This week we have been talking about reading comprehension in Spanish. This is something we started to work on last year, and will continue to be a focus in 3rd Grade. Throughout the year we will be learning and practicing strategies we can use in order to develop reading comprehension skills. The first thing we talked about was the fact that when we are reading in a different language, it is okay not to understand every single word. We talked about how comprehension is all about understanding the "big picture" of what the author is trying to communicate, not necessarily every single small detail.
We started practicing reading strategies by looking at a passage in Spanish together. First, students went through and identified all of the words in the passage that they knew, and we shared out some examples. Then, we talked about what it means to be a cognate, and worked together to identify all of the ones we could find in the passage. Next week we will continue develop these strategies by practicing answering questions and using what we know to make inferences. Here are the strategies we are using for reading comprehension in Spanish:
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This week our student teacher Señorita Waldo did activity with several 3rd Grade classes focused on a food that is very popular in the Fall; manzanas (apples). First, she introduced students to vocabulary that they could use to describe una manzana: ácida = sour sosa = bland dulce = sweet jugosa = juicy seca = dry mal = bad así-así = okay deliciosa = delicious After learning and practicing the new vocabulary, students did an activity where they rotated around the room and tried four different kinds of manzanas. They identified words they would use to describe each in Spanish and indicated how much they liked each one. The students really enjoyed the activity and learning with Señorita! This week 3rd Graders worked on using the vocabulary to communicate information about their own identities. We noticed and discussed how the words in the sentence change when we are talking about ourselves as opposed to describing another person. Students did a fun activity where they each got a bag of Skittles and had to say one identity sentence in Spanish for each color Skittle in their bag. They could only eat the Skittle if they said the phrase correctly - if not, they had to put it back in the bag and try again on their next turn. It was a fun and delicious activity! This week we have been working on using the vocabulary from our story to retell information about the characters. We also practiced our communicative skills by interpreting questions and answering them in complete sentences in Spanish.
One of the activities we did this week involved answering questions about the characters that were in our story. Students used post it notes to choose questions around the room and answer them in Spanish. They did a fantastic job retelling what they learned about each character from our story! This week we finished the story about our classmate who was searching for a friend to dance with. After striking out with LeBron James, Poppy, and Batman, a character named Jefferson Benjumea entered the room and saved the day! Jefferson is a famous professional salsa dancer from Colombia, so of course he wanted to dance! This week has been spent telling our first TPRS story of the year. It goes along with our Identity Unit, which will answer the questions; "Who am I?" and "What do I like to do?". Before starting the story, students were introduced to some of the vocabulary we will be learning and we also discussed our goals for the unit:
You should have seen a newsletter a newsletter for this unit come home with your child this week. To see a copy, click here. This week we talked about questions and how important it is to have a good understanding of basic question words in order to engage in meaningful conversations. We reviewed 7 main question words in Spanish and practiced using them to translate different questions.
One of the strategies we are going to use to practice answering questions this year is by starting each class with La Pregunta del Día (Question of the Day). Our first question was ¿Te gustan los gatos? - have your child share with you their answer!
One of our beginning of the year activities in Spanish class was to read one of Señora's favorite books, called Your Fantastic Elastic Brain. This book is all about how our brains work, and how we can stretch and strengthen them by learning new things. It teaches us how our brains grow and how making mistakes is good because it helps train our brains and help them grow. After reading the book, we made connections to our learning in Spanish class and how we will be stretching our brains this year. We also talked about how we can use what we learned about our brains to help think positively as language learners. We looked at negative thoughts that we might have while learning something new and talked about what kinds of positive statements we could replace them with. Here are some examples:
These statements are hanging in our classroom so that we can remember them as we stretch our brains and learn Spanish together. It's going to be a great year!!
It has been a great start to the year in Spanish class and we have been busy warming up our brains and getting back into 'Spanish mode'!
First, we answered some questions in Spanish about our Summer adventures. The kids and I enjoyed learning about who did what this Summer, like traveling on an airplane, going to the beach, or riding a bike. We also did a fun activity to practice the question ¿Cómo se dice?. This is the question you would use to find out how to say a word in Spanish, and I want students to feel comfortable answering and asking this question throughout the year. First, students did a group activity where they picked cards with English words and asked each other how to say the words in Spanish. Some of the words were ones we have learned in the past, but some were random words like 'peanuts' and 'balloon'. We also learned the expression No sé so they could respond when they were asked a word they didn't know! At the end, we did an activity where the students tried to 'Stump Señora' by coming up with words to ask me. I did pretty well, but they definitely stumped me a few times! We also did our first communicative activity of the year where students walked around the room and asked each other questions in Spanish about what they have. Some examples are ¿Tienes un gato? (Do you have a cat?) or ¿Tienes una guitarra? (Do you have a guitar?). They really enjoyed talking to each other and did an awesome job asking and answering the questions in Spanish! Next week we will do some more vocabulary practice before we start our first unit. I am looking forward to a great year! |
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July 2020
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