What's going on

8th grade Spanish students worked on their WebQuest this week. Next week they will be doing a project surrounding la Quinceañera and will do a gallery walk and a cultural reflection on this unit. They will compare this event to the French debutantes, a sweet sixteen, and a Bah/Bat Mitzvah. Students will investigate what a coming of age looks like across the world.



7th grade Spanish students began their unit with "Pronombres" (Pronouns) and how pronouns are different in Spanish. They will need to be experts in Yo, Tú, Él, Ella, Usted, Nosotros, Vosotros, Ellos, Ellas, and Ustedes in the coming weeks as they will be heavily used when they learn how to conjugate AR, ER, and IR verbs.

6th grade Spanish students have continued with Los Partes del Cuerpo and basic commands. Right now they are learning, :Levantense, por favor" (Please stand up), "Siéntense, por favor" (Please sit down), "Saquen sus carpetas" (Take out your folders), "Abran sus carpetas" (Open your folders), "Entreguen sus hojas" (Hand in your papers), "Pueden retirarse" (You may go). Following these directions in Spanish allows me to determine their interpretive proficiency in Spanish. They are graded on demonstrating their understanding of instructions given orally.

Progress Report Change

**All 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students will be receiving progress reports on February 3rd rather than January 28th. Students will be able to hand in any late work or re-take any quizzes or tests up to January 31st. Please check with your children and encourage them to check in with me for any missing work.**

8th grade Spanish students continued with their unit on La Quinceañera. They have now read articles, watch short clips of a Quinceañera and the traditions that are typically practiced. This week and into next week they will be completeing a "WebQuest." This is somewhat like an online Scanvenger Hunt and they will investigate the Quinceañera of a girl named Carmela. They will need to relay her account her party and of the activities in Spanish. Carmela's website is also entirely in Spanish, so they will need to use their prior knowledge of the Quinceñera to decipher what happened at Carmela's event.

7th grade Spanish students have an additional opportunity to make-up their Objetos de la Clase tests if they were unhappy with their grades as the grading period has been extended school-wide. Students are currently learning about the Mexican-American war and how Mexican territory became part of the United States. We are looking at California specifically so students can better understanding the Spanish-speaking demographic on our country,

6th grade Spanish students have continued with "Partes del cuerpo." They will start describing things in Spanish using body parts (blonde hair, long legs, big eyes, etc, etc). The unit will be synthesized in a brief project/assignment where the must create a "monster" and describe the monster in Spanish.

Transition Week

8th grade Spanish students will start learning about the hispanic tradition of La Quinceañera, also called fiesta de quince años, fiesta de quinceañera, quince años or simply quince, is the celebration of a girl's fifteenth birthday in parts of Latin America and elsewhere in communities of people from Latin America. This birthday is celebrated differently from any other birthday, as it marks the transition from childhood to young womanhood. 

7th grade Spanish students played "Object Memory" in Spanish in which they tried to recall the location of objects in the class. This reinforces their acquisition of prepositions, articles, and Object vocab. Reminder: Students will be tested on this unit Friday, January 17th. This is a change from the intial test date as we had to adjust the schedule for Smarter Balanced/ACCESS testing.

6th grade Spanish students have started "Los Partes del Cuerpo" (Parts of the Body). The vocabulary is more extensive than previously learned in elementary school and students are learning commands that go along with the vocab, "Raise your hands," "Lift your right leg," etc. Students will also be learning the location of body parts (prepositions) such as "your hair is on your head," "your teeth are in your mouth," etc.

Back to School in 2014

8th grade Spanish students are learning about "Los Tres Magos" (Three King's Day) which is a celebration observed in Spanish-speaking countries that coincides with Christmas. Most hispanic countries are largely Catholic communities and recognizing Three King's Day is a very important ritual. While Christmas is still observed, the more exciting day for children is not December 25th, but January 6th when the Three Magi come and deliver gifts in children's shoes. Students have been reading and performing skits surrounding this celebration.

7th grade Spanish students did some refresher activities surrounding "Objetos de la clase" and using prepositions (being able to tell others where things are located in the room). The test for this unit will be Thursday 1/16.

6th grade Spanish students will review basic conversation and greetings and move into how to address people in the correct "You" form in Spanish. This concept is difficult at first because "You" does not change in English. "Tú versus Usted" and "Vosotros" versus "Ustedes" are the main forms we will be using. How do address adults, children, elders, people in authority, friends, and family will be addressed.

The Week Before Winter Break

8th grade Spanish students did a great deal of input activities this week one of which featured a short "Toopy y Binoo" episode followed by an reading and writing questionnaire. The link can be found at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGaUedF_ajU


Students also did a "Descripciones" activity where they read paragraph descriptions in Spanish and drew whatever character was being described. Directions were given in written AND orally.

7th grade Spanish students worked primarily with their new unit "Objetos de la Clase." Students have been also learning prepositions to better understand and communicate locations of classroom objects (books are found in the library, pencils are found in school, staples are inside stapelers, etc).

6th grade Spanish students did a mini-comic conversation activity to supplement their unit surrounding courteous expressions. Our focus will shift after the winter break and we will move into how to address certain people in certain situations using the 3 ways to say "you" (Tú, Usted, and Ustedes).

Have a happy holiday and a restful break. I'll see you next year!

A New Trimester

8th grade Spanish students did their first "Reader's Theatre" presentations early this week and they did an excellent job. All students were very enthusiastic and the skits were very entertaining. We ended the week with a "StoryBoard" which featured "El hombre de pan de jengibre" (The Gingerbread Man). Students had used a series of pictures and written Spanish cards and had to figure out the plot line using the pictures and dialogue. The ending of "El hombre de pan de jengibre" was open-ended, and students created their own ending for this tale in Spanish.

7th grade Spanish students received their graded tests back for "La Comunidad" and synthesized their unit with a jeopardy game of La comunidad, La familia, and we recycled some categories from 6th grade Spanish as a much-needed vocabulary refresher.

6th grade Spanish students practiced their expressions of courtesy in mini-skits this week. This week we strived to make the interactions more authentic rather than scripted which meant a great deal of improv was required. We will add more expressions leading up to the winter break.

Just before grades are due

8th grade Spanish students heard/read the stories "El pequeño pianista" ("The Little Pianist") AND a clip from a popular hispanic TV series, "Toopy y Binoo: La caza del tesoro" ("Toopy & Binoo: Treasure Hunt"). The links to these stories can be found at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdafCqHO7Bs (El pequeño pianista)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyIBJO6eZiI (Toopy y Binoo)

Students then discussed the stories and answered questions about their understanding of the plot, characters, and lesson of each story. Next week we will do a reading with non-fiction rather than fiction which centers around Thanksgiving.

7th grade Spanish students have now completed presentations of their project on "La Comunidad" and they had an exam this week on this unit. Next week we will begin our unit in classroom objects.

6th grade did their first "Culture Corner" activity in which they learned about Spain, Spanish America, and the Spanish language. We discussed and read articles about how ancient indigenous cultures and Spanish influence has shaped the hispanic identity today.