¿Cómo es?

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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)

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!

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

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!

January

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

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

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.