Storytelling and art come together to support language acquisition in Spanish class. Lower and Upper Elementary students apply their reading and listening comprehension skills and use art to convey what they have interpreted. Upon being introduced to a new story, they identify key words by making connections with cognates and context clues.

One of their favorite things to do is write their own versions of the stories. Once we have seen certain vocabulary and target grammar structures in context, we participate in an activity called Story Asking. This is where students are orally given the skeleton of a story while given the opportunity to share their input with regard to character, setting, and plot development. Story Asking gives students confidence and a sense of ownership in the language acquisition process. 

The Primary and Kindergarten students participated in parachute play. Parachute games encourage cooperative, non-competitive play and reinforce turn-taking and sharing. While most gross motor activities for young children develop muscles in the lower body more than the upper torso, parachutes strengthen primarily shoulder, arm, and hand muscles. When children work together to make the parachute billow, they also refine perceptual motor skills and develop a sense of rhythm. Language activities are also be incorporated into most parachute games. Parachute games played were: “Merry Go Round,” “Climb the Mountain,” “Popcorn,” and “Running through the Tunnel.”  At the end of class, students helped roll up the parachute and had a chance to jump over Sammy the Snake!

Spanish students have been busy! Across all grade levels, we have been filling our time with stories, projects, and activities for a cumulative review. Primary and elementary students have taken stories about a snowman and a gingerbread man and made character comparisons in Spanish. Elementary students then designed their own snowmen, demonstrating their knowledge of clothing, colors, and body parts in Spanish. 

Middle school has completed virtual escape rooms, puzzles, character comparisons, and they have even written their own stories. They are presented with the opportunity to showcase all of their acquired language together in their spoken and written tasks. 

Gearing up for the holidays, we are taking a dive back into LatinX and Spanish culture to explore how the holidays will be celebrated around the world!

Our middle school students use the iSOMOS! Curriculum, developed by Martina Bex, expert in comprehensible input. Our entire focus is acquiring the language as we explore text and culture in a comprehensible manner. Using high frequency words and cognates, coupled with compelling stories we create as a class, students are engaged and held accountable for their learning. 

Recently, middle school students have been exploring LatinX cuisine, celebrations of el Día de los Muertos, and various cultural snippets through short articles and stories embedded in our curriculum. They continue to build vocabulary through the storytelling process in addition to reading from their proficiency based novels each class. “Somos” means “we are”, and it’s a beautiful experience to witness middle schoolers discovering who they are as language learners and as positive members of their community.

Middle School students created vibrant works of art inspired by life under the microscope! This project encouraged students to realize the many ways in which Science and Art can connect: both artists and scientists closely examine their subjects in an attempt to understand and describe the complex world around us. Artistically, our focus was composition arrangement, pattern making, and color theory.

Each middle school artist began by looking at microscopic plant images and other cellular references for shape and pattern inspiration for their artwork. While planning their composition, we reviewed and discussed Art vocabulary and concepts pertaining to this project, such as organic vs. geometric shapes, balance, contrast, repetition, and space. After sketching out their imagined microscopic world in pencil, they then traced their design with sharpie. Students then chose an analogous color scheme (groups of 3-4 colors that are next to each other on the color wheel) and filled in their composition using various watercolor techniques. Each finished painting is a striking sight of complex organic forms and vibrant color!

The ACTFL World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages includes five goal areas (the 5 C’s) upon which Spanish class is structured: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities. Coupled with proficiency guidelines, the goal, according to ACTFL, is to ensure that language learners can apply the skills measured by the standards to bring a global competence to their future and career experiences. All of our Spanish classes incorporate at least two of these goal areas each time we meet.   

During Hispanic Heritage Month, Lower and Upper Elementary students have been taking virtual journeys through a few Spanish-speaking countries. We used Google Earth to visit El Caminito in La Boca, Buenos Aires, Argentina to explore the casas coloridas (colorful houses). In addition, we observed some images of Kuna women of Panama and replicated the mola designs, similar to the staple of their wardrobe. Finally, we explored the feeling of worry, where it comes from, and how we cope with it as we created our own version of Guatemalan worry dolls. Students were engaged in the process of planning and implementing lines and shapes into their casas coloridas, molas, and worry dolls, as they explored these elements of LatinX culture through connection and comparison.