Getting ready for conferences

8th graders have finished up their unit surrounding Hispanic Heritage Month. Students learned about important members of the present-day hispanic community and their contributions to the United States. We watched the following clips to give students some background.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgage_0UEX4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCZmze3clNw

7th graders have finished up their unit surrounding Hispanic Heritage Month. Students learned about important members of the present-day hispanic community and their contributions to the United States. We watched the following clips to give students some background.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgage_0UEX4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCZmze3clNw

6th graders have started their unit on "El día de los muertos" (The Day of the Dead). Students watched a slideshow surrounding this major Mexican holiday, viewed music videos, and re-created authentic Mexican artifacts (calacas and mascaras).

All grades are preparing for conferences by organizing their work in their folders and ipads. Students will be showing their portfolios, projects, apps, and blog during conferences. The foreign language curriculum will be available for parents on both conference days.

Hispanic Heritage Month

8th grade Spanish students finished up any remaining Reader's Theatre skits early this week and then we moved into recognizing the tail end of Hispanic Heritage Month which started Sept. 15th and ends October 15th. Students read an excerpt in Spanish about hispanic heritage and culture and the contributions this demographic makes to our country. At the end of the week students completed a Hispanic Heritage WebQuest. The links to this WebQuest are available in my previous posting. Grades for progress reports are now posted. Have a wonderful weekend.

7th grade Spanish students finished up their Family Web presentations and then we moved into recognizing the tail end of Hispanic Heritage Month which started Sept. 15th and ends October 15th. Students read an excerpt in Spanish about hispanic heritage and culture and the contributions this demographic makes to our country. At the end of the week students completed a Hispanic Heritage WebQuest. The links to this WebQuest are available in my previous posting. Grades for progress reports are now posted. Have a wonderful weekend.

6th grade Spanish students recognized the tail end of Hispanic Heritage Month which started Sept. 15th and ends October 15th. Students read an excerpt in Spanish about hispanic heritage and culture and the contributions this demographic makes to our country. At the end of the week students completed a Hispanic Heritage WebQuest. The link to this Webquest is http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/hispanic/index.htm

HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH WEBQUEST

7th AND 8th graders, I have posted the hyperlinks to the websites you will need for your webquest. Rather than having to type in each web address individually, you can simply click on the following addresses and they should take you straight to the website.

Question 1: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/hhmcensus1.html

Question 2: http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/chocolate/the-history-of-chocolate.asp

Question 3: http://www.merinews.com/article/fidel-castro---the-czar-of-cuba/123362.shtml

Question 4: http://www.topuertorico.org/coqui.shtml

Question 5: http://www.entertainmentinspain.com/12%20Twelve%20Grapes%20New%20Years%20Eve%20Tradition,%20Spain.htm

Question 6: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/visibleproofs/galleries/biographies/vucetich.html

Question 7: http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=26468 AND

               http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_place_names_of_Spanish_origin_in_the_United_States

Question 8: http://www.inside-mexico.com/featureindep.htm

Question 9: http://wayanay.com/instruments.html

Question 10: http://abcnews.go.com/US/Story?id=1752325&page=1

Question 11: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galveston,_Texas

Question 12: http://www.elboricua.com/lares.html

Question 13: (The website listed on your Webquest sheet isn't working so go to this one instead) http://www.inside-mexico.com/featurecinco.htm

Question 14: http://www.factmonster.com/hispanic-heritage-month/

Wrapping up Units

8th grade Spanish students did their reader's theatre performances this week. Grades for this unit will be posted by Wednesday of next week. Next week we are observing "Hispanic Heritage Month." It is only a 2-day Spanish week due to Columbus Day. A reminder to parents and students that progress reports are also going out by the end of next week.

7th grade Spanish students presented their Family Webs this week. Grades for this unit will be posted by Wednesday of next week. Next week we are observing "Hispanic Heritage Month." It is only a 2-day Spanish week due to Columbus Day. A reminder to parents and students that progress reports are also going out by the end of next week.

6th grade Spanish students having been working on "Fechas, números ordinales, and Spanish agreement." Grades for this unit will be posted by Wednesday of next week. It is only a 2-day Spanish week due to Columbus Day. A reminder to parents and students that progress reports are also going out by the end of next week.

The beginning of October

8th grade Spanish students did their last "Story Sequencing" activity in Spanish featuring "El Cuento: Los 3 Cerditos." They were also introduced to their Reader's Theatre rubric which will be the culminating project that will bring our Storytelling unit to a close. These story-skits will be a test grade. Students have been put into assigned groups and will perform one of the following:
* Hansel y Gretel
* Los Tres Osos y la niña (Goldilocks and the 3 Bears)
* Los Tres Cabras Gruff (The 3 Billy Goats Gruff)
* El Pollito Pequeño (Chicken Little)

7th grade Spanish students were introduced to their "Family Web" rubric which will be the culminating activity in lieu of a test. Students will choose 10 family members to write about in Spanish. One portion of this project has a written component and one is oral. Students will be asked to write/talk about their family members' names, ages, birthdays, likes/dislikes. They will use the following sentence starters/sentence structures:
* Mi  __________ se llama... (My __________ 's name is...)
* Tiene  _____ años... (He/she is  _______ years old...)
* Su cumpleaños es el _____ de ______________... (His/her birthday is the ____ of _________)...
* Le gusta... (He/she likes...)
* No le gusta... (He/she does not like...)

6th grade Spanish students have continued working with seasons, weather, and the calendar. We have been taking vocabulary they have learned in elementary school and now using their prior knowledge to ease the transition to more complicated sentences. For example:
* En la primavera hace viento y en el otoño hace fresco.
* El lunes yo tengo la clase de español.
Students have been describing nature and the world around them by expanding on singular words to sentences.