El Mono Silabo... A Classroom Favorite!

Sometimes it feels like it's hard to find quality materials in Spanish to engage children or introduce topics to children, but when you find something quality, you can immediately see it 'click' with them. I have found several videos that we try to watch weekly to reinforce certain concepts. For example, when we do Calendar, we sing our "Meses del año" and "Dias de la semana" video/song, which the children really enjoy. We also have an alphabet video/song, that although it goes a bit fast, has been the one I have found the kids enjoy the most!

Once I began working on syllables with the children, I introduced "El Mono Silabo," our friendly monkey friend who will be helping us learn about syllables and how to read in Spanish. These videos are found on YouTube and I am seeing so much progress and engagement from the students when it's time to learn about our new syllables of the week. We watch the videos and I will stop occasionally throughout to ask students to read the words or sentences that they show in the video!

I introduced the syllables "ba, be, bi, bo, bu" this week before winter break, and plan on showing it again the week we are back in school in January, to refresh their minds, with their favorite little monkey (and his crazy friend!).

Here is the link to the YouTube channel where all the videos are found: El Mono Silabo

Here is a short video of my kids singing the S syllables while watching the video and a picture :)

Guided Reading in Spanish

Dual language programs across the board can be very different from school to school, district to district and state to state. Some dual language programs don't have guided reading groups in the Spanish classroom for grades as young as Kindergarten, however, I believe that both classrooms should run very similarly in the sense of the routines and the activities that the students engage in. I believe that both languages should have equal emphasis and importance, so as to not devalue or demote the significance of one language or culture over another. Furthermore, I think it's important to make sure that we are always stimulating and pushing our students forward, especially when there are such varying linguistic levels in a classroom (as is often seen in dual language settings!). Thus, in the dual language program we are building at Gator Run, we have guided reading center rotations during our learning centers. There are many different activities related to reading (and writing of course!) that happen during this 20 minute center, but I believe that time has been so instrumental in helping children gain linguistic confidence in their Spanish abilities as well as push students towards being able to read words, phrases and even sentences in Spanish. 

Here is my guided reading/teacher center table/area:

I painted my one table with Dry Erase paint so that students could write (and be able to see it better) when they came to me for this rotation - and the kids love it! Students come and begin by tracing their name (practicing handwriting) and/or sight words/sentences with dry erase markers while I make sure that the other groups are set and ready to begin! I also put out their book basket so that they can read the book if they finish tracing.

Here students are using whisper phones while reading their syllable words for the week during our guided reading groups. Students love these phones! They can hear themselves reading, which helps them recognize how it sounds when they read the word and it also allows me to lean in by each child and hear them read the text. Those books featured in the pictures are books from Venezuela, that I actually used also when I learned to read in Spanish back in the day! These books feature syllables and then words with those syllables and then some simple sentences at the bottom of each page. The book is simple, but that's how one learns to read in Spanish - by learning to read syllabically! We sound out the words syllable by syllable and then children practice reading the words themselves.

Here students are writing in their Spanish notebook during guided reading. I started Spanish notebooks around the middle of October. We use this notebook to respond to stories, work on our syllable words and to write words that we hear (sounding them out). This is an interactive notebook also, so sometimes, I might have something for the students to work on and then glue in their notebook that is related to our syllables/word work. I decided to use a Spanish notebook so that students can work on these skills (as well as handwriting!) hand in hand with reading since both are so closely related. The Spanish notebook is also differentiated by each reading group. That's another reason I decided to use the notebook, because I thought it could be a great differentiation tool and really work on the reading/writing skills each group needs and to document that progress throughout the year. 

 

During guided reading we also practice our sight words (palabras de uso frecuente)! Here, I was saying a word out loud and I had them write the word how they heard it (sounding it out). Then, I show the students the word so that they can see how the wrote it. The students enjoy writing the words and then waiting to see the "real" word on a star that I have them on and get so excited when they see that they've written it correctly or very close!

Guided reading in Kindergarten can include many different goals and activities to help children become readers and writers and it is no different in a dual language program on the side of the target language! 

Landforms (Accidentes Geograficos) Unit!

This past week we began working on our landforms unit, which aligns to our Kindergarten Geography standards. Our landforms unit ties in nicely with our Gingerbread man/maps/globes theme for the month of December. I was extra excited about this unit because while there aren't many (or actually almost NONE) Gingerbread man books/stories in Spanish, there are a good amount of informational texts about landforms/biomes in Spanish as well as fictional texts in Spanish that feature beautiful landscapes that can create conversations about landforms!

We launched the unit with a SQA (Lo que se, lo que quiero saber, lo que aprendi) chart about accidentes geograficos! We learned hand motions for several landforms including: mountain, island, ocean, river, desert, glacier, peninsula, waterfall, volcano and hills. The hand motions were simple and the kids really enjoyed showing them and "acting" them out! The English side teacher and I both made sure to have the same motions so that there was no confusion! We also did a T-Chart categorizing land formation and water formations. Students grabbed a card, showed it to the class and then categorized it where they thought it went on the chart. 

For the first week of this unit, I incorporated a "Social Studies" center during our Learning Center Rotations. The center involved having students use green & blue paint dabbers to fill in a circular world map and then write on a piece of paper and attach "Mi mundo es bello." I wanted to include a simple center that could further help students distinguish between 'tierra' and 'oceano' by using the colors on the globe. When students finished this center, they could work together on the bilingual map of the United States puzzle!

We also played a quick game using our small inflatable globe before heading to our Special on Tuesday. We sat in a circle on the rug and we threw the globe in boy/girl order and wherever your hand landed, you would either say tierra or oceano (land or ocean). This quick game was fun and helped practice these vocabulary words for the landform unit in Spanish!

On Thursday we reviewed our landform hand motions and then engaged in a fun project where students created a landform in a collaborative group of 3-4 students each. The students had to choose a landform from a box but had to make sure not to show it to any other group. Then, they went off, gathered the materials they needed from the materials table and then began creating their landform. I walked around asking students what they were cutting/making and why they were including that and also encouraged them to think about other things they could include in their creation. After students worked, they came back to the rug and each group presented their landform to the class. The class had to try and guess what the landform was. The students loved presenting and the rest of the class loved guessing! This was also great to get them talking and saying orally the landform names in Spanish. Here are some pictures of the students presenting their landforms to the class and of our finished bulletin board!

If you're interested in this unit and looking for materials in Spanish, check out my teacherspayteachers landforms unit product by clicking HERE!

Morning Message/Meeting

Although our dual language program schedule is very tight and we are always on the go, I make sure to allot at least a couple of minutes for our circle time/Morning Message every morning after our announcements! I think that this circle time is important for several reasons, one being that it provides a routine that children learn to expect. However, another added benefit is that it also builds students linguistic confidence and sets up the rest of the day nicely. After having done this every day, I have many children repeating my greeting ("Buenos dias niños y niñas") and my closing line ("Vamos a tener un dia _____, Señorita Pantin"). I love seeing my students saying these words and following along because they are speaking in Spanish and learning some words/phrases!

I always start the message by saying how our day went yesterday (always positive!) and I always include the Special that we have that day so that students know what to expect. I also include what we are doing that morning together. Something that I've started doing more lately is make my punctuation marks thicker in order to point them out visually for students when they are looking at the message and hearing me read it. Since in Spanish we use a question mark at the beginning and end of a sentence, I make them thick so that students can start distinguishing this difference in both of the languages. 

I think that this time together is very important in setting up the day and having students know the expectations for their morning. For dual language programs, in the target language, it is essential to provide many opportunities for the students to hear the language during a routine but also to have a chance to talk. I try to provide children with opportunities to review some of the ideas/concepts we have worked on/are working on during the week. Even with a tight schedule, these little moments are significant and important in fostering community, developing linguistic confidence and setting up a successful day of learning (and fun of course!).

Learning to Read & Write... in Spanish!

As I began the school year I reflected upon the ways in which I learned to read in Spanish as a young child. One of the many amazing things about the Spanish language is that it is a phonetic language and it is actually pretty easy to read! When I was younger I learned to read Spanish by learning about the syllables (ma, me, mi, mo, mu, pa, pe, pi, po, pu, and so on). Therefore, when imagining how to go about teaching Kindergarten children (of varying levels) how to start reading/recognizing words/sounds in Spanish, I came up with this plan:

1. Teach children the vowels (las vocales) and reinforce them throughout the year. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Begin teaching the more prominent syllable combinations and continuously move to other syllable combinations.

• Ma, me, mi, mo, mu
• pa, pe, pi, po, pu
• la, le, li, lo, lu
• sa, se, si, so, su
• ta, te, ti, to, tu
• na, ne, ni, no, nu
• ra, re, ri, ro, ru
• lla, lle, lli, llo, llu
• ba, be, bi, bo, bu
• ca, ce, ci, co, cu
• cha, che, chi, cho, chu
• da, de, di, do, du
• fa, fe, fi, fo, fu
• ha, he, hi, ho, hu
• ja, je, ji, jo, ju
• ka, ke, ki, ko, ku
• ña, ñe, ñi, ño, ñu
• que, qui
• rra, rre, rri, rro, rru
• va, ve, vi, vo, vu
• wa, we, wi, wo, wu
• xa, xe, xi, xo, xu
• ya, ye, yi, yo, yu
• za, ze, zi, zo, zu

3. As we learn our syllables, I also teach sight words in Spanish (palabras de uso frecuente) that can allow children to recognize/build short sentences. 

• "Yo veo un pajaro" (sight words: yo, veo, un + a "pa" syllable word we learned)

Our Kindergarteners also have a poetry book that we put poems/chants in weekly (in English with the English side teacher and/or in Spanish with me), and so I started creating sentences with repetition that aligned with our sight words and our syllables for the week. Here is the one I created for our "pa, pe, pi, po, pu" syllables:

The children put their poem in the notebook and accompanying pictures that match each part (pajaro, pelota, piña, pozo, puma/leche, lupa, lata, limon, loro). Since these sentences include sight words and syllable words, students can read these on their own and feel proud of what they know in Spanish! We also began our Sight Word folders this week, with 10 Spanish sight words:

Children take their folders home and practice the sight words. When they are ready to be tested, they bring the folder back, I test them, and if they know all of them, I will give them the next list and put it in their folders!

In addition, during our Center Rotations, I include at least one sight word practice center and for the Word Work center I include syllable work, which can include building/reading sentences from our poems/chants.

"Tira, Di, Traza/Escribe" (Roll, Say, Trace/Write) sight words

"Pescando" nuestras palabras de uso frecuente como pescaban los peregrinos/indigenas ("Fishing" for our sight words just like the pilgrims/Native Americans fished for their food)

Furthermore, in Kindergarten we have literacy workshops (Talleres de Alfabetizacion) where students get to choose their own learning! They have to pick something to do that will help them become better readers and writers. These are some of the activities my kids frequently choose:

• iPad learning games 
  
• Spanish alphabet puzzle
  
• QR code reader (with a binder I prepped filled with QR codes of Spanish books being read on a video)
   
• Reading Rods (from Learning Resources) where students build words using the Alfa-Libritos
   
• Building words/practicing syllables using magnet letters/cooking sheet 
  
• Using stamps for letters & words (and using picture stamps & labeling the pictures)
  
• Drawing pictures & labeling them 
  
• Reading to/with friends
  
• Reading in our classroom library
  
• Writing on the dry erase board
  

• Playing teacher (reading/writing on boards) 
  

I am so proud of all the progress my students have made and love seeing them so engaged in different activities! I strongly believe that children needs these opportunities in the classroom to not only progress academically, but also build their social skills!

STEM: Push/Pull Activities in Spanish

So our school has designated several days throughout the year (primarily early release days) as "STEM" days! This means that every classroom should be engaged in a STEM activity on those days. Each grade level team came up with certain topics for each STEM day. We have already done two! In Kindergarten, the first STEM activity had to do with building sandcastles while learning about the 5 senses and the second was on gravity in relation to Humpty Dumpty!

Today, we had our 3rd STEM day, where we explored the concepts of force and motion, more specifically, the push/pull motions! I set up 6 different exploratory centers all related to this topic. I put the students in groups and had them at each center for about 5 minutes. Once they heard the timer go off, they knew to go to the following center (they are already so used to centers that this flower super smoothy!).

The 6 centers were:

1. Yo-Yos
2. Dominoes
3. Elastic balls
4. Blowing air through a straw to move objects
5. T-Chart (Categorizing push/pull pictures)
6. Cars down a ramp at different angles

In each center the idea was for students to engage with the materials and explore the concepts of how force can cause objects to move. Through these centers, the students engaged with different types of forces, such as hand movement (yo-yos), pushing with a finger (dominoes), stretching out/pushing together (elastic balls), air (straws) and angular position (cars/ramp). We discussed why some objects were harder to move by blowing air (football shaped rubber ball), while others were easy (pompoms) and why the cars went down the 'ramp' more smoothly at certain angles.

Here are some pictures of the children at their centers:

If you're interested in check out or implementing these activities in your classroom, check out my product on TpT: STEM Push/Pull Activities Spanish.