Español con Las Lechuzas (Spanish with the Owls)

¡Saludos a todos; familia, amigas, y amigos! Greetings to all! I bet you have been wondering why I wear that gorgeous vest. Well, you see acquisition happens naturally and subconsciously when we are surrounded by another language. My goal is to spend the first few minutes of each class speaking in English to the children as I explain the day’s activity. As the children gain some comprehension of the Spanish language, I will then present the introduction of the day’s activity in Spanish. I have presented to the children my red sequin vest and explained that when I put this vest on, it indicates that I am the Spanish teacher and therefore I will be speaking solely in Spanish. We will volar (fly) to Spain and other Spanish speaking countries at the beginning of each class session and once we land, we all do our very best to speak in the language of that country, Spanish. This transitioning activity also allows for the children to gain an awareness of the various (21) countries where Spanish is the official language.

During our recent clase de Español, Las Lechuzas flew into Chile and settled into this Spanish speaking country. Upon our arrival, we gathered and sat in a círculo and began our traditional greeting. Each Lechuza was encouraged to greet the teacher with a hand shake and the following dialogue:

Alicia: ¡Buenos día _________!

Child: ¡Buenos día Alicia!

Alicia: ¿Cómo estás?

Child: ¡Muy bien, gracias!

 Our greeting is then followed by the following song that is sang to the tune of “Are You Sleeping”

Buenos días, Buenos días

¿Cómo estás?, ¿Cómo estás?

Yo estoy muy bien gracias, yo estoy muy bien gracias.

¿Y tú? ¿Y tú?

After our morning greetings, we read a book that is very familiar to most of us, “Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.” But, instead of hearing this story in English, we got to hear the words in Spanish, Cinco Monitos Brincando en la Cama. As the story was being read, we were all invited to participate in acting out the scenes such as jumping, falling, hurting our heads, calling the doctor and repeating the phrase, No mas monitos brincando en la cama. What a wonderful opportunity to engage all types of learners, especially kinesthetics.

After the story, we practiced saying the numbers in Spanish. We counted to ten and then learned a new song:

Uno, dos, tres amigos

Cuatro, cinco, seis amigos

Siete, ocho, nueve amigos

Diez amigos son.

Other than the Spanish vocabulary words used for greeting, numbers 1-10, and in the story that was read, Las Luchuzas are learning the following:

Por favor - please

Levantence – stand-up

Avión – airplane

Montence– get on

Vuela – fly

Sientencen – sit

Círculo – circle

Muéstrame – show me

Brinca, Brincando – jump, jumping

Cayó – fell down

Golpe – hurt

Llama - call

Gracias – thank you

De nada – you’re welcome

 ¡Hasta nuestro proximo viaje! (Until our next flight.)

Paz,

Alicia

A Concert with Peter Moses

Thanksgiving Photos!

Full of Thanks

We joined the rest of the Lower School for Meeting for Worship today, after reading the book, "We're Going to Meeting for Worship." It was lovely to hear the messages of many Lower Schoolers sharing about what they are thankful for. So we decided to ask the Owls, "What are you thankful for? What makes your heart feel glad?
Pharaoh: My mommy because she loves me lot of times. Daddy; he just can walk. I am thankful for my mommy and my daddy and my mom-mom.
Matt: I'm thankful for my mom and dad.
Kevin: My family. I'm nice, that's what I do.
Alexander:  I'm thankful that I have food.
Penny: I'm doing Thanksgiving today. I thankful for my daddy, mommy... Joon.
Tori: My mommy got a chocolate rooster cake with a lollipop on it! My mommy and daddy are going trick-or-treating with me, and my friends. When my mommy and daddy and friends come over to my house and have winter with me.
Elise: I am thankful for my mom and my dad, cause I like them so much.
Sadie: Mommy and daddy [make my hear feel glad] and Kaya.
Amani: Mommy, daddy, grandma, Amira! When they read me stories.
Harper: I have a song, "You don't know you're beautiful! Oh oh! You don't know you're beautiful! Oh oh!" I'm thankful Rainey, and I saw Rainy today that's what I'm thankful for. And I have something else: I like having TV shows when its morning time.
Mimi: I thankful about my family. Because I love them. Because I love them so much.
Wills: Sometimes when I go to bed, I feel like I'm in peace. Matthew, Evan, and Elais. Elais is Lucas's friend, but he still plays with me. Because they do nice things for me.
Caimin: Pat.  I'm thankful for my mom, papa, and Ruauri.
Patrick: Mommy for making me a half day. Giving me some breakfast when I got up. I'm thankful for dad fixing my toys. My brother because he let me play with his toys. Because I like people who say yes to me.

(Pictures coming later...technical difficulties.)

Math Problem: Owls+Middle Schoolers=....

FUN! Today we received a special visit from our Middle School friends! Jesse, Thomas and Sydney had spent the morning with us once before and we were very excited to share our classroom with them again! As soon as they entered our classroom, the flow of the Owls engulfed them.

We built blocks and magnatiles with them...

We shared with them our mailboxes and even helped make a middle school mailbox...

They put on magic shows for us...

They played guessing games with us...

 

 

 

And enjoyed the endless opportunities for dress up

Here's video clip of a magic show where things didn't go quite right. We all have those days. Thanks anyway Thomas!

Other Owlings:

Making the letter "L" with the whole body!

An amazing castle was erected!

fhfh

And we'll leave you on this note: Middle School and E.C. joining together to dance the 

Gungnam Style.