Community Helpers Unit in Spanish

The past week we began our community helpers unit, which I was SO excited about because it is such a relatable unit for our kids! Students get to learn about different community members and I've seen them make such amazing connections to their own lives, such as sharing what their parents do for a living, or how they've seen police/firefighter cars/trucks in their town and by sharing what they want to be when they grow up and how they will be community helpers as well! 

Therefore, I was excited to bring together different elements to teach/share with students about our community helpers in Spanish. I utilized Spanish nonfiction texts, videos, a song with a video, bubble maps, Important Words, student booklets, Venn Diagram activities, and a cumulative collaborative activity at the end of the unit. 

These are the books that I have found in Spanish and utilize for our community helpers unit:

Before beginning the unit I went over our learning scale (based on Marzano) and had students understand and try to verbally say what the learning goal was (which in a concrete sense was difficult for them to say the whole learning goal in Spanish, but they were able to verbalize who we were going to learn about and most of our Important Words for the unit).

We dedicated a day to each community helper and we focused on: Doctor, Firefighter, Teacher, Police, Vet and Chef.

First, each day we would go over our "Important Words":

Then, we would watch the video of "Las Profesiones" and try to sing along! This is a GREAT video because it has really beautiful visuals and words to sing along!

Then, we would read a book about the community helper and possibly watch a video. There were some great videos for firefighter in Spanish ("Sam el Bombero") and for police ("Caillou el oficial de polica") and a very catchy song about a vet ("Tio Mario Veterinario") and a Peppa Pig episode about the vet ("el veterinario volador"). I must warn you - the Tio Mario Veterinario song is SUPER catchy and students have continued to ask me to play it for them everyday after I introduced it to them!!

Then, I would read our community helper poem, which provided a quick definition of what the community helper does:

Next, we would create a bubble map for that specific community helper together. Something crucial for a dual language classroom is VISUALS and so I had cards with each community helper's tools that I would tape up when a student said that tool. If students didn't mention the tool, I would show it to the class and have students recognize that tool. Here are our bubble maps:

 After we filled out the bubble map, I had each student fill out the respective community helper page in their own little booklet about community helpers. You can find this booklet in my Community Helper product!

Throughout the week I also incorporated various learning centers with this community helper theme. Here are some pictures of the students at work at those centers and engaged in activities that have to do with this theme, which they all really seemed to enjoy!!

 Math subtraction center using community helper's tools!

Writing community helper names in alphabetical order!

During guided reading I had students write down 4 things they learned about some of their community helpers and then illustrate the image in their notebooks! Here is one students example:

Students also put two of the poems in their Poetry Notebooks - the doctor and teacher poem! Here is one students notebook, where she illustrated both poems with amazing details!

  

 Also, during literacy workshops several students wanted to draw pictures of community helpers and they know the rule - if they draw they must write or label the picture to practice their writing! Here are some students' examples of their AMAZING drawings:

 Another student decided to go to our pocket chart and categorize the tools under the community helpers. I LOVE his concentration!

 I really enjoyed teaching this unit and working with students to learn more about our awesome community helpers! The kids really enjoyed it, especially because they were able to talk about what community helper they want to be when they grown up!

If you're interested in this unit, check out my Community Helper Unit product on my tpt store! The product is all in Spanish, with some parts in English as well!

States of Matter Mini-Unit

So we recently finished our states of matter mini-unit and had a really great time learning about solids, liquids and gases! Luckily, the three words (solids, liquids and gases) are cognates with Spanish (solidos, liquidos and gases) and therefore, the vocabulary for this mini-unit was much more accessible and easier to grasp for the students! Other words in this mini-unit are also cognates in English/Spanish (atoms--atomos, molecules--moleculas), which was great to capitalize on and utilize as a way of showing great similarities in the two langauges! I loved being able to utilize such a great strategy with my dual language kinders - that of cognate words! When words are similar in both languages, it eases children into being more confident in orally speaking the words and in engaging with the material - especially the children who are not dominant in the target language (in this case, Spanish!).

The states of matter mini-unit was also really fun because it incorporated non-fiction informational reading, science demonstrations, bubble maps, vocabulary, art project for each state of matter and a culminating mini-research project! The mini-unit was broken up into 5 days:

Day 1: Introduction to matter/word splash, what is matter? SQA chart (KWL in Spanish)
Day 2: Solids
Day 3: Liquids
Day 4: Gases
Day 5: Review of matter; culminating project/presentation

For each state of matter, I read a book in Spanish, we did a bubble map whole group and then the students did an art project to visually show the way the molecules are spread in each of the three states of matter. For solids, the art craft was in the shape of an ice cube and as you can see above, the students used Bingo Dotters to dot molecules very closely together. For liquids, the art craft was in the shape of a raindrop and as you can see from above, the students used Bingo Dotters to dot molecules a bit more spread apart. For gases, the art craft was a cloud and as you can see from above, the students used Bingo Dotters to dot the molecules very spread apart.

For the culminating project students were put into groups and each group had to choose a state of matter from a bag. Then, the groups went around the room and brainstormed how they would describe that state of matter. Then, after they brainstormed, they came back together and then I gave each group their sheet of paper and one pencil and they went again around the room to work collaboratively on their project. The idea is that each group would describe their state of matter (without stating it in the description) and then illustrate various examples of that state of matter in the box above. I had all the states of matter books out on a table while the students were working and they were encouraged to use that to help them formulate their descriptions as well as to use our bubble maps to help them! In that way, the project become a mini-research project as well to synthesize the information they had learned! After they wrote their description in pencil, I checked their work and then gave each group a sharpie to trace their description. Finally, each group came up to the front of the room and presented their poster by just reading the description and not showing the picture. Their peers had to guess what state of matter they were describing! This culminating project was able to all around assess how well the students had understood the mini-unit! Below are the posters each group created:

On one of our classroom pocket charts, I put up the three labels "Solidos, Liquidos (and) Gases" and then a plethora of pictures in the little orange basket. I encouraged the students to go to this area and pick up a card and categorize it under the correct state of matter! This quick pocket chart activity acts as a review for our states of matter unit and a great visual! The activity is not highly language-dependent; it's 3 vocabulary words and the rest are pictures so it's great for enticing all learners, even those who still lack a bit of confidence in the target language!

If you're interested in checking out this mini-unit and implementing it in your own classroom, check it out in my tpt store:

States of Matter Unit

My One Word for 2016... "Experiment"

Recently my principal wrote a blog post about his "one word" for 2016 and this inspired our latest twitter chat (Thursday nights--> #sofledchat) about each of our own "one word" for 2016. After reflecting back on the first half of the school year (still cannot believe we are halfway through the year!) and on a word that could embody how I want my students to push themselves and try new things... I came up with the word "experiment." Experiment is just a fancy word for "TRY" and while "trying" is SO essential in every single classroom, I also see it as a key feature of my Kindergarten Dual Language (Spanish) classroom. 

I don't have to try too hard to put myself in my students shoes (especially my Native English speaking students) because when I first immigrated to the United States, all I spoke was Spanish and I was placed in an all English first grade classroom where I felt intimidated and nervous at first when all I heard was English being spoken to me all day. This is how many of my English speaking students must have felt at the beginning of the year (and even at some points still must feel) hearing me speak Spanish all day. Thus, TRYING or EXPERIMENTING is a key part in being a successful language learner (even when we are babies and learning our native tongue!). When I see my students jump in and EXPERIMENT or TRY it leaves me inspired, excited and motivated to try more and to push myself more, so it can help them as well. An example: one of my native English speaking students started saying full sentences to me in Spanish towards the end of December and she has continuously been jumping in and experimenting with her language and her learning! If a 5 year old can experiment so freely and free from judgment, can't we all?

So as I have been reflecting over what my amazing students have accomplished and how they are growing as learners and language learners, I wanted to think of a word that could embody how I want my students to experience learning (through experimentation... through trying, through failing & getting back up again!) and how I want to be as a teacher - always trying hard and pushing myself!

I have said this repeatedly to people who know me - I never want to be 'complacent' with anything in my life because I think complacency leads to stagnation, standing still and lack of progression... One way that I will not become complacent is by experimenting - trying new things everyday both personally and in my career! I am constantly amazed at how much I can learn from my 5 and 6 year olds - how much experimenting is required of them (mainly because so much of this "school" thing is so new to them!) that I find myself motivated and excited to try new things too!

So as we start off 2016 I will vow to "EXPERIMENT," to try new things, to jump into all experiences that are coming with excitement, motivation and inspiration and in turn, provide opportunities for my students to EXPERIMENT, to TRY new things and ways of learning so that they too are excited, motivated and inspired! What is your One Word for 2016?

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!