We had another great week in Spanish Immersion Kindergarten! This week we enjoyed learning about el Día del Amor y la Amistad on February 14th, which translates to "Day of Love and Friendship". We talked about all of the people we love, and celebrated how much God loves us! We also learned about Respirando la Gracia (Grace Breathing), which is our discipleship practice this month, with our other Kindergarten friends.
We've also been learning Salmo (Psalm) 121 this week with Sing, Move, and Memorize. It is beautiful to see so many students learning to love God's word as they hide it in their hearts!
This is a really great time of the school year; I am seeing so much growth in every area--reading, writing math, and especially in the Spanish language!
Here is a summary of what we've been up to in the classroom...
Reading / Lectura: We learned about the syllables fa, fe, fi, fo, fu this week. We have also been studying different forms of verbs (the endings change depending on the person) and talking about characters' feelings in the books we read together.
Writing / Escritura: We are starting a new unit on small moments. To give the students some context and vocabulary, we are focusing on los sentimiemtos (feelings) to give them a springboard to draw and write about their own experiences. We are going beyond words like "sad" and "happy" and using words like "excited", "ashamed", "nervous", and "grumpy" (all in Spanish, of course!). We will continue this over the next weeks by developing an idea to write a story.
Math / Matemáticas: We have been working on solving story problems and finding parts of 10.
Bible / Biblia: This week we learned about el Rey Saúl, who was chosen by God and named by el profeta Samuel as Israel's first king. We learned how Israel's true king was Dios, but el Rey Saúl started to disobey him after a while.
Immersion Tip of the Week
Your child may be starting to decode words using Spanish pronunciation, even if the words are in English! This can be fun to listen to, but don't worry about "fixing" your child's pronunciation. You can simply say, "Wow! That's exactly how you'd say it in Spanish! In English we say the sounds like this: ____". Your child will start to unconsciously separate English from Spanish as you continue to read at home and as he/she continues to grow in reading skills.
Reading Tip of the Week
Speaking of reading, make sure you are reading every day at home! If you do not have a regular "reading routine" (e.g. before bedtime, right after school, etc.), make it a point to establish one--and stick to it! Life can get hectic, but I have to say, as a parent I really enjoy slowing down to read with my kids. Even though they are older (13 and 10), we still enjoy reading together as a family.
123Andrés In Concert!
123Andrés is coming to Grand Rapids with the Grand Rapids Symphony! Andrés and Christina, a Latin Grammy-winning duo, write and perform bilingual, bicultural, and educational children's music, and they are awesome! If you'd like more information about their upcoming show and to buy tickets, check out their website or click here!
From the Office
Upcoming Dates:
February 13 & 16: No School
Running Club! It's time to think about Spring activities again! Rose Park will again have a Rose Park Running Club for 3rd - 5th graders this spring. The program will run from February 17 - May 2. Runners must be signed up to participate, click here!
Community Opportunities:
The below list of organizations are not necessarily affiliated with Holland Christian Schools but have requested the sharing of these community opportunities.
Hope you have a wonderful long weekend! See you back at school on Tuesday! Here are some more photos (you can also view them on Smugmug):
