Grade 3: El Alfabeto Español

In the next several class meetings we will be studying the Spanish alphabet. Third graders will learn to pronounce the letters of the alphabet--both their names and the sounds they make. They will also discover that the Spanish alphabet has more letters than the English alphabet! If you are curious about this, ask them to tell you about the four "extra" letters they learn about this week. (For extra practice that is also fun, check out this mini-game to hear the names of the letters in Spanish and see them in action spelling the words for common animals (a bonus review!). Another resource for both pronunciation practice and game play is here.

We will continue working on Spanish spelling this week and next. This practice will include sounding out words in Spanish (and finding the corresponding letter according to Spanish phonetics), spelling aloud, taking dictation when someone else is spelling, and playing hombre muerto (hangman). Knowing the alphabet and being able to "spell by ear" in Spanish is a skill that we will continue to practice all year, and one that will be invaluable as students progress in the language.

Grade 3: Las Escuelas de México

Today we finished a discussion about what a typical school in Mexico is like for students there. We discussed many similarities and differences, including subjects studied, scheduling, class sizes, and where meals are eaten during the school day. For enrichment on this topic, there is a great website here that describes a day in the life of a young student in Mexico in her own words. I have linked the Spanish slideshow, but there is a button at the top to click for translation to English. Students won't recognize all the words, but a great challenge activity is to read the caption in Spanish first, picking out the recognizable words and making a guess about the overall meaning of the photo. After giving it some thought, a click on the English should clear up any lingering confusion. There are about a dozen photos and captions in the slideshow overall. Check it out!

Kindergarten - Our first 6 weeks!

I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all the new smiling kindergarten faces at Baker this year!  During the first weeks of Spanish, kindergartners have been spending time practicing routines, practicing directions in Spanish, learning new games and songs, and learning each other's names.  This can be a challenge for both amigos and profe--students are learning to say their names in Spanish, while I am working on (and have just about mastered!) learning all the new names.

Here is a brief summary of some key things we have worked on during these first 6 weeks.

• As I mentioned in a previous post, kindergartners have been practicing introducing themselves by stating their names and how old they are.  You can ask your child to share our ¿Cómo te llamas tu? song that we have been singing to help us remember how to say our names.  You can also ask your child to show ¿Cuántos años tienes? by holding up 5 or 6 fingers and saying the number in Spanish.  This week, your child will be bringing home a self-portrait with two sentences that tell their name and their age.

• In addition to practicing our names and ages, kindergartners have been busy learning how to greet each other and tell how they are feeling.  They are such quick learners that now when I see them around the building, they are quick to give me a nice, confident Hola, Profe! (Hi, teacher!).  Many are also ready to tell me how they are feeling when I continue the conversation with a ¿Cómo estas? (How are you?). This is exciting progress--in just 6 weeks, our kindergartners are able to make small talk in Spanish!

• If you are interested in talking about feelings at home, you can try greeting them at home with Hola, ¿Cómo estas? (Hello, how are you?). They should be able to give you one of three different responses:

We often practice these by giving a thumbs up or thumbs down while saying the word to reinforce what they mean.  Give it a try!

Grade 3: Our First 6 Weeks!

This year in Spanish class, third graders will learn all about Mexico.  Students in grades 3-5 have Spanish for 30 minutes at a time (instead of only 20 minutes as in K-2).  This means that we have much more time to explore culture than we did when they were younger (we spent years K-2 touching on the culture of the 5 countries known as the "Andean region" of South America - Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, and Bolivia), and students at this age are typically quite eager to learn about far-off places.  Even more exciting is that now students know enough Spanish to learn about Mexican people and places in Spanish!

During our first 6 weeks of Spanish, we started off learning about Mexico's Independence Day, which was on September 16.  We made a chart to compare and contrast Mexico's independence holiday with the USA's Fourth of July celebrations.  This chart was all in Spanish and included information about important dates, heroes, presidents, and colors of each country's flags, to name a few of the things we discussed in September.

We also watched a video of Presidente Calderón's celebration of Mexican independence, which is also commonly called "el Grito de Dolores".  You can check it out here. 

In addition to all of this, we have been studying the map of Mexico.  Ask your child about their Mexican ID cards that they created in class!  Their ID card is their Mexican "identity" for the year, with a name, a Mexican city they are from, and an age.  We will be using these "identities" throughout the year to learn more about cities throughout Mexico.  We have also been working using the compass directions in Spanish to identify bordering nations and bodies of water on a map of Mexico.  This is a great way to reinforce Social Studies while learning new vocabulary in Spanish. 

Here is a copy of the map your child has been working with in Spanish class.  Ask your child where they "live" in Mexico.  Also, see if your child can tell you the countries and bodies of water that border Mexico in each direction (norte, sue, este, oeste).  

Throughout the year, we will connect our learning to Mexico and their culture.  We will learn about the climate in various Mexican cities, a variety of landforms and landmarks throughout Mexico, Mexican communities, food, sports, activities, clothing, and more! 

Keep checking back for more updates on the fun we are having in third grade Spanish!