Bagnall Blurb #4
December & January
Padres y Amigos,
“Casi casi”… we are so close to the half way mark of our school year! It is always great at this point in the year to look at how much we have accomplished so far while at the same time anticipate continued growth with another semester on the way! You may be aware that report cards will be sent out in the next week or so, that means that all make up or missing work needs to be turned in by this week Friday, Jan. 20th. Please check on net classroom to see what work is missing for your child in Spanish class. Also read below to get the details on what has been happening in the different Spanish classes!
Quinto Grado (5th): The 5th graders are now studying unit III, “Mis Actividades” (my activities). When we start a new unit we get a corresponding packet to put in our Spanish binders. I encourage you to once and awhile ask your 5th grader to take their “cuaderno” (binder) home so that you can see and practice what we are doing in class. As we continue on in the year we will be adding some more “take home” work to practice for the upcoming years where they will be getting more outside of class work. One of these assignments will include a student written booklet coming home to be read and then signed by an adult at home. We are also preparing right now for a skype date with a Christian International School in Guatemala. The 5th graders raised money to send this school Bibles and when we skype them we will be saying hi and singing to in Spanish. The songs that we are singing can be found at http://spanishsongs.posterous.com/tag/alabanzaniños “Soy yo, soy yo Señor” and “Tengo gozo, gozo, gozo”.
Sexto grado (6th): The 6th graders just finished doing skits that they wrote and performed in Spanish. Please check out the blog post that has some video examples of those great skits. The students are gaining a lot more confidence in their speaking abilities and continue to expand their vocabulary with new verbs and nouns! We have finally set a date to visit the 1st graders at Cesar Chavez School! We will be visiting their classrooms on the afternoon of Friday, January 27th. The students there come from Spanish speaking homes and are in a special ESL (English as a Second Language) classroom to improve their English speaking, reading, and writing skills. During our time together we will be reading together, playing games, and just building great relationships! Look for more trip details in a separate email.
Séptimo Grado (7th): 7th graders had the Christmas celebration extended in Spanish class by learning about and celebrating 3 Kings Day together. 3 Kings Day is celebrated in the Hispanic world on January 6th with the arrival of the magi. We were able to eat special bread together and a few lucky students received a figurine of baby Jesus in their piece! Now we are now studying, “La Casa” (the house/home). Our new unit packet is now in their Spanish binders complete with notes, vocabulary lists, and homework assignments. Please encourage your child to take his or her Spanish binder home when needed to study or get work done. We just took a quiz on the page 5 vocabulary list; those grades are now posted on net classroom. Will have at least one other vocabulary quiz in the next month. Before the long weekend we were able to do a fun project, making bookmarks for the students at a Christian School in the Dominican Republic. Each student decorated a bookmark with their favorite bible verse written on it in Spanish. These will be sent to the same school that they raised money to give Bibles to; you may know it as the M.O.B project.
Octavo Grado (8th): The 8th graders just finished learning about the verb form, “present progressive” or the “ing” verb. They also completed a speaking activity day where they traveled from one conversation group to another asking questions and answering in Spanish the entire time. Some of the topics of conversation included Christmas plans, weather, school, and family. I was so impressed on how comfortable our students are at using their Spanish in ways to communicate their opinions and thoughts. We are now studying the cultural celebration of “la quinceañera” (Sweet 15) which is the religious “passage to adulthood” of a 15 year old Hispanic girl. Students are in groups planning their own quinceañera celebration, plans that need to include invitations, venues, cake, music, and all on a budget! We will be hearing from our Honduran pen pals on how their families have celebrated la quinceañera. Before the end of the week please make sure that your students has turned in all their work for 1st semester!
Sra. Becky Bagnall
616 574 6343
