Grade 1
I hope your children have been practicing their new words at home. During the first marking
period, first graders learned how to greet one another, using “Hola”, “Buenos días”, “Buenas
tardes” and “Buenas noches.” We also practiced how to say “Goodbye”, “Adiós”. Students
asked each other “What’s your name?”, “ Cómo te llamas?” and “How are you?”, Cómo
estás?”. We answered different ways, using “Estoy muy bien”, “Estoy bien”, “Estoy así, así”,
“Estoy mal” and “Estoy muy mal,” for “I am very well, well, so-so, bad and very bad”. Some of
our answers required starting with “Tengo” instead of “Estoy”: “Tengo frío”, “Tengo calor”,
“Tengo hambre” and “Tengo sed” to say “I am cold, hot, hungry and thirsty.” First graders
learned how to sing “Happy birthday” and pretended to give each other a gift to use “Gracias”,
“Thank you” and “De nada”, “You’re welcome”. We had fun singing the alphabet song and we
spelled our new Spanish names. In first grade, students also learned colors and numbers to 15.
At the end of the marking period, first grade students had an assessment. I said the Spanish for
“Hello”, “Good morning”, “Goodbye”, “Thank you”, “You’re welcome” and responses to “How
are you?” and students wrote the number of the word I said under the corresponding picture.
They also had an oral portion, answering two questions: “What’s your name?” and “How are
you?”. We’re having fun learning a new language!
Grade 2
Second graders began the school year reviewing how to ask each other “What’s your
name?” using their Spanish name in the answer. We also reviewed ways to say hello and
goodbye. Students reviewed calendar words: months, days, numbers and dates and we
reviewed different responses to “What’s the weather today?” that included “It’s cold, very cold,
chilly, warm, very warm, sunny, windy, good weather and bad weather”. We then added “Está
lloviendo” (It’s raining.), “Está nevando.” (It’s snowing.) and “Está nublado.” (It’s cloudy.)
Second graders reviewed school supplies from first grade and learned some new ones as well as
some objects in the classroom, including desk and chair. We practiced writing them too since
we begin writing more now in second grade. To practice our colors, we did some color-coded
pictures for Halloween and the fall. We ended the marking period with an assessment. I said
the Spanish for colors, numbers, days, school objects and weather expressions and students
wrote the number of the word I said under the corresponding picture. I was happy that they
remembered so much from first grade and could now build upon what they already learned.
Grade 3
In third grade students reviewed how to ask each other “What’s your name?” and greeted
each other in different ways. We also added ways to say “Goodbye” including “Hasta la vista”.
“Hasta luego” and “Hasta mañana” for “See you”, “See you later” and “See you tomorrow”. We
reviewed responses to “How are you?” and added some new ones, “I am tired”, “Estoy
cansado” and “I am sick”, “Estoy enfermo”. Both required responding differently, depending on
if you are a boy or a girl. In third grade, we reviewed school supplies and things in the
classroom and added on several more. They also learned how to say the subjects they take in
school and said if they like that subject or not and which is their favorite class. Students
practiced writing them as well, completing worksheets. At the beginning of the marking period,
third graders took a pre-assessment on a conversation between two people that included
greeting each other and asking how each other felt. They then asked the questions, “When is
your birthday?” “How old are you?” and “What is your favorite class?”. They ended the
conversation with an appropriate greeting. After learning how to ask and answer each question,
they worked with a partner to complete the conversation and then practiced interviewing other
students. It was exciting seeing how far they came from trying to figure out what the
conversation was about at the beginning of the year to actually having a conversation with
someone in Spanish.
Grade 4
Fourth graders recently completed their end of the marking period assessment. They
pretended to write a letter to a pen pal in Mexico, the country we are studying in fourth grade.
In the letter, they told their pen pal about their school, saying where it is, what subjects they
study, what school supplies they need and what objects are in their classroom. Then they told
them some facts they know about Mexico, including where it is and what the land looks like in
Mexico. They had learned geography words like "continent, country, state, city, town, capital,
island, peninsula, ocean, sea, and the directions north, south, east and west." They also read a
paragraph about Mexico's geography and learned that Mexico has mountains, rivers, deserts,
volcanoes, beaches and a tropical rainforest. Since they learned about Mexico's Independence
Day in September and Día de los Muertos, a day around Halloween to remember and honor
loved ones who have died, I asked questions about those holidays as well. We had fun making
"calacas", skeletons with moving body parts. We also counted to 100 this marking period and
practiced saying random numbers which is harder than saying them in order. We also used
numbers to read a daily school schedule and learned how to tell time in Spanish. We have been
practicing responses to "How are you?" and added new ones, saying different parts of the body
that hurt. We had fun singing some new parts of the body songs. You may have heard them
singing them at home! Sorry!
Grade 5
In fifth grade, we began the year with a review of school vocabulary. Since fifth grades learn
about Puerto Rico in Spanish class, we reviewed geography vocabulary and weather from last
year to talk about Puerto Rico. We also read about the island around Columbus Day since
Columbus discovered islands in the Caribbean and learned about The Day of the Race, which is
the day that many Latinos celebrate on Columbus Day. Students also read paragraphs in
Spanish about Columbus whose voyages were sponsored by Spain and Ponce de León, who
explored Puerto Rico and became its first governor. Our main unit this marking period was "la
casa", the house. We reviewed how to say each room in the house and furniture and other
things in the bedroom. Then we learned how to say objects in the living room, kitchen and
bathroom. Students described pictures of each room, using prepositions to say where things
were located. They also used adjectives of size and color to describe certain objects which
required the grammar point of masculine and feminine and choosing the correct form of the
adjective to describe masculine and feminine nouns. After practicing writing sentences with a
word bank of vocabulary in Spanish and English, students were able to write sentences on their
end of the marking period assessment with a word bank just in Spanish. They also were
questioned about geography words and information about Puerto Rico. We are currently
practicing talking about our families, saying what different family members names are and how
many brothers and sisters they have. We will then use adjectives to describe them and review
numbers to say how old they are. For Día de los Muertos, a holiday that honors loved ones
who have died, students made a pop up scene that looks like a typical holiday display for the
holiday.
Grade 6
Sixth grade classes recently completed a long unit on the school and things they like to do in
their spare time. Students reviewed all their school vocabulary from previous years: school
supplies, things in the classroom, and subjects and added school staff members and where they
work. They needed to use different question words like "Who, what, and where" to answer
questions about school. We also reviewed other question words and how they are used in
different questions. To read their schedule, we added "What time is (class)?" and reviewed
telling time. We then learned ordinal numbers from first to twelfth and said the order of
different things included the classes in the school schedule. We had fun doing our unit on
"Pasatiempos" or pastimes, things people do in their spare time. To practice them, we acted
them out and played charades and picture Bingo games. Our end of the marking period
assessment included a written part and an oral part with students interviewing each other
about their school and things they like to do. We had fun decorating our sugar skulls for Día de
los Muertos, a holiday around Halloween to honor loved ones who have died.