Students in fourth and fifth grade continue to impress me by challenging themselves and creating with the language. We continued building our calendar vocabulary, which prepares us to have short conversations in Spanish.

Students received their class jobs and filled out their first-trimester individual goal tracker sheets. They are all ready to continue a successful World Language school year!

We also learned about alebrijes, a tradition of Mexican folk art. These are whimsical carvings depicting animals and imaginary creatures painted with intense colors and intricate patterns representing the four elements: water, fire, wind, and earth. Students will be creating their own alebrijes during our learning stations.

Soon, we will start working in stations where they will create even more with the language. I am super excited and a little nervous, since this is the first time I am introducing stations in Spanish class! Students have been very patient and helpful while we set up and practice our transitions so we can all be successful.

Finally, we started talking about Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), and we will continue this conversation through the month of November.

Vocabulary is naturally acquired throughout our lessons as students participate in different activities and conversations. They will continue building their Spanish vocabulary and developing their language skills little by little as the year progresses.

I encourage my students to keep reviewing our frequency words (Super 7+ vocabulary) at home. Click here to access a set of digital flashcards.

We started our school year by getting to know each other. I introduced myself by sharing some fun facts about me in a very interactive way. Students worked on a matching activity using information about me. It was fun to discover some connections with them along the way.

We also worked on our hexagon name tags, which we then used for a short conversational activity. Students enjoyed finding connections with one another based on their favorite animal, color, food, number, book, or activity. We reinforced the phrases “Mi animal, color, comida, número, libro, actividad favorito(a) es ______” and “Yo también” (“me too”). We will continue using these hexagon name tags for additional activities throughout the school year.

We have also been regularly working on Calendar Talk to practice and review the days of the week, months, numbers, weather, and celebrations. Students also use this time to do self-check-ins, talk about their daily activities, and share fun activities they did over the weekend. Most importantly, Calendar Talk provides opportunities for students to use and maintain the target language (Spanish) throughout class. It also allows us to personalize the information, keep students engaged, and create meaningful opportunities for immersion in the target language.

All of the class vocabulary is introduced and reinforced simultaneously throughout our lessons. Students will continue acquiring the language and expanding their vocabulary little by little as they build confidence and become more comfortable using Spanish.