marzo/abril 2013
Muy queridas familias:
¡Feliz primavera! Esperamos que hayan disfrutado del descanso de primavera en compañía de sus familias y que con el buen tiempo de la estación que tengan muchas aventuras bonitas. Happy Spring! We hope that you and your family had an enjoyable spring break and that the warmer weather brings with it lots of adventures.
Here’s a taste of our learning en marzo y abril:
K-1 multiage; K-2 multiage: Just before spring break we finished up our Rainforest unit. Students learned how to say animal names and describe some of their features, what they look like, and how they move. We also took an imaginary trip to the rainforest (bosque tropical/ selva), El Yunque park in Puerto Rico. We learned where Puerto Rico is, met the coquí frog who lives there, and talked about the other features of the rainforest like fruits and flowers, trees, insects, waterfalls, rivers, etc. We will make a class book from our drawings and writings.
We also took a couple of mini-detours – one on Dr. Seuss’s birthday (March 2) to read Huevos verdes con jamón, one of my favorite books and a well done translation that keeps the sentiment and cadence of the book (often hard to find). We talked about how important rhyme is to Dr. Seuss and that in order to keep the rhyme en español, some words or meanings may need to be changed slightly. For example, Sam I am is fine for rhyming with ham but it needs to be Juan Ramón for jamón! We loved the ending: “Me gustan mucho, mucho, mucho, los huevos verdes con jamón. Gracias, gracias, Juan Ramón!” The other detour was for K-1 who took a field trip to the Shedd Aquarium, so we incorporated a few sea animals into our vocabulary.
Now we are exploring seasons – weather, what we do, what we wear, and more. Since we’re in early spring, it’s the perfect time for this unit.
2 Swanson: We have finished with our future professions. I hope to make a gallery of our drawing and recordings to attach to my webpage. Please check back. We also celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday with a reading of Huevos verdes con jamón. (See note above.) Now it’s on to Seasons – what we wear, what we do, and how seasons in the Northern Hemisphere differ from those in the Southern Hemisphere.
4/5 Club de español: After spring break and the arrival of nicer weather, Spanish club will be only once a week. We will also return to our Don Quixote trek investigating the history behind the tiles in the main stairwell. Be sure to check them out when you are around school. We will read a bit of easy versions of Don Quixote so the students have a sense for the story and moral. And, we will be joining the Whittier contingent in the Ethnic Fest parade. We will spend some of our club time making signs and choosing our themed-clothing. Hope you can join us at the parade and festival, too!
World Language Advisory Committee: Next meeting April 15, 2013; 7-9 pm. Whittier Community Room. Mark your calendar and please join us. All are welcome. Agenda will include program updates on both elementary and middle school and putting final touches on WLAC-led, PTO-sponsored activities for the District’s Ethnic Festival. Ethnic Fest happens the first Saturday in May. We can use many hands to help with the activities. Please let me know if you would like to volunteer. Mark your calendar now so that you can join the fun and march with the Whittier contingent in the parade.
Visitors from Nakano Nishi High School: We had a wonderful time with students from Japan. There is so much energy in the building when they come – it rubs off on all of us. Mrs. Duckett-Edwards played them a Japanese song on the piano as they headed out from the auditorium to meet the students. They brought many fun activities including hands-on cultural games, computer games, calligraphy (even with the real brushes!), origami, and songs. They taught a little about their country, the language, what noises animals make in Japanese, and in some classes wrote our students’ names in Japanese. Our students asked some great questions, too. We hope to create and post a gallery of some of the photos from the day's visit. The Nakano students and staff presented Whittier School and Ms. Young with a thank you gift of a lovely Japanese doll, now on display in the office. Here is a note we received from the OPRFHS Japanese teacher the day after:
Thank you so much for having them again! They came back so excited and energized! They loved your students and interacting with them gave them great confidence too. It really was a great experience for all of them. I am glad that the principal liked the gift. I look forward to seeing the photos! ~ Sensei Yoko Schmadeke
5th graders Beye and Hatch: Please click the sidebar for your school.
Gracias por todo y hasta pronto, Sra. Deaton
enero/febrero de 2013
Muy queridas familias (Dear Families):
¡Feliz Año Nuevo! Hope your New Year is off to a great start. We wish you and your families every happiness and all the best for 2013. Señorita Muñoz was able to spend a good part of winter break with her extended family in México – so much so that she “forgot her inglés”! It was a great way to get the students back into “sólo español” mode as the new year started. We enjoyed hearing of your families’ “Spanish” adventures, too. Thanks for giving your children this exposure to the language and culture.
K-1 multiage: As part of our “All about Me” unit, we took advantage of the New Year to work on days of the week, months of the year, and our ages and birthdays. In preparation for 100 Day we worked on numbers and practiced counting by 1s to 10, 1s to 31, by 10s to 100, and in some classes by 100s to 1000. We even made a list of "100 words en español" in celebration of Día Cien. Have you ever met a coquí? We have started our Rainforest unit and will take an imaginary trip to El Yunque rainforest in Puerto Rico, meeting some animals that live there and learning about the environment and geography. Watch for more info on the Learning Scenarios and Language Functions built into the unit.
K-2 multiage: We started the New Year with numbers, days of the week, months of the year, and our birthdays and ages. We also celebrated 100 Day by counting by 10s to 100 and by 100s to 1000. We even made a list of "100 words en español!" Now as part of our “Who am I?” unit, we are talking about professions and what we would like to be when we grow up. After that we will head to the rainforest.
2 Swanson: Review of numbers, days of the week, months of the year, basic greetings.We also practiced telling when our birthdays are. In celebration of 100 Day, we did lots of counting and made a list of Cien palabras en español. We will be working simultaneously in two units – “Who I am” -- talking about what we would like to do/be when we grow up and “Seasons” – weather, what we wear, and what we do.
Be sure to check out Srta. Muñoz's web page and blog for what she and her students are up to.
Other important news:
4/5 Club de español: Since the New Year, we have presented our original plays -- very creative and fun! We have also continued our games of Uno, Pesca, Adivina Quien, and Basura, watched a Disney movie (Carros 2) en español and made cards for Día de los enamorados y la amistad. We are going to do more research on the Don Quixote tiles in the main hallway, explore more Spanish computer apps, do some “hands on” projects and possibly work on a performance piece for Ethnic Festival/World Languages Day.
World Language Advisory Committee: Next meeting February 19, 2013; 7-9 pm Whittier library. Mark your calendar and please join us. All are welcome. Agenda will include update regarding Middle Level World Language for next year – beginning of implementation of Language B as part of move to International Baccalaureate. Also a primary meeting focus will be getting ready for WLAC-led, PTO-sponsored activities at the District’s Ethnic Festival. Ethnic Fest happens the first Saturday in May. Mark your calendar now so that you can join the fun and the Whittier contingent in the parade.
5th grade Beye and Hatch: Please see sidebar and click on your school.
Gracias por todo, hasta pronto,
Sra. Deaton
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¡Bienvenidos! Hola a todos de Beye, Hatch y Whittier.
Muy estimadas familias:
Dear families:
Welcome to the 2012-2013 School Year! I look forward to meeting you at our Back to School activities -- picnics, Open House, New Family Nights, and in passing around the school. Thank you for your continued support of language learning.
We warmly welcome Señorita Karla Muñoz to share the Spanish teaching at Whittier this year. A native of Morelia, Michoacán and growing up in Chicago, she joined the D97 staff last year. She will travel between Mann and Whittier.
In addition to my Whittier classes, I am excited to be teaching 5th grade at Beye and Hatch. I will also continue my duties as District Teacher-Leader for Elementary World Language and chair of the World Language Advisory Committee.
The year is young, but we are off to a fun and flying start. We are beginning with some review activities to get students' "Spanish channels" humming again after summer break and then we will jump into our thematic units.
For our younger students (K-2), Spanish instruction will continue four times a week, 22 minutes each session. Last year we certainly saw the results in student learning of adding back time lost over the previous decade because of budget cuts. It will be so exciting watching them grow even more this year.
Grades 3-5 will continue at twice a week, 33 minutes each session. With both age groups our focus has shifted to a stronger communication based, thematic curriculum, encouraging more student speaking on a daily basis.
For heritage speakers and other early learners, (Spanish in the home; Spanish nanny or caregiver; immersion preschool experience, etc.), I am working to devise enrichment activities to further expand their language capabilities. Please continue to expose them to Spanish outside of school as possible. The more, the better!
Please do not hesitate to contact me with suggestions, questions, concerns, and opportunities to volunteer.
Check back soon for updates on our first weeks of class and plans for the year, as well as links for resources and enrichment ideas.
gracias por todo, Señora Deaton
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