enero 2017
¡Feliz Año Nuevo!
-Happy New Year!
they will learn the subject/personal pronoun
chart which will guide them through the trickybut-never-impossible feat of Spanish
conjugation!
Sixth grade benefits from smaller groupings in
the Spanish classroom. Students have been
working with Spanish adjectives. We are
reviewing Lessons 5, 6, 7 and the adjectives in
Lesson 8 from Spanish Is Fun, in preparation
for the midterm.
Dear Parents and Students,
As we celebrate Catholic Schools’ Week at the
end of the month, once again, it is time to
recognize the effort and commitment of our
families whose sacrifices make possible
Catholic education for our students.
The feast of Our Lady of Altagracia takes place
this month, and classes will read a book by
Julia Alvarez about this image of the Virgin
Mary which is beloved in the Dominican
Republic.
Grades 5, 6, 7 and 8 all take Spanish mid-terms:
Grades 5 and 6 – Wednesday, January 18
Grades 7 and 8 – Thursday, January 19
I am happy to say that during reviews, overall,
students are doing very well. All students
receive study guides to help them review.
Grade 5 will take home a Spanish book to help
with studying. Fifth grade recently mastered a
new set of vocabulary, relating to the classroom.
We are reviewing for the midterm. After the
midterm we will get back to having fun. Soon
Seventh grade finished terms for food and
indirect object pronouns (used with idiomatic
expression with “gustar,” to like. Their review
is intensive because it also covers terms for the
body; idiomatic expressions with “tener;” the
house; weather, seasons and months; food; and
possessives. They should refer closely to their
study guides! Seventh graders are asked to
translate simple sentences from Spanish into
English.
Eighth grade takes on the task of both speaking
and written portions for their mid-term exams.
Together, the tasks show their progress in the
ability to express their thoughts in Spanish
language. Although it can be intimidating, only
by practicing do students lose their fear of
conversing. I regularly use the speaking
portion of Kingston's placement exam
(“Checkpoint A”). This entails students’ having
individual one-on-one conversations with me
on randomly chosen topics. Students practice
all year by using index cards with conversation
prompts, starting during the first quarter (one
category per quarter, in increasing levels of
difficulty: A, B, and C). The written portion of
the mid-term is based on Coleman’s placement
test, in which students are presented with a
picture and asked to describe it in complete
Spanish sentences.
As always, please contact me with any
questions or concerns and I will contact you as
soon as possible.
Señora Gould