23-26 de septiembre

¡Hola Familias!

We had another fantastic, busy week, including our field trip to clean up Holland State Park and our Walkathon on Wednesday! We've also been busy getting ready for Grandparents' Day (info below!), learning our letters and sounds, and doing lots of fun language-learning activities.

Here's what we've been up to this week:

Bible: This week we finished learning about Esaú y Jacob. The kids were very interested in learning how Esau forgave Jacob even after he took away the bendición (blessing). We've been learning how even though people make bad choices and aren't perfect, God still loves us! We also started to learn about José (Joseph) and his multi-colored manto. 

Reading: We are continuing through the alphabet, with letters U, V, W, and X. The kids enjoyed playing with a violín and a xilófono from Mexico. We've also been practicing the vowel E, which is pronounced kind of like a long "a". Finally, we've been practicing articles the distinguish between una cosa (one thing/singular) or más (more/plural).

Writing: We have been practicing writing for longer periods of time and to add to our work when we're done. We also started learning some vocabulary of la ropa (clothing).

Math: We have been practicing our shapes, especially círculos. We've also started learning about sumas (addition) and restas (subtraction).

Science: In our study of the 5 senses, we focused on los ojos (eyes) this week. We went on a color hunt and made binoculares that we used to spot items around the school!

Immersion Tip of the Week
It may seem like your child spends SO much time every day learning in Spanish, but there is still much more English in his/her day! This week, try to give your child a chance to hear Spanish outside of the classroom. This could mean changing the language on a TV show or movie, going to a place where Spanish is spoken, or listening to some new music. Take advantage of every learning opportunity!

Reading Tip of the Week
Encourage your child to use "picture clues" to figure out words. For example (pointing to the word "elephant"):  "This is a long word! It starts with the sound "ehh". Hmm, here's a picture of an elephant. I bet this word says "elephant"!" This is an important skill for students to use when reading and decoding new words.


Announcements/Upcoming Dates to Remember

*Could you please send/email me a baby picture of your child? (The more "newborn", the better--we're going to be reading a book about a baby in the upcoming weeks!)

*Monday, September 30th: Field trip to Crane's! We'll leave around 11:45 and come back before the end of the school day. Thank you to those who have volunteered to chaperone! :)

*Thursday, October 3rd: Grandparents' Day: We are busy planning and preparing a very special celebration for your parents on Grandparents/friends Day! Our celebration will be held on Thursday, October 3 from 9:30-11:15. More details will be forthcoming as well as official invitations! We have a bit more practice to do to polish up our program but we think this is going to be such a special time celebrating intergenerational love and God's providence!

If you are willing and able, we could use help with an array of snacks at our grandparent aide station. Your parents are going to be kept BUSY during our open house style classroom/grandchild visits. They will be jetting from classroom to classroom and may need a cup of coffee and cookie to keep up the energy. If you are willing to provide a treat, here is a Sign Up Genius to take a peek at. As always, we appreciate your support and can't wait to welcome your parents to glimpse the joy and life at Rose Park. 

That's all for now! Enjoy the day off tomorrow (or the kids' day off tomorrow!), and see you on Monday!

16-20 de septiembre

¡Hola Familias!

Is summer here to stay forever? It sure seems like that now, but in a few months, I'm sure we'll forget about how how and sticky we were! ;)

We finished up another great week today. I continue to be proud of the kids for constantly building more vocabulary as we practice, practice, practice our daily routines and procedures. This week we've focused on the phrases "yo también" (me too) and "yo tengo" (I have). It's fun to hear the kids spontaneously use language more and more.

A few highlights from our week were our Celebración de Independencia (pictured above) and reading with our buddies for the first time! Find lots of photos of both activities below!

Here's a summary of other things we've been up to this week:

Bible: We learned about Abraham y Sarah and started acting out and learning about Esaú y Jacob. Through these stories, we've learned how God keeps his promises, and how even though we sometimes make bad choices, he still loves us and forgives us!

Reading: This week we've studied the vowel U. We've also learned the letters P, Q, R, S, and T. Our daily activities for each letter include: (1) learning a song about the letter; (2) practicing vocabulary words beginning with that letter; (3) sorting words with and without the letter sound; and (4) writing the letter. We're almost done with the alphabet--whew! We've also practiced the words un/una and unos/unas this week, which are used for singular and plural nouns.

Writing: We've continued to learn about mi cuerpo (my body) while we practice our writing routines. We're practicing how we think about what to write and s-t-r-e-t-c-h out words so we can hear and write the sounds.

Math: This week in math we took our MAP tests, as well as practiced our numbers, colors, and shapes on the iPads (we're using an app called Spanish School Bus, which is lots of fun!)! We also drew more scenes of numbers as well as practiced counting objects.

Science: We finished the sense of hearing this week and started learning about la lengua (the tongue) which we use para saborear (to taste). We did a fun taste test to learn words dulce (sweet), salado (salty), amargo (bitter) and agrio (sour). Items we tasted included limes, pretzels, strawberries, kale, and black coffee (the kids got a kick out of that one!). 

Immersion Tip of the Week
You may be wondering about the yellow "sorting" pages your child brings home every week (usually we do them on Thursdays). As part of the add.a.lingua curriculum, we highlight second-language-specific points that are not the same in English. We build on those skills each week and touch on them in all subject areas so they are taught in context--one of the most crucial ways to teach a language.

Reading Tip of the Week
Using a favorite picture book (i.e. any book with pictures), have your child "read" you the story by telling you what happens. Ask questions like, "What's happening here?" "How does (character) feel? How can you tell?" Retelling a story helps your child build his/her oral language skills.

Announcements/Upcoming Dates to Remember

*Monday, September 23rd: Field Trip to Holland State Park to pick up trash. If you would like to volunteer to chaperone, we can take one more person!

*Wednesday, September 25th: Walk-A-Thon! We will walk as a class from 1-2:15 at the HCHS track. Feel free to join and cheer us on!

*Friday, September 27th: NO SCHOOL: Staff development 

*Monday, September 30th: Field Trip to Crane's 

That's all for now, amigos! Enjoy your weekends and see you on Monday!