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