this unit the next couple of weeks.
Thank you again for all of your encouraging words and support. They mean so much to me. Have a wonderful week!
Adios,
Sra. Hamilton
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Kinightball, review games and a Spanish app!
Feliz ano nuevo, padres! As hard as it was to get up at a normal time this week, I am glad to be back in the routine and rhythm of things. I want to thank so many of you for meeting with me last week during conferences; it was so nice to chat with you and be able to discuss how this whole Spanish /P.E. thing works. Hopefully, you have a better understanding for what your children do with me here on a daily basis and are able to better encourage and support them as we continue the year.
This week in Spanish, I mainly focused on review. We played Loteria (Bingo), en todo el mundo (around the world) and a team play game where I started to put together phrases in Spanish for them to translate into English. You should have seen their faces when they realized the phrases they had to translate were "the book is scared" or "the teacher is strong". I love to see their minds work and their faces light up as they figure these things out.
In both first grade and Kindergarten, we have been talking about winter and making snowmen. Ask your scholar if a snowman is actually "snowman" in Spanish or if they use a slightly different word. I bet it will be interesting to hear.
We have also been working on saying the date in Spanish. They have learned a few new words and the order in which it is said in Spanish as it is slightly different than in English. This is a skill we will practice for the remainder of the year. It will give them quite a bit of practice in saying their numbers, months of the year, and days of the week. Hopefully, we will have this mastered in the next few weeks.
As we move on in Spanish, we will begin to talk about family and the names of different family members. This is always a fun unit as these scholars always have such fun stories to tell about their families.
In P.E., we have moved on to Knightball from Dodgeball. The kids seem just as enthusiastic about it as they were about Dodgeball and it is nice to have a new variation of the game to play. Please keep your eye out early next week for some information on the Jump Rope for Heart event that will be happening in February. This is always an exciting event for the scholars.
Lastly, I'd like to mention a fun app that I've learned about put out by Rosetta Stone. It is called the Rosetta Stone Kids Lingo Word Builder and helps them not only learn some Spanish, but also works on reading in English. Check it out and see what your kids think.
Adios,
Sra. Hamilton
This week in Spanish, I mainly focused on review. We played Loteria (Bingo), en todo el mundo (around the world) and a team play game where I started to put together phrases in Spanish for them to translate into English. You should have seen their faces when they realized the phrases they had to translate were "the book is scared" or "the teacher is strong". I love to see their minds work and their faces light up as they figure these things out.
In both first grade and Kindergarten, we have been talking about winter and making snowmen. Ask your scholar if a snowman is actually "snowman" in Spanish or if they use a slightly different word. I bet it will be interesting to hear.
We have also been working on saying the date in Spanish. They have learned a few new words and the order in which it is said in Spanish as it is slightly different than in English. This is a skill we will practice for the remainder of the year. It will give them quite a bit of practice in saying their numbers, months of the year, and days of the week. Hopefully, we will have this mastered in the next few weeks.
As we move on in Spanish, we will begin to talk about family and the names of different family members. This is always a fun unit as these scholars always have such fun stories to tell about their families.
In P.E., we have moved on to Knightball from Dodgeball. The kids seem just as enthusiastic about it as they were about Dodgeball and it is nice to have a new variation of the game to play. Please keep your eye out early next week for some information on the Jump Rope for Heart event that will be happening in February. This is always an exciting event for the scholars.
Lastly, I'd like to mention a fun app that I've learned about put out by Rosetta Stone. It is called the Rosetta Stone Kids Lingo Word Builder and helps them not only learn some Spanish, but also works on reading in English. Check it out and see what your kids think.
Adios,
Sra. Hamilton
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)