Los Amates

Here are some pictures of the great work the 4th graders did on the animals of the tropical rainforest.  They created culturally appropriate artwork about their favorite rainforest animal and wrote 5 sentences telling about their animal. 

Spanish Club

This afternoon I will be signing up Spanish Club participants at the Enrichment Fair.  It's only $25 for 6 weeks of fun and food.  Each afternoon a typical Hispanic snack is served and fun craft activities are planned.  Your child can expect to listen to music, dance and play Hispanic games.  Come by and sign your child up for Spanish Club today in the cafeteria from 4:00 until 6:30pm.  There are a limited number of spaces so make sure your child gets theirs!

Great People

Fifth graders have been learning about how to describe themselves and others.  Students brought in a photograph of a family member and then wrote at least 5 sentences about that person.  They wrote them on a fan design, un abanico, and decorated them.  They are going to be posted in the school shortly.  Take a look at the students reading their sentences.  Here are a couple of presentations.

Los Animales del Bosque Tropical

Fourth graders have learned all about animals in the tropical rainforest.  They have made amates (bark paper paintings typical of Mexico) of their favorite animal and then written sentences about their animal.  Here are a couple of great presentations.

¿Cómo te sientes? How are you feeling?

Second graders have learned how to express their emotions (well, some of them) and they made videos about them.

Estoy contento.  Estoy enojado.  Estoy triste.

Las Mariposas en Mexico

Our butterflies have arrived in Mexico.  Click on this link to see one of our class butterflies with a group of students in Mexico.http://www.learner.org/jnorth/sm/fall2010/121410_ez5gr_a.html

Book order forms are in

I hope everyone had a wonderful winter break.  I know I'm glad the snow is gone, for now at least, and we are back in school.  I've missed your children and am looking forward to teaching them more Spanish. 

Scholastic Club Leo book orders are now available.  There are many great books to choose from.  If you are interested you can have your child pick up an order form from me. 

My recommendations are as follows:

• Mi Primer/My First Book of Spanish Words by Katy R. Kudela.  It is a good picture dictionary to help your children practice words they've learned in class.
• My Bilingual Tales Trio/Mis cuentos bilingües trío is a set of books that are bilingual and two are used in my classroom in Kindergarten and 1st grades.  The children especially love El Ratoncito Perez y The Tooth Fairy by Jane Cadwallader and Gustavo Mazali which is part of this set.
• Just about any book your child is interested in.  If they are a fan of Captain Underpants there's one in Spanish for them.  If they are interested in the solar system, there are books about the planets in Spanish.  They may not understand every word but it's great practice and they will likely find many words that they do know.

Happy reading!