At the beginning of the month, we learned about Día de Muertos, a Mexican holiday celebrated from on November 1 and November 2 to honor and remember our loved ones. We learned about the elements that are placed on an ofrenda (offering). 

Later, we talked about "Mascotas (pets) and shared what pets we have at home and what pets we want to have by using our frequency words: TENGO (I have) and QUIERO (I want). We learned this cute song: "Tengo una mascota". Students really liked talking about animals. 

Students also enjoyed the story "La oruga muy hambrienta" (The very hungry caterpillar), which allowed us to review days of the week, colors, and fruit vocabulary while also learning the cycle of the butterfly. Students really like singing: "La canción de las frutas" (The fruit song). While telling the story we reinforced our Spanish frequency words: HAY (there is/there are), VE (sees), COME (eats), LE GUSTA (likes), NO LE GUSTA (doesn't like), ES (is). LE ENCANTA (loves). They were able to understand the main idea of the story while acquiring Spanish in a fun way. During this lesson, students with higher level Spanish had the opportunity to continue increasing their conversational skills by making predictions, adding more details of the story telling, making personal connections about their likes and dislikes. Students showed comprehension of the story by acting out and answering yes-no questions about the story. 

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. 

This month, students have really been enjoying our greeting songs — ¡Hola! and Hola amigos— as well as our  days of the week song and Yo tengo una casita (I have a little house). Feel free to play these songs at home and sing along with your children!

Students continued learning about Frida Kahlo, a famous Mexican artist. They drew their homes and compared them with Frida’s house, which allowed us to reinforce our color vocabulary and more. We used our “magic words”: soy (I am), es (is), vivía (lived), and vivo (I live).

First-grade students reviewed what they learned about Frida last year and reinforced our frequency words such as soy (I am), vivo (I live), me gusta (I like), tengo (I have), and quiero (I want), while sharing information about themselves and comparing their statements with what we know about Frida.

Students also enjoyed making an origami blue house — click here  if you’d like to try this at home! They are currently working on a small book to take home and share with their families. We’re now learning about Frida’s animals and talking about whether we have (tengo) pets or want (quiero) pets.

We’ve also started discussing Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) and will continue exploring this celebration next month.

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 read the book "David va al colegio" in order to reinforce our class norms and expectations. Students showed understanding of what is  expected during our class through a simple game named: "Está bien o está mal." (It is good or It is bad.)

Students have been enjoying singing our Spanish greeting song and turned it into a fun conversation. Enjoy the song here. 

We have been acquiring, practicing, reinforcing, and using our feelings vocabulary during our self check in time at the beginning of class: FELIZ (happy), TRISTE (sad), ENOJAD@ (mad), TENGO MIEDO (I am scared), CANSAD@ (tired) and more by singing our feeling song. Click here to listen to the song.

It was fun acquiring our classroom objects vocabulary through Total Physical Response (TPR) activities and the game: "¿Quién tiene la mochila?" (Who has the backpack?) and the Buzz game in where we list the classroom objects until we find the Buzz word. We used the structure: "Necesito" (I need).

We started learning about two famous Mexican artists "Frida Khalo y Diego Rivera", which is helping us reinforce our feelings vocabulary and at the same time learn more about these famous artists. Students enjoyed going on a virtual field trip to "La casa azul de Frida Khalo". Click here to take this virtual field trip. 

We have started with CALENDAR TALK to acquire, reinforce, and practice the days of the week (click here to listen to days of the week song), months of the year, numbers 1-30 weather, birthday celebrations, weather, and more.

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.