hoy en clase...

Hace Frío/ Hace Calor

2012-01-25T18:54:00.000-08:00

As the weather continues to fluctuate this winter, we have gotten to practice "tengo frío" and "tengo calor" quite a lot! We have added a few vocabulary words that we have been using a lot:
"Me pongo ____" (I put on ____)
"Me quito _____" (I take off ___)
We pretend to put on/take off a hat (la gorra), gloves (los guantes), coat (el abrigo), boots (botas) and scarf (la bufanda). Each week we have been also calling for snow "¡NIEVE!" (knee-AY-vay) but so far the weather has not cooperated. (I am not complaining!)

We have been doing a chant lately and many will students volunteer an answer:

¿Qué tienes, muchachito, tienes frío o calor?
¿Qué tienes, muchachito? Contesta, por favor.

This is asking if a child is cold or hot. He/she is to answer "tengo frío" (TANG-go FREE-oh) or "tengo calor" (TANG-go cah-LORE).

We have also been singing our simple hello song, answering "tengo frío, gracias" when we ask ¿Cómo estás?

I also re-introduced the "Mami, ¿dónde está mi abrigo?" song. We will sing that one often! The children enjoy guessing if a coat is hidden under a lamp, a chair, a table or a bed.
Mami, ¿dónde está mi abrigo? (repeat twice)
¿Debajo de la lámpara? (no, no, no)
¿Debajo de la silla? (no, no, no)
¿Debajo de la mesa? (no, no, no)
¿Debajo de la cama? (sí, sí, sí)

Finally, we spent most of last semester focusing on how to ask and answer questions that contain the word cómo. We are now moving into other question words, starting with ¿dónde? (where). This week we are reading a book about a baby who can't find his pacifier (chupete) and looks all around the house for it. We will work with dónde for the next few weeks, then move to quién
(who). I have a fun new song/game that I am excited to introduce. I know the children will enjoy it!

Año Nuevo

2012-01-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

We are starting off the new year by talking about the changing weather and the clothes we wear when it is cold. For the first week of January we talked about boots (botas= BOW-tahs), a hat (gorra= GORE-dah), coat (abrigo= ah-BREE-go), and we specifically focused on gloves (guantes= GWAN-tays). Your child probably brought home a glove with a little snowflake sticker on it. We talked a little bit about snow (nieve= nee-AY-vay) and did a lot with hace frío (which means it's cold) and tengo frío (which means I'm cold). At this point, I expect most of the children to hear the word frío (FREE-oh) and be able to show me how they feel when it's cold. I expect the same when they hear guantes, gorra, abrigo and botas. In the next few weeks, though, see if your child can name these items of clothing that they wear when it's cold because we will practice them a lot, and for many of the children, this is the third year they have worked with this vocabulary.

For the second week in January we are reading a favorite winter book: Froggy se viste. Here's a link:

Your child probably brought home (or will bring home) a puppet made out of a tongue depressor. We made those to feature the word gorra (hat) and introduce the word for scarf (bufanda= boo-FAHN-dah).

The youngest children are learning to respond to commands. Many of them will now stick out their tongues when they hear saca la lengua (SAH-kah lah LEAN-gwah) and jump when they hear salta (SAHL-tah). Many of them will take dolls and have them jump when they say salta. I pull these words into the older classes too, to review. In these classes we will also be featuring more action words like dance (baila= BUY-lah), stand up (levántate= lay-VAHN-tah-tay), and sit down (siéntate= see-IN-tah-tay).

¿Cómo es?

2011-11-17T13:28:00.000-08:00

Today we continued to practice parts of the face and body parts. Many of the children are getting good at naming the body parts and singing the songs!

We played with Mr. Potato Heads today. The children had to ask for ojos, nariz, boca (they asked for 'lengua' or 'dientes' depending on whether they wanted a tongue or teeth), pies. I was thrilled to hear their little voices saying the words very well. Even the youngest children used the Spanish words. We also had the "Cabezas de papa" dance, jump, and go up/down/in front/behind. Many of the children had them jump or dance on their own while saying "salta" or "baila". Such fun!

In most classes we made puppets with paper eyes and a straw. We used those eyes to make a hand puppet (make a fist, your thumb becomes the mouth and the eyes stick between your first two fingers.)

Finally, we sang "Cabeza Tiene Pelo", another favorite! This is one that will stick in your mind all day. Play a little of this and see if your child pats his/her head and sings along.

¿Cómo es?

2011-11-17T13:07:00.000-08:00

We continued talking about the parts of the face and body, reviewing our song from last week (Cabeza, Hombros, Rodillas y Pies):

We also made an "elefante" finger puppet, then had the puppet jump (salta), dance (baila), and go up/down/in front/ behind (using one of our favorite songs, "Arriba, Abajo, Delante, y Atrás". Here is a link to that song:

We finished by singing another favorite, "Un elefante se balanceaba". Here is a fun, upbeat version of that song:

¿Cómo es? El cuerpo

2011-11-17T12:55:00.000-08:00

Today we talked about body parts. We read the Eric Carle book De la cabeza a los pies:

We also sang the Spanish version of Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes:

El otoño

2011-10-27T05:00:00.001-07:00

This week we celebrated Fall.

We read a book about pumpkins (Calabazas= kah-lah-BAH-zahs), we talked about the sizes of different pumpkins and we described the parts of a jack-o-latern face.

You also probably saw a little spider we made out of pipe cleaners and a pom pom. We used this to also talk about eyes and introduce the words for legs (piernas=pee-AIR-nahs) and feet (pies=pee-YAYS ). We then sang a favorite song from past years, los elefantes. You can listen to a sample or download it here:

¿Cómo es? La cara

2011-10-27T04:52:00.000-07:00

Today we reviewed many of the words we have been practicing by singing a song many of you may remember from church growing up: "My God is so big, so awesome and mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do." We sang it in Spanish, of course, with lots of big hand motions. Here are the words:

Mi Dios es tan grande
tan fuerte y poderoso
no hay nada que no pueda hacer (two claps)

Las montañas son suyas
los ríos son suyas
las estrellas son suyas tambien

(repeat first verse)

We moved on today to descriptions of physical so that the children can begin to ask and answer the question, "¿Cómo es?" We featured the parts of the face today: Eyes (Ojos=OH-hose), Nose (Nariz= nah-DEES), Mouth (Boca= BOW-kah). We did a little rhyming chant:
Yo tengo dos ojos
Yo tengo una nariz
Yo tengo una boca
¡y estoy muy feliz!

We also made a face on a plate. The older children may have pointed out to you that the word OJO kind of looks like two eyes and a nose, so we used that word as the basis for the face.

¿Cómo es? Fuerte/Débil

2011-10-05T19:49:00.000-07:00

I am thrilled when many of you tell me that at home you hear your child singing songs and using the Spanish vocabulary they are learning. So much fun!

This week your child probably brought home a picture of David and Goliath. This week the new words I introduced to answer the question ¿Cómo es? were fuerte (strong) and débil (weak). I used these words and many others we have learned this year to tell the Bible story of David y Goliat. I taught fuerte and débil, but other words I emphasized this week were cinco piedras (five stones) and the color black (negro.) The Incredible Hulk "helped" this week (grande/verde/enojado/fuerte). We are having fun with these opposites!

Email me with questions! shannon@shannonspaintbox.com

Pez grande/ Pez pequeño

2011-09-28T19:43:00.001-07:00

Today your child probably brought home a little orange fish. I read the book Hooray for Fish. This book doesn't have a Spanish translation available, but it is a favorite at our house and the story uses all the vocabulary we have been practicing this year so far. Here is a link to the book:

We mostly reviewed vocabulary we have learned so far this year, including happy (feliz), sad (triste), mad (enojado), big (grande), small (pequeño), red (rojo) and green (verde). I taught the color orange (anaranjado), yellow (amarillo), and the word for eye (ojo)

I introduced a new chant that says, "Do what I do": "Haga lo que hago, Haga lo que hago, Haga lo que hago, Haga esto: ______). I have the children do things like clap (Aplauda), give a kiss (Bese), etc.

¿Cómo es? (Grande y pequeño)

2011-09-28T19:36:00.000-07:00

This week we began working with descriptions, to answer the question, "¿Cómo es?" (What does it look like?) We used the words grande (big) and pequeño (small). We talked about this in the context of mother and baby animals. We also reviewed words for emotions (feliz, triste, enojado.) I was thrilled that many of the children knew either the word that matched a happy/sad/mad face or they could make the corresponding face when I said the Spanish word.

The children are wonderful this year! They are very engaged and they participate well. I hope you are hearing them sing a few songs in Spanish... and I expect you to hear them say a few words here and there!

¿Cómo está Ud.? More emotions (Sept 16)

2011-09-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

This week we are extending answers to the question, ¿Cómo está Ud.? The three emotions we learned today were: feliz, triste, and enojado (happy, sad, mad). At this point I wouldn't expect the children to be able to answer the question ¿Cómo está Ud.?, but most of the students can respond with a big smile if you say "feliz"(fay-LEES), a sad face or cry if you say "triste" (TREE-stay), or a frown if you say "enojado" (eh-no-HAH-dough). Most children can also ask and answer how they are doing when they sing the Buenos Días song (to the tune of Frere Jacques.) This week I used the book "Happy Hippo, Angry Duck" by Sandra Boynton. It does a good job showing emotions and it is a fun interactive book. I am posting the book so you can look at it-- it's a very fun book in English! It's brand new, so it hasn't been translated into Spanish. Of course, in our Spanish time, I talked about it in Spanish.

This week's new song is the Spanish equivalent of "If You're Happy and you Know It." ("Si Ud. está feliz" from Dr. Jean's CD). Click here for a link to the Olé, Olé, Olé CD.

Finally, for those of you with children who will be in Kindergarten next year: If you are interested in having your child learn a language in an immersion elementary school (Fayette County offers Spanish at Maxwell Elementary and Chinese at Dixie Elementary), NOW is the time to turn in an application. Children are selected by a lottery; all applications for that lottery are due by October 7th. Click here for more information and/or to sign up. Other schools such as Liberty and Northern do offer a Spanish Immersion line, but you must live in that school's area to be in that program.

¡Bienvenidos!

2011-09-08T04:29:00.000-07:00

I am very excited to start back to Spanish again this Fall. Many of the children are starting their third year of Spanish, so you should be hearing them use more and more of the language.
Classes this year will be organized around the Spanish equivalent of the basic question words in English: Who, What, Where, When, Why, How. I will be weaving vocabulary for colors, numbers, shapes, and actions into the topic for each week. You will be able to read about the specific language we have practiced here on the web. I will also post books and songs we use so you can hear a sample and download if you are interested in having them at home.

This week we are introducing ourselves, learning how to say hello and asking/answering the question, ¿Cómo está? (How are you?) I also featured the color green (verde) and I introduced circle (círculo), two dots (dos puntos) and a smile (una sonrisa) as we drew faces on the take-home sheet. I brought along a frog puppet (rana verde) to reinforce the color green.

This year we will use Dr. Jean's song "Hola, amigo" to start our time together. You can find a link to that CD here.

This week we sang:
-a name song based on the "hola, hola, hola" chant from the Baile y Canto CD. The whole CD is wonderful.

-a ¿Cómo está? song to the tune of Frere Jacques:
Buenos Días (Buenos Días)
¿Cómo está? (¿Cómo está?)
Muy bien, gracias (Muy bien, gracias),
y Usted (y Usted)

-a movement song called arriba, abajo. This little gem is a favorite among the children. You'll find yourself singing the song all day (and after a few weeks you will likely hear your child singing it too!)

Feel free to e-mail me with questions: shannon@shannonspaintbox.com
Thanks for allowing me to work with your children. This age is wonderful for language acquisition!

May

2011-05-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-18T19:28:00.000-07:00

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!

January

2011-01-17T14:48:00.000-08:00

January's theme at Mom's Day Out has been Winter, so we have also been talking about cold weather (hace frío) and cold weather clothes. Try saying "hace frío" (AH-say FREE-oh) to your child and see if he/she pretends to feel cold.

We have sung "Mami, ¿dónde está mi abrigo?" a lot, which is a song about losing a coat and asking our mommy where it is. I hide a picture of a coat under a picture of a chair (la silla), a lamp (la lámpara), a bed (la cama), or a table (la mesa). As we sing the song, we look under each piece of furniture. If the coat is not there, the children answer "no, no, no"; if it is there, they say, "¡sí, sí, sí!"

We read the book Froggy se viste to talk about clothing:

We have focused a lot on el abrigo (coat), los guantes (gloves), las botas (boots) and (cap) because these are articles of clothing many children are wearing right now to play in the snow. We are doing a chant that goes: "guantes, botas, gorra, guantes, botas."

I like to link to Bible stories in our Spanish lessons as well, so we are talking a bit about Joseph and his colorful coat. This gives us a chance to also review and reinforce colors. One song that we sing to practice colors is a list of colors set to a fun tune. This is a song that comes from a CD called Sing, Laugh, Dance and Eat Tacos.

azul
blanco
rojo
violeta
amarillo
anaranjado
verde y
rosa
(una vez más)

The colors listed are blue, white, red, purple, yellow, orange, green and pink. Sometimes different countries use slightly different words for the colors (you might hear morado for purple, rosado for pink and naranja for orange)... so if you have learned a different word for a certain color than what's listed in this song, that's probably why! We will be singing other songs about colors that use variations.

December

2011-01-17T11:59:00.000-08:00

We did lots of Christmas vocabulary and traditional Latin American Christmas songs this month. Unfortunately, our last week before Winter break was cancelled for snow so we didn't act out the Christmas story as we usually would. We did sing some fun songs, though.

The first song is called "Los peces en el río" (The fish in the river). That doesn't sound Christmassy, does it? It is a very popular Christmas song and actually has a wonderful message. The lyrics are:

La Virgen se está peinando (here we pretended to brush our hair)
Entre cortina y cortina
Sus cabellos son de oro
Y el peine de plata fina

Pero mira como beben (here we did the fish mouth and swam like fish)
los peces en el río
Pero mira cómo beben
por ver a Dios nacido.
Beben y beben
y vuelven a beber.
Los peces en el río
por ver a Dios nacer.

La Virgen lava pañales (here, we pretended to put away diapers)
y los tiende en el romero,
los pajarillos cantando,
y el romero floreciendo.

You can download the version of the song that we sang at MDO here:

Another very popular Latin American Christmas song we sang was "Campana sobre campana". Campanas are bells, and in this song, as the angels ring bells, we ask what "nuevas" (news) they are bringing. We held bells and rang them during the chorus.

The lyrics are:

Campana sobre campana
y sobre campana una
asomate a la ventana (we pretended to look in a window for the baby Jesus)
verás al niño en la cuna

Chorus
Belen campanas de Belen (we rang bells just like the angels)
que los angeles tocan que nuevas me traes

Caminando a media noche
donde va mira el pastor
que llevarte y a cuidarte
como Dios mi corazon

Some of the children requested that we sing a song that they recognize in English, so we sang the Spanish version of Silent Night (Noche de Paz). Here is the version I used:

We read a wonderful book called El arbol de navidad. This book appears to be out of print, but there are some used copies for a few cents on Amazon if you want to order one! It uses very basic (but useful) vocabulary, and it is in Spanish and English for those of you who like to see the meaning of the phrases on each page.

I had planned to sing one more song with the children that we used last year, but the snow stopped us. This is a song about a child riding a little donkey (burrito) into Bethlehem (Belén) to see the baby Jesus. It has a fun beat. If you have children who are small enough, it is a good one to sing (or listen to) as you bounce the child on your knee, as if he/she is riding a donkey.

November

2011-01-17T11:26:00.000-08:00

A family from our Mom's Day Out program moved to Ecuador in November, so we did lots of songs and games to celebrate Ecuador. We looked at a globe to find Ecuador and listened to music from this country. One song/game we played a lot this month was "El patio de mi casa" (107 on the Children's Song CD). As we sang this song, we held hands and walked in a circle. At each "agáchate", we crouch down. After the second one we stayed down and danced. This song is good because it teaches you how to say a few letters in Spanish (h, i, j, k, l, m, n, a). There are multiple versions of this song. This is a good one:

El patio de mi casa es particular
cuando llueve se moja como los demás
agáchate, y vuelve a agachar
que las agachaditas no saben bailar
h, i, j, k, l, m, n, a
que si tu no me quieres otra niña me querrá.

We also did a fun song called "El conejo saltarín." This is about a jumping rabbit. We do it often when the children get wiggly. It is an easy song to learn (although it is fast) and it includes words like las orejas (ears), la nariz (nose), la colita (tail), reír (to laugh). At the "brinca, brinca, conejo saltarín" part, we jump like rabbits. I have linked to the version we use, and you can hear the bulk of the song in the sample. Try playing it to see if your child makes rabbit ears at "orejas", points to his/her nose at "nariz", wiggles his/her tail at "colita" and jumps at "brinca".

Conejo saltarín

The Smithsonian Institute has archived lots of world music; the CD "Children's Songs from Ecuador, Mexico and Puerto Rico" includes traditional songs from various Latin American countries. Incidentally, this site is a great resource for lots of music genres.

Colores y formas: El otoño

2010-10-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

As the Moms Day Out classes focused on colors and shapes in October, I reviewed colors and introduced shapes within the context of the changing seasons.

Because October is a month mixed with warm and cool mornings, we have begun talking about the weather. We do a chant to ask/answer what the weather is for the day:

¿Qué tiempo hace afuera, afuera? ¿Qué tiempo hace afuera hoy? (Hace is pronounced "AH say")
(It's cold: "Hace frío"; It's hot: "Hace calor"; It's windy: "Hace viento".)

In talking about colors, we looked at leaves one day and did leaf rubbings using fall colors like brown (café), green (verde), yellow (amarillo) and orange (anaranjado).

We also sang the classic song, "De colores" and talked about the colors of the objects mentioned in the song and some of the words. The children enjoyed the part of the song that includes three animals and the sounds they make in Spanish:
Canta el gallo, con el kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri. (The rooster sings "kiri, kiri, kiri...")
La gallina, con el cara cara cara cara cara cara cara (The hen, with her "cara, cara, cara...")
Los pollitos con el pío pío pío pío pío pío pi (The chicks with the "pío, pío...)

Here is the version of the song we sang:

There are many other versions available.

Los caballos

2010-10-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the WEG competitors in town and parallel the curriculum across the Mom's Day Out classes, the vocabulary, songs and games were related to horses (and some other farm animals) for the last few weeks of September.

We played a lot with little horses, making them jump ("¡salten!"), run ("¡corran!"), turn around ("¡den la vuelta!") sleep ("duerman"), and in some classes the students made them fly ("vuelen"). Along with the commands, we talked a bit about the horses' colors and features.

We also sang a song about lots of farm animals called, "Vengan a ver mi granja". If you purchased the Whistlefritz CD last year, you have this song. We used sign language as we sang some of the words:
Vengan a ver mi granja que es hermosa (repeat)

Click here for a sample of the song, or to download it if you do not have it already and would like a copy:

We also read the book Salí de paseo. Students held stuffed farm animals as we "found" them in the book. This book has recently been for sale for a few dollars in the discounted children's book section at Joseph Beth. You can also find it here:

Finally, I introduced a new song that the kids have loved called "Bailar rápido, bailar tranquilo." The song has just a few phrases, which say, "I like to dance, I like to dance slowly. I like to dance, and I never want to stop":

A mí me gusta bailar,
me gusta bailar tranquilo.
A mí me gusta bailar,
Y nunca quiero parar.

This song is set to a salsa beat. I taught the children the basic dance step for salsa, and many of them picked it up easily. The song repeats multiple times, getting faster with each round. It is a very fun song and a great way to expend energy! The song comes from a CD that is filled with songs that expose students to the beat and instruments of Latin music. It is available through the Spanish Scholastic book order. If you would like a copy, let me know and I will place an order for you.

Welcome back!

2010-09-24T02:36:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to have the opportunity to work with the children at Mom's Day Out this year, and I have been especially thrilled to watch last year's students pick up where we left off in the Spring. The children are doing great!

This year our vocabulary, songs and books coincide directly with the themes for the classes. I am also linking to Bible stories or Bible verses that apply to our topics. We started the year by learning some basic commands and by learning how to talk about our friends. Here are some of the songs and activities we have done:

"Hola, amigo"
This comes from the Dr. Jean CD.
Hola, amigo (we wave to say, "hello friend")
¿Cómo está Usted? ("how are you?")
Estoy muy feliz de verlo a Usted. (We draw a smile on our faces, point to our eyes, then point to a friend to say, "I'm very happy to see you.")
Salude su vecino (wave to a neighbor)
Boogie para abajo (wiggle to the floor)
Dese un tope (give two little bumps with our hips)
y de la vuelta (do a spin)

"Yo tengo un amigo que me ama"
I learned this song at a Vacation Bible School in Mexico. It's a very easy to learn and fun to sing. Most of the children can already sing along with me. It says, "I have a friend who loves me; His name is Jesus." The lyrics are:
Yo tengo un amigo que me ama, me ama, me ama
Yo tengo un amigo que me ama
Su nombre es Jesús.

The signs we use as we sing are:
"amigo" (friend): click here to see the sign
"me ama"(loves me): we give ourselves a hug
"Jesús" (Jesus): click here to see the sign

You can download it or just listen to a sample here:

We have done a little bit of descriptions of our ourselves and our friends. We started with how our faces are similar:
Yo tengo dos ojos (I have two eyes)
Yo tengo una nariz (I have a nose)
Yo tengo una boca (I have a mouth)
Y estoy muy feliz (I am very happy)

We sing that quick rhyme to the same tune as a very fun song about hair color. The part the children are learning says:
Cabeza, cabeza (we pat our heads to the beat; this line says, "head, head")
La cabeza tiene pelo (the head has hair)
Pelo, pelo, pelo en la cabeza (hair, hair, hair on the head)
A veces es ______(a different hair color is mentioned each time)
A veces la cabeza no tiene pelo. (Sometimes the head has no hair)

This song is worth a quick listen. My kids love to sing and dance to it at home.

Pinta ratones

2010-05-26T19:01:00.000-07:00

Today we read another book about colors-- another wonderful one for a home Spanish library. Actually, you ought to look at the public library for this book and others I have listed on this blog. They have a nice collection of bilingual books, especially at the Village Branch.

The featured book is Pinta ratones, about some white mice who get into primary colors of paint and eventually mix paints to make new colors.

Each child got to select two primary colors of playdoh to mix and see what new colors we get. Another opportunity to have the children practice language by asking for colors and talking about what colors they make.

el camaleón

2010-05-26T18:31:00.000-07:00

Many of the children know the colors in Spanish now, so we can read books that incorporate the colors and they can talk about what they see on the pages. This week we read another wonderful book that is another I recommend adding to your Spanish library. Some of the vocabulary is a little more advanced, but the vibrant pictures and sweet story make this one very fun to read. The chameleons in this book express some emotions, so I was able to introduce "está feliz" (he is happy) and "está triste" (he is sad). We had fun making the faces for these emotions, but I wouldn't expect your child to remember these words yet. This is vocabulary we will learn next year!

We did an activity where a chameleon changed color according to clothes the children were wearing and colorful foods we have used in recent lessons. Many of the children could look at a yellow lemon, for example, and tell me that the chameleon would be turning "amarillo." It thrills me to hear the children answering questions in Spanish. And their accents are really good!

Here's the book we read:

Me gusta comer como un arcoiris

2010-05-26T18:07:00.000-07:00

To continue to recycle the colors and return to food vocabulary, over the past few weeks we have read the following books and sung the following new song. As always, each week I incorporate at least one past song that the children love ("un elefante" and "tengo hambre").

We have read some really fun books the past few weeks. If you are adding any Spanish books to your collection, these are some must-haves:

We have read la oruga muy hambrienta before. This time we counted how many pieces of food the "oruga" eats each day and emphasized the colors of the food.

A sembrar sopa de verduras is wonderful. It is basic language but very rich, and the children love acting it out:

Our new song the past few weeks was about eating the colors of the rainbow:
Me gusta comer como un arcoiris (repeat 3 times)
Como todos los colores.
(I then say a color and a child's name, and he/she looks for a piece of food that includes that color.)

Comer (koh-mair) means "to eat," so when we say that word in the song, we pretend like we are eating. Arcoiris means "rainbow," and we do the actual ASL sign for that (view it here). Sometimes we will also do a thumbs-up for me gusta, which means "I like ___".

Some of the color words are long and very different from English, so to help with learning the colors, I have an action I now do for each color. Often when a child can't remember the word, if I do the action, the word will come to mind (this is especially true with anaranjado).

rojo (ROE-hoe= red): slap hands on legs twice, as you say each syllable
anaranjado (ah-nah-dan-HA-though=orange): 5 claps, one clap as you say each syllable
amarillo (ah-mah-DEE-yo=yellow): hands on hips, wiggle hips from side to side
azul (ah-SOOL=blue): ASL sign for blue
verde (VAIR-day= green) : move flat (horizontal) hands back and forth\
morado (moh-DAH-though= purple): make an ASL sign for "v" with both hands and touch fingertips together
blanco (BLAHN-koe= white): ASL sign for white

el arca y el barco

2010-04-22T04:25:00.000-07:00

The children love the song "Noé hizo el arca." Even the youngest will sing "arca" with me. Today we sang about a small boat.

This gave us a chance to return to words like grande and pequeño (big and small) and to review numbers up to seven. In the song about the small boat, we learn a synonym for pequeño: chiquito. Your child probably brought home a little boat on a popsicle stick. We used that little boat to sing this traditional song called El barquito. You can hear a sample of it here:

If you purchased the José-Luis Orozco CD earlier in the year (see below), El barquito is the third song.

The song is about a little boat (barco chiquito) that can't sail because it is so small. Seven weeks pass and it still can't sail. The lyrics are:

Había una vez un barco chiquitito (repeat 3 times)
tan chiquito, tan chiquito, que no podía navegar.
Pasaron una, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete semanas (repeat 3 times)
y el barco tan chiquitito no podía navegar.

There is another verse that we did not sing this week. We may add it later, but it is linguistically more complex and doesn't include very much practical vocabulary.

In some classes we reviewed a few pages of Corre, Perro, Corre (Go Dog Go) both because there is a scene where the dogs are on a boat (barco) and because we went to see the English version of that play at the Lexington Children's Theater last week.

I have begun to do signs for the children outside of the context of our songs to see if they know the Spanish words just by seeing the sign. Try this sign and see if your child says mis amigos or this one to see if he/she says, ¿Cómo estás? If not, it is fine because we have stressed receptive skills this year. Try again in a few weeks and see if he/she can do it. It will come!

Animales y partes del cuerpo

2010-04-22T04:24:00.002-07:00

Repaso

2010-04-22T04:24:00.001-07:00

Noé y el arca: el arco iris

2010-03-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

Today we sang our song, "Noé hizo el arca" and reviewed the short picture book about Noah's ark that we read last week. As we read, I asked the children questions about the weather (¿qué tiempo hace?, pronounced, "keh tee-IM-poeh AH-seh?") and asked what animals they could identify in the book. At the end of the book, of course, a rainbow appears over Noah's ark, so this week we worked with the colors of the rainbow. We have done colors intermittently throughout this year, especially with books like Go Dog Go. Whenever the children color a picture they will take home, I talk to them in Spanish about they colors they are using. Many of the children can tell me that red is rojo (ROW-hoe) and that blue is azul (ah-SOOL). Today we practiced:

azul (ah-SOOL): blue
blanco (BLAHN-koe): white
rojo (ROW-hoe): red
violeta (vee-oh-LEH-tuh): violet/purple
amarillo (ah-mah-DEE-yoe): yellow
anaranjado (ah nah dahn HA dough): orange
verde (VEDH-deh): green
rosa (DDROE-sah): pink

We sang a song that goes through the colors in that order. We played simple games as we sang the song, such as moving from one color square to another according to the color we identify in the song.

The children also colored a page with a rainbow on it. We will continue to practice those colors as throughout the rest of this year.

el arca de Noé

2010-03-16T10:16:00.000-07:00

Many of our songs and activities have revolved around weather and animals, so this week we did a preview to a few weeks of activities related to Noah and the ark.

This week I used a picture book to tell the story to the children in Spanish. Because many are familiar with the story and most are familiar with the vocabulary (and because they have pictures to go along with the story in Spanish), the children can understand easily.

Before introducing the book, we talked about the weather for the day. We always do this by looking at pictures of weather and doing a chant (¿qué tiempo hace afuera afuera? ¿qué tiempo hace afuera afuera hoy?) The children say "sí" or "no" to identify the weather. Our options are:

hace sol (ah-say SOLE): it's sunny
nieva (nee-EH-bah): it's snowing
llueve (yoo-WAY-vay): it's raining

This is a good segue into a story about sunny days that turn to lots of rain! As I read the story, I asked about the weather throughout. I also asked the students what animals they see, and asked them to identify ones that they cannot yet recall in Spanish.

We sang a song about Noah's ark and the animals:

Noé hizo el arca, arca, arca
Noé hizo el arca y su familia se salvó.
Noé hizo el arca, arca, arca
Noé hizo el arca y el agua se subió.
Entraron los elefantes
Entraron los leones
Entraron los patitos...

At the end of the song, when we sing, "entraron los...", we are singing about how each animal entered the ark. The children make the noise and/or movement of the animal as we sing about it.

Next week we will stress the rainbow, talking about the colors and singing songs about it. We may even do a simple scripture verse in the preschool class!

Yo me llamo...

2010-03-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago my family met a native Spanish speaker. I chatted with the man for a bit and mentioned that my kids are learning Spanish. The man turned to my daughter, Lauren Clay, and asked her what her name was (in Spanish.) Eventually she sang him the Buenos Días song or something, but we went home and talked about how to ask and answer about names so that she can engage in a little bit more conversation next time we meet a Spanish speaker.

This year I have really worked on receptive language, focusing productive language to the children singing along with the songs we do each week. Most of your children can respond to the language they have learned this year. They can show me big and small when they hear "grande" and "pequeño." They can point to most animals and the older children can point to colors when they hear them. Lately I have made some of our songs more conversational so the children recognize them as dialogue if they have an opportunity to talk with someone in Spanish (especially the "Buenos dias, ¿Cómo estás?" song.) I have also been encouraging the children to find opportunities in their day to use certain phrases that they have learned (like saying, "¡me gusta!" when they like something.)

I do hope your children finish this year with a few useful phrases ready so they can have a very basic exchange with a Spanish speaker. So over the next few months, we will be working on some simple one-liners such as:

yo me llamo (yoe meh YAH-moe)= my name is...
por favor (pour fah-VOUR)= please
gracias (GDAH-see-us)= thank you

We have done some "please" and "thank you" already, but this week the kids heard "me llamo" for the first time. We did a little chant:

"Yo me llamo Shannon. ¿Cómo te llamas tú?"

I chanted along with each child (in most cases, I chanted for the children) and we went around the room to ask each child his/her name. We did the same with the animals we have been using in class. (You may have seen the paper that the children colored with each of the animal names on it.) We will continue to play with this chant so that the phrase is easy to remember.

You might use the animal paper to see which ones your child can point to when hearing the name:

el avestruz (ehl ah-veh-STROOS): ostrich
el elefante (ehl eh-lay-FAHN-tay): elefant
la jirafa (lah hee-DAH-fah): giraffe
el loro (ehl LOE-doe): parrot
el mono (ehl MOE-noe): monkey
la zebra (lah SAY-brah): zebra

We sang the elefante song, a favorite among most of the children. Click here for a sample of that song.

La sorpresa de Nandí

2010-02-17T18:26:00.001-08:00

This week we built on the words we learned on Valentine's week.

We read a wonderful book, La sorpresa de Nandí, about a girl who is carrying a basket of fruit to a friend, but on her way to her friend's village, various animals steal pieces of fruit. This book is a perfect culmination and extension of many concepts we have been using in Spanish this year: lots of animals, fruits and "me gusta". This book is hard to find, but it's a great one to add to a collection if you can get it:

the animals we reviewed/learned this week were:
el elefante (ehl ehl-eh-FAHN-teh)
la girafa (lah hee-DAH-fah)
el avestruz (ehl ah-veh-STROOS)
el chivo (ehl CHEE-vo)
el mono (ehl MO-no)
el loro (ehl LO-do)

We also chanted a little Latinamerican poem:
Naranja dulce (na-DAHN-hah DOOL-say)
Limón partido (lee-MONE pahd-TEE-doe)
Dáme un abrazo (DAH-meh oon ah-BRAH-so)
que yo te pido. (keh YOE teh PEE-doe)

It basically says, "sweet orange, half a lemon, give me a hug when I ask for it." Since we practiced hug (abrazo) last week, and we read about fruits in our book this week, this rhyme reinforced lots of concepts. Plus, it is a tender rhyme to say with a child.

te quiero

2010-02-17T18:23:00.000-08:00

¡me gusta!

2010-02-17T18:22:00.000-08:00

Week 16: azul el sombrero, verde el sombrero

2010-01-18T20:31:00.001-08:00

Today we continued to talk about clothing, this time being more intentional about learning some of the names of specific pieces of clothing. Your child probably brought home a colored picture of some articles of clothing:
el sombrero (el som-BDEH-doh: hat)
la camiseta (lah kah-mee-SAY-tah: shirt)
los pantalones (lohs pahn-tah-LOAN-ehs: pants)
los zapatos (lohs sah-PAH-toahs: shoes)

We reviewed/introduced colors today as well, to help us read Sandra Boyton's Azul el sombrero, verde el sombrero:

This is a fun read, easy to understand even if you don't speak any Spanish.

We also sang a few songs from the fall semester: "Mami, ¿dónde está mi zapato?" (See week 4), hiding an abrigo (ah-BREE-go: coat), and a sombrero (soam-BDEH-doh: hat) in addition to the zapato. We also sang the song "Los pollitos" (See week 9) because the mother hen (gallina) gives her chicks abrigos when they get cold.

We are meeting twice this week because we missed the first Thursday of the month due to nieve. See you Thursday!

Week 15: ¡el invierno!

2010-01-18T20:08:00.001-08:00

Winter is here! We have already had great opportunities to learn new vocabulary with a winter in full gear. This week we learned the word "la nieve" (lah nee-EH-veh:snow) as we talked about the weather and introduced the book for the week, Froggy se viste.

This is a fun book about a frog who gets dressed to go outside to play in the snow, but each time he makes it outside he realizes he has forgotten to put on a different piece of clothing. This was our first look at vocabulary for clothing. We did a short activity to classify if different pieces of clothing belong in the invierno (een-vee-AIR-no: winter) or verano (veh-DAH-no: summer). As I read, the children acted out putting on various pieces of clothing (for example, when we pretended to put on gloves (guantes: GWAHN-tayhs), we said, "zoom, zoom," just like Froggy). Most of the Spanish today was intended to be input only, but your child may have responded with "¿qué?" when you called for him or her this week. Especially in the older classes, we practiced responding with "¿qué?" (kay: what?) like Froggy responds to his mother when she calls for him.

week 14: feliz navidad

2010-01-18T19:59:00.000-08:00

This week we acted out the Christmas story. Throughout the Fall we have learned many vocabulary words that were useful in the story: burro (donkey), cama (bed), niño (child), tienen sueño (sleepy), etc. We also marched to a traditional Christmas song from Venezuela, El burrito de belen:

This song has a fun rhythm. Be sure to listen to the sample! It is a good one to play while you bounce your child on your lap (as if the child is riding on a donkey).

This has been a fun semester. I'm looking forward to lots of new, fun Spanish activities after the holidays!

Week 13: ¡Saque la lengua!

2009-12-12T12:39:00.000-08:00

This week we reinforced the parts of the face and added a few new words, mainly dientes (dee-IN-tehs: teeth) and lengua (LEHN-gwah: tongue). Try saying, "saque la lengua" (SAH-keh lah LEHN-gwah!) and see if your child sticks out his/her tongue! For the children who are still early in their spoken-English production, you might see if they can identify other parts of their face by asking "DOHN-deh eh-STAH...
...lah nah-REES?" (la nariz=nose)
...lah BOH-kah?" (la boca= mouth)
...ehl OH-hoh?" (el ojo= eye)
...lah oh-DEH-hah?" (la oreja= ear)
If your child is especially verbal, point to different parts of his/her face and see if he/she can tell you what the word is in Spanish.

We sang a song today to reinforce the word lengua and to support a lesson you are probably teaching at home: Make sure your tongue doesn't say bad things! This song is based on Psalm 34:13. In Spanish, this verse says "Guarda tu lengua del mal, y tus labios de hablar engaño." We sang the song a couple of times (the second time through we held our tongues.)

This song is on a CD by Steve Green (Click here for more info). It's been out a good while, but it is one of our favorites. Each song on this CD is a scripture in Spanish, sung in very simple language.

Week 12

2009-12-02T19:35:00.001-08:00

We continued working on the vocabulary for the parts of the body, focusing specifically on the parts of the face. Your child probably brought home a card with many parts of the face. By now they should be able to identify at least the nose (nariz: nah REES), eyes(ojos: OH hose) and mouth (boca: BOE kah).

In addition to last week's songs, today we sang a Whistlefritz song about the parts of the face:

Week 11: El cuerpo

2009-12-02T19:11:00.000-08:00

We started this week by practicing how the children can respond if someone says "Buenos Días" to them. Each week we alternate between three "hello" songs that include how to exchange greetings, so the children should know this in the form of songs, but I want to be sure that they know that the song-language transfers to everyday conversation! We will continue to do conversational greetings in addition to our hello song(s) each week.

Today we worked with the Spanish for some parts of the body (cabeza, hombros, rodillas, pies, ojos, orejas, boca, nariz.) We sang songs:

Cabeza, hombros, rodillas, pies (the Spanish equivalent to Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes)

Recycled the Juanito, Cuando Baila song:

...and read De la cabeza a los pies, a wonderful Eric Carle book that has the children move body parts like different animals. This book held the attention of even the youngest Spanish classes, so this one is a keeper!

Week 10: Arriba, abajo

2009-11-12T09:56:00.000-08:00

We started with a new "hello" song today, from Dr. Jean en español. Looks like it is not longer available for purchase or preview through Amazon, but here's a link to the CD:

...and here's a link where you can purchase the CD through Dr. Jean's website.

Here are the words, with corresponding actions in parentheses or via sign language link:

Hola, amigos
¿Cómo está Usted?
Estoy muy feliz (we draw a smile on our faces)
de verlo a Usted. (we point to our eyes, then to a friend)
Salude su vecino (we wave to the friend(s) next to us)
Boogey para abajo (we dance)
Dése un tope (we give a bump)
Y dé la vuelta. (we spin)

Since we sang about the little pollitos last week who get cold (tienen frío) and get hungry (tienen hambre), we sang that song again, then read a fun book today about a rinocerous who gets hungry, prepares a lunch, loses his sandwich, then spends the rest of the book trying to find it. This book is easy to understand because the pictures give a clear context, and most of the vocabulary is familiar to the children. It is called Rino Maní. Looks like this book is also out of print.

We also listened and danced to a song called El baile de las manos by Jorge Anaya:

Betsy at MDO is placing a bulk order for the Whistlefritz: Jorge Anaya CD. Be sure to see her soon if you'd like to be part of that order. It contains lots of songs we have sung--and will sing-- this year, including Los pollitos, Los niños cuando bailan (very similar to Juanito cuando baila), and Vengan a ver mi granja.

You can also purchase that CD here:

Next week we'll practice the parts of the face and continue with the parts of the body. Songs relating to both are also on Whistlefritz CD.

Week 9: Los pollitos

2009-11-05T04:57:00.000-08:00

Los pollitos is a traditional song that many Spanish speakers sung as children. We have learned a lot of the words in this song in previous classes, so the children will likely learn this song pretty easily. The song is:

Los pollitos dicen pío, pío, pío
cuando tienen hambre, cuando tienen frío.
La gallina busca el maíz y el trigo
Les da la comida y les presta abrigo.
Bajo sus dos alas, acurrucaditos,
hasta el otro dia
duermen los pollitos.

Here is one version of the song if you would like to hear it.

There are lots of versions available for download. Even though I usually do not use bilingual materials, we have the Elizabeth Mitchell version at our house. It is a calm, folksy version:

Another fun version is by Juan José Carranza:

The children were given a little chick and a hen to use as we sang the song. You will (hopefully) find this in their bag. You can encourage them to act out the song at home. They will likely be able to tell you what the little chicks (pollitos: poe-YEE-toes) say ("pío, pío, pío.") In class I had a pretend corn cob and any time the children had the chick say pío pío, I let their chick take a "bite" of the corn. You can do this sort of play at home with the stick puppets as well.

In this song, the chicks are hungry (tienen hambre) so we sang the "tengo hambre" song from week 7. The chicks are also cold (tienen frío) and the mother hen gives them a coat (les presta abrigo) so we recycled the weather song and added hace frío (it's cold). Finally, we sang Mami, ¿dónde está mi abrigo? to reinforce the vocabulary for "coat".

It is a joy to work with your children. Today many of them sang along with the songs, and a few even made requests without my prompting. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of their second language development.

Week 8: El tiempo

2009-11-05T04:30:00.000-08:00

With the changing of seasons, we have lots of opportunities to experience different types of weather, so today we learned a weather chant that we will do each week to talk about the weather. Your child probably brought home a card with four types of weather on it:

hace sol (AH-seh SOHL): it's sunny [sol is pronounced similarly to the "sole" of your shoe]
está nublado (eh-STAH new-BLAH-doh): it's cloudy
nieva (nee-EH-vah): it's snowing
llueve (yoo-WEH-veh): it's raining

Our chant asks what the weather is like today. Once we have determined what the weather is like, we say the chant again and replace ¿que tiempo hace? with the appropriate weather phrase.

¿Qué tiempo hace afuera, afuera?
¿Qué tiempo hace afuera hoy?

We recycled the Mami, ¿dónde está? song, and today we "looked for" pieces of clothing related to different types of weather:

abrigo (ah-BDEE-goh): coat [pronounce the last syllable similarly to English "go"]
gafas de sol (GAH-fahs deh SOHL): sunglasses
paraguas (pah-DAH-gwas): umbrella

Week 7: La oruga muy hambriente

2009-10-19T14:20:00.000-07:00

Continuing with the idea of growth, we read La oruga muy hambriente, by Eric Carle.

We learned two phrases this week that were used repeteadly in this book: "he/she was hungry" (tenía hambre (teh-NEE-uh AHM-breh)), and "he/she ate" (comió (koh mee OH).

We used these same concepts in a song in which the children learned to say these phrases in reference to themselves. We sing, "I am hungry and I eat"... fruits, vegetables, cheese and bread.
Tengo hambre, y como frutas .
Tengo hambre, como verduras.
Tengo hambre, y como queso.
Tengo hambre, y como pan. Pan, pan, pan.

You can reinforce at home by saying "tengo" (TANG oh) while signing "hungry." If you pause, many times the child will respond "hambre." Similarly, you can do the sign for "eat." The child may say "como" or "comió." If he/she doesn't do this yet, be patient! We'll continue to reinforce these words and concepts this year.

Week 6: Calabazas

2009-10-19T14:06:00.000-07:00

Most of this week was devoted to resinging all the songs we've learned so far this year.

Also, since we're beginning Fall, we talked about pumpkins. We read Calabaza, calabaza by Jeanne Titherington. As we read, we focused a lot on the word creció (creh-see-OH; to grow) and reinforced big and small: grande (GRAHN-deh) and pequeño (peh-KEHN-yoe).

Week 5: Mi amigo el perro (1 octubre)

2009-10-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

With the beginning of a new month, we learned a new hello song. In this song the children learn how to ask and answer how are you? (¿Cómo estás?). This song is from José Luis Orozco's De Colores CD. It is sung to the tune Frere Jaques/Where is Thumbkin? You may click here for a link to the song. Also, in the lyrics below you will notice certain words highlighted. Those links take you to the signs we use for various words as we sing the song.

Buenos días

Buenos días, buenos días
¿Cómo estás? ¿Cómo estás?
Muy bien, gracias. Muy bien, gracias.
¿Y Usted? ¿Y Usted?

(*we use the second version of the sign for cómo (how))

Today we talked about dogs (los perros (lohse PEH-rrows), and with this we learned big (grande (GRAHN-deh)) and small (pequeño (peh-KANE-yo)). We practiced these words quite a bit during the "Simon Says" activities and then colored a card with a big and small dog. You might ask which is the perro grande or perro pequeño.

We sang Mami,¿Dónde está mi zapato? (lyrics listed in Week 4) but we substituted perrito for zapato, and hid a picture of a puppy under the household objects.

In most classes we read a portion of Corre, Perro, Corre. The children are familiar with most of the Spanish vocabulary in the book, and most were familiar with the story. If you are looking for Spanish books to have at home, this would be a good choice.

Today we sang Vengan a ver mi granja and featured el perro:

(again, highlighted words below link to sign we use as we sing)
Vengan a ver mi granja* que es hermosa
Vengan a ver mi granja* que es hermosa
El perrito* hace así: guau, guau
El perrito* hace así: guau, guau
O, vengan amigos, vengan amigos, vengan amigos, vengan
O, vengan amigos, vengan amigos, vengan amigos, vengan

(*we use the second version of the sign for both granja (farm) and perrito (dog))

I gave a few classes the opportunity to choose which song they would like to sing to finish class. They all chose Los elefantes. The lyrics to this song are listed in the post from Week 1.

Note: If you have a child who will attend Kindergarten in the Fall, you may want to consider putting your child's name into the lottery for the Maxwell Elementary Spanish Immersion Program. The district office is accepting applications for the lottery through October 15. If you are interested in learning about the program, you can find more information here.

Week 4: ¿Dónde está? (24 septiembre)

2009-09-30T19:48:00.000-07:00

Now that we have a handful of songs in our repertoire, we read a book today and featured a useful phrase in Spanish: Where is ___? (¿Dónde está? (DOAN-deh eh-STAH?). We will continue to recycle this phrase in future classes, so the children will hear it (and begin to use it) in many contexts.

We had lots of "Simon Says" additions this week:
manos... (MAH-nose): hands
...arriba (ah-RREE-bah): up
...abajo (ah-BAH-hoe): down
...adelate (ah-deh-LAHN-teh): in front
...atrás (ah-TRAHS): behind
vuele (VWEH-leh): fly
abra (los ojos, la boca) (AH-brah (lohs OH-hose, lah BO-kah)): open (eyes, mouth)
cierre (los ojos, la boca) (see-EH-rreh): close eyes, mouth

We read ¿Dónde está Spot?, which is apparently out of print now, but a few are still available on line.

We sang a song about a child who loses a shoe and goes to his mommy to ask where it could be. The child asks if it is under (debajo de (deh-BAH-hoe deh) various household objects such as the chair (silla (SEE yah)), table (mesa (MEH-sah)), rug (alfombra (ahl-FOAM-bdah), lamp (lámpara (LAHM-pah-dah)). I hide a shoe (zapato (sah PAH toe) under an object and when we lift each object, the children either respond that it isn't there (no) or that it is (sí (SEE)).

Mami, ¿dónde está mi zapato?
Mami, ¿dónde está mi zapato?
Mami, ¿dónde está mi zapato?
¿Debajo de la silla? No, no, no.
¿Debajo de la mesa? No, no, no.
¿Debajo de la alfombra? No, no, no.
¿Debajo de la lámpara? ¡Sí, sí, sí!

Week 3: Friends on the farm (17 septiembre)

2009-09-30T19:44:00.000-07:00

New "Simon says" words:
chóquela (CHO keh lah): give me five
aplauda (ah PLAUW dah): clap

The first song is a traditional chant. When we sing the "bate bate" part of the song, we pretend to stir the hot chocolate. This song is included on José Luis Orozco's De Colores CD. You can find the song by clicking here.

Chocolate
uno, dos, tres, CHO
uno, dos, tres, CO
uno, dos, tres, LA
uno, dos, tres, TE

chocolate, chocolate, bate bate el chocolate.

Our featured song this week is about a beautiful farm with lots of animals. You may notice that some of the animals have a slightly different sound in Spanish than in English; for example, instead of "cockadoodledoo," in Spanish the rooster says, "kikiriki". José Luis Orozco includes this song on his De Colores CD. Click here for that version. The version we prefer at our house is from Jorge Anaya's Whistlefritz CD. Click here for that version.

Vengan a ver mi granja
Vengan a ver mi granja que es hermosa
Vengan a ver mi granja que es hermosa
Los pollitos hacen así: pio, pio
Los pollitos hacen así: pio, pio
O, vengan amigos, vengan amigos, vengan amigos, vengan
O, vengan amigos, vengan amigos, vengan amigos, vengan

(We change the animals that we include and the order based on the theme for the week and which animals the students select.) In addition to singing about each animal, the children do the sign (ASL) for each one as well.
La vaquita hace así: muuuuu
Los perritos hacen así: guau, guau
Los gatitos hacen así: miau, miau
Los patitos hacen así: cuac, cuac
Y los puercos hacen así: oinc, oinc
Y el gallo hace así: kikiriki

Week 2: Lots of singing (10 septiembre)

2009-09-30T19:25:00.000-07:00

In addition to the songs from week one, this week we added a few new words and songs.

We added a new action to "Simon says":

baile (BAIY-leh): dance

We also added a song about Juanito dancing. First he dances with his pointer finger (el dedito (deh-DEE-toh)), then he dances with his foot (pie (pee-YEH)), etc. The children act out the movement as we sing about each part of the body. José Luis Orozco has a version of this song on his Diez Deditos CD. You can find that song here.

Juanito cuando baila
Juanito, cuando baila,
baila, baila, baila.
Juanito, cuando baila,
baila con el dedito.
Con el dedito, ito, ito.
Así baila Juanito.

Juanito, cuando baila,
baila, baila, baila.
Juanito, cuando baila,
baila con el pie.
Con el pie, pie, pie.
Con el dedito, ito, ito.
Así baila Juanito.

We will sing this song often, adding body parts such as the knee (la rodilla (row-DEE-yah)), head (la cabeza (kah-BEH-zah) that correspond to the theme for the week. You can find a similar version here.

Week 1: Getting to know each other (3 de septiembre)

2009-09-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

1. Each day we begin with a hello song. For September, our song is "Buenos días, mis amigos." We sing this one time as it is written, then replace "mis amigos" with each child's name.

Buenos días, mis amigos
Buenos días, mis amigos, buenos días
Buenos días, mis amigos, buenos días
Buenos días, buenos días
Buenos días, mis amigos, buenos días.

2. Each day we do a "simon says" type of activity where I say an action and the children do that action. This week the actions included:

salte (SAL-teh): jump
dese la vuelta (DEH-seh lah VWEL-tah): spin
siéntese (see-EHN-teh-seh): sit down
levántese (leh-VAHN-teh-seh): stand up
toque la nariz (TOE-kay lah nah-REES): touch your nose

3. The children love this elefante song about an elephant who gets on a spiderweb and sees that it holds him up, so he calls another elephant to join him... and then another... and then another. We have a silly spider (araña (ah-RAHN-yah)) that pops out of a flower and we add elephants to a web as we sing the song. José Luis Orozco has a version of this song on his CD De Colores. You can find it here.

Un elefante
Un elefante se balanceaba
sobre la tela de una araña
como veía que resistía
fue a llamar a otro elefante...

(dos elefantes, tres elefantes, cuatro elefantes)

Incidentally, many of the songs we will sing this year, including Los Elefantes, are included on this album. I often just download one or two songs from various artists, but this is one album where most songs are easy to follow and engaging for children.

4. We finish each class with a goodbye song:

Adiós
Voy a decirles adiós a mis amigos
Voy a decirles adiós a mis amigos
Voy a decirles adiós, Voy a decirles adiós
Voy a decirles adiós a mis amigos

As with the hello song, we replace "mis amigos" with each child's name in the second round of the song.