Students this week have been working on vocabulary for chapter 5 of Las aventuras de Isabela and related cultural information. Students listened to the song Querido Tommy to practice understanding of Spanish in an authentic context and did some related activities for comprehension and speaking. Students have also had opportunities to do some free reading with children's Spanish books as well. Students should be practicing Capítulo 5 Las Aventuras de Isabela (en contexto) with Memrise or Quizlet. Next week we will be talking about Cinco de Mayo and reading Chapter 5 of the book.
Students this week have been working with vocabulary and concepts from Chapter 4 of Las aventuras de Isabela. Each chapter includes a Latin song. This last chapter's song was Corazón sin cara. Students are beginning to work with verb conjugations in context with questions, Duolingo, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? in Spanish, Las aventuras de Isabela, as well as in songs. We have started the Persona Especial. Each day a couple of students are interviewed and the class listens and writes down the information to learn about their classmates. There will be open note quizzes on the information periodically. Next Wednesday or Thursday there will be a Chapter 4 quiz on vocabulary with no word bank and basic information from the chapter. My webpage for 1A in the Las Aventuras de Isabela section has many practice activities available by clicking on the link.
Students have been working on vocabulary from Chapter 3 of the Aventuras de Isabela book. They played vocabulary games, had some independent practice, worked on question skills, and read the processed the chapter this week. They have also been listening to Dónde estás, corazón by Shakira. Students are learning about Bachata music and will be building vocabulary and listening skills with a new song called Corazón sin cara by Prince Royce. Students today or by Monday will have completed the Chapter 3 vocabulary quiz. Next week we will be working more with the song and on vocabulary for Chapter 4.
Students have been continuing their learning as connected to reading the book Las aventuras de Isabela. Students should be working with vocabulary for Chapter 3 using one of the 3 main tech tools available to them, Quizlet, Memrise or Zonde, or by using their own methods. The Chapter 3 packet is available for homework in Google Drive. Students can be writing their homework down on paper or online and showing their work to my on a class iPad.
We have been reading the book Brown Bear, Brown bear in Spanish which is helping students with concepts of noun-adjective order and agreement, colors, animals and the concept of verb conjugation. We also continue to sing regularly. The Latin song of the week is ¿Dónde estás corazón, which is a classic from Shakira. Students practiced writing this week and illustrating meaning through a dictation activity, along with other activities. Chapter quizzes are tending to be unannounced, short assessments so I can get a true sense of what language they are acquiring and they are coming in a variety of formats. Students have been continuing to learn vocabulary to help comprehend the novel Las aventuras de Isabela. There are 10 chapters in the book and we are currently working on Chapter 2, moving into Chapter 3. On average we spend 3 class periods per chapter. Each chapter also includes an authentic Latin or Spanish song. This week's song is ¿Dónde estás corazón? by Shakira. Students should be keeping up with vocabulary by using Memrise, Quizlet or their own effective study method. I am giving short quizzes once per unit. They are not announced because the idea is to see what students have mastered and they should be able to do well if they have been completing homework, reviewing regularly with Quizlet and paying attention in class.
Watch for a gold sheet, as students may be asking you for a signature for online homework, particularly Duolingo. I introduced Duolingo earlier in the year and many students have been using it independently at home or during class choice time and it is having a positive impact on their learning. As a result of what I am seeing, I am going to start assigning it as homework and/or providing some time for students to use it during class time. Since it goes at the student's pace they continue to be challenged with new material and prompted to review previous material to keep it fresh. I am also transitioning to putting student homework in Google Drive. Students can choose to write down the answers on notebook paper, write their answers in the document itself and show me their work in class on the iPad, or print it if they prefer. Lots of options! I will still be making copies of reference materials, vocabulary lists and listening activities. New Learning
Students have begun learning vocabulary that will help them comprehend the novel Las Aventuras de Isabela. We have been working on vocabulary for chapter 1 through various activities in class. Students should make sure to keep up with their regular vocabulary practice to stay current with the vocabulary. Each chapter will have from 10-12 new words on average and we will spend 2-3 class periods per chapter on average, depending upon the chapter. Students should expect more frequent (about 1x a week) short assessments of their progress. Full participation in class, review of vocabulary and keeping up with homework will be key. Chapter 1 resources can be found here: http://spanishnsms.weebly.com/las-aventuras-de-isabela.html You will notice a new resource link called Memrise. I am creating a "course" there where students can practice the vocabulary. The format is somewhat like Duolingo, but I can personalize the course to the content we are using in class. The site encourages students to "water" their vocabulary, as you would a plant, so it doesn't Make sure you are comfortable with your child having a login for the site. It is not a required study tool. Students this week continued to work with vocabulary related to describing oneself. They also worked with writing sentences and reading comprehension through the children's book, Buenas Noches, Luna. One class period this week was for choice time. Students each practiced speaking, reading and vocabulary. They were given a chart of various ways to do so. Some students reviewed past dialogues, some practiced new dialogues from a packet of choices, and others ad-libbed conversations. For reading, students chose from a variety of resources including children's books and chapter books written for level 1 students. For vocabulary, students practiced with Zondle, Quizlet, Duolingo, Spanish Arcade and more.
Upcoming Assessments: Students can expect tests on writing and listening comprehension on Monday, February 17th or Tuesday, February 18th. This is the key vocabulary for the test: http://quizlet.com/35855170/guapo-esencial-flash-cards/ Students this week have been working on reading Good Night, Moon in Spanish and related activities to develop reading comprehension and descriptive sentence writing. Students also continue to work on vocabulary from the song Guapo. Students are working on answering questions about themselves and new vocabulary. I anticipate an assessment on the unit the week of February 10th or early the following week.
What a cold month this has been!
Students have been working on verbs to talk about their likes and dislikes. Last week they took the vocabulary assessment and they will complete an oral assessment on Wednesday or Thursday this week. They will need to talk about what they like to do in a scenario as if they were meeting a new student. The dialogue should be memorized. Last week we began a new unit. By the end of it, students should be able to describe themselves with a selection of adjectives, as well as describe their hair and eyes. They should also be able to ask questions like: What's your name? What are you like? What is your hair like? What color are your eyes. They should also be able to respond to those questions, as well as similar questions in 3rd person like: What is his/her name? What is he/she like? The song Guapo by Sr. Wooly is the source of most of the vocabulary for this unit and students have access to the website and the music video, as well as a game to help them learn the vocabulary. Quizlet also has two sets of vocabulary and I should have the vocabulary in Zondle by the end New Learning
Students have begun a new unit this week. The objectives are for them to communicate about likes and dislikes. Students have been working on the 21 key verbs for the unit and yesterday and today continued their work with the vocabulary and being able to ask about someone's likes. Please encourage your child to practice their vocabulary through the various resources they have available. They have a text and visual vocabulary sheet to use, as well as Quizlet and Zondle. Quizlet has basic Spanish to English cards and the cards labeled as (avanzado) give them the Spanish to Spanish cards that are the basis of the vocabulary tests. Many students are enjoying Zondle. The class code is 1913-5709 if your child needs it. The dash must be included. Special Presentation On January 2nd or 3rd I have arranged for a presenter to talk about the holidays in Mexico. Please send $1 with your child as soon as possible to cover the cost of the hot chocolate and the rosca de reyes (Three Kings bread) that they will be trying that day. Thank you! Next Assessment I am anticipating that the next test will be on the 21 verbs in this unit and 10th and 13th Students this week learned about Mexican holiday traditions from special presenters Tony, Gaby, and Antonio. Tony also talked about the value of knowing a second language for job purposes, travel and being able to meet and interact with new people and learn about new places. Students also were able to try out Mexican hot chocolate and rosca de reyes, a traditional bread eaten on January 6th. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us!
¡Feliz Navidad!
Students this week worked on vocabulary to talk about likes and dislikes as well as related questions. They also read some children's books today or Wednesday and worked on choice Spanish activities with Spanish apps and websites. One of the homework assignments this week was about holiday traditions in Mexico. We discussed them in preparation for our guest presentation the week students return from break. If your child did not bring in a dollar to help cover the cost of the food for the presentation, please send one with them the next class period. Have a wonderful holiday! New Learning:
This week students have been applying their weather vocabulary to learn about the weather in Argentina. They have used a Spanish map of Argentina to learn about how weather varies in different regions, worked with Celcius to Fahrenheit conversions, read about different weather patterns and read a newspaper front page and watched a video about a rare snowfall in Buenos Aires. The Monday classes also listened to a song called "Invierno" by Reik to practice listening skills with weather related words. Upcoming Assessment: Students will be tested on weather vocabulary in context on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. The questions will come from: http://quizlet.com/2391725/el-tiempo-y-los-dias-avanzado-flash-cards/ and be based off of the learning they did in their weather activities packet this week. Students need to be able to complete the test without a word bank and spell words accurately. To study, students may also use www.zondle.com (there is also a free app for the site) They would need the class code: 1913-5709 to find the correct class. Zondle practice the vocabulary in a more game-based format. Students finished off the trimester with a written assessment on school supplies and an oral conversation showing they could express a problem and ask for an item they don't have. Students also began learning about weather terms and days of the week. They should be working on their Quizlet flashcards, following the Quizlet sequence to guide their studying or completing Tier 1 and Tier 2 activities on the reverse side of the hot pink guide sheet. Next week when students return they will continue practicing weather with authentic video weather reports, songs, conversations and pair activities. They will also be exploring geography of Argentina and its impact on the weather. There will be a quiz on weather with questions as modeled in the Quizlet set below and that includes geographically relevant questions about weather and travel (as learned in next week's activities) on December 9th and 12th Current Quizlet set: http://quizlet.com/2391725/flashcards ¡Feliz Diá de Acción de Gracias! Enjoy the time with your family! The current Mentor Mob playlist for practice of vocabulary, with next week's geography activities and with various class songs is below: Create your own Playlist on MentorMob! Students in Spanish 1A have been working with school-related vocabulary to build skills in reading, listening comprehension, speaking and writing. They have been engaging in various pair activities where they are working at their own pace and getting assistance from me as needed. Students also started learning a new Sr. Wooly song called "No lo tengo" that helps with school objects and classes, as well as sentence structure to talk about what they need.
Next week Monday and Tuesday students have an assessment on school supplies where they will get a picture of the words and need to correctly identify and spell the word in Spanish (quizlet list 3D-Los útiles escolares) and they will need to have the 3D conversation orally with a partner. They have the script on a salmon colored dialogue sheet. Please keep encouraging your child to review frequently and regularly with Quizlet or other means. I am linking here to a guide sheet that I have provided to students (their copy is hot pink) to help them practice in more concrete and thoughtful ways. The one sheet has two tiers of activities for different points along the way in their vocabulary practice and understanding and the back side is a sequence for using Quizlet that has check points for understanding along the way. Please take a look and encourage them to use ones that work for them as they practice at home. |