Hola Familias!

Boy, it has been cold. The kids love wrapping their arms around themselves and saying:
Hace mucho frrrrrio!
Es muy frrrrio! (Oh, yes! They can rrrroll their RRRRRS!)

We have continued to work on creating complete sentences, in a conversational environment and in writing. As their final project, they are writing short stories and publishing them.

On another note, I will be out of town for a few days (Dec.10-16). Claudia (a former Hillcrest teacher and parent) will be taking over the class. The kids are going to love her!

Activity to do at home:
Here is a vocabulary list of some animals, and some more ideas to play with them at home:

serpiente-snake
pajaro-bird
gato-cat
perro- dog
elefante-elephant
pato- duck
puerco-pig
mono-monkey
leon- lion
dinosaurio- dinosaur
unicornio- unicorn

verbs:
come- eats
duerme- sleeps
corre- runs

• Play charades with the vocabulary word, whether it's guessing an animal, a verb, or even both!
• play "pictionary" with these words
• Play "hangman" with these words, or even whole phrases: "El gato corre", "La culebra come".

Have fun!

Friday Note

Hola Familias,
This last week we have been focusing on the follwing verbs:

camina (walks)
baila (dances)
canta (sings)
corre (run)s
nada (swims)
escribe (writes)
come (eats)

We have been listening to the Lango curriculum CD, and the children love the song "Camina con Cosmo". It was a great introduction to these verbs. Later, we got together and did some shared writing using these verbs,and then group stories (in groups of three).
They picked an animal and a verb,and would make a sentence:

El oso corre con el pato.(The bear runs with the duck)

when we come back from break, we will finish writing our own songs, replacing the verb with the ones we know.
Here is the song;
Camina con Cosmo (3 times)
la,la,la,la

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Hola Familias!

These last couple of weeks we have continued working on describing objects, using vocabulary they already know, and new vocabulary. They made a small book about classroom objects:

El lapiz es amarillo. (The pencil is yellow)
La bandera es roja, azul y blanca. (The flag is red,blue,and white)

We have continued to add on to our list of adjectives, and practicing with them. For Halloween, we read "El primer Halloween de Clifford". We then described our "calabazas" (pumpkins) with the new adjectives.

Lastly, we have also been talking about our favorite places... some of the places they mentioned are very cozy!
Me gusta la cama.(I like the bed)
Me gusta mi cuarto. (I like my bedroom)

Have a great week!

Como es?

This last week we have been getting into the nitty-gritty of the "ser" (to be) verb. We have been using this verb to describe objects around us, using adjectives to build complete sentences, and just today, linking them with animals.
We have read books like "Perro grande, perro pequeno"(big dog, small dog), which is full of adjectives, "Aventura en el Otono" (Adventures in Fall) from the Lango program, which is also full of adjectives about the fall, and others.
On Thursday the kiddos wrote sentences using "es". They drew a picture of a creature and described it.
Here are some pics:




Some awesome adjectives that we are working on are:
baboso-slimy
salvaje-wild
lindo-cute
inteligente- smart
mojado- wet
seco-dry

Build sentences:
El perro es inteligente.
_________ es ____________.

Hola Familias!

These first two weeks we have been practicing colors, numbers, greetings, and verbs. These last few days we focused on a few verbs, acted them out,and actually built sentences with them. Here are some of those verbs:
- cantar (sing)
- saltar (jump)
- bailar (dance)
- llorar (cry)
- mirar (see, look)

Yo canto, salto, bailo, lloro, miro.
(Notice that when conjugated with Yo (I) they end in o!...the kids noticed that today)

Try forming silly sentences at home like:
Yo bailo en mi casa.

Online narrated books

Check out these awesome on-line books in Spanish!! They also have the books in English, so you can go back and forth between the languages. This could be a fun thing to do with your kids!

Click here to go the Oakland Public Library-ebooks website.

Our very last day.... :(

It's seems incredible that summer is almost here, especially with our foggy mornings and cool nights. Today was a fun, last day of Spanish class. All classes got together to celebrate with fun activities like "El Sombrero Loco", "La Pelota", and "pintura de cara". Hopefully, we will have some pictures up of the activities. It was a fun day, but a bit bittersweet. We will be missing all the kiddos, and our early morning classes. At the same time, we all wish you a wonderful and well deserved break, including all the parents that woke up early as well to bring the kiddos to class.

You Rock!!!

5 de Mayo Party and Performance

Hola Familias,

Happy 5 de Mayo! Today is the day Mexican-Americans proudly celebrate their heritage. It commemorates the famous battle of "Puebla", where an outnumbered Mexican army defeated the French troops.
As part of this celebration, we will be performing at the school's Open House.
When: May 14, 6:30-8:30
Where: Multipurpose room

Each class has been working hard to showcase their skills in Spanish. It will be a lot of fun!
We invite you all to come and watch the kiddos perform.

Feliz 5 de Mayo!

Mentoring Pals

Hello everyone! I'm back from Mexico, and I missed the kiddos, though the seemed to have a lot of fun with Liliana. I hear nothing but good things from her. They are a special bunch.

It was also great to speak Spanish 24/7. It's been a while since I've done that! 

Last Thursday, Sarah and I planned a mentoring day. The older 3rd graders would read aloud to the 2nd graders, and together they would create a comic about the story, or any topic they chose. The kids had a lot of fun. They enjoyed reading aloud to each other, and creating crazy, silly stories. It was a great moment for the 3rd graders to motivate the younger kids into speaking Spanish, and the younger kids soaked it up! We continued the activity on Friday as well.

Here are some samples of their work:

Going to Mexico

Hola Familias!
I hope you had a wonderful Spring Break! Since my Spring Break is this week, I have scheduled a trip to Mexico City, leaving Tuesday afternoon. Liliana will be taking over my class for 4 days (Thursday/16- Tuesday/21). I will be reminding the kiddos tomorrow about my trip.
I'll see you when I come back!

Have a great spring break!

We hope you have a fun and restful Spring Break. We'll see you in a few days!

Announcement- Summer Camp

Hola Familias!

My name is Alexandra Alquati and I work with Level II Spanish in Hillcrest Spanish Program.

If you are interested in continuing with Spanish classes in the Summer, you might want to consider Aurora Summer Camp. I will be teaching two weeks of half day Spanish Camp, right around the corner!

The dates are:

6-15/6-19

6-22/6-26

The camps are structured in the following way:

5-7 year olds (9am-12am)

Spanish camp for beginning and low intermediate speakers. Children will have a great time learning Spanish through an outdoor camping theme. Campers will listen to stories inside a tent, make smores and sing songs by a (fake) campfire, and go on nature walks. It is a great opportunity to learn new vocabulary, and review vocabulary already known. We will be talking about animals, food, greetings, and summer make-believe activities!

7-12 year olds (1pm-4pm)

During this camp we will be traveling around the world visiting Spanish-speaking cultures, their food, music, games, and more. In this camp, children will learn new vocabulary, expressions, and hold conversations in Spanish about different countries. Each day we will "travel" to a country, including: Colombia, Mejico, Argentina, Venezuela, and Chile. We will use 95% Spanish in the process. The purpose of this camp is to develop the student's conversational skills in Spanish, and to explore different Hispanic cultures.

There are a great variety of other camps taking place in the same location, so they could be half day in one, and half day in another! Some of the other camps are:

- Fun and Fitness

- Gardening

- World Percussion

- Theater Arts

- Tennis

- Music through Literature

- Lego Engineering Camp

And many more!

I will send a flier with a registration in your child's backpack, if you are interested in learning more about the Aurora Summer Camps and signing up. Please take the form directly to Aurora School, and drop it off at the office.

Muchas gracias,

Alexandra

Friday note

Hola Familias!

We planted seeds and beans in small cups, and have been watching them and predicting what will happen to them.

These past two weeks we have been focusing on using the structure:

Va a _________. (Will ______).

This is a great opportunity to learn and review vocabulary:

- la planta (the plant)

- la hoja (the leaf)

- las raices (the roots)

- el tallo (the stem)

- la semilla (the seed)

- necesita (needs)

- plantar (to plant)

- crecer (to grow)

- brotar (to sprout)

- algodon (cotton)

- agua (water)

- sol (sun)

- ventana (window)

First we charted what color and kind of seed they chose, and used "es" and "son" to describe them:

Mis semillas son verdes. (My seeds are green)

Mis semillas son grandes. (My seeds are big)

Mis semillas van a crecer manana. (My seeds will grow tomorrow)

We have been keeping record of our seeds by discussing their progress every day:

Como esta tu semilla? Como esta tu planta? (How is your plant? How is your seed?)

Mi semilla broto. Mi semilla no broto.  (My seed sprouted. My seed did not sprout)

Mi planta crecio. Mi planta no crecio. (My plant grew. My plant did not grow)

We also make predictions about it:

Las raices van a crecer en dos dias. (The roots will grow in two days)

Las hojas van a crecer en muchos dias. (The leaves will grow in many days)

We are recording our observations in our journals, and then meet in the sharing circle to read the sentences to one another.

Some things to do at home:

- Ask your child about their seed:

Donde esta tu semilla? (Where is your seed?)

Tu semilla broto? (Did your seed sprout?)

Que color es tu semilla? (What color is your seed?)

Cuando va a brotar/crecer tu semilla? (When is your seed going to sprout/grow?)

Que es _______? (What is [vocabulary word]?)

Friday note

Hola Familias!

These are some of the exciting new things Level II is learning.

Speaking of the future!

We have been working so hard on vocabulary and verbs to talk about the simple present. But what happens when we want to talk about our weekend? Or the next week? Or even the next millennium??!!

Using words we already know, we have tied together the verb "ir" (Yo voy, El/Ella va) plus the infinite verb. Here "ir" is acting as a helping verb, and it alludes to an action that we haven't begun, but will begin.

Yo voy a comer.

Manana, yo voy a nadar en Lago Temescal.

La proxima semana, el va a comer pizza en Zachary's.

We have just begun exploring this structure, and we will use it to predict what will happen to seeds that we will plant, and talking about our plans.

Friday note

Hola Familias!

This week we are just finishing with "animales" and using verbs and adjectives to describe them. Today we wrapped up with a fun game: "Me gusta".

Children wrote secretly on pieces of paper "Me gusta (an animal) porque es (an adejctive)".

I like the _____ because it is _________.

This was a good opportunity to review the qu=K sound in the word "porque". Little by little our sentences keep getting longer and more detailed!

Then, we folded the papers and put them in a bag. One by one we got to pull out a paper and try to guess who wrote it. They had 3 chances to ask a friend: "Te gusta el pollito?" Most of them guessed it right away!

Try playing this at home!

Next week we will start talking about things that will happen in the future, and start making predictions using the structure "va a ______". (is going to _____)

Que tengan un buen fin de semana!

Alexandra

Level II Pictures

Practicing with -er verbs

Spanish Program 4th and 5th grades (Los Grandes)

We are happy to be part of Hillcrest Spanish Program blog.
The students of 4th and 5th grades are Laura, Lane, Phoebe and Varun and the teacher is Tania Figueroa.
This year, we have been learning about different topics: family, names, clothes, jobs, neighbors, and places around the city. In addition, we have been learning new verbs and prepositions. Last week we focused on adjectives in order to improve the Spanish vocabulary.

After eight weeks, the students created their own stories using only Spanish.
We were very excited with this project. We were happy with the funny and creative stories that “Los Grandes” group wrote.
We want to share the storied created with parents, students and teachers.

Picture Time

Getting ready for class!

Rainy day fun

Hola Familias!


Today was an unusual and fun day. When we got to school, it was pouring (or as we say in Colombia it was an "Aguacero!"). We decided to not go through the rain into our classes, so we had a great "Game Day" with the whole group! We had 5 stations, with a game or activity in each, and the kids got to rotate around the stations. We had shape and color bingos, numbers bingo, memory games, guess who (en espanol), and a writing and drawing station.

It was a great success, and all of the kids were using their vocabulary to play these games. At the bingo tables, they got to take turns calling out the names of the shapes and the numbers, memory helped them review their vocabulary, Guess Who helped the review body parts and characteristics, and writing and drawing was....well....just fun! Plus, they labeled their drawings in Spanish.

Activities to do at home

Yolanda posted awesome ideas to do at home with your kiddos! Here is a vocabulary list of some animals, and some more ideas to play with them at home:

culebra-snake
pajaro-bird
gato-cat
perro- dog
elefante-elephant
pato- duck
puerco-pig
mono-monkey
leon- lion
dinosaurio- dinosaur
unicornio- unicorn

verbs:
comer- eat
beber- drink
correr- run

• Play charades with the vocabulary word, whether it's guessing an animal, a verb, or even both!
• play "pictionary" with these words
• Play "hangman" with these words, or even whole phrases: "El gato corre", "La culebra come".

Have fun!

Hola Familias

This has been an exciting week. As much as i believe that learning some of the grammar rules is important, I also believe it should be an organic process. This not only makes it more meaningful (and easier to learn!) but also more fun! We have been exploring regular verbs, and how they change according to the subject.
The kiddos discovered it themselves, noticing the following characteristics:

• comer (eat), beber (drink), correr (run) all end in -er (they rhyme!)
• When you pair them with Yo, the ending is -0 (Yo corro)
• When you pair them with El/ Ella or an animal name, the ending is -e (El gato corre)
• In English verbs change a little bit too, but not as much (I run, she runs).

Next week we will be exploring -ar verbs. I wonder what we will discover!

Level 1 1st grade and K.

Hola Bienvenidos.

My subject for next few weeks is:

Los Animales
The students will learn:
__Names
__Characteristics
__Habitat
__Alimentation

Week of 2/9/09
First we start with vocabulary learning animals names:
Leon (lion)
Jirafa (giraffe)
Chivo (goat)
Pinguino (penguin)
Obeja (sheep)
Vaca (cow)
Toro (bull)
Pato (duck)
Gallo (rooster)
Cerdo (pig)
Cordero (mountain goat)
Jabali (boar)
Gato (cat)
Perro (dog)
Caballo (horse)
Conejo (rabbit)

Then learning some characteristics:
We separated them in 2 groups: lento (slow) and rapido (fast)

When I ask:
?El leon es rapido o lento? (the lion is fast or slow?)
The student said: Rapido
I teach them to respond in full sentences.
El leon es rapido.
We practice the same with all the animals.
I also incorporate game and activities to practice more the subject and make the class more fun.
We play "charade" game.
We play the game" Rapido/Lento" make a circle and walk to the command of RAPIDO OR LENTO the students have so much fun with this game.
IDEAS TO PRACTICE WITH YOUR CHILD:

1. First say the name of the animal in spanish and ask them to guess the english.
Then said in english for them to said the spanish minim.

2. Ask the question; ?El leon es rapido o lento? make sure they answer with a full sentence.

3. Play the game "Rapido/Lento" any where you go or do per example:
Wakling to school:said camina, camina,...rapido, rapido,... lento, lento,....(walk, walk,...fast, fast,.... slow, slow,......

Getting out of the house or getting your child out of beth in the morning tell them "levantate nino/a or es la hora rapido, rapido,....(get up/is time fast, fast,....)

Remember have FUN.
hasta luego.

Boy, it's been so rainy! I have used this as an opportunity to teach the kiddos from "Nivel II" a traditional rain round. Children form a circle around a boy or girl, pretending they are in "la cueva" (the cave). Here is the round, with a loose translation (it makes no sense when it's a literal translation).
Que llueva! (Let in Rain)

Que llueva, que llueva
La nina (El nino) esta en la cueva (The boy/girl is in the cave)
Los pajaritos cantan (the birds sing)
Las nubes se levantan (the clouds wake up)
Que si! Que no! (Yes, No)
Que caiga un chaparron! (Let it downpour!)

This was also a great opportunity to talk about the QU sound in Spanish (qu-k). So, the word "que" is read "ke". The "u" is silent.
We also identified rhyming words, the "ll" sound, and had fun singing the round.

Here is a video with the song, although I have only taught Level II the first verse. I also replaced "La virgin" (The virgin) with "La nina/El nino" (The girl/boy) to make it more significant to them.



Keep dry!!!

Feliz dia de San Valentin!

Les deseamos todas las maestras del programa de Espanol de Hillcrest!

Happy Valentine's day from all the teachers in the Hillcrest Spanish Program!

Level II Friday note

Hola Familias!

This is the first electronic issue of our Friday note. Not only it will help us save paper, but it is also an opportunity to post diverse media elements to view at home. As the weeks pass, I will post pictures, videos, and games that are a great connection to home.

This week we have introduced "los animales". We are using this new vocabulary to review our irregular verbs: es, esta, va. Children have created silly sentences, and a silly story book as well. 

For the next few weeks we will be focusing on animals, and regular verbs such as:
comer-eat
beber- drink
volar- fly
caminar- walk
correr- run

There will be a focus on how verbs change when it's combined with a different subject:
Yo corro (I run)
El corre (He runs)
Ella corre (She runs)

Have a great weekend!

Forming Silly Sentences

Level II has been practicing using different irregular verbs:
estar
ir
ser
We made a list of adjectives, cut them up, and put them in a bag. We also made a list of places, and did the same. The kids chose a subject (in this case an animal), and formed a sentence using the information they pulled out.
We use these words to form silly sentences, pulling words out of a bag. Here are some sentences:
- La gallina es caliente.
- El piguino esta en el agua.
- La vaca es babosa.

Kids love it when the sentences are super silly!

Welcome to our blog!

This blog has been created in an effort to create a school to home connection, as well as a connection withing levels. Here you will find activities that can be done in class and at home, videos to watch, pictures of our activities, and any information regarding the Hillcrest Language Program.
This blog also serves as an archive of some activities, so that all the great ideas that take place in the program are not forgotten!
Please check regularly for updates, and browse through our tabs for some fun and useful information.


If you have any suggestions about things to add to the blog, please feel free to email us @:
hillcrestpspanishprogram@gmail.com