02 September 2010
!Bienvenidos a la clase de espanol!
Welcome to St. Juliana’s Spanish program! I am looking forward to a great year! Our goal is to provide a solid base of knowledge for our students to build upon year after year, by developing listening, speaking, reading and writing skills in the Spanish language. By studying another language, students are also able to increase their awareness of the world around them. All students meet for Spanish once a week.
Primary Grades (K-4):
The curriculum in these grades is based on the "Teach Them Spanish" series, made up of thematic units with a focus on vocabulary, speaking and listening skills. Some of the ways we will learn will be through the use of songs, games and storybooks, all in Spanish! We will also be working in partner and small groups, and periodically using interactive Spanish web sites in the computer lab.
Middle and Upper grades (5-8):
We will also work to expand vocabulary and increase speaking and listening skills, but put an added focus on building reading and writing skills. For these grade levels, we use the Spanish textbook ¡En español! Students will also be working with partners and small groups, presenting dialogs to the class, periodically utilizing the computer lab, and doing several special projects which have included pen pal projects, Voicethreads, country studies and web quests!
Grading System
Grades will be given at the end of Quarter 2 and the end of Quarter 4 only.
1st through 4th grade students will receive a Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory grade. 5th through 8th grade students will receive a letter grade as well as an Effort grade. This will be based upon the following system: 25% class participation, 25% notebook, 25% quizzes/tests, 25% in-class work/projects.
Students need a grade of at least a “C” in Spanish to be on the Honor Roll.
Extra Info:
Don’t forget to check my web log for updates, photos and class information!
My email address is tsmith[at]stjuliana[dot]org. Feel free to send me any comments or questions you may have!
Primary Grades (K-4):
The curriculum in these grades is based on the "Teach Them Spanish" series, made up of thematic units with a focus on vocabulary, speaking and listening skills. Some of the ways we will learn will be through the use of songs, games and storybooks, all in Spanish! We will also be working in partner and small groups, and periodically using interactive Spanish web sites in the computer lab.
Middle and Upper grades (5-8):
We will also work to expand vocabulary and increase speaking and listening skills, but put an added focus on building reading and writing skills. For these grade levels, we use the Spanish textbook ¡En español! Students will also be working with partners and small groups, presenting dialogs to the class, periodically utilizing the computer lab, and doing several special projects which have included pen pal projects, Voicethreads, country studies and web quests!
Grading System
Grades will be given at the end of Quarter 2 and the end of Quarter 4 only.
1st through 4th grade students will receive a Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory grade. 5th through 8th grade students will receive a letter grade as well as an Effort grade. This will be based upon the following system: 25% class participation, 25% notebook, 25% quizzes/tests, 25% in-class work/projects.
Students need a grade of at least a “C” in Spanish to be on the Honor Roll.
Extra Info:
Don’t forget to check my web log for updates, photos and class information!
My email address is tsmith[at]stjuliana[dot]org. Feel free to send me any comments or questions you may have!
21 May 2010
06 May 2010
Cinco de mayo fun
Our students in grades 4 - 8 were the "Teachers for the Day" in our Spanish classes this week. Each grade from these levels invited TWO younger grade classrooms (from the kindergarten classes, and all of first through third grades) to come in and work with us on some Spanish language activities in celebration of Cinco de mayo. I am so proud of the wonderful job our students did working all together as a school!! Below are some pictures from our room.
30 April 2010
April 26, 27 & 29
Kindergarten through fourth grade students continue to work on their "Diario de palabras", or Word Journals that cover each theme we practiced this year. This will take us to the end of the year and the books will be sent home when completed.
Fifth graders took a quiz this week on Adjectives and describing words in Spanish.
Sixth grade classes did not meet this week.
Seventh graders have now begun their small group dialogs which will be videotaped and presented to the class.
Eighth grade spent their last session in the lab on our web quest - see last entry - and their final work is due next week! They will then present their information to the class.
Fifth graders took a quiz this week on Adjectives and describing words in Spanish.
Sixth grade classes did not meet this week.
Seventh graders have now begun their small group dialogs which will be videotaped and presented to the class.
Eighth grade spent their last session in the lab on our web quest - see last entry - and their final work is due next week! They will then present their information to the class.
22 April 2010
April 19, 20 & 22
A look at this week’s classes:
Kindergarten through fourth grade classes have spent the last two weeks creating our “Diario de palabras”, or our Word Journals. We are reviewing each theme we have covered throughout this whole year, and will combine all pages when finished into our Journals. These will be sent home at the end of the year.
Fifth graders are finishing up our practice with adjectives in Spanish and describing words. We listened to a song called “Guapo”, filled in the Spanish missing words on a lyrics sheet and also had fun singing this song out loud in Spanish.
Sixth graders continue to work with Spanish classroom objects words and school subjects. We worked in pairs on an information gap activity in which the students had to ask and answers questions using Spanish (focusing on our vocab).
Seventh graders are wrapping up our Food Unit and we watched a video of customers in a restaurant ordering food in Spanish. We will use this information along with all of our other information we have studied to create our own Restaurant videos – using Spanish only in small groups.
Eighth grades are finishing up with our webquest (see last entry) and some students who have finished early are now using their research to create videos with Animoto. All of the students’ work will be presented to the class when finished.
Kindergarten through fourth grade classes have spent the last two weeks creating our “Diario de palabras”, or our Word Journals. We are reviewing each theme we have covered throughout this whole year, and will combine all pages when finished into our Journals. These will be sent home at the end of the year.
Fifth graders are finishing up our practice with adjectives in Spanish and describing words. We listened to a song called “Guapo”, filled in the Spanish missing words on a lyrics sheet and also had fun singing this song out loud in Spanish.
Sixth graders continue to work with Spanish classroom objects words and school subjects. We worked in pairs on an information gap activity in which the students had to ask and answers questions using Spanish (focusing on our vocab).
Seventh graders are wrapping up our Food Unit and we watched a video of customers in a restaurant ordering food in Spanish. We will use this information along with all of our other information we have studied to create our own Restaurant videos – using Spanish only in small groups.
Eighth grades are finishing up with our webquest (see last entry) and some students who have finished early are now using their research to create videos with Animoto. All of the students’ work will be presented to the class when finished.
01 April 2010
Happy Easter!!
Here's what we covered this week -
A look at this week’s classes:
Kindergarten classes are now beginning to make our “Diario de palabras” or our end of the year word journals. We started with our Actions words review page. We will continue reviewing ech theme covered this year and make a page until our journals are completed.
First graders finished up our practice with Clothing words. We worked on two practice pages (sent home) and also played our Clothing Grab game. They did a great job.
Second graders completed our mini-books titled “Donde estas?” and then we read them aloud in Spanish only in large groups and small groups. Some students read Spanish sentences aloud to the class and we guessed which “place” they said they were at with our vocab words.
Third grade did not meet due to the all school Mass.
Fourth grade through Eighth grades took a break from our usual lessons to learn a little about how Holy Week, or Semana Santa is celebrated in Spanish speaking countries. We read an article describing the “pasos” – the processions seen in Spain during Holy Week and also learned about the beautiful “alfombras” (carpets) made in Guatemala as part of Easter week. We also took a look at pictures and a video online of actual alfombras being made in Antigua, Guatemala, as well as pictures from a procession in Sevilla, Espana. We discussed similarities and differences between our cultural celebrations of this holiday.
A look at this week’s classes:
Kindergarten classes are now beginning to make our “Diario de palabras” or our end of the year word journals. We started with our Actions words review page. We will continue reviewing ech theme covered this year and make a page until our journals are completed.
First graders finished up our practice with Clothing words. We worked on two practice pages (sent home) and also played our Clothing Grab game. They did a great job.
Second graders completed our mini-books titled “Donde estas?” and then we read them aloud in Spanish only in large groups and small groups. Some students read Spanish sentences aloud to the class and we guessed which “place” they said they were at with our vocab words.
Third grade did not meet due to the all school Mass.
Fourth grade through Eighth grades took a break from our usual lessons to learn a little about how Holy Week, or Semana Santa is celebrated in Spanish speaking countries. We read an article describing the “pasos” – the processions seen in Spain during Holy Week and also learned about the beautiful “alfombras” (carpets) made in Guatemala as part of Easter week. We also took a look at pictures and a video online of actual alfombras being made in Antigua, Guatemala, as well as pictures from a procession in Sevilla, Espana. We discussed similarities and differences between our cultural celebrations of this holiday.
30 March 2010
Here's what we covered last week - March 22,23 & 25
Kindergarten classes finished our mini-books started last week and practiced reading them aloud (using our Spanish action words vocab) in large and small groups. These books were sent home.
First graders went to the computer lab to work on some fun games – the websites are listed below if you would like to try them at home!
Second graders are creating mini-books titled “?Donde estas? and filling the text in with our “places” words. We will be reading these aloud when completed.
Third graders were very excited to have a chance to work on the new portable laptops. We practiced some of our old vocab words on the websites you see listed below – just click on any of the four phrases and it will direct you to a game. Feel free to practice at home. They did a great job working with our new laptops!
Fourth graders are now beginning our end of the year review which includes making our “Diario de palabras” , or our Word Journals. We completed the page with our Classroom Objects words and will continue with all the themes we have covered this year.
Fifth graders completed reading our Spanish-only sentences that use adjectives and describing words to tell what we look like and what we are like. We had fun guessing which classmate was being described in Spanish. We also got into pairs and completed Venn diagrams based on our Spanish adjectives.
Sixth graders are now reading aloud in Spanish only and telling about classes they like and do not like including reasons why; they are doing a great job.
Seventh graders continue with our Food projects and are finishing up their food pyramids in Spanish and also beginning to make mini-booklets that include food descriptions for: desayuno (breakfast)/almuerzo (lunch)/cena (dinner)/meriendas (snacks)/comida favorita.
Eighth graders continue to research their web quests (in the computer lab) – see last week’s entry for more information on this project.
First graders went to the computer lab to work on some fun games – the websites are listed below if you would like to try them at home!
Second graders are creating mini-books titled “?Donde estas? and filling the text in with our “places” words. We will be reading these aloud when completed.
Third graders were very excited to have a chance to work on the new portable laptops. We practiced some of our old vocab words on the websites you see listed below – just click on any of the four phrases and it will direct you to a game. Feel free to practice at home. They did a great job working with our new laptops!
Fourth graders are now beginning our end of the year review which includes making our “Diario de palabras” , or our Word Journals. We completed the page with our Classroom Objects words and will continue with all the themes we have covered this year.
Fifth graders completed reading our Spanish-only sentences that use adjectives and describing words to tell what we look like and what we are like. We had fun guessing which classmate was being described in Spanish. We also got into pairs and completed Venn diagrams based on our Spanish adjectives.
Sixth graders are now reading aloud in Spanish only and telling about classes they like and do not like including reasons why; they are doing a great job.
Seventh graders continue with our Food projects and are finishing up their food pyramids in Spanish and also beginning to make mini-booklets that include food descriptions for: desayuno (breakfast)/almuerzo (lunch)/cena (dinner)/meriendas (snacks)/comida favorita.
Eighth graders continue to research their web quests (in the computer lab) – see last week’s entry for more information on this project.
23 March 2010
18 March 2010
March 15, 16 and 18
A look at this week’s classes:
Kindergarten classes continue to practice Spanish action words. These 8 words are listed in the blog below (down a few entries) and we are also working on our mini-books with these words in them. Next week we will be reading these aloud and then the books will be sent home.
First graders are practicing our clothing vocab words. We put together two boxes full of clothing items and played a game in which the students listened to the Spanish clothing word I said out loud and then raced through the box to grab the item first. They are doing a great job.
Second graders played a game of Que lastima! with our Places Vocab words. We also practiced saying these words out loud with picture and word clues and ended the class with a Spanish read aloud “David se mete en lios”, one of our favorites.
Third grade practiced food words with a fill in the blanks page full of clues using our Spanish vocab. We also played a game of Que lastima! to help us practice. They did a great job. Next week we will be using the portable laptops in our room and they are very excited.
Fourth grade worked in the computer lab – see websites below (down a few entries) if you would like to try them at home!
Fifth grade is learning adjectives in Spanish. We finished our self descriptions written completely in Spanish and they are now reading them aloud and having fun guessing who is being described!
Sixth graders are now learning about how to say what classes they have as well as how to describe these classes. We are now writing complete Spanish sentences about our classes and will be reading these aloud to find out our classmates’ likes and dislikes at school.
Seventh graders continue to work with our Food Unit – see last week’s entry.
Eight graders have begun a webquest in the computer lab. Each student is assigned two “jobs” off the website listed in the blog below and will be doing specific research on a particular Spanish speaking country. Here is a bit of information from the website that describes what we will be doing: "Did you know that there are over 21 Spanish-speaking countries in the world?
How did this happen? How are they alike? Different? Once you complete your expedition, you'll be the expert! As "Teen Travel Experts" you will discover amazing facts about selected
Spanish-speaking destinations. Within your designated roles, you will present
your findings on your travel destination. As a class, we will then compare
and contrast each travel destination in an attempt to rate
and recommend destinations to other travelers."
Kindergarten classes continue to practice Spanish action words. These 8 words are listed in the blog below (down a few entries) and we are also working on our mini-books with these words in them. Next week we will be reading these aloud and then the books will be sent home.
First graders are practicing our clothing vocab words. We put together two boxes full of clothing items and played a game in which the students listened to the Spanish clothing word I said out loud and then raced through the box to grab the item first. They are doing a great job.
Second graders played a game of Que lastima! with our Places Vocab words. We also practiced saying these words out loud with picture and word clues and ended the class with a Spanish read aloud “David se mete en lios”, one of our favorites.
Third grade practiced food words with a fill in the blanks page full of clues using our Spanish vocab. We also played a game of Que lastima! to help us practice. They did a great job. Next week we will be using the portable laptops in our room and they are very excited.
Fourth grade worked in the computer lab – see websites below (down a few entries) if you would like to try them at home!
Fifth grade is learning adjectives in Spanish. We finished our self descriptions written completely in Spanish and they are now reading them aloud and having fun guessing who is being described!
Sixth graders are now learning about how to say what classes they have as well as how to describe these classes. We are now writing complete Spanish sentences about our classes and will be reading these aloud to find out our classmates’ likes and dislikes at school.
Seventh graders continue to work with our Food Unit – see last week’s entry.
Eight graders have begun a webquest in the computer lab. Each student is assigned two “jobs” off the website listed in the blog below and will be doing specific research on a particular Spanish speaking country. Here is a bit of information from the website that describes what we will be doing: "Did you know that there are over 21 Spanish-speaking countries in the world?
How did this happen? How are they alike? Different? Once you complete your expedition, you'll be the expert! As "Teen Travel Experts" you will discover amazing facts about selected
Spanish-speaking destinations. Within your designated roles, you will present
your findings on your travel destination. As a class, we will then compare
and contrast each travel destination in an attempt to rate
and recommend destinations to other travelers."