Hello everyone!

I hope you’re enjoying your weekend. As you know, this week we talked about the first community helper: el cocinero (chef). We had fun talking about the job of a chef, where s/he works, what s/he needs to work, what s/he wears, etc. We also reviewed concepts we had already seen (kitchen and supplies) and added new vocabulary (food flavors). We played word games, read Un montón de tamales (A pile of tamales) and drew a scene of the story in our notebooks. We also did a vocabulary maze, and played a guessing game on the foods we like the most (describing for the others to guess).

The kids really enjoyed the indoor picnic. I brought four foods corresponding to the four basic flavors: amargo, dulce, ácido y salado (watercress for bitter, bananas for sweet, green apples for sour, and seaweed for salty). We sat down and the kids took turns asking for the supplies the needed -plates and napkins- using polite words, once we all had our food pieces on our plates we ate them concentrating on the flavors. After cleaning up we sat back in the circle to talk about which flavors we liked the most, which we did not like, and other foods that could be classified into the four flavors we learned. There was unanimous consent in that berros (watercress) wasmuy amargo y no era delicioso (very bitter and not yummy at all).

The rain was a challenge especially because the kids had to stay in all morning before their after school programs. On Tuesday they were cranky but felt better when they got to draw during their 15 minute recess. On Thursday some drew and others made paper cranes (a peace sign for MLK day).

This next week we’ll continue with the same topic. I want them to set up a restaurant, role play, and make menus. The two weeks after that, we’ll be looking into the lives of scientists and talking about the universe, dinosaurs, and bugs.

Happy and Peaceful MLK day!