Hello parents!

We had a short yet fruitful week with a larger-than-normal class. The 1st grade group was divided in to and put into Ms. LeAnna’s and my classes. It was a challenge to work with 20 kids, especially considering that the weather was not helpful at all, but we (meaning I) made it through alive (mostly).

On Tuesday the day was relatively warm and we spent most of our time outside. We did a listening activity in which we stepped out to different areas of the school with a worksheet and heard and recognized noises: ambulancias, perros, risas, motos, etc. The kids were super engaged and worked hard, paying attention to sounds and recognizing the images. They also added new ones that I hadn’t thought of. Afterward, we sat down and discussed which objects from the sheet we had heard, or seen, or both. The cutest part was when they “corrected” me for putting viento (wind), which you cannot see nor hear, but feel… We ended the day playing a couple of games, Juguemos en el bosque, Ms. Cata says, and 1, 2, 3, ¡Momia es! All games with verbal commands and complete body responses/ movement. We had quite a few laughs.

On Wednesday we welcomed a teacher in training into the class. The kids got to “interview” her and ask all sorts of questions. They made special emphasis on the fact that our guest was four years younger than Ms. Cata, which in early elementary years, is a lifetime. We classified sounds and talked about those that were agreeable -or not- to the ears. The last 8 minutes of the class the kids drew something they had seen or heard the day before and wrote in their notebooks what they were. We read El león, about two sisters in Africa who travel through forest, waters, and jungle to catch a lion and keep it as a pet. Every time they encountered a new obstacle they had to go through it, so all the kids made the appropriate noises. Then, the lion was too big and scary and we had to quickly back track our footsteps before getting eaten.

Yesterday was a day of music. After talking about how we felt, I played a song by Mazapán (greatest kids band of all time). I brought different instruments from home and taught the kids the lines of the song. Then we took turns with the instruments and sang and played along. They were super excited. I think having professional instruments (instead of toy ones) did the trick. Here’s a link to the song:

Hoy Traigo una Cancion

The other activity they really enjoyed that day was the Zoo project. I brought in play-dough for the kids to use their creative talent and mold animals: real, mythological, strange, etc; ours was the greatest zoo ever. When the kids were done we made a circle and put our zoo together. We walked into the zoo and visited each animal. The kids took turns talking about the animals they had in the zoo and described them: names, what they ate, their age, etc, etc. Here are a few pictures, unfortunately, not all pictures came out well, but here are the best ones:

Before I finish, I’d like to remind you to check each week for your kids’ I-immersion folders. I am sending short but targeted activities for them to do at home. This week there’s an interview. The kids are familiar with the vocabulary and should be able to ask you questions without any problem. Please fill out the Medical Information sheets as well and send them back as soon as possible. Make sure folders are kept neatly and come back to school at the beginning of the week to check home activities and refill them.

Have a wonderful weekend!