During this month, we read the first episode of the book La familia de Federico Rico. It has been wonderful to see students developing and strengthening their reading skills while demonstrating strong comprehension.

Students first searched for cognates, words that sound similar in two languages and share the same meaning. Then, they learned new vocabulary from the chapter. Students read the episode independently, in pairs, and in small groups. We also practiced choral reading as a class. Finally, we checked for comprehension by answering yes-or-no questions and responding to personalized questions about the reading.

Students have also been sharing how they are feeling by building sentences and using connector words to combine ideas. I feel very proud of them when they take risks and add more details each time we practice this activity. Some examples include:

• “Estoy cansada porque no duermo bien.” (I am tired because I don’t sleep well.)

• “Tengo hambre, entonces necesito comer una pizza grande.” (I am hungry, so I need to eat a big pizza.)

In celebration of Black History Month, students learned the chorus of the song “Humano” by ChocQuibTown, an Afro-Colombian band. The song raises awareness about the safety and struggles of immigrants and refugees in Colombia. We also took a virtual visit to Colombia using Google Maps and learned a little about each member of the band.

We continue working on calendar talk to help students build their proficiency. I encourage students to practice their frequency words both in and outside of class. Click here to access the Sweet 16 online flashcards. Another way to practice Spanish at home is by visiting our This Spanish Site under “Resources”.

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!
We started 2026 by talking about New Year traditions in Spanish-speaking countries. Students learned about the tradition of eating 12 grapes at midnight to make wishes for the new year. Each class wrote their wishes on a large paper grape, which was later placed on a display for the whole school to see. We focused on making wishes connected to our Lincoln expectations and our goals as World Language scholars. We have also continued reinforcing our routines and expectations for Spanish class.

This month, students have been building their confidence in creating with the language by using chat mats, which provide scaffolding to support Spanish writing and conversation. They have been sharing about their feelings, what they did over winter break and the weekend, and what they will be doing next. Some students even volunteered to share with the whole class. These types of activities help students gain confidence using Spanish at their own level in real-world contexts—through reading, writing, listening, and speaking. What a great way to continue acquiring Spanish while building self-confidence! I am so proud of each of them.

We also took time to set both class and individual goals for the second trimester. Students reflected and created personal Spanish goals, and we will continue tracking our progress throughout the trimester.

To prepare for reading the chapter book La familia de Federico Rico, we reviewed family vocabulary. Students were active listeners as I shared about my familia, and they interacted by talking about their own families. During this time, we continued reinforcing our frequency words (the “Sweet 16”) in context. Click here  to access the Sweet 16 online flashcards. It was wonderful to see how much students understood, and how some took risks by using Spanish independently or with support from the classroom word wall.

During the month of December, we talked about family celebrations. We celebrate and embrace ALL celebrations. It is wonderful to continue building community while learning from each others' cultures during this time of the year. Students were able to share what they celebrate with their families and friends during this time of the yer. It was a great opportunity to learn from each other while showing respect and empathy.  We used the structures: "Yo (no) celebro" (I (don't) celebrate), Yo también (Me too) ¡Qué interesante! (That's interesting!), Me gusta (I like), and more. 

We continue working on calendar talk in where students have the opportunity to build up their proficiency level by talking about several topics related to their daily schedule, such us feelings, their classes, weather, likes, dislikes, plans for their winter break, etc, while reinforcing their frequency words and structures in context. This activity could easily lead us to do Write & Discuss in where students practice their writing with support and/or on their own, depending on their levels. 

We also did a clip chat: El gato 🐈 de Simon-Santa Claws. First, we took the time to learn the key vocabulary words that helped us understand the main ideas of the story in the clip chat. During this time, we talked about having pets during our celebrations, especially "gatos" (cats), ¿Quién tiene gatos en casa? (who has cats at home?), ¿Quién tiene decoraciones en casa? (who has decorations at home?), ¿A tus mascotas les gustan jugar con las decoaraciones? (do our pets like to play with the Holiday decorations?) Students enjoyed sharing their experiences with their pets. We did this all in the target language (Spanish). The discussion was great. Students used the expressions: "Yo tengo una mascota" (I have a pet), A mi mascota le gusta/no le gusta.. (My pet likes/doesn't like...), Yo pienso que..." to express their options. They used  the expressions "Estoy de acuerdo."(I agree) or "No estoy de acuerdo." (I disagree) to express their agreements and disagreements. "Me gusta (I like), Yo prefiero (I prefer). I am proud to see them challenging themselves in using Spanish during class. Way to go! If you would like to watch the short video we used for the clip chat, click here. 

We concluded our month by learning and playing a traditional Hispanic game. This game is called "La Pirinola". This is a spinning top game and it is played in some Hispanic countries such as, Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Mexico. People play this game during the holidays. Students enjoyed playing it and finding similarities and differences with a dreidel.  Through the game, students are encouraged to keep up with their Spanish by using our vocabulary sheet.

We worked on another clip chat activity. Students learned and practiced frequency words: Hay (There is/There are), Quiere (wants), Tiene (has), Puede (can), Escucha (listens) , galleta (cookie) in order to be able to use them during the video chat.  We personalized the story from the video, especially about favorite cookies. Students played the game: "¿Quién comió la galleta?" (Who ate the cookie?). In case you would like to see the short video, click here.

We did a Write and Discuss activity about the clip chat Snack Attack. Students were challenged to create with the language by using the Spanish frequency words and other vocabulary from our word wall that they have acquired through the years. 

Finally, we ended this month by saying what we are grateful for by using the expression: "Yo doy gracias por..." (I am thankful for...) and using a vocabulary bank. 

Students in fourth and fifth grade continue to challenge themselves and create using the target language, Spanish. We are building our calendar vocabulary by having conversations about celebrations and important events happening in our school, families, and community. This practice prepares us to have short conversations in Spanish. We have also started using our journals to do some writing in Spanish.

To provide comprehensible input and support language acquisition, we did a  clip chat activity. During this activity, I narrated a story while incorporating frequency verbs and familiar vocabulary in context. I asked questions to check for comprehension and personalized questions to keep students engaged. Afterward, some classes completed a writing activity about the story in their journals. Here is the video we used for this activity.

We have also started discussing Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) by sharing what we already know about this cultural celebration. We will continue exploring this topic next month.

I invite my older students to become familiar with this set of frequency words. 

All of our class vocabulary is introduced and reinforced throughout our lessons. Students are gradually acquiring the language and expanding their vocabulary little by little.

We did CALENDAR TALK to practice and review our days of the week, months, numbers, weather, celebrations, do self check ins, talk about their daily activities and fun activities during their weekends, and most important to use and maintain the target language (Spanish) during class. This also allowed us to personalize the information and keep students engaged while immersed in the target language.

Students worked on a Hexagon project to share about their favorites. We have been practicing our basic vocabulary to build up confidence when we put this into conversational exercises during class activities.  

We are starting to use our Spanish notebooks for some writing exercises. We set up our goals for the first trimester and talked about how we can keep ourselves accountable in order to achieve our goals. Students familiarized themselves with Spanish proficiency levels and how they can level up. 

Finally, we set up our learning platforms that we will be using during this school year: Seesaw and google classroom. 

All of the class vocabulary happens simultaneously during our lessons. Students will be acquiring the language and leveling up their language vocabulary little by little.