Hace Frío/ Hace Calor

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

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?

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.