Hola padres! This is a bit of an odd week as we have three different schedules with early release Wednesday, half day Friday and our regular days. It ends up being a good week to catch up on concepts we are behind in or a good week for review. We have done a little of both.
At the beginning of the week we reviewed the prepositions we learned last week as well as learned some new ones. To practice we completed a drawing of Pancho's rancho by following directions given to them in Spanish. They did a good job figuring out where everything went: above, behind, in front of or on top depending on the directions. It was a good way to practice!
The latter part of this week, we are working on catching up on our study of Spanish speaking countries. I am finishing with Venezuela and starting on Ecuador. Peru is the country for October, so I hope to catch them up so they are even with my other classes. These are always fun lessons to teach and I hope the students enjoy them as much as I do.
My different strategies for motivation seem to be working. We have enjoyed a few minutes of around the world at the end of class which is always fun and also a good way for me to gauge where they are in terms of vocabulary.
Next week, we will continue a bit with prepositions and begin talking about adjectives. I look forward to spending more time with the third grade and getting to know them. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you!
Sra. Hamilton
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Our first week!
Hola padres! What a fun first week we've had! It has been very enjoyable getting to know the classes and getting started with them in Spanish. They have done a great job transitioning to me being their teacher and I am so grateful for their acceptance and willingness to accept this change so readily. I look at it as a good sign for the rest of the year!
To begin the week, I had them take their numbers quiz and then we began talking about class expectations. I told them that I expect my Kinders and first graders to pay attention, follow directions and respect everyone in class, so that this is what I expect of them as well. I let them know that if they followed these three rules, that they would do just fine in Spanish. There is one way I thought we would be able to manage behavior in class and that is with a system where I write the word "juego" (meaning "game") on the board. Each letter in the word "juego" stands for one minute. Whenever I have someone not paying attention, shouting out, not following directions, one letter will be erased. At the end of class (or about 5 minutes to the end) I will stop and we can play a fun game of "en todo el mundo" or around the world to test their vocabulary and to reward them for their hard work at paying attention. If all five letters are still up, we can play for five minutes. If they have three letters, we will play for three minutes. It is up to them to get the full five minutes or not. They have been very eager so far to play, so I think it will be a good way to motivate them.
For my Wednesday lesson with Ms. Uphoff's class, we learned about Venezuela. What an exciting and beautiful country! We talked about the fact that it has the highest waterfall in the world, Angel's Falls and watched a breathtaking video about it. We talked about its location on the map and about its capital, learned about its flag and that their national flower is the beautiful orchid. Ask them what else they learned!
Today we started on prepositions and were able to learn "the hokey pokey" in Spanish to help us remember up, down, inside and outside. Ms. Iacuelli's class did so well with this and I was so glad they did. It is so nice to do fun things like this with them to help them remember concepts.
One other thing I want to do with them each day is to work with them on the date. This incorporates many Spanish concepts and vocabulary: days of the week, months of the year, numbers and the year. We will continue this each day and get them a little bit of practice on all of these concepts.
Lastly, I let the scholars know that paying attention is so important in class. One way they can show me their attention is simply by keeping their hands on top of their desk and their eyes on me. I find many scholars to be playing with various items in their desk and I let them know that this is not ok and that I may very well confiscate these items. If they'd like to keep their favorite things, they need to not play with them in class. If you could emphasize this with them at home, I would appreciate it. Thank you all so much for your already kind words and encouragement. I look forward to a great year!
Sra. Hamilton
To begin the week, I had them take their numbers quiz and then we began talking about class expectations. I told them that I expect my Kinders and first graders to pay attention, follow directions and respect everyone in class, so that this is what I expect of them as well. I let them know that if they followed these three rules, that they would do just fine in Spanish. There is one way I thought we would be able to manage behavior in class and that is with a system where I write the word "juego" (meaning "game") on the board. Each letter in the word "juego" stands for one minute. Whenever I have someone not paying attention, shouting out, not following directions, one letter will be erased. At the end of class (or about 5 minutes to the end) I will stop and we can play a fun game of "en todo el mundo" or around the world to test their vocabulary and to reward them for their hard work at paying attention. If all five letters are still up, we can play for five minutes. If they have three letters, we will play for three minutes. It is up to them to get the full five minutes or not. They have been very eager so far to play, so I think it will be a good way to motivate them.
For my Wednesday lesson with Ms. Uphoff's class, we learned about Venezuela. What an exciting and beautiful country! We talked about the fact that it has the highest waterfall in the world, Angel's Falls and watched a breathtaking video about it. We talked about its location on the map and about its capital, learned about its flag and that their national flower is the beautiful orchid. Ask them what else they learned!
Today we started on prepositions and were able to learn "the hokey pokey" in Spanish to help us remember up, down, inside and outside. Ms. Iacuelli's class did so well with this and I was so glad they did. It is so nice to do fun things like this with them to help them remember concepts.
One other thing I want to do with them each day is to work with them on the date. This incorporates many Spanish concepts and vocabulary: days of the week, months of the year, numbers and the year. We will continue this each day and get them a little bit of practice on all of these concepts.
Lastly, I let the scholars know that paying attention is so important in class. One way they can show me their attention is simply by keeping their hands on top of their desk and their eyes on me. I find many scholars to be playing with various items in their desk and I let them know that this is not ok and that I may very well confiscate these items. If they'd like to keep their favorite things, they need to not play with them in class. If you could emphasize this with them at home, I would appreciate it. Thank you all so much for your already kind words and encouragement. I look forward to a great year!
Sra. Hamilton
Friday, September 12, 2014
Bienvenidos!
Hola padres! Welcome to third grade Spanish! I thought I would set this blog up to let you know weekly what we will be doing. My updates should come on Thursdays.
First, I would like to let you know that the quiz scheduled for next week will still be given. I was able to get the quiz from Sr. Foster and know that every student should have a study guide. This is how we will begin our first class next week. Once the quiz is taken, we will go on to discuss class expectations and procedures. More than anything, I want to let you know that the expectations I have for my Kinder and First grade Spanish students holds just as true for the third graders. As long as I see your scholar paying attention, participating to the best of their ability and being respectful and kind to me and those around them, they will be successful in Spanish.
Once we get past the basics of how class will run, we will continue the week with the verb "estar" or "to be" as well as some work on prepositions.
For our Wednesday lessons, I will be working on them getting to know Spanish speaking countries throughout the world. With my other classes, we are in South America and I will try to get third grade caught up to them. I believe this is an important part of learning the Spanish language and makes scholars aware of how widely used the Spanish language is and why the language is important to learn.
One way I really like practicing Spanish with my classes is through games. I always emphasize that games are for two purposes: they are for learning and for fun. With the younger scholars we talk quite a bit about how to win and lose graciously. We talk about how it is ok to cheer and be happy when we win, but it is not a time to make others feel bad. In order for there to be a winner, there has to be a loser and we talk about how to be encouraging to others when they lose. We talk about how if we cannot win and lose graciously, we cannot play games and will revert to very boring flashcard and repetitive practice. Please reinforce these principles with your scholar at home and I hope to have some exciting games take place where the scholars also are able to practice their Spanish.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me ahamilton@archwaytrivium.org
If you would like to check out my K-1 blog, you can click here:
http://k-1triviumspanish.blogspot.com
I am hoping to make this transition as smooth as possible and hope that we will learn a lot together in the weeks to come. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
First, I would like to let you know that the quiz scheduled for next week will still be given. I was able to get the quiz from Sr. Foster and know that every student should have a study guide. This is how we will begin our first class next week. Once the quiz is taken, we will go on to discuss class expectations and procedures. More than anything, I want to let you know that the expectations I have for my Kinder and First grade Spanish students holds just as true for the third graders. As long as I see your scholar paying attention, participating to the best of their ability and being respectful and kind to me and those around them, they will be successful in Spanish.
Once we get past the basics of how class will run, we will continue the week with the verb "estar" or "to be" as well as some work on prepositions.
For our Wednesday lessons, I will be working on them getting to know Spanish speaking countries throughout the world. With my other classes, we are in South America and I will try to get third grade caught up to them. I believe this is an important part of learning the Spanish language and makes scholars aware of how widely used the Spanish language is and why the language is important to learn.
One way I really like practicing Spanish with my classes is through games. I always emphasize that games are for two purposes: they are for learning and for fun. With the younger scholars we talk quite a bit about how to win and lose graciously. We talk about how it is ok to cheer and be happy when we win, but it is not a time to make others feel bad. In order for there to be a winner, there has to be a loser and we talk about how to be encouraging to others when they lose. We talk about how if we cannot win and lose graciously, we cannot play games and will revert to very boring flashcard and repetitive practice. Please reinforce these principles with your scholar at home and I hope to have some exciting games take place where the scholars also are able to practice their Spanish.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me ahamilton@archwaytrivium.org
If you would like to check out my K-1 blog, you can click here:
http://k-1triviumspanish.blogspot.com
I am hoping to make this transition as smooth as possible and hope that we will learn a lot together in the weeks to come. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)