Los animales de la granja

The farm animals.
Last year, i found out my third graders had a flare for performing songs. You can read and see their show here...  http://boteromoriarty.weebly.com/blog/las-verduras

This year, we started learning about farm animals and when I played this song to them their immediate reaction was ask if they could perform it again.

Their wish is my command. So we worked with the vocabulary, we read the lyrics, we practiced singing, we created posters and they organized their choreography. Then we took our show on the road. What a fun day we had.

Next week we will have a "viewing" party and enjoy some popcorn!

Los niños tejen

Kid Knits
In 5th grade, St. Joseph students' service project is Kid Knits. With the guidance of Ms. Bogner, students learn about "reaching out to others instead of thinking of themselves.  They see that it is possible to make an impact on the other side of the world in Rwanda and across the United States in South Dakota".
Inspired by this activity, our Spanish topic lent itself to be incorporated to their project, even if in a very small way. One of the things they learn while working with Kid Knits, is that poberty can affect everyone in the world. Students are asked to shop on a budget keeping in mind the needs of the particular family they read about. 

Since 5th grade is working with numbers from 21-30 in my class, we took the topic of shopping on a budget and merged a few of our own ideas. It helped us review fruits and vegetables while practicing the spelling of the prices of the items. Students worked individually and then brought those efforts to create a final group poster. 

I love seeing their interactions while deciding what items to purchase from a list. Their math skills were also put to the test, all while working with our Spanish vocabulary! 

I enjoyed being able to integrate the things students are doing in their other classes and add some Spanish. This way we can further contextualize the importance of foreign language education and it aids them see that Spanish is not isolated from the rest of their subjects. 

If you want to see more of what my 5th graders are doing, Ms. Bogner's website will help!
​http://missbogner.weebly.com/kidknits.html

Día de los Santos

All Saints Day

Teaching at a Catholic School often allows me to explore some topics that I would not be able to in a public school setting. All Saints Day is one of them. 

During the month of October, my 8th graders worked very hard at creating verbal and written descriptions and compositions. In order to celebrate this wonderful holiday in the Church, we decided to create prayer cards. 

The idea was inspired by the prayer cards students can earn in one of their previous classes. Our process required great attention to detail and creativity. Students researched their confirmation saints, created biographies in Spanish and designed their cards. 

The picture is a sneak peak to a couple of them. I am so proud of their hard work and dedication. 

The complete collection will be auctioned at our school´s spring event!!!