Hello parents,

I wanted to start this post by thanking everyone for taking the time to meet with me to talk about how the kids have been doing in class. Also, please remember that we only have two weeks left of school and that our final performance is right around the corner, we are counting on your assistance…

…Which brings me to this weeks’ activities. We have been working on our end-of-the-year performance details. The kids are very excited about what we’ll be doing on stage. On Monday and Tuesday we spent the day deciding on roles and brainstorming on what we would need for our performance (what costumes we would wear, etc). The kids drew their characters in their notebooks and wrote a few sentences about them as well. We started with rehearsals and laughed quite a bit. We also played the Vocabulary fishing game with a twist. This time, the kids each took three vocabulary cards and them put them into sentences. Many of them didn’t make sense but were grammatically correct and very funny.

On Wednesday we took time to work on our costumes. We started making the masks, props, and suits the kids will be using during the performance. The kids sang along to Mazapán as they worked. We also took some time to show them to the class and explain what they had done. At the end, we read Dragón y Gato, a story about a dragon who adopts a fat stray cat who he names Gato. He has a hard time adjusting to living with a pet and taking care of his needs and, in the end, discovers that Gato is actually Gata and ends up with six cats happily ever after.

Today, we spent time talking about the United Nations project that the kids have been working on. They took turns talking about which places they had visited and what they liked or had learned about them. Then, I took some time to test them with some trivia questions. After that, we took advantage of the wonderful weather and played vocabulary tag (in which the kids do certain actions depending on what they hear in a story while watching out for a hungry-tagging shark). We finished the day with La mariquita malhumorada, a story about a grumpy ladybug who is trying to pick a fight with different animals and realizes she is smaller than everyone else and therefore, in a disadvantage.

Next week we will be rehearsing for our performance and finishing our costumes. If you haven’t RSVPed to the invitation we have sent out, please do so as soon as possible.

Enjoy your weekend.

Good afternoon everyone,

             This week we have been playing lots of different games as well as making a few fun crafts to play with. While playing some games in class, we have also been practicing a lot of what we’ve learned. Another few rounds of  Twister have helped the class distinguish between la mano y pie esquierda y la mano y pie derecho. As I mentioned previously, Twister really proved to get us tied in up in knots! As a class, we have been making a lot of improvements when asking for items during craft time (puedo tener papel = can I have paper, puedo tener tijeras = can I have scissors, me pasas las tijeras = can you pass the scissors, quiero papel rojo = I want red paper or red paper please= papel rojo por favor, puedo tener un lapiz = can I have a pencil) but some of the children seem to be asking for more things in Spanish than others (few children still seem a little shy to use more than a noun or adjective but even that alone is amazing for such young beginning Spanish speakers).

               Everyone in class has been doing a wonderful job at using their manners, even in Spanish! I’m so proud of how the class works so well together and how everyone works harmoniously during craft time. I have encouraged the children to share (compartir) with one another and to practice asking for things in Spanish, which they all seem to do very well. The class as a whole is also starting to really understand most of what I am saying to them, even the words/sentences they haven’t encountered as frequently. Craft time has proved to do wonders, because it is during that time which the children learn from each other as well and those who have stronger Spanish skills help the others. This week during craft time, we have made drawings that represent primavera (spring) and discussed the coming of verano (summer). We also made Lotteria (picture bingo) cards that we later used to play a couple of rounds.

                     Next week we are going to focus on the seasons of the year and sports, which should be a fun way to practice speaking more Spanish and developing sentences. We will also continue practicing our routine for the end of the year performance that is so quickly approaching. The children took their lotteria cards home, and I encourage you to locate an actual Lotteria set and play with the whole family. That’s all for now and I hope everyone enjoys the sunshine while it lasts! Adios!

Hello parents,

First at all let me say HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all our dear mothers.  I had the pleasure to know many of you this week during the parents-teacher conference, and it really was a very nice time to talk and share about your children’s performance.

As I mentioned, the week that begins tomorrow May the 9^th, we’ll start to practice the for the performance.  The children will probably dance a couple songs; we will begin to practice these and  also make the costumes.

The theme for this week was “Ropa y accesorios/Clothes and accessories”. Children learned and practiced basic vocabulary, like:

Camisa: Shirt                                                   Pantalon: Pant

Falda: Skirt                                                       Vestido: Dress

Traje: Suit                                                        Ropa interior: Under wear

Zapatos: shoes                                                Medias: sacks

Cinturon/correa: belt                                    Bolso/cartera: purse

Billetera: wallet                                               Guantes: gloves

Bufanda: scarf                                                 Chaqueta: jacket

Sombrero: hat                                                 Cachucha/gorra: cap

We had two art projects: making a flower and card for Mommy   and cutting /coloring clothes to stick on a figure.

We played “La papa caliente” picking up some cards with words and trying to make a sentence using those words. For instance: “BEBE/COMIDA/ PARQUE : El bebe quiere su comida en el parque” “BABY/FOOD/PARK: The  baby wants his food at the park”

We played “El telefono roto”, danced “Soy una pizza/I’m a pizza”, “los pollitos dicen/Chicken say” and “Asereje”. We were trying to decide the songs we want to perform!

On Thursday we saw the movie “Robin Hood” (the Disney Version) and then had the reward time for this week. This time was different: I gave them some tickets to choose what kind of candy they wanted (gummies or chocolates). The number of tickets was according to the number of pluses each one got during the week.

Hello parents,

It’s hard to believe we’re closer and closer to the end of the year. We are preparing our performance for the end of the year show and the kids are just as excited as I am.

This week we took advantage of the incredibly nice weather by taking the class outside. On Monday and Tuesday we played Cranium and reviewed the vocabulary we have seen this semester. We also played Vocabulary Hot Potato, a game in which the kids pass around a bag filled with mini vocabulary cards or images to the sound of music. Each time the music stopped, whoever had the bag took two cards out of it to make a sentence. The sentences didn’t have to make sense, but they had to be grammatically correct, so the kids came up with things like: La chaqueta tiene un calcetín en la cabeza (The jacket is wearing a sock on its head), or El león tiene un león púrpura pequeño (The lion has a small purple lion), which got everyone rolling on the floor laughing. The kids were super imaginative and came up with very elaborate sentences. Outside, we played 1, 2, 3, ¡momia es! a game in which one student standing on one end of the yard tells the rest how to act, and then says 1, 2, 3, ¡momia es! Simultaneously, the rest of the group, at the other end of the yard, all approach their classmate and stop at “es”, freezing or becoming mummies. This is a game that never gets old and is perfect for listening comprehension, total body responses, and releasing lots of energy.

On Wednesday we talked about our families and how different they are. We also talked about what we would do this weekend and for Mother’s Day. Since fathers get the short end of the stick because their special day is in June (and therefore, don’t get cards hand-made at school), we decided we would make cards for both moms and dads. The kids worked hard and sang along to a few Mazapán tunes, including the Vaquita Loca song, which I posted a few weeks ago.

On Thursday we celebrated 5 de mayo making mini-piñatas! I brought paper bags and the kids got to decorate them with drawings, stickers, and hand-made paper fringe. We read Si le das una galleta a un ratón, a book about a boy who gives a cookie to a mouse, which leads to him also asking for a glass of milk, a napkin, and so on. At the end of the day, J.J.’s grandma, Cathy, brought cupcakes to celebrate J.J.’s 8th birthday. We sang Feliz cumpleaños and ate delicious Shrek home-made chocolate cupcakes.

Next week we will start rehearsing our performance.

Enjoy your weekend!

As we already learned how to describe objects by color and numbers, I had the children learn some common shapes in Mandarin to enlarge their vocabularies.

Children were getting excited when they tried to find out objects in the shapes they were learning like Circle, Square, Rectangle, Triangle, Oval, Star-shape and heart-shape. They are great observers full of imagination.

Because children love animals, I downloaded a few worksheets of animals in simple shapes from the Curricula section on i-Immersion website so they would enforce their memory of shapes in a fun way. You may find a Dog/Cat, an Elephant and a Bear taped on bamboo stakes in their folders. Some of them even made baby animals. They are so lovely!

To review their knowledge about color and numbers, after the animal shaping activity, I created a worksheet that involves learning points of colors, shapes and numbers. Children are supposed to color a specific shape with a designated color and then count the number of that shape and write it down in Mandarin. They all did a good job and I had most them tested in speaking a full sentence that include the three learning points.

Last but not least, as Mother’s Day is approaching this Sunday, I read them two different styles of picture stories books about mother. They are becoming more fluent in pointing out the objects and animals in the books in correct Mandarin. I am very proud of them. To appreciate Mother’s love and care, we made flowers out of tissue paper and pipe cleaners. Sophia is helping teaching some children make flowers while others are enjoy designing their own flowers for Mom and even for the whole family!

Happy Mother’s Day! See you next week for Parent-Teacher meeting!

Greetings New Tradition parents,

           As many of you already know, this week is our parent-teacher conference week and we have been discussing the individual and collective progress of each of the children in the class. I’ve been pleased to report that everyone in class is doing fantastic and that every single child in class has made tremendous improvements in learning Spanish. This week we continued to immerse ourselves in Spanish through some music, games, and LOTS of crafts! Since Mothers’ Day and Cinco de Mayo are coming right up, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to learn about these special days and further expand our knowledge through art and music.

           On Monday, the class played an exciting game of Twister so we could practice some vocabulary and colors (mano=hand, pie= foot, izquierdo=left, derecho=right  example: el pie esquierdo en amarillo = the left foot on yellow). I recommend this game at home because it proved to be quite tricky but fun for both mind and body! We concluded Monday’s class by making some silly puppets and describing the features we were putting on the puppets (great reveiw of body parts … pelo=hair, boca=mouth, ojos=eyes, nariz=nose, orejas= ears …. also …. pelo largo= long hair, corto= short, pelo chino= curly hair, pelo lasio= straight hair, que color tu/su pelo = what color is your hair). 

                Today, we made some banderas (flags) to celebrate tomorrow being cinco de mayo and also did a small review of the different months. We also listened to “Jarabe de Tapatio” which is a famous Mexican folkloric song and the class loved it, as they do most music! We also got started on some Metapec suns which are usually made as ceramic suns/moons but not everyone in class was able to finish because some were still adding finishing touches to their other projects. As for Friday, Mom will receive an early Mothers’ Day surprise!

               Next week we will continue to make several crafts that will help us review some of the other things we’ve learned and help the class become more comfortable with conversing in Spanish. There are also still a few parent-teacher conferences planned for Friday, and I am also still availble for a phone conference if anyone has any specific questions or suggestions. I’ve again recommended that the children practice a little at home so that they can better retain the information; even going over their past assignments is a great help to your both YOU and your child. I hope that everyone has been enjoying the great weather and that you all have a wonderful rest of the week. Adios!

Ms.Joanna