La ropa/Clothing

Kindergarten has begun to learn the names of clothing items (although we are taking a break to learn some of the holiday music.) We are singing the song referenced in the sidebar called, La ropa. Here are the items on which we are focusing:

falda-skirt

pantalones-pants

calcetines-socks

zapatos-shoes

blusa-blouse

camisa-shirt

sueter-sweater

chaqueta- (lightweight) jacket

sombrero-hat

impermeable-raincoat

botas-boots

Arre, caballito/ Giddyup,Little Horse

Arre, caballito

Vamos a Belen.

Que manana es fiesta,

Pasado tambien.

Arre, arre, arre,

Que llegamos tarde.

This is a little Christmas song about telling the little horse to hurry on the way to Bethlehem so as not to miss the celebration. We make galloping noises with our palms on our laps in rhythm with the song!

Cascabeles/Jingle Bells

Cascabeles, cascabeles,

Suenan todo el tiempo.

Que divertido es montar

En un caballo y trineo.

Mas Hanuka

I searched around for a Spanish version of the Dreidl Song and...que sorpresa...I could not find one. It turned out to be a pretty straight-forward translation, though, and this is how I have been teaching it to the kids.

Cancion de Hanuka

Canción de Hanuká

Coro: Hanuká, Hanuká (Hanukkah, Hanukkah)
Hanuká para celebrar (Hanukkah [a cause] to celebrate)
Hanuká, Hanuká
Hanuká para celebrar

Una velita, (One little candle)
dos velitas, (Two little candles)
tres velitas etc.
para celebrar,

cuatro velitas,
cinco velitas,
seis velitas
para celebrar,

siete velitas,
ocho velitas,
una en el centro (One in the center)

enciende a las demas. (Lights all the others)
(Coro)

Con la menora, (With the menorah)
latkes de papas, (Potato latkes)

trompos de barro (Dreidls)

para celebrar.

Con los regalos, (With the presents)
con los amigos, (With the friends)
con la familia (With the family)
para celebrar.
(Coro)

As a part of our study of Winter Celebrations (and Big Ideas), we have discussed the celebration of Hanukkah by the surprisingly large number of Argentine Jews. Below I have included a few informational links about Sephardic and other Jews in the Spanish-speaking world. The children and I simply touched on the migration of European Jews to the New World and on Hanukkah traditions as expressed in the above song, written and performed by Suni Paz.

Finally, I made a (very literal) translation of the Dreidl Song so that we could play in class!

Trompo de Barro

Trompo, trompo, trompo,

Lo hice de barro.

Y cuando esta seco,

Mi trompo jugare.

My special thanks to Minnie, Ben and other Whittier kids who shared their traditions with their classmates!

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/synargentina.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_of_Argentina

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/PhotosBuenosAires.html

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Argentina.html

12_14 Noticiero

Double-click on newsletter to see the enlarged version.

Vamos Todos a Comer/ Let's All Go to Eat

Vamos todos a comer, (Let's all go to eat.)
a comer, a comer.
Vamos todos a comer.
Vamos a comer. (Let's eat!)

Vamos todos a jugar, (Let's all go to play)
a jugar, a jugar.
Vamos todos a jugar.
Vamos a jugar. (Let's play!)

Vamos todos a leer, (Let's all go to read.)
a leer, a leer.
Vamos todos a leer.
Vamos a leer. (Let's read!)

Vamos a comer,
Vamos a jugar,
Vamos a leer,
Vamos ya!


This is an adaptation of a song that I came across. It is very flexible because you can change the verb to suit your needs. In this case, we are changing them to relate to community places that we can visit. Vamos a comer (al restaurante.) Vamos a jugar (al parque.) Vamos a leer (a la biblioteca.) We'll be adding more verses as we go.

Una tortillita

Reinforcing some new "family" vocabulary with this little ditty that sounds suspiciously like "The Itsy Bitsy Spider!"

Una tortillita para mi mama (A little tortilla for my mom, etc.)
Una tortillita para mi papa
Una tortillita para mi bebe
Y una tortillita para mi

Next time your family eats a meal that includes tortillas, ask your child to sing you this song!

Pulgarcito (Where is Thumbkin?)

Pulgarcito

Pulgarcito, Pulgarcito, ?donde esta?
Aqui estoy.
?Como esta Usted?
Muy bien gracias. Ya me voy, ya me voy.

We sing this to the tune of "Where is Thumbkin?" The Spanish version is translated:
Thumbkin, Thumbkin, where are you?/Here I am./How are you?/Very well, thank you. Now I'm going, now I'm going.

Then, we substitute the following names for "Pulgarcito:"
Senor Indice (Mr. Pointer)
Senor Medio (Mr. Middle)
Senor Anular (Mr. Ring Finger)
Senor Menique (Mr. Pinky)

Participation Grades

The majority of the feedback that the World Language portion of your child's report card offers relies on his/her class participation. In the first weeks of school, I kept daily participation grades as a way to get to know the students. Since then, I occasionally record a sumative participation grade. This is the rubric that I consider as I record grades on a 1-4 scale. Taking the four categories into account, I can judge if a student is meeting learning expectations. (For 3rd-5th grades, I also keep traditional scores on a small number of quizzes and assignments.)

Always-4 Usually-3 Sometimes-2 Never-1
Siempre-4 Por lo general-3 A veces-2 Nunca-1

Participa en actividades de la clase
Participates in class activities

Contesta en grupo
Answers with group

Contesta individuamente cuando tiene oportunidad
Answers individually when he/she has the opportunity

Se porta de una manera que facilita el aprendizaje
Behaves in a way that facilitates learning

Upcoming Quiz: Colores

Next week, 3rd-5th grade will be taking their quiz on color words. Their objective is 80% accuracy or higher in writing. The format of the quiz has not been announced to them because I want them to study a little harder than they need to, but it will look like this:

purple __ o __ __ d __

orange a __ __ __ __ n j __ __ __

etc.

Here are the words they are studying:

blanco (white)
negro (black)
gris (gray)
rojo (red)
anaranjado (orange)
amarillo (yellow)
verde (green)
azul (blue)
morado (purple)
rosita (pink)
cafe [accent on "e"] (brown)

Noticiero en espanol

The newsletter is an image, so if you click on it you can enlarge the text.

Did you know? Podcasts for Kids in Spanish

Wow! This is cool.

Search on iTunes for "Spanish Podcast." There are a number of free subscriptions available and I've begun listening to "Elementary Spanish Podcasts from DVE" or "Podcuentos de DVE" and I am intrigued. As a teacher, I'm thinking about how they can be used in class, but I know they would be great reinforcement at home! Download a few before you go on your next roadtrip for sure! I'll share more specific tips and ideas as they occur to me if you promise to share how you like to use them.

Cuando Tengas Muchas Ganas

Cuando tengas muchas ganas de aplaudir [clap, clap]
(patear [stomp, stomp], gritar [shout, "Hura!"])
Cuando tengas muchas ganas de aplaudir [clap, clap]
(patear [stomp, stomp], gritar [shout, "Hura!"])
Cuando tengas la razon
Y no pongan atencion
No te quedes con las ganas de aplaudir [clap, clap]
(patear [stomp, stomp], gritar [shout, "Hura!"])

The tune is "If You're Happy and You Know It" but the translation is quite different:
If you really want to clap (stomp, shout, "Hurray!")
If you really want to clap (stomp, shout, "Hurray!")
If you know you're right
And they're not paying attention
Go ahead and clap (stomp, shout, "Hurray!")
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kindergarteners are learning this song starting this week (10-5-09.) In previous lessons, K-2 students learned the words "caminar" (walk), "brincar" (jump), and "marchar." They easily substituted these acquired words for the lyrics of their new song and added in the actions!

Tarea: Grafica

Students should have the following when they begin their graph:

1) a list of five classroom objects in Spanish

2) a tally of the objects from the Spanish classroom

3) a tally of the objects from their homeroom

Each graph should include:

a) a title in Spanish

b) Spanish labels on the horizontal and verical axes (See example below)

c) bars in two colors

d) a key

Pronunciacion

I'm sure it won't be long before you feel as if your child has "an ear" for Spanish while you still sound like a gringo after high school AND college classes in it. Let me provide some help for you! Todays' tip: VOWELS

The vowels in Spanish are BIG MOUTH vowels. There is no "long"or "short" as in English. Each vowel that occurs alone always has the same sound and you make it with a relatively big mouth (that is, your mouth is wide open.) While you are learning the sounds, exaggerate this big mouth!

A....."ah" like in father
E....."ay" like in May
I....."ee" like in week
O....."oh" like in open
U....."oo" like in hoop

En la granja de Miguel

Melody: Old McDonald Had a Farm

En la granja de Miguel
I, a, i, a, o

En la granja habia una vaca
I, a, i, a, o
Con un mu, mu aqui
Un mu, mu, alla
Mu aqui, mu alla y aqui

En la granja habia un gallo
I, a, i, a, o
Con un quiquiriqui aqui
Un quiquiriqui alla
Quiquiriqui, quiquiriqui y aqui

En la granja habia una oveja
I, a, i, a, o
Con un baa, baa aqui
Un baa, baa alla
Baa aqui, baa alla, y aqui

En la granja habia un chancho
I, a, i, a, o
Con un oink, oink aqui
Un oink, oink alla
Oink aqui, oink alla y aqui

En la granja habia un caballo
I, a, i, a, o
Con un nee, nee aqui
Un nee, nee alla
Nee aqui, nee alla y aqui

Jopi, jopi, jopi

Jopi, jopi, jopi
Daremos una vuelta
Que siga la cancion
Eso, si
Mete una mano
Saca una mano
Mete una mano Ahora muevela
Jopi, jopi, jopi,
etc.
Mete un pie...(muevelo)
Mete la cabeza...(muevela)
Mete la panzita...(muevela)

Mete la cadera...(muevela)
Mete todo el cuerpo...(muevelo)

My helpers perform as much of the song as they can get through in one take! You'll have to imagine the rest =) See my pooch, Ruby Ru, trying to get in on the action!

Hola, Amigo

Hola, amigo, ?Como esta Usted?

Estoy muy feliz de verlo a Usted

Salude a su vecino

Boqui para abajo

Dese un tope

Y de la vuelta

My Katie and Owen perform a song of greetings taught by their Spanish teacher, Ms. Rocio Villazon. Thanks, Kids, for the help!

Bienvenidos

Bienvenidos al diario de la Maestra Kristina.