Wednesday, May 18, 2011

May

I am back! It was so good to work with the children again after a few months off. Many of you mentioned that your children have been singing songs to you at home and have been anxious to begin Spanish again.

Because we had been away for a few months, the first week of May was a review of foods and colors we had worked with a lot in February, as well as many of the children's favorite songs like un elefante and la canción de los números. In my time off I collected some fun new music and got a few puppets (so far the children have only met the chef, el cocinero.)


By the way, this version of the elefante song is very close to what we sing in class:


...and this whole Whistlefritz CD is full of fun songs:



I have taught the children how to introduce themselves (me llamo) various ways this year, but this new song has been the most fun and most successful! Hear a portion of it or download it here:



From the same CD, we sang échale la fruta to give the children more ways to talk about good foods.



If you want a well-produced CD full of excellent songs for teaching, get this one. It includes a few songs we have sung this year such as chocolate, and many songs we will sing next year! It is our new favorite at home:



This month we sang another fun movement song (which also teaches some prepositions) called arriba, abajo, delante, atrás. We move to this song by sticking our hands up, down, in front of us and behind us.




In all the classes this month, we read La semana de Cookie, a cute story about a cat (gato) that gets into something each day of the week. I stressed the days of the week in the four year old class, but focused mostly on comprehension for the younger children. It is an easy book for anyone to read and understand (you may have read it in English).

The 4-year old class sang this song to reinforce the days of the week. It is another great movement song!


Two other songs that we will work with next year and that I recommend purchasing if you play Spanish music for your children at home. They both come from a CD called Muévete. The first is called A limpiar. It is a clean up song that is very catchy. An easy one for anyone to learn and sing along:


The second is ¿Quién soy yo?. Even if you don't know Spanish, it is easy to understand this song. It asks, "who am I?" as you hear an animal in the background. The song asks the children to walk like an elephant, trot like a horse, etc., after they hear that animal sound. Hear a sample or download it here:



I have loved working with your children this year. Thank you for the opportunity to teach them some of the foundations of Spanish. I hope they continue to pursue the language and I expect them to recall many of the songs and chants we have done this year as they study foreign languages in the future. Please contact me this summer if you have any questions. I am also willing to teach a playgroup if you have children who would like to continue to learn Spanish this summer. ¡Que disfrutes el verano!

¡Hasta pronto!
-Sra. Shannon

February

This was the last month before I took a few months off to be with Sarah, born March 8. A few of the new songs we worked with this month were Conejo Saltarín and La cancion de los números.

Conejo saltarín is a song about a jumping rabbit-- a great one to use to work off energy and the kids LOVE it. (The 4-year olds beg for it every week!)



We start this song by making fingers with bunny ears and we make the bunnies hop using only our hands. The chorus goes like this:
mueve las orejas (we wiggle our bunny-ear fingers next to our ears)
mueve la nariz (we point to our nose)
mueve la colita (we wiggle our hips)
y se pone a reír (we smile big with hands next to our faces)

When the singer gets to "brinca, brinca, conejo saltarín", the kids jump around the room.

La canción de los números is a very sweet song that the kids enjoy as well. This is an easy one to follow along, and most of the children sing with me on this song. It counts to 10, and we have actions for each number. The favorite part is for number 9: "el nueve es una culebra para espantar a diez". I have a snake that jumps out to surprise the children as we all say "diez" and hold up 10 fingers.



This month we also worked with songs about food to support the healthy-eating topics in many of the classes. We sang songs about foods we eat when we are hungry (tengo hambre), and how much fun it is to eat the colors of the rainbow (me gusta comer como un arcoiris). These are simple songs that I have created. Grab me in the hallway sometime if you want to hear the songs! Also, see if your child can do the sign for rainbow when you say arcoiris (arco-EE-rees).

We pulled together numbers and food using the Bible story of Jesus feeding 5,000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes. Exciting that, with the help of pictures and drama, they can understand stories like this using the vocabulary they have learned through songs and other activities.

I realized today that other educators have checked in on this blog and even left comments. I apologize for not replying! If you would like to contact me, please send a message to shannon@shannonspaintbox.com. I would love to exchange ideas!