¡Hola, bienvenidos a la clase de español!
Like last year, this year the Spanish newsletter will be issued about every 8 weeks. It was great seeing so
many of you during curriculum night; I had the opportunity to greet and meet some new families as
well. As you know, Kindergarten, first and second grade have Spanish class four times a week for 22
minutes. I go to their classrooms. Third, fourth and fifth graders have Spanish twice a week for 33
minutes. Third and fourth graders (and once a week fifth graders) come to the Spanish room (213). The
FLES team is also adding the finishing touches to the new curriculum. This is at the center of our
planning:
These are the skills the students have been learning in the past weeks:
Kindergarten
The children have learned to speak about themselves: their name, where they live and how they are
feeling. They can greet, say the date and talk about the weather. We talked about pets: which one is
their favorite, what they eat and where they live. During Hispanic Heritage Month they learned about
the culture of different Spanish speaking countries. Check out my blog for pictures of the visit Lynn Allen
(Julian Middle School) paid us!
First grade
The students reviewed the skills described above. During Hispanic Heritage Months they learned about
how many countries speak Spanish. They were very surprised to know there were so many!
They are always excited when they have a birthday and they can talk about what day and month it is
their birthday and how they celebrate.
Second grade
The children have reviewed everything I described for K and 1st grade. In addition to that they learned
the alphabet and how to spell words in Spanish. We regularly play games that keep up this skill, since
they are starting to write in Spanish as well. They wrote simple sentences describing their real or
imagined pet. That was fun! They also learned how to ask for their classroom supplies in Spanish. The
focus is: if they were in a class in a school in a Spanish speaking country, what would they need to
know? They can talk about their classroom and about the school. During Hispanic Heritage Month they
were also able to compare and contrast how they live/how children their age live in some Spanish
speaking countries. They also got to play some very popular old fashioned games that children play in
those countries. That was fun!
Third Grade
The students have reviewed the skills listed previously for K, 1st and 2nd grade. They also designed their
real/ideal classroom as well and real/ideal school. We went on a small field trip around the school to
notice the different labels that name different places in Spanish: library (biblioteca), office (oficina),
etc. If it is pointed out, the students will identify it every time they walk by and by being able to interpret
it they will learn it and practice every day, without making a conscious effort. Every input has to be
comprehensible.
Fourth Grade
Fourth graders have been reviewing the skills previously listed for all the other grades. They also worked
on a poster introducing themselves. As an introduction to our travel unit the students have been
learning about the geography of Spanish speaking countries. During Hispanic Heritage Month Lynn
Allen gave a wonderful presentation with artifacts she brought from the Multicultural Center at Julian
Middle School.
Fifth grade
Señora Deaton teaches 5th grade this years. Here is a message from her:
Queridas familias,
Mil disculpas for not writing you sooner to introduce myself and let you know what we are up to in español.
My name is Dawn Fogle Deaton and I am Teacher-Leader for the D97 Elementary World Language program
(also known as FLES). My primary teaching duties are at Whittier. Because of district scheduling needs,
this year I am also teaching a 5th grade class at Hatch and all 5th graders at Beye. I lived in Mexico for a
year, spent several summers in Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia, studied at la Universidad de Salamanca in
Spain, and traveled to Cuba with the Windmills softball team. I am very much enjoying working with your
students, figuring out what they know and building on their previous work with Sra. Colmenero. We spent
the first month getting acquainted, reviewing, and getting our Spanish channels back on. Ask your child
about the three rules for Spanish class --they are key to our success. We continue our communication based
curriculum and have recently begun our second year of the travel unit, learning about Spanish speaking
countries, talking about where we would like to go and why, and building a stronger vocabulary of
important words and phrases. During upcoming parent-teacher conferences, I will be available in the Spanish
room at Beye on Wednesday evening from 4-7 pm. Please drop by to say hello and find out more of what we
are up to. Don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns and watch my webpage for updates. I
look forward to a great year. Gracias for supporting your child's language learning. Sra.
Deaton [email protected]
You can visit my blog for more information about me, activities, games, events, etc.:
http://sracolmenero.blogspot.com/. Please, do not hesitate to contact me with questions and/or
comments. Email is best: [email protected] but you can also call me: (708)406-9627. If you leave
a message let me know the best way to contact you.
¡Hasta luego!