17-21 de diciembre

¡Felices Vacaciones!

Can you believe we are at the end of 2018? For our family, it has been a year full of excitement and joy, but it has also brought moments of busyness, stress, and challenges. We hope and pray that during this time of vacation, as we break from our usual routine, we may all stop and reflect on God's grace and infinite love--that He came down to earth in the form of a human--a helpless child--to be born in the lowest of circumstances, for us. In every season, He is faithful. 

I have seen God's faithfulness in your children this past week at school--in their love and kindness to one another; in their faces filled with joy and anticipation as we searched for the mischievous duende and as we talked about la Navidad; as they sang their hearts out for other classes and proudly recited the verses from Lucas we've been learning. It is a privilege for me to see the growth that happens in our classroom every day! 

Instead of our usual weekly update, I will share some highlights from this past week below:

*On Monday, we joined Maestra De Leon's preschool class and visited classrooms around the school spreading Christmas cheer posada style--singing carols and sometimes receiving treats along the way!

*On Wednesday, we enjoyed the first graders' Christmas program during chapel, where we sang songs together and reflected on the birth of our Savior.

*On Thursday, we had an amazing class party! Thank you to everyone who provided items for us to enjoy. It was a wonderful, multicultural experience! I very much enjoyed seeing all of you there.

*In Bible class, we acted out la historia de la Navidad with títeres (puppets) we made. It was fun to repeat this in different ways throughout the week. Finally, on Friday, the students played with them and acted out their own stories. It was fun to listen to them coming up with the language on their own to do this!

*In Math, we practiced classifying different objects based on different attributes. The students really enjoyed doing this, and we even played a form of "Guess Who"--en español, of course!

*I continue to see growth and development in reading, as we practiced the syllables ba, be, bi, bo, bu this week. Every week, I see more students gaining confidence in becoming independent readers!

*We played some fun Navidad games this week, like encuentra el duende (find the elf) and Navidad Bingo! We also enjoyed other activities like play doh "cookie" cutting and painting. 


Upcoming Events and Announcements

*Monday, January 7th: First day back at school

*Friday, January 18th: Desayuno con la Maestra! Students will be dropped of at 8:30 en mi casa on this day, where we will enjoy breakfast and some activities together! Then, a bus will pick us up and take us to school by 10am. More details to follow! 

*Monday, January 21st: NO SCHOOL (Martin Luther King Jr. Day)

That's all for now! I'm not sure when you will read this, but I hope you and your family have a Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo! Nos vemos en el 2019! 

Enjoy some pictures below!

10-14 de diciembre

¡Buenas noches!


This was certainly a week buzzing with energy and excitement! Despite many sicknesses in the class (today was the only day when every student was present!), we had lots of fun with learning activities every day.

First off--our cookie sale was a huge success! We raised over $600 (the best year ever), which will provide many quilts to those in need. I was told that the organization JUST received 9 requests for quilts, and they are now fully paid for! God is good!

Next week we have some more exciting events going on. Please read below for all of the important announcements!

Our Week

Bible
This week we continued learning the main characters of the Christmas story, including los pastores, la estrella, los ángeles, y los reyes magos. We've also been rehearsing some verses from Luke about the Christmas story, as well as some songs, which we hope to present to you on Thursday at our party.

Reading
We have been studying the syllables za, ce, ci, zo, zu this week. This sound is similar to the "s" in English with both "z" and "c" letters. Students are doing a great job practicing listening to the sounds in words and writing them!

Writing
In writing, we have been practicing use the possessive adjectives míos, tuyos, and suyos (which means mine, yours, and his/hers). We compared different objects, our favorite seasons, and our favorite food items. We always enjoy reading our work to each other after we finish it!

Math
This week we've started hitting hard on sumas and restas, this time written as simple addition and subtraction problems. This is a big jump for some students, so please make sure you practice at home. Your child brought home some tarjetas de números--number cards--that you can use to practice adding and subtracting. You can also have your child practice counting on his/her fingers or making drawings to model a math problem.


Reading Tip of the Week
In some of our reading groups, we've worked on developing fluency when we read. Fluency is reading like talking--not too quickly, but also not in a choppy way. When you read to your child, read with lots of expression to model this!

Immersion Tip of the Week
What's your favorite Christmas song or carol? Try to find it and listen to it in Spanish this week. YouTube is a great resource for this!

Upcoming Events & Announcements:

*Monday, December 17th: We are going to visit other classrooms in traditional posada fashion singing Christmas songs in Spanish. If your child has red, white, or green, have him/her wear it that day! 

*Wednesday, December 19th: Please return ALL library books before vacation!

*Thursday, December 20th: Class Party! See you at 2:00 in our classroom. Please remember that your child needs to bring a $3, wrapped gift (boys for boys and girls for girls). You may label it "Para un amigo" and "De (your child's name)". Don't forget to bring what you signed up for! 

Enjoy these pictures from our busy week!