Today students shared their children's books that they created. My son and a parent came in to be an audience for student presentations. Check out their work here: http://spanishnsms.weebly.com/libros-infantiles-de-estudiantes.html
Students are working on drafts for a final children's book project that will be due Wednesday, June 11. The Tuesday/Thursday class will also meet that day instead of going to CREW. I have been helping students with revisions and students should show me two drafts before they complete the project. Students also need to take a picture of their book and put it in a Google Presentation so their work can be shared digitally and publicly on the website for others to read. I am looking forward to seeing the stories in final form! Project instructions are available in Google Drive in the Spanish folder. Students will have an listening and writing assessment on Thursday or Friday of this week on Cuerdas. They may bring a sheet with 8-10 words to help them with the writing prompt, as well as a sequence of the story in English if that helps. Visuals will be available in class for use if that helps as well. Please contact me with any questions or concerns.
Students began reading and working with the storyline for the short film they will watch in class later this month. They are scheduled for a vocabulary quiz on Monday or Friday May 5th or 9th on the Quizlet set Cuerdas (en contexto) They can also be studying with Memrise or another means. Students will be writing a children's book for a final project this year. It was introduced on Friday or will be on Tuesday. Students can work alone or in a pair. The audience is students in my classroom if the book is going to be in hardcover form or my class, the kindergarten Spanish class for next year or anyone online looking to read a book in beginning Spanish. Students who create a hardcover version of the book should also scan it to digitize it so it can be shared online. It will be due the first Monday or Tuesday in June. Students will be drafting with a story board before completing the final copy. The completed storyboard will be Due May 18th or 19th. I would like to share the digital versions of the stories with other Spanish teachers online via Twit
We finished the shopping unit this week when students shared their clothing store dialogues with their classmates (a few need to complete theirs next week Monday or Tuesday). Students have been spending part of a class period every week doing independent reading and related activities. The kids are able to make a lot of progress with reading comprehension on topics of interest and expand their vocabulary. They complete a writing activity with each reading session that gets turned in for feedback. We began working with new vocabulary for an award winning short film we will be watching in May called Cuerdas. We will pick up with that again after break. Next week due to the 1/2 day on Thursday, that class will only meet once. The Monday/Wednesday class will be doing some whole group activities on Monday and then engaging in the free reading activities. All classes will have group activities on Tuesday/Wednesday and then have time to work on reading, vocabulary, speaking and listening activities of their choice.
Students are finishing up the clothing and fashion unit on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week when they share their clothing store dialogues. They need to be done in video form or live and memorized. Students should use appropriate props. Students worked with the song Plástico by Rubén Blades this week, and had 1 or two class periods where they had opportunities to read their book of choice in Spanish and work on related activities. Students will be receiving oral speaking grades for talking about the chapters they read. They are also completing choice writing activities for which they will be receiving regular one on one feedback. Next week we will begin a new unit. Students will be learning vocabulary and doing activities to help them understand the storyline for a video called Cuerdas.
There is some intense competition going on Memrise and Duolingo! Some students have already started their second Spanish book after only 3 days of independent reading time and I just ordered some new books. I love seeing the kids digging into the books and taking charge of their learning outside of the classroom! We are finishing up our clothing and shopping unit in the next week. Students have a shopping dialogue that is due on April 7th or 8th. If they are planning to perform it live, it needs to be memorized and done on the due date. Video projects are also due that day. If your child is having any difficulties in completing the project in the timeline, they need to contact me by Tuesday, April 1 to make alternate arrangements.
Students have done a nice job in this unit interacting with readings, videos, and songs. Most of them have been resources intended for native Spanish speakers. Please encourage your child to keep reviewing regularly using Quizlet, Memrise, and/or Duolingo! Students are currently working on vocabulary to purchase clothing in Spanish. They have been or will be working on a shopping dialogue this week that will need to be filmed or done live the 2nd week of April. Live performances need to be memorized. There will be an oral and a written grade for the project. Students have been doing online shopping activities, listening to Spanish music related to clothing, and reading authentic texts in Spanish related to shopping as homework activities, as well as other online practice.
We have also started something new in class this week. One class period per week students will be engaging in choice reading activities. I have a selection of short novels in Spanish and students will be reading for 20 minutes, keeping a log of what they are reading, choosing relevant vocabulary, sharing about their books in Spanish and then doing a writing extension activity. We will use the writing activity for conferencing purposes during choice class periods. An oral grade will be given for the speaking portion of the activity. Students did the choice reading for the first time this week and really did a nice job with it! I am hoping that students will be able to read multiple novels using this system by the end of the year, while also developing new vocabulary, speaking and writing skills. Please also look for a gold sheet. I will be asking students to use Duolingo or other online practice tools to vary the practice they do for class. They should be showing you their practice and getting a signature. This is only for assigned work, not regular flashcard practice they may be doing. I would highly recommend Duolingo for summer practice as well. I am seeing some nice results from it from students who have been using it regularly this year. I have also transitioned 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. I think that this will be valuable as students move on to AHS next year. New Learning
Students have just begun learning about clothing vocabulary. They were given the option to select 15 of 30 clothing terms they felt most valuable to them and should have created their own personalized clothing vocabulary list on Quizlet to study from. Students were given the option of printing the list, creating their own paper list, or working with the vocabulary just digitally. Please encourage your child to review their list regularly. The unit resource page is here: http://spanishnsms.weebly.com/las-compras.html Students worked with the verb to wear using a modeled video lesson that they could pause to view at their own pace, on noun-adjective agreement modeled from a song and on writing a dialogue to invite someone shopping, and also have done a homework to describe a picture this week. By the end of the unit students should be able to engage in a shopping dialogue using the vocabulary and show mastery of clothing and descriptions. The Placement Test for Spanish will take place at AHS South Campus on March 26th. Students will be taken to AHS on a bus and will need to either walk home or be picked up. The test should start around 2:30 and typically takes around an hour. Permission slips will be coming out by early March. Students this week have been working on writing, reading, speaking and listening skills. They wrote a description of frames from a scene in Frozen and recorded themselves having a conversation about opinions about movies and winter activities. The homework assignments for next week focus on reading about Martina Stoessel who interpreted the theme song from Frozen in Spanish, listening to an interview with her, and then listening to the song Libre Soy. A few groups are still finishing up project presentations. One day this week was choice day. Students practiced, speaking, reading, and vocabulary through a variety of activities. I was impressed at how well the kept focus and the level of interest in the new level 1 readers that we just got.
Upcoming Assessments Students wil have a speaking, writing and listening assessment on the vocabulary from Frozen on Friday, the 14th or Monday the 17th. This is the key vocabulary students will need to know for the assessments. http://quizlet.com/32873311/frozen-una-aventura-congelada-flash-cards/ Students this week have been working with the children's story Good Night, Moon in Spanish through various activities. We told some fun stories using the pictures in the story as a springboard this week. Students also continue to work with vocabulary and writing activities in the Frozen packet. They are completing homework to prepare to speak about their opinions about winter weather activities and movies and will be recording their conversations to evaluate their fluency and pronunciation. 1st hour is still finishing up project presentations on holiday celebrations in the Spanish-speaking world. The students really did a nice job collaborating and planning on a challenging project. Here is one example: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1HIcO56nwINw9Ro7vJIcvUmYpqTdJLqYMNS7CCiwIi3I/edit?usp=sharing
I anticipate an assessment on material from the Frozen packet the week of February 10th. |