Rooms of the House Assignment

For the week of May 11-14, I am inviting students to show a room in their house and explain in Spanish what is it that room. They can watch this video for ideas on how to pronounce or describe things in their house.

https://vimeo.com/414121199/4c6a018b75

Here are some vocabulary words to use:

Rooms:

La sala             living room
la cocina          kitchen
el dormitorio   bedroom
el comedor      dining room
el baňo            bathroom
el jardin           garden

Items in the room:

el sofa              couch
el sillon            arm chair
la cama             bed
la ventana         window
la puerta            door
el espejo           mirror
el escritorio       desk
la silla               chair
la mesa             table

Spanish Question Challenge

#2 Spanish question challenge. 

I challenged the students to be able to answer 10 questions in Spanish orally by the end of the

year.

Kindergarten and 1st grade will only be required to answer the first 5 questions.

If they would like to attempt the challenge, please email me at tsondgroth@gmail.com

or text at 360-485-6293 to schedule a zoom session or Facetime phone call
individually orwith 2-3 other students.

Once I get the list of interested kids, I will schedule those sessions May 27-29.

Prize: Star Spanish student certificate and ribbon, small toy, and small candy.

Questions:

1.  Cómo te llamas?    (What is your name?)    Cómo se llama tu papa, mama, etc. ?

     Me llamo ___________.                            Se llama _______________.

2. Cómo estás?  (How are you?)

    Estoy __________.  Or  Tengo ____________.

3. Cuántos años tienes tú?  (How old are you?)

    Tengo  _________ años.

4. Qué tiempo hace hoy?  (What is the weather today?)

    Hace __________.  Or  Está ________________.

5. Qué color te gusta? (What color do you like?)  
Qué animal/restaurante/deporte te gusta? (What animal/restaurant/sport do you like?)
  Me gusta_______________.

6. Quien hay en tú familia? (Who is in your family?)

   Hay mi papa, mi mama, mi hermano, mi hermana y yo.
(There is my dad, mom, brother, sister, and me.)

7.  Qué hora es? (What time is it?)

    Es la una. (It's one o'clock)     Son las dos, tres, cuatro.... (It's 2, 3, 4....)

8. Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?  (When is your birthday?)

    Es en __________.  (enero, febrero, marzo, abril.....)  (It's in _________).

9. Qué te gusta hacer?  (What do you like to do?)

    Me gusta ____________ .  (leer, bailar, jugar, dibujar, comer....) 
(read, dance, play, draw, eat....)

10. Qué clase te gusta mas? (What class do you like the best?)

   Me gusta _____________. (matematicas, musica, arte, historia,
ciencia...)

Buenos dias song

Here is a fun video of the song that we sing at the beginning of most classes.  You can mix up the responses to "How are you?" or "Como estas?" by using some of the phrases we have learned:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1BoQuS4mx4

Tengo calor.    I'm hot.
Tengo frio.      I'm cold.
Tengo hambre. I'm hungry.
Tengo sed.       I'm thirsty.
Estoy feliz.      I'm happy.
Estoy triste.     I'm sad.
Tengo miedo.  I'm scared.
Tengo dolor.    I'm hurt.
Estoy aburrido/a   I'm bored.
Estoy cansado/a   I'm tired.

Week of April 13-17 Power Point

Here is last weeks Google Slides presentation that I showed the kids over Zoom. There are some links to games and videos on the presentation so hopefully they can view those.

Please copy and paste this link in your browser to access the presentation. There are some questions: "what color do you like?" and "what sport do you like?" that we practiced.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16na0w2vKvp1tTK8AKZGsnaHs4Da8hp616Sxr6eO-V9w/edit?usp=sharing

Week of March 23 Spanish lesson

Buenas Noches!

I hope you are bien esta noche!

Here is a review lesson on weather.

1) Listen and watch the video to our weather song. 

2) When it gets to the day and weather part, look at the pictures and see if you can point to the weather the song indicates.

For example, if the song says, es jueves y hace viento (it's Thursday and windy), you point to the windy picture.

https://vimeo.com/401198116/6fe882deb8

Here is the song:

Que tiempo hace hoy? (what's the weather today)
Que tiempo hace hoy?
Que tiempo hace hoy?
Mira por la ventana para ver (look at the window to see)

Es lunes y ..... (it's Monday and...)
Es miercoles y .... (it's Wednesday and...)
Es viernes y.... (it's Friday and ...)

Week of March 16th Spanish lesson

Hi! Como estas?  I hope you are all doing bien considering the circumstances.

Here is the 1st-5th grade Spanish lesson for the week. Kindergarten can join in as well and next week, I will try and do two lessons for each level.

Before schools closed, we were practicing the rooms of the house and also the question Dondé está?

Please watch this fun video to a Spanish song. If the kids watch it a few times, they will start to pick up on quite a few of the words. (I apologize for no accents where there should be... and for a few mistakes). 

Mi Libro: Starring ECS alum, Natalie Sondgroth and Cedar, the Rat Terrier.

https://vimeo.com/399000430/d3faf698df


Then practice by asking "where is _____?" You can just use English words and see if they can answer in Spanish. For example: 

Ask: Dondé está my keys?
Answer: Está en la cocina.

Dondé está ________?

Está en la sala. It’s in the living room.

Está en la cocina. It’s in the kitchen.

Está en el dormitorio. It’s in the bedroom.

Está en el jardín. It’s in the garden.

Está en el baño. It’s in the bathroom.

March 18th Spanish

Hi!!

I will be posting weekly or bi-weekly Spanish lessons here on my blogspot. I hope to get the first Spanish lesson up by this evening.

In the meantime, we have been working towards an end-of-year goal of being able to answer at least 10 questions (5 for K/1) in Spanish. Here are the ones we have done so far:

Cómo estás?  How are you?

Cómo te llamas? What is your name?

Cuántos años tienes tú? How old are you?

Cuál es tu color favorito? What is your favorite color? (you can do this with restaurante, comida (food), deporte (sport) etc.)

Qué te gusta hacer? What do you like to do?

Qué tiempo hace hoy? What’s the weather like today?

Dondé está….? Where is it ….?

Qué hora es?  What time is it?

It's fine if they answer in English or not complete Spanish.. the goal is getting them to understand.

A fun game you can do outside is Cocodrilo, cocodrilo, que hora es? (Mr. Fox)

Have one person be the crocodile (cocodrilo) and stand at one end of the yard or driveway facing away from the rest. The rest of your family stands at the other end. All the non-crocodiles yell out:

Cocodrilo, cocodrilo, que hora es?

The cocodrilo answers (without looking): Es la una (it's 1:00), son las dos (it's 2:00), son las tres.... cuatro... cinco... seis... siete... ocho... nueve... diez.

Whatever time he/she says, the others have to take that many steps. So, if the cocodrilo says: "son las cinco," the rest of the kids/family takes 5 steps. The goal is to touch the crocodile before he says "dinner time."

As the cocodrilo senses the people getting close to his back, he yells "Es la cena!"  Dinner Time! And turns around to chase the kids and try and tag before they get back to the start line.

Many kids have already played this so they should be able to help you! Enjoy!

End of the Semester Spanish

We have a few more classes of Spanish this semester.

I have thoroughly enjoyed working with your students. It was a rowdy but fun class.

On Monday, January 29th, we will be working on our 8 sentence Spanish paragraphs (all about me). They will be reciting these either at lunch or during our last class. We are also working on what we like: "me gusta..." and how to order in Spanish.

On Wednesday, January 31, we will be going to El Sarape for lunch. Please turn in your money and permission by Monday.

We will still have Spanish class on Wednesday and I plan to play bingo and have prizes :).

Grades are published and they will just have their final "ordering" and "all about me" recitation grades.

Muchas gracias for a great five months! I hope they learned something!

Spanish December 4-8

We are continuing our study of feelings and how you answer the question "How are you?" in more depth. There will be a quiz on feelings on Wednesday, December 13th. Here are the phrases:

Estoy feliz.        I am happy.
Estoy triste.       I am sad.
Tengo hambre.  I am hungry.
Tengo sed.         I am thirsty.
Tengo frio.        I am cold.
Tengo calor.      I am hot.
Tengo miedo.    I am scared.
Tengo dolor.      I am hurt.

Extra:
Estoy cansado/a.   I am tired.
Estoy enojado/a.   I am mad.

We have also started the days of the week and weather.

We will have our "Navidad" party on Monday, December 11th.

Middle School Announcements:

1. Scrip cards for sale in the office.
2. Yearbook sales are on. Price increase after 12/15/17.
3. Chipotle fundraiser from 12-8pm on Friday, 12/15/17.
4. Night to Shine Prom on 2/9/18.
5. Spelling Bee for middle school students on 1/10/18.
6. High School information night on 1/11/18.

Spanish November

I am enjoying Spanish with the  middle school. They are picking up quite a bit of conversational Spanish. We are finishing up first quarter with a paragraph about themselves. They will memorize their paragraphs and be able to speak 8 sentences about themselves.

During 2nd quarter, I will continue to mostly base their grades on classwork and some quizzes. However, their are students who are motivated to learn more. I will be doing some incentive-based challenges that will not help or hurt their grade but rather motivate them to do the extra worksheets/challenges for extra prizes (probably food based... because, well, they are middle-schoolers).  I will be presenting these incentives to them on Wednesday, November 8th. Because Spanish is an elective, I hesitate to give very much homework. However, they will  not learn the language well without extra practice at home. Therefore, I want to challenge those students who are ready.

We will also be doing a field trip to a Mexican restaurant before the end of the quarter. I will check on dates and let you know.

Please let me know any questions or concerns you have.

Thank you!

Spanish October 18

On Wednesday, the students will present a short skit using the vocabulary we have learned so far. They have had ample time to prepare and memorize their lines. Using Spanish in front of others is difficult so I will go "easy" on their first attempts to speak in public.

I want Spanish to be as interactive and fun as possible but I have noticed an increase in boisterous behavior. I do not want to revert to desk work but I do need students to be able to refocus quickly and quietly. Thank you!

Spanish Updates

I was pretty impressed with the quizzes last week. While the spelling was humorous, that was o.k. because we've mainly been focusing on conversational Spanish. I loved seeing how much most of the students are grasping.

If your student is struggling, no worries! We will be trying all different strategies so that everyone picks up some Spanish by the end of the semester. Keep encouraging them to do 3-5 minutes nightly to absorb the phrases.

If your student is getting everything right and wanting an extra challenge, I'm going to encourage a few to start doing some high school Spanish work. I want everyone to be working at their maximum potential.

The next big assignment is a group conversation. The students are only allowed to use words and phrases we have learned so far. They will create a conversation where each person speaks at least three times. The conversations will be MEMORIZED and presented in class on October 20th.

I will be gone October 6-15th so the students will be mainly reviewing and working on their group skits. I will be checking emails if you have any concerns.

Upcoming Spanish Assignments

Spanish students will have their second quiz on classroom vocabulary and question structures on Wednesday, October 4th.

On the 4th, I will assign their long term group project (3-4 people) that will be due October 16th. They will work on this project while I am out of town for the week. The project will be to create a lengthy conversation that includes props and then present their conversation on the 16th. They will need to memorize their lines. They will have four class periods (October 6-13) to work on this so there should be no problem completing. I will be handing out rubrics with the expectations.

Thanks! We are having fun!

First Assessment

We are having a great time in Spanish. We are working on basic greetings and introductions. Today, students will get points on creating a dialogue of at least 8 lines. On Wednesday, they will be tested on the following words:

1. hola hello
2. buenos días good morning
3. buenas tardes good afternoon
4. buenas noches good night
5. adíos good bye
6. hasta luego see you later
7. hasta manana see you tomorrow
8. Cómo estás? How are you
9. muy bien very good
10. muy mal very bad
11. así así so-so
12. Cómo te llamas? What is your name? (informal, to friends or adult addressing kids)
13. Me llamo _____. My name is _______.
14. y tu? And you?
15. Mucho gusto Nice to meet you (literally "much pleasure")
16. gracias thank you
17. muchas gracias thank you very much
18. de nada your welcome
19. por favor Please

We will not have Spanish this Friday. Please practice saying all your words so far.

** If your student is interested in extra work or wants to try to work their way through Spansih 1, please email me at traceys@ecsolympia.com

Bienvenidos a espaňol!

Bienvenidos a espaňol!

We are excited to offer a Spanish elective this year because exposure to another language at an early age will greatly improve a student's ability to pick up foreign languages later. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States with over 45 million speakers. In addition, there are twenty-two countries in this world where Spanish is the primary language. Learning Spanish will help your student appreciate other cultures and more closely understand a growing U.S. population of Spanish speakers. Plus middle schoolers will receive a jump start on taking a language in high school.

Middle school students will have Spanish three times a week for 35 minutes. They are encouraged to practice at home as much as possible so that they can advance quickly in the language. My expectation is that they will practice repeating vocabulary and phrases for 5 minutes each day. We will have little "accountability assessments" every week. If they are listening and participating in class, they will have no trouble completing these mini quizzes.

This course will not prepare them to be ready to skip Spanish 1 in high school. However, it will give them a very solid foundation making high school Spanish much easier. If your student is highly gifted in languages and wants to do extra work to try and get through an entire Spanish 1 textbook, I will be happy to give extra assignments to facilitate a rapid progression. This will require about 30-90 minutes extra per week.

In full disclosure, while I have many years of teaching experience in other subjects, I am not close to being a fluent Spanish speaker. I studied abroad in Spain many years ago and have kept up with a little bit of reading and practice. Even though my accent is decent, I will be using CDs and videos featuring native speakers as much as possible. The songs and videos we will be singing and viewing each week will help them learn the correct sounds in Spanish.

You do have the opportunity to purchase or download the CDs. This is completely optional but may interest those who have super motivated language learners or those who, like me, spend a ton of time in the car and would love to use 5-10 minutes to practice Spanish. Some middle schoolers may resist listening to/singing the songs but it is a great way to learn words and phrases quickly.

If you have any questions, please contact me at 360-485-6293 or traceys@ecsolympia.com

Gracias!

Tracey Sondgroth