| Grade | |
| PK | This term, students in prekindergarten practiced singing songs in the target language and responding to new action commands. They also listened to increasingly creative class stories involving Adventures in Stuffed Animal World. For example: once, the ever-mischievous Pato managed to get stuck in-between the windowpane and the screen, and complained for days afterwards about how cold he still was; after surviving that drama, he built a pulley-system to learn how to fly properly (as young ducks ought to), but ended up making a rocket ship to aid in the process; next, he brought a snowball to class but couldn’t understand why it kept getting smaller and smaller; and one day, he even started speaking in English to make sure that everyone was paying attention! It should be noted that he now has VISA (Very-Important-Stuffed-Animal) status as a newly inducted member of the Wishing Well, complete with photo. [That said, taking attendance led to an interesting philosophical conversation about the Smartboard—if you are there on the board, then who is in front of me? Zoikes!] In addition to imaginative stories and class conversations, pre-kindergarteners also worked on several mini-projects (with shapes, animals, index cards, glue, dominoes, and cards), and continued building their vocabularies at an impressive rate. Gracias for another fantastic quarter! |
| K | This term, students in kindergarten began learning the names of all 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 Peru, 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 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. In addition to el mapa, students responded to action commands in the target language; began recognizing sight words in Spanish; learned about Angel Falls in Venezuela; and worked on student-led, multi-disciplinary projects (e.g., building life-size forts and art museums, sledding indoors on large plates, or bracelet and quilt-making). Gracias for another memorable quarter. |
| 1 | This term, students in first grade continued submitting written requests expressing what they wanted to do and reasons to support their choice. First graders also spent time learning about the 900-page, 400-year-old Spanish literary masterpiece, Don Quijote, and had fun imagining and acting out various chapters. Later on, they identified a painting by Picasso based on the novel; chose individualized professions-passwords; constructed a model of Machu Picchu out of clay as a class (Peru); heard about La Tomatina, an annual, giant tomato fight in Spain; and listened to a hilarious chipmunks-voiceover of their class song, “¿Puedo ir al baño?” (it should be noted that dance choreography evolved quite naturally in response to the video). Gracias for another great quarter. |
| 2 | This term, students in second grade traveled around the globe [virtually] to check out the weather forecast in a variety of locations; discussed military time; had fun pronouncing the twelve syllables in Spanish—estacionamiento prohibido—that signify ‘no parking’; identified typical Hispanic foods, such as empanadas and tamales; creatively acted out their sea creature and animal passwords; chose Spanish names; made comecocos, or chatterboxes; practiced naming the Spanish-speaking countries on the tape floor map; and transitioned to a storytelling unit, where plastic insects were placed in culturally-authentic settings but highly unlikely scenarios. In the latter, students had fun role-playing parts of the story and dramatically responding to class cues. Gracias for another great quarter. |
| 3 | This term, students in third grade chose new animal and button passwords; practiced action commands; rehearsed and presented dialogues in the target language; learned about the history of churros and then had a ‘churro party’; built impressive fortalezas/forts during structured free-play lessons, while responding to the teacher’s interruptions with cued responses (flip-cards); discussed untranslatable words; were presented with a country-sticker challenge (imports/exports focus); prepared for the Spanish portion of students’ second semester speeches; and continued with their yearlong storytelling unit. The latter included several hands-on projects, including a roller-coaster building session, designing a Telescope v2.0, and a three-story long yarn-pulley that hoisted Pato away from an Evil Flower. |
| 4 | This term, students in fourth grade began opening new businesses in the pueblo/town. For example, there are a few street musicians who play on the classroom keyboard and earn their living from passers-by; students who buy tickets to watch Sr. Wooly videos at the town movie theater; and customers who frequent the Italian Restaurant on a regular basis. Fourth graders also spent some time away from the town to learn about outdoor street markets/mercados (in South America) as well as the importance and multi-faceted roles of street art in Argentina (e.g., graffiti, murals, political statements, etc.). Later, they also worked on written translations as mental warm-up exercises for the beginning of class routine, and then created their own authentic mercado. |
| 5 | This term, students in fifth grade assumed new ages and identities in the Class Family; chose individual passwords; acted out two Latin American legends in the target language (based in Cuba and Peru); participated in a mini-soccer unit; discussed the major differences between interpretation (spoken) and translation (written); learned about El Día de Los Tres Reyes Magos and later tasted Rosca de reyes; reviewed the basic Salsa and Cha-cha dance steps; heard a presentation about Guatemala from a visiting Upper School exchange student; and then talked about and received Worry Dolls (Guatemala). In addition, fifth graders also began brainstorming, rehearsing, and preparing for their end-of-the-year program on May 20, 2016 @1:45pm. Looking forward to seeing you there! |