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