| Term | |
| 1 | This term, students in kindergarten let their imaginations run wild. Straightforward, one-dimensional stories evolved into highly complex sagas, growing longer and more complicated from one week to the next. A new week merely indicated a new chapter. From magia/ magic on the SMART board (the rubber- duck witches/ brujas took full responsibility), to disappearing and reappearing fantasmas/ ghosts, to a scary dragon who kept threatening our hero Pato with updates on the state of his voracious appetite, to a spinning disco ball with colorful lights that created exciting shadow effects on the auditorium ceiling and make the oscuridad/ darkness not so terrifying, to a treasure map that led to a box filled with balloons, to a REAL egg whose fate was to be smashed, to a cluster of grapes that turned out to be a bottle of purple paint—so that’s why Pato is sporting a purple beak these days…—the linguistic journey [clearly] never ceases to be original. In addition to storytelling, kindergarteners also played Roca-papel-tijeras (Rock-paper-scissors) in the target language, watched the theme song video from Rompe Ralph (Wreck-It Ralph), and read a special book for Halloween: Bruja, bruja ven a mi fiesta/Witch, Witch, Come to My Party. Gracias for beginning the year on such a fast-paced and wonderfully creative note. |
| 2 | This term, students in kindergarten listened intently as their dear friend Pato took on more of a leadership role, for better or worse. His first idea for a project actually turned out quite well. One afternoon, he invented a game: after drawing a rectangle on a piece of paper, dividing the shape into columns and filling in the mini-rectangles with bold, vibrant shades, he stood up the corresponding markers on each narrow quadrilateral. A single spurt of water resulted in an impressive domino effect of the markers, and left an even more impressive design on the paper: smeared colors, lines, and water all mixed together. Later, kindergarteners had the opportunity to create their own beautiful marker/ water patterns, and then cut out snowflakes from the dyed paper. His second idea—to learn the names and locations of Spanish-speaking countries on the tape floor map in the Spanish Cave—was successful for kindergarteners, but not necessarily for the highly unfocused [divergent thinker?!] duck. Chile? Well, it’s a good thing I’m wearing my warm Christmas sweater! Argentina? Arrr, I’m a pirate! No, Pato, in Spanish it’s pronounced ‘Ar-hen-TEE-nah’. A pirate (arr) and a chicken (hen) drinking tea (tee)? Cool! (Nah.) What about Uruguay? You mean the circle? I got an A+ on shapes in Math class: triángulo, círculo… Well, at least kindergarteners understand! |
| 3 | This term, students in kindergarten continued learning the names of all of the Spanish-speaking countries on the tape floor map. However, because Pato insisted on teaching, there were constant wordplays and distractions. For example, after tasting a [plastic] pear in Perú, he decides that he doesn’t like it, exclaiming, “EKK! [wah-door]” (Ecuador), and then traveling through the door/ puerta to the next country. Later, he meets a bee in “Colom-BEE-ah”, doesn’t know which way “Venez-WAY-lah” (Venezuela) is, and gets thirsty in Nicaragua (“knee-car-AGUA”). In the end, kindergarteners were teaching Pato… When they had mastered the bulk of the map, students transitioned to acting out their individualized password cards—“Hmm… how can I become a basket/cesto? A fort/fortaleza? A fairy/hada?”—and enjoyed ‘stopping’ in the country of their choice when it was time to change action commands. In-between the numerous snow and cold days, they also learned a song about ten little fish/diez pececitos; read Los hechizos de Chela La Lela (Batty Betty’s Spells); played Spanish Bingo; watched Pocoyó: El gran tobogán/ Pocoyó: Loula huele mal; and elected either to play/jugar or color/colorear on activity days (juguetes/toys, peluches/ stuffed animals; papel/ paper, marcadores/ markers, crayones/ crayons). Gracias for another memorable quarter. |
| 4 | This term, students in kindergarten circled back to the class stories from the beginning of the year, but this time, focused on incorporating student actors and actresses into the plots. The quarter’s most exciting story stretched itself out over the course of several classes: as our rubber-duck protagonist finds himself face-to-face with a giant knight in shining armor, he must think quickly to devise a plan of escape. How about hiding out in his very own house? In theory, this was an ingenious idea, but in practice, he found his house —aka an empty box— already inhabited by kindergarteners… who refused to let Señor Bearington/Paddington in when he knocked! Eventually, a compromise was reached: the ‘house’ was flipped upside down and transformed into a boat, whose skipper invited the duck-fugitive aboard. Amidst background waves crashing against the sides of the ship (www.noisli.com), the Uruguayan flag waving back and forth, and a determined teacher dragging the box-turned-boat across the room (with kindergartener and Señor Bearington/Paddington inside), the characters finally arrived on the coast of Uruguay. Phew! Later on, students the Rompe Ralph and Pollito pío songs; heard a new song in honor of the baby chicks that lived in their regular classroom (Los pollitos dicen pío pío pío); read the book Crow and Hawk; and practiced reading and writing Spanish sight words for their Play Day options. Gracias for a terrific year. |
La cueva de español 