conversation wrap up and only two weeks to Spring Break!

Hola padres! The second and third graders have had such a great time presenting their family conversations. They've done a great job working together and using what we've learned in class. We will have one more conversation that will hopefully be completed before Spring break and will be based on a "la casa" unit or our unit on the house. We will use many of the grammatical structures from the familia, so I am hopeful that the scholars will be able to confidently work together to get this done as well.

The kinders and first graders have had great fun this week reviewing our alphabet so far and working on their terms about the weather. We will continue these themes into next week.

As the quarter comes to a close, it is always helpful to remind the scholars to persevere and continue to work hard to finish the quarter strong both academically and behaviorally. This is the time of year when I remind them that this is when they show us if they are ready for the next grade and that they have to start thinking about what will be expected of them in the year to come. It is difficult and tiring, but I know they can finish well. Thank you for sharing your children with me and I look forward to the weeks to come.

Gracias,
Sra. Hamilton

a short week and starting our family conversations

Hola padres! The second and third grade scholars are relieved to finally be given the go ahead to start writing their conversations. I am so thankful for their eagerness and excitement! They are slowly learning how to use their notebooks and notes that they took the last few classes. I refer them to their notebooks when they ask me about something we covered in class. This is also where working with a partner comes in helpful as maybe their partner took notes on something that they themselves missed. We went over the four basic points of the conversation I am looking for: the greeting, an inquiry, response and a goodbye. The scholars can receive more points if they memorize their conversation, if they put in their part of the conversation from our last unit on la fruta (fruits), if they have more than one inquiry and response, etc. I look forward to what they come up with!

In Kinder and first grades this week, we doubled our efforts in terms of the alphabet as I want to make sure we cover all the letters by the end of the year. This week, we learned about "L" and "M" which are very similar to the same letters in English. Our next letter will be "LL" which I will teach on its own as it is different from the other letters. Next week I hope to introduce them to weather terms and of course continue with the alphabet.

It has been fun learning about the different countries with the scholars this year and I especially enjoy teaching about Argentina as it gives me the opportunity to expose them to a bit of theater as we talk about the musical Evita and if they are quiet enough, I am able to play the song "Don't Cry for me Argentina". Its just a fun tidbit of knowledge for them to know!

This past weekend I watched the movie "Spare Parts" which tells the story of four Hispanic students from Carl Hayden Community High School in Phoenix and their journey to the robotics competition in Santa Barbara, California in 2004. It really was a great movie and it was neat to see a movie based right here in our hometown. I would recommend it for older children as it gives a good background on how immigration impacts many young people here in Arizona. Just a thought if you are looking for a feel good movie to watch.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Sra. Hamilton

el alfabeto, some grammar and moving on to new countries

Hola padres! I have been so impressed with Kinder and first grades this week as this is my first time fully going through the alphabet with any class and they are really catching on. I was afraid that what I was doing too repetitive and would bore the scholars. What I have found though, is that the scholars have really retained what they have learned and are recognizing the differences between the English and Spanish alphabet. I am so excited that what we are doing in class is working and that the scholars enjoy and look forward to learning a new letter each week. This is a good foundation for them as they move on to higher levels of Spanish. If you wanted at all to work with your scholar on the letters, next week I hope to send a hand out home that has the phonetic pronunciation of each letter on it. Any reinforcement they can get will be helpful.

As for second and third grade, we have spent most of this week learning simple grammar concepts that they will be able to use for their family conversations. This isn't nearly as exciting for them as actually writing their conversations, but am hoping that once they do start writing they will notice how valuable these lessons are. I did let them know that they will need to work from their notebooks in order to write their conversations, but that I would help them with anything we did not go over.

Next week, we move on to new Spanish speaking countries, with first and second grade studying Nicaragua and third grade studying Argentina. Have a wonderful weekend!

Sra. Hamilton
ahamilton@archwaytrivium.org