Hello parents,

I would like to start this post by welcoming Amaya, a new student in our group now we have an even number of kids!

This week we finished the body theme and talking about doctors.On Monday and Tuesday we worked in TPR (total physical response games). We tossed bean bags with different parts of the body, something the kids got a laugh of. It was especially difficult to do it with our noses and ears. We also played a telephone game in which a message was passed down a line for the last one in the group to charade what the message was. We need to work on whispering, the kids got a bit excited and forgot that the message should be passed in a low voice. I think I’ll use this game again next week outside and have them do an obstacle course to pass the message.

We also played Spoken Memory in which the kids look for pairs (one word, one image, on body parts) by telling the group what they have and what they need. They also enjoyed the alphabet letter flyswatter game. At first they were hesitant since they thought a alphabet game was too childish. I really wanted them to practice letters because they tend to get some of them mixed up (e and i, for example, the name of one in English is the others’ name in Spanish). The kids were split into two groups, each of them with a swatter. I laid down the letters of the alphabet and told the kids they were flies. We talked about flies and decided that we don’t like them in our food. I then told them I would tell a story, every time they heard the name of an animal, clothes, food, or body parts, they would have to swat the corresponding fly (letter). They loved it! We did another reading/ spelling activity in groups in which the kids had to unscramble letters and then spell them on a board (similar to scrabble) in order to get points. They really got into this one.

On Wednesday and Thursday the kids had a substitute teacher who took over the class with fun games. They worked on physical descriptions with Adivina quién (Guess who, another version) and participated in full body dexterity team work games, in which they had to take a ball from one point to another with a certain part of the body, ie: lleven la pelota con las rodillas, take the ball with your knees. The kids had to then use their knees and their partner’s knees to take the ball without having it fall and/or using their hands. Another fun game they loved was animal bingo, in which they had to draw vocabulary words out of a bag and use them the context of a sentence in order to tell the rest of the group what vocabulary they needed to mark on their bingo boards.

The kids also had a chance to write a poem about senses and spring, which is right around the corner. They had to fill in five sentences with things they can feel, hear, smell, taste, and see during spring. Afterward, they had time to draw a picture to go with it and share them with the group.

Next week during the teacher/parent meetings we will be doing fun games summarizing what we’ve learned this semester so far. I have sent out an email letting you all know what our schedule will be if you need to pick up your child early. Feel free to email back with any questions.

Enjoy your weekend!