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.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
¿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!
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!
Monday, September 12, 2011
¿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.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
¡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!
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!
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
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!
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!
Monday, January 17, 2011
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.
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.
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