Second grade will be learning Spanish with a focus on Spain. Their central idea for the year is: Language is a way to get knowledge.
Every week the students will have a 'can do' statement that I want them to be able to do by the end of that class. We will, however continue to review and practice these in subsequent classes.
I can find Spain on the globe.
Students review that Spanish was first spoken in Spain and how it came to be spoken throughout much of the Americas.
Using world map and globe, students practice finding Spain by starting with Texas, traveling east across the Atlantic Ocean until they bump into Africa, then traveling north along the coast until they reach the point jutting up towards the Iberian Peninsula, then jumping across into Spain.
Using numerous inflated globes, we do a globe toss activity to practice finding Spain.
I can use Spanish to tell where someone lives.
Using the book ¿Quién vive aquí? we learn the Spanish word 'vive' (lives).
Students are able to demonstrate comprehension by answering questions about where various animals and people live.
Students then play a fun game of "Oh, yeah" where they try to outdo each other by telling outlandish places that their aunt lives. "Oh, yeah! Mi tía vive en _______."
We finish class by choosing from several animals to tell whether they lived in the jungle or in the water. Example sentences: El pulpo vive en el agua. El tigre vive en la selva. Etc.
I can use Spanish to tell what someone is eating.
We start class with a verb chant. This is designed as a quick easy way to quickly learn several Spanish action verbs so that they can easily be used in a lesson. There is rhythm combined with actions that get repeated throughout the chant so that students learn them in a matter of minutes through repetition.
Salta, salta, salta...salta, salta, salta (jumps)
Corre, corre (runs)
Sube, sube (climbs)
Nada, nada, you can't catch me (swims)
Come and come...come and come (come and eat)
Baila, baila...baila, baila (dances)
Camina, camina camina, camina (walks)
We also sing along with Basho and Friends to the song 'Con Cosmo'. Check it out!
After that, we use the book ¿Quién vive aquí? again, focusing this time on the verb 'come' (eats).
Next, students are shown various pictures of items (some edible and others not) and have to tell whether a classmate eats or doesn't eat that thing using 'lo come' (he/she eats it) or 'no lo come'.
Finally, students play "Oh yeah" again, this time trying to outdo each other by telling outlandish things their uncle eats.
I can use Spanish to tell what someone has.
We read the book 'Mi gato y yo' to review/introduce the Spanish verb 'tiene' (has).
We then learn and sing the song 'El gatito tiene pelaje' (The kitty has fur.) There are numerous verses, and students begin to learn that adjectives typically follow nouns and must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. We are also reminded of how to make the dimutive form of Spanish nouns by changing the ending to -ito or -ita. (gato becomes gatito, burro becomes burrito, etc.) Here are the 4 verses we sing.
Verse 1: El gatito tiene pelaje, tiene pelaje suave. (repeat)
Verse 2: El gatito tiene cuatro patas, tiene cuatro patas suaves. (repeat)
Verse 3: El gatito tiene una cola, tiene un cola suave. (repeat)
Verse 4: El gatito tiene dos orejas, tiene dos orejas suaves. (repeat)
We act out a story of a cat who doesn't have a tail.
Finally, using pictures as our wordbank, we make sentences telling what different animals have or don't have. Example sentences: La tortuga no tiene pelaje. El gato tiene una cola. Etc.
I can identify a cat by its description in Spanish.
Students are introduced to the word rayas (stripes) through the book "¿Quién tiene rayas?) and are taught the word manchas (spots). Students are introduced to the names of various members of the cat family, most of which are cognates and we practice describing them using color, size, and whether they have stripes, spots, or neither.
el león - the lion
el tigre - the tiger
el lince - the lynx
el leopardo - the leopard
la pantera - the panther
la puma - the puma
el guepardo - the cheetah
Students play a cat concentration game. They have to match a description of a cat with corresponding picture.
Example: El gato tiene rayas y una cola. The cat has stripes and a tail.
El gato tiene manchas pero no tiene una cola. The cat has spots but does not have a tail.
Students are introduced to this year's central idea in Spanish class: Language is a way to get knowledge. We talk about what knowledge is, some of the ways we get knowledge, and how many of those ways involve language. To practice this concept, students will be given a new riddle each time they come to Spanish class from now on. The riddle will describe something in Spanish. The challenge will be for them to read and figure out what is being talked about. Here is the first one we do: El animal es grande y tiene 2 patas muy grandes. No tiene pelaje. Tiene plumas. Corre rápido. No tiene orejas. Vive en África en la sabana. ¿Quién es? el avestruz
I can use Spanish to express hunger.
Students learn that 'tiene hambre' is the way to say that someone is hungry using Spanish. Technically, it means that someone 'has hunger'. Students then look at a series of pictures and voted by jumping right or left to indicate whether the animal was hungry or not hungry based on teacher's sentence.
Students then learn that carnivores eat 'carne' (meat) and herbivores eat 'plantas' (plantas) and learn a song called 'Claro que sí' (of course!) It is an echo song with multiple verses, each about a different animal and whether it eats 'carne' or 'plantas'.
El oso panda (clap, clap) - teacher sings and students echo
tiene hambre (clap) - teacher sings and students echo
El oso panda (clap, clap) - teacher sings and students echo
tiene hambre (clap) - teacher sings and students echo
¿Come plantas o carne, plantas o carne? (teacher asks this, no echo this time)
Plantas, claro que sí (clap clap) - students reply and teacher echos
Other verses: el león, el lobo, el conejo, la cebra
Using a word bank, I can make sentences in Spanish.
To practice their ability to use the vocabulary they have learned thus far, students work in groups with sets of cups. Each cup has from 2-4 words on it. Students choose the words they want to use to make their sentence and arrange the cups accordingly. Once each student in the group has a sentence written, they illustrate them. Some of these from each class get displayed on the bulletin board in the hall!
Every week the students will have a 'can do' statement that I want them to be able to do by the end of that class. We will, however continue to review and practice these in subsequent classes.
I can find Spain on the globe.
Students review that Spanish was first spoken in Spain and how it came to be spoken throughout much of the Americas.
Using world map and globe, students practice finding Spain by starting with Texas, traveling east across the Atlantic Ocean until they bump into Africa, then traveling north along the coast until they reach the point jutting up towards the Iberian Peninsula, then jumping across into Spain.
Using numerous inflated globes, we do a globe toss activity to practice finding Spain.
I can use Spanish to tell where someone lives.
Using the book ¿Quién vive aquí? we learn the Spanish word 'vive' (lives).
Students are able to demonstrate comprehension by answering questions about where various animals and people live.
Students then play a fun game of "Oh, yeah" where they try to outdo each other by telling outlandish places that their aunt lives. "Oh, yeah! Mi tía vive en _______."
We finish class by choosing from several animals to tell whether they lived in the jungle or in the water. Example sentences: El pulpo vive en el agua. El tigre vive en la selva. Etc.
I can use Spanish to tell what someone is eating.
We start class with a verb chant. This is designed as a quick easy way to quickly learn several Spanish action verbs so that they can easily be used in a lesson. There is rhythm combined with actions that get repeated throughout the chant so that students learn them in a matter of minutes through repetition.
Salta, salta, salta...salta, salta, salta (jumps)
Corre, corre (runs)
Sube, sube (climbs)
Nada, nada, you can't catch me (swims)
Come and come...come and come (come and eat)
Baila, baila...baila, baila (dances)
Camina, camina camina, camina (walks)
We also sing along with Basho and Friends to the song 'Con Cosmo'. Check it out!
After that, we use the book ¿Quién vive aquí? again, focusing this time on the verb 'come' (eats).
Next, students are shown various pictures of items (some edible and others not) and have to tell whether a classmate eats or doesn't eat that thing using 'lo come' (he/she eats it) or 'no lo come'.
Finally, students play "Oh yeah" again, this time trying to outdo each other by telling outlandish things their uncle eats.
I can use Spanish to tell what someone has.
We read the book 'Mi gato y yo' to review/introduce the Spanish verb 'tiene' (has).
We then learn and sing the song 'El gatito tiene pelaje' (The kitty has fur.) There are numerous verses, and students begin to learn that adjectives typically follow nouns and must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. We are also reminded of how to make the dimutive form of Spanish nouns by changing the ending to -ito or -ita. (gato becomes gatito, burro becomes burrito, etc.) Here are the 4 verses we sing.
Verse 1: El gatito tiene pelaje, tiene pelaje suave. (repeat)
Verse 2: El gatito tiene cuatro patas, tiene cuatro patas suaves. (repeat)
Verse 3: El gatito tiene una cola, tiene un cola suave. (repeat)
Verse 4: El gatito tiene dos orejas, tiene dos orejas suaves. (repeat)
We act out a story of a cat who doesn't have a tail.
Finally, using pictures as our wordbank, we make sentences telling what different animals have or don't have. Example sentences: La tortuga no tiene pelaje. El gato tiene una cola. Etc.
I can identify a cat by its description in Spanish.
Students are introduced to the word rayas (stripes) through the book "¿Quién tiene rayas?) and are taught the word manchas (spots). Students are introduced to the names of various members of the cat family, most of which are cognates and we practice describing them using color, size, and whether they have stripes, spots, or neither.
el león - the lion
el tigre - the tiger
el lince - the lynx
el leopardo - the leopard
la pantera - the panther
la puma - the puma
el guepardo - the cheetah
Students play a cat concentration game. They have to match a description of a cat with corresponding picture.
Example: El gato tiene rayas y una cola. The cat has stripes and a tail.
El gato tiene manchas pero no tiene una cola. The cat has spots but does not have a tail.
Students are introduced to this year's central idea in Spanish class: Language is a way to get knowledge. We talk about what knowledge is, some of the ways we get knowledge, and how many of those ways involve language. To practice this concept, students will be given a new riddle each time they come to Spanish class from now on. The riddle will describe something in Spanish. The challenge will be for them to read and figure out what is being talked about. Here is the first one we do: El animal es grande y tiene 2 patas muy grandes. No tiene pelaje. Tiene plumas. Corre rápido. No tiene orejas. Vive en África en la sabana. ¿Quién es? el avestruz
I can use Spanish to express hunger.
Students learn that 'tiene hambre' is the way to say that someone is hungry using Spanish. Technically, it means that someone 'has hunger'. Students then look at a series of pictures and voted by jumping right or left to indicate whether the animal was hungry or not hungry based on teacher's sentence.
Students then learn that carnivores eat 'carne' (meat) and herbivores eat 'plantas' (plantas) and learn a song called 'Claro que sí' (of course!) It is an echo song with multiple verses, each about a different animal and whether it eats 'carne' or 'plantas'.
El oso panda (clap, clap) - teacher sings and students echo
tiene hambre (clap) - teacher sings and students echo
El oso panda (clap, clap) - teacher sings and students echo
tiene hambre (clap) - teacher sings and students echo
¿Come plantas o carne, plantas o carne? (teacher asks this, no echo this time)
Plantas, claro que sí (clap clap) - students reply and teacher echos
Other verses: el león, el lobo, el conejo, la cebra
Using a word bank, I can make sentences in Spanish.
To practice their ability to use the vocabulary they have learned thus far, students work in groups with sets of cups. Each cup has from 2-4 words on it. Students choose the words they want to use to make their sentence and arrange the cups accordingly. Once each student in the group has a sentence written, they illustrate them. Some of these from each class get displayed on the bulletin board in the hall!
I can use Spanish to tell what there is or isn't.
One of the most confusing words for the young Spanish student to internalize is the word 'hay', which means 'there is' or 'there are'. Not only does it look like our word for the straw that cattle eat, but it sounds like our words 'I' and 'eye'. It takes a lot of practice and repetition to get this down. Students actually start hearing and using this word from the time they are in Kindergarten at Spicewood, but it must be used and retaught each year. It is such a high-frequency word, that they will get a lot of mileage out of just that one word.
We begin this lesson with a song that students learned in first grade called 'Hay muchos animales en el mundo.' (There are many animals in the world.) We read a book called En el jardin, a pattern book that uses 'hay' throughout. Another song we learned in past years is called "La clase" by Patti Lozano, and we sing it, as well.
The following lesson supports the students' Sharing the Planet unit of inquiry with the central idea: Living things share resources. Students are introduced to the Iberian lynx, which might just be the rarest feline on the planet. They are found only on the Iberian peninsula and are endangered. Students get to see a short segment of a Jeff Corwin video in which he explains the 2 main reasons: loss of their primary source a prey (rabbits) and habitat loss. In addition, we talk about a couple of other reasons that have contributed to their decline in numbers: being hit by vehicles on the roads that cut through their habitat, and farmers who kill them to protect their livestock.
I can demonstrate understanding of a paragraph written in Spanish.
Before we can read our paragraphs, we need to learn one more word: busca (to look for). To make it fun and memorable, we learn a little song and play a game of 'hide the lion'. Students take turns either hiding or looking for a small stuffed lion. As a student is searching, the class sings a song to them. Here are the words:
Busca, búscalo. (Look for, look for it)
Busca el león (Look for the lion)
Now we are ready for the 2 paragraphs. Students are able to read and translate them easily. Here is the first paragraph:
El lince vive en España y come conejos. Hay un problema. No hay muchos conejos. El lince tiene hambre y busca comida pero no hay. Pobre lince.
Translation: The lynx lives in Spain and eats rabbits. There is a problem. There aren't many rabbits. The lynx is hungry and looks for food but there isn't any. Poor lynx.
Next, we do a CLOZE activity to show that we understand the paragraph. Students cover their eyes while the teacher removes several of the words. Students work together to place the words back where they belong.
For the 2nd paragraph, students get to group up and do the CLOZE activity with each other. They take turns removing words for the others in their group. Here is the 2nd paragraph and its translation:
Hay un conejo. El conejo vive en Austin. Come plantas. No come carne. El conejo tiene hambre y busca plantas. Hay muchas plantas en Austin. El conejo come y no tiene hambre.
Translation: There is a rabbit. The rabbit lives in Austin. It eats plants. It doesn't eat meat. The rabbit is hungry and looks for plants. There are many plants in Austin. The rabbit eats and isn't hungry.
Students then make a lynx foldable to take home. The foldable includes the paragraph about the lynx with some of the words missing. We use the word bank provided to correctly complete the paragraph. Everyone is challenged to read the paragraph to at least 3 people at home to show off what we are able to do! .
One of the most confusing words for the young Spanish student to internalize is the word 'hay', which means 'there is' or 'there are'. Not only does it look like our word for the straw that cattle eat, but it sounds like our words 'I' and 'eye'. It takes a lot of practice and repetition to get this down. Students actually start hearing and using this word from the time they are in Kindergarten at Spicewood, but it must be used and retaught each year. It is such a high-frequency word, that they will get a lot of mileage out of just that one word.
We begin this lesson with a song that students learned in first grade called 'Hay muchos animales en el mundo.' (There are many animals in the world.) We read a book called En el jardin, a pattern book that uses 'hay' throughout. Another song we learned in past years is called "La clase" by Patti Lozano, and we sing it, as well.
The following lesson supports the students' Sharing the Planet unit of inquiry with the central idea: Living things share resources. Students are introduced to the Iberian lynx, which might just be the rarest feline on the planet. They are found only on the Iberian peninsula and are endangered. Students get to see a short segment of a Jeff Corwin video in which he explains the 2 main reasons: loss of their primary source a prey (rabbits) and habitat loss. In addition, we talk about a couple of other reasons that have contributed to their decline in numbers: being hit by vehicles on the roads that cut through their habitat, and farmers who kill them to protect their livestock.
I can demonstrate understanding of a paragraph written in Spanish.
Before we can read our paragraphs, we need to learn one more word: busca (to look for). To make it fun and memorable, we learn a little song and play a game of 'hide the lion'. Students take turns either hiding or looking for a small stuffed lion. As a student is searching, the class sings a song to them. Here are the words:
Busca, búscalo. (Look for, look for it)
Busca el león (Look for the lion)
Now we are ready for the 2 paragraphs. Students are able to read and translate them easily. Here is the first paragraph:
El lince vive en España y come conejos. Hay un problema. No hay muchos conejos. El lince tiene hambre y busca comida pero no hay. Pobre lince.
Translation: The lynx lives in Spain and eats rabbits. There is a problem. There aren't many rabbits. The lynx is hungry and looks for food but there isn't any. Poor lynx.
Next, we do a CLOZE activity to show that we understand the paragraph. Students cover their eyes while the teacher removes several of the words. Students work together to place the words back where they belong.
For the 2nd paragraph, students get to group up and do the CLOZE activity with each other. They take turns removing words for the others in their group. Here is the 2nd paragraph and its translation:
Hay un conejo. El conejo vive en Austin. Come plantas. No come carne. El conejo tiene hambre y busca plantas. Hay muchas plantas en Austin. El conejo come y no tiene hambre.
Translation: There is a rabbit. The rabbit lives in Austin. It eats plants. It doesn't eat meat. The rabbit is hungry and looks for plants. There are many plants in Austin. The rabbit eats and isn't hungry.
Students then make a lynx foldable to take home. The foldable includes the paragraph about the lynx with some of the words missing. We use the word bank provided to correctly complete the paragraph. Everyone is challenged to read the paragraph to at least 3 people at home to show off what we are able to do! .
I can get knowledge from sentences written in Spanish.
To get ready for this lesson, we review briefly the weather phrases 'hace frío' (it's cold) and 'hace calor' (it's hot). We also used the front cover of the book Oso pardo, oso pardo (Brown Bear, Brown Bear), to learn that, like English, Spanish has more than one word for colors. So far, students have only learned the word 'café' for brown, but pardo is another Spanish word for brown.
Finally, students are shown pictures of different types of bears (el oso polar, el oso negro, el oso panda, etc.) to practice describing and identifying them. Now they are ready for the lesson! This lesson also supports their Sharing the Planet unit of inquiry with the central idea: Living things share resources.
Through a series of slides containing pictures and sentences, students learn about the Brown Bear of Northern Spain. Scientists have made an interesting discovery in recent years. The brown bear is not hibernating like they used to. More than likely this is due to warmer temperatures year round (global warming, perhaps?) This is followed up with a comprehension worksheet where students label and color the bear, as well as reading a couple of paragraphs in Spanish and answering the questions that follow.
A fun fact about Spain: There is a famous statue in Madrid of a bear and a strawberry tree. This is the official symbol of Madrid. Read more about that here. Another cool connection is the Latin word ursa (which means bear). There are 2 constellations named after the bear: Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Do a little digging to find out more about them!
Depending on time, students may or may not make a take-home book called Osos, osos y mas osos (Bears, bears, and more bears.)
I can use Spanish to tell what day of the week it is.
We read the book Los planetas and students are really surprised at how they are able to read and understand the book just using what they know already combined with the cognate and picture clues. When the names for the days of the week are introduced, it is immediately obvious that they are related to the names of some of the heavenly bodies (click the link to read more!) We learna a song to the tune of The Adam's Family song to help us memorize the days of the week in Spanish. Here are the words:
Hay lunes y hay martes (There's Monday and there's Tuesday)
miércoles y jueves (Wednesday and Thursday)
viernes y sábado (Friday and Saturday)
domingo, nada más. (Sunday, nothing more)
Días de (snap, snap) la semana (snap, snap) (Days of....the week...)
Días de, días de, la semana (snap, snap) (Days of, days of, the week...)
We then compare the Spanish calendar with the English one and found a couple of differences. Can you spot them?
To get ready for this lesson, we review briefly the weather phrases 'hace frío' (it's cold) and 'hace calor' (it's hot). We also used the front cover of the book Oso pardo, oso pardo (Brown Bear, Brown Bear), to learn that, like English, Spanish has more than one word for colors. So far, students have only learned the word 'café' for brown, but pardo is another Spanish word for brown.
Finally, students are shown pictures of different types of bears (el oso polar, el oso negro, el oso panda, etc.) to practice describing and identifying them. Now they are ready for the lesson! This lesson also supports their Sharing the Planet unit of inquiry with the central idea: Living things share resources.
Through a series of slides containing pictures and sentences, students learn about the Brown Bear of Northern Spain. Scientists have made an interesting discovery in recent years. The brown bear is not hibernating like they used to. More than likely this is due to warmer temperatures year round (global warming, perhaps?) This is followed up with a comprehension worksheet where students label and color the bear, as well as reading a couple of paragraphs in Spanish and answering the questions that follow.
A fun fact about Spain: There is a famous statue in Madrid of a bear and a strawberry tree. This is the official symbol of Madrid. Read more about that here. Another cool connection is the Latin word ursa (which means bear). There are 2 constellations named after the bear: Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Do a little digging to find out more about them!
Depending on time, students may or may not make a take-home book called Osos, osos y mas osos (Bears, bears, and more bears.)
I can use Spanish to tell what day of the week it is.
We read the book Los planetas and students are really surprised at how they are able to read and understand the book just using what they know already combined with the cognate and picture clues. When the names for the days of the week are introduced, it is immediately obvious that they are related to the names of some of the heavenly bodies (click the link to read more!) We learna a song to the tune of The Adam's Family song to help us memorize the days of the week in Spanish. Here are the words:
Hay lunes y hay martes (There's Monday and there's Tuesday)
miércoles y jueves (Wednesday and Thursday)
viernes y sábado (Friday and Saturday)
domingo, nada más. (Sunday, nothing more)
Días de (snap, snap) la semana (snap, snap) (Days of....the week...)
Días de, días de, la semana (snap, snap) (Days of, days of, the week...)
We then compare the Spanish calendar with the English one and found a couple of differences. Can you spot them?
One difference is that in Spanish, the names of the months and days of the week are not capitalized. The other difference is that our week begins with Sunday, but the Spanish week begins with Monday. Cool, huh?
After some practice working on the days of the week, we do a fun activity where we race the timer to see how quickly we can put the days of the week in order. Some groups are able to do it in 9 seconds! Wow!
Students enjoy a sweet book called I love Saturdays y domingos which highlights the cultural differences between a little girl's 2 sets of grandparents, one set of which are from Mexico.
Students also learn the words 'hoy' (today) and 'mañana' (tomorrow), as well as how to say 'Hasta mañana' meaning 'until tomorrow'.
I can recite a poem in Spanish.
Today's lesson is a connection to students' How We Express Ourselves unit of inquiry. We talk about how every country has poems that are familiar to most everyone. Sometimes poems are prompted by a particular event. For example, if it starts raining, we might say the poem 'Rain, rain, go away' or sing the song 'It's raining, it's pouring'.
The Spanish poem we learn is like that. It is usually said to someone when they are hurt. Here is the poem with its translation:
Sana, sana, Heal, heal,
Colita de rana. Little frog's tail.
Si no sanas hoy, If you don't heal today,
Sanarás mañana. You'll heal tomorrow.
Students learn the poem through a CLOZE method of reading the poem over and over, each time removing another word until the whole poem is erased and students are saying it from memory.
As a follow-up activity, students practice saying the poem to a little stuffed animal that has hurt himself. Here is the rhyme that the teacher and students say to tell which body part the animal hurt.
¡O no!
¿Qué pasó? (what happened?)
¡Mi gatito se lastimó! (My kitty hurt himself.)
¿Se lastimó? (He hurt himself?)
Se lastimó la pata… (He hurt his paw)
Sana, sana (everyone says the poem while student rubs kitty paw)
I can use Spanish to tell what something is made of.
In these lessons we are reminded of what we learned in 1st grade, that 'es de' can mean 'is from'. Today we learn that 'es de' can also mean 'is made of'. After being introduced to the phrases being used in various ways, we act out a story called 'El cuento de las tortillas'. Click on the link to review 'es de' and read the story!
We also learned a couple of fun facts about Spain. We learned that not only is the 'flamenco' an animal, it is also a popular dance from Spain.
Another interesting fact is that Spain has both a king and a president! Here are some fun sights to learn more.
The Spanish Royal Family
King Felipe of Spain turns 47: 10 facts about the royal
Spain has both a king and a president.
I can use Spanish to name some common fruits.
In this lesson, we learn some Spanish names for fruits using plastic fruits and later through a song by Patti Lozano called La canción de las frutas. The students get to hold up the plastic fruit they are holding at the appropriate time in the song, then quickly trade with a neighbor and be ready to hold up their new fruit in time. Here are the fruits we learned:
las manzanas - apples
las peras - pears
las fresas - strawberries
el limón - lemon
las naranjas - oranges
los plátanos
la uvas - grapes
el melón
Writing/translating activity: Using whiteboards, students write a variety of sentences using the names of the fruits. Here are the types of sentences they write:
Sentences telling what there is or are: Hay una pera y dos melones. (There are a pear and 2 melons.)
Sentences telling what someone has: Cecilia tiene una manzana roja. (Cecilia has a red apple.)
Sentences telling what someone is eating: Joey come una uva. (Joey is eating a grape.)
Students share the sentences they wrote while the class translates. The teacher records the sentences to be used in a translation game they will play afterwards. In the game, the teacher reads one of the student created sentences and students must correctly translate to earn points for their team.
I can use Spanish to name some common fruits.
We begin learning some of the Spanish words for different foods through the use of a fun chant! Here are the foods we are learning:
la leche - milk
el agua - water
el cereal con frutas - cereal with fruit
el pollo - chicken
los huevos - eggs
la pimienta - pepper
la sal - salt
la carne - meat
el queso - cheese
el pan tostado - toast
la sopa - soup
las galletas - cookies or crackers
las papas - potatoes
el arroz - rice
Students get to "go shopping" for the teacher by bringing her the 2 items she requests.
Students are introduced to a few more cognate foods: limonada (lemonade), tomates (tomatoes), café (coffee), and chile (chile pepper). They then see a magnified picture of a very small part of a food they know and try to guess which food it is.
Food dominoes are a fun way to match a food picture with the written Spanish word for it. Students get in small groups to play.
I can use Spanish to tell what I like and don't like.
Students are shown food phrases and must tell the class whether they like that food or not using 'me gusta' and 'no me gusta'. Students realize that they can combine words they know to make new foods. Here are some examples:
sopa de queso - cheese soup
sopa de pollo - chicken soup
leche de chocolate - chocolate milk
pan blanco - white bread
galletas de chocolate - chocolate cookies
arroz blanco - white rice
arroz café - brown rice
etc.
Students are introduced to the Patti Lozano song Jugo de naranja. This song is about a kid who doesn't like anything but orange juice. We do the same motions from the food chant we learned earlier, since the foods correspond.
I can use Spanish to tell what someone wants to eat.
We learn a fun little song to help us learn how to say that someone 'wants to eat'. Here are the words!
¿Qué quiere comer? What does he want to eat?
¿Qué quiere comer? What does she want to eat?
Quiere comer. He wants to eat... una pizza, una pizza!
Students make up sentences telling what different animals want to eat. Ex: El elefante quiere comer el plátano. El tigre quiere comer carne. etc.
We act out a story about a family in a restaurant. The waiter asks what the baby wants to eat. Each family member tries to tell him, but no matter what he brings, the baby doesn't want to eat it.
Charades are played where students must act out the food they want to eat and the class tries to figure it out.
I can use what I've learned in Spanish to write a story.
Students write a story that will become their portfolio piece. The story is evidence of all that each student has been learning this year in Spanish. Stories must be written in complete sentences beginning with capital letters and ending with a period. Students are encouraged not to stress out about spelling. They can just sound out the words and do their best. The spelling will come as they learn more and more, but communication is our primary goal. It is also important that they use only words we have learned or cognates. This way they are truly demonstrating what they have already learned and their classmates can read and understand their stories without difficulty. Illustrating the story is the last step. Once students finish their story, they partner up to read each other's stories and help to catch any mistakes that slipped through. Please take the time to commend your student on the incredible amount of learning they have accomplished this year. They have worked so hard and we are very proud of them.
I can use Spanish to tell what I want.
Students sing a new version of the song they learned earlier to talk about themselves:
¿Qué quieres comer? What do you want to eat?
¿Qué quieres comer? What doyou want to eat?
Quiero comer. I want to eat... una pizza, una pizza!
After talking about how the verb ending is changed to talk about oneself, students choose from pairs of food pics to tell what they want to eat.
We then take the verb chant we have learned and practice changing each of the verb endings to talk about what 'I' am doing. Here are the verbs in their 1st person singular form:
salto - I jump, I am jumping
corro - I run, I am running
subo - I climb/go up, I am climbing/going up
nado - I swim, I am swimming
como - I eat, I am eating
bailo - I dance, I am dancing
camino - I walk, I am walking
duermo - I sleep, I am sleeping
Students choose from plastic foods to tell the class which they want using 'quiero'.
I can demonstrate understanding of a story written in Spanish.
Students read and act out a story called 'El oso tiene hambre.'
I can use Spanish to tell that someone is coming or going.
After talking about el turismo in Spain, students hear the book La fiesta de coneja (Rabbit's party). Rabbit is having a birthday party and her friends all bring a different food/drink This pattern book helps students learn the words: va (goes, is going), lleva (brings), and zanahoria (carrot).
Students learn the song Va y viene (goes and comes). The song is fun as students are directed to go or come. Here are the words and translation. Different student names are inserted until every student has been directed to go or come.
Va y viene (goes and comes)
Va y viene (goes and comes)
Viene y va (comes and goes)
Jasper viene (Jasper comes)
Megan viene (Megan comes)
Jorge se va (Jorge goes away)
Act out the story about the fox and the lynx who go to McDonald's.
I can read and understand a chapter book in Spanish.
Students are given the chapter book El conejo tiene hambre. written by Carol Imperial (RRISD Spanish teacher.) there are 6 chapters and over the course of several lessons, students will read, translate, and illustrate each chapter. It is a good representation of all that they have worked on this year. The students feel a great sense of accomplishment at being able to read and understand a chapter book! Has your student read his/her chapter book to you yet? Make sure you get them to translate for you so you know what the story is about!
I can name some of the body parts in Spanish.
Students learn the counterpart to the English song Head, shoulders, knees and toes. Here are the lyrics and translation:
Cabeza, hombros, piernas, pies (head, shoulders, legs, feet)
Cabeza, hombros, piernas, pies
Ojos, boca y nariz (eyes, mouth, and nose)
Cabeza, hombros, piernas, pies
The cognates estómago and dientes are taught and then we play Simón dice where students are told to touch a certain body part, but must only do so if Simon says.
More body parts are taught to prepare to sing the song Juanito cuando baila by José Luis Orozco. Here they are: el dedito (little finger), el codo (elbow), la mano (hand), la rodilla (knee), la cadera (hip), la cabeza (head), el pie (foot).
Oh, no, poor Joe! picture cards are used to practice body parts. On each picture, Jose is missing a different body part. Students first listen (without seeing the picture) to the teacher tell which body part is missing. They must say it in English. Then the teacher shows the picture and students must tell in Spanish which part is missing.
Body part bingo: This is a hilarious version of bingo played with real people instead of on paper. The class is divided into 2 teams: boys and girls. Each team chooses a 'patient'. The patient doesn't play, but they are certainly involved in the game. A boy and a girl each come up to represent their team, and the teacher tells which body part hurts. Ex: Le duele la cabeza. (His head hurts.) The first person to correctly touch that body part and say 'ow' gets to put a band aide on their 'patient.' Play until everyone in the class has had a turn racing. The team with the most band aides on their 'patient' is the winner.
I can tell how discoveries have changed the way tortillas are made in Mexico.
Although 2nd grade's focus is Spain, they will be learning about Mexico next year as 3rd graders, so this lesson gets them excited about next year while connecting with their How the World Works unit of inquiry with the central idea, Technology has changed the way we live. Using pictures and short videos, students see how tortilla making has changed over the years as advances in technology have been made. Here are the video links, if you want to check it out!
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Video 4
The last Spanish class of the year is spent looking back at some of the activities, games, and songs we've participated in this past year. Students are encouraged to use their Spanish when the opportunity arises because the fact is...
If you don't use it, you lose it!
After some practice working on the days of the week, we do a fun activity where we race the timer to see how quickly we can put the days of the week in order. Some groups are able to do it in 9 seconds! Wow!
Students enjoy a sweet book called I love Saturdays y domingos which highlights the cultural differences between a little girl's 2 sets of grandparents, one set of which are from Mexico.
Students also learn the words 'hoy' (today) and 'mañana' (tomorrow), as well as how to say 'Hasta mañana' meaning 'until tomorrow'.
I can recite a poem in Spanish.
Today's lesson is a connection to students' How We Express Ourselves unit of inquiry. We talk about how every country has poems that are familiar to most everyone. Sometimes poems are prompted by a particular event. For example, if it starts raining, we might say the poem 'Rain, rain, go away' or sing the song 'It's raining, it's pouring'.
The Spanish poem we learn is like that. It is usually said to someone when they are hurt. Here is the poem with its translation:
Sana, sana, Heal, heal,
Colita de rana. Little frog's tail.
Si no sanas hoy, If you don't heal today,
Sanarás mañana. You'll heal tomorrow.
Students learn the poem through a CLOZE method of reading the poem over and over, each time removing another word until the whole poem is erased and students are saying it from memory.
As a follow-up activity, students practice saying the poem to a little stuffed animal that has hurt himself. Here is the rhyme that the teacher and students say to tell which body part the animal hurt.
¡O no!
¿Qué pasó? (what happened?)
¡Mi gatito se lastimó! (My kitty hurt himself.)
¿Se lastimó? (He hurt himself?)
Se lastimó la pata… (He hurt his paw)
Sana, sana (everyone says the poem while student rubs kitty paw)
I can use Spanish to tell what something is made of.
In these lessons we are reminded of what we learned in 1st grade, that 'es de' can mean 'is from'. Today we learn that 'es de' can also mean 'is made of'. After being introduced to the phrases being used in various ways, we act out a story called 'El cuento de las tortillas'. Click on the link to review 'es de' and read the story!
We also learned a couple of fun facts about Spain. We learned that not only is the 'flamenco' an animal, it is also a popular dance from Spain.
Another interesting fact is that Spain has both a king and a president! Here are some fun sights to learn more.
The Spanish Royal Family
King Felipe of Spain turns 47: 10 facts about the royal
Spain has both a king and a president.
I can use Spanish to name some common fruits.
In this lesson, we learn some Spanish names for fruits using plastic fruits and later through a song by Patti Lozano called La canción de las frutas. The students get to hold up the plastic fruit they are holding at the appropriate time in the song, then quickly trade with a neighbor and be ready to hold up their new fruit in time. Here are the fruits we learned:
las manzanas - apples
las peras - pears
las fresas - strawberries
el limón - lemon
las naranjas - oranges
los plátanos
la uvas - grapes
el melón
Writing/translating activity: Using whiteboards, students write a variety of sentences using the names of the fruits. Here are the types of sentences they write:
Sentences telling what there is or are: Hay una pera y dos melones. (There are a pear and 2 melons.)
Sentences telling what someone has: Cecilia tiene una manzana roja. (Cecilia has a red apple.)
Sentences telling what someone is eating: Joey come una uva. (Joey is eating a grape.)
Students share the sentences they wrote while the class translates. The teacher records the sentences to be used in a translation game they will play afterwards. In the game, the teacher reads one of the student created sentences and students must correctly translate to earn points for their team.
I can use Spanish to name some common fruits.
We begin learning some of the Spanish words for different foods through the use of a fun chant! Here are the foods we are learning:
la leche - milk
el agua - water
el cereal con frutas - cereal with fruit
el pollo - chicken
los huevos - eggs
la pimienta - pepper
la sal - salt
la carne - meat
el queso - cheese
el pan tostado - toast
la sopa - soup
las galletas - cookies or crackers
las papas - potatoes
el arroz - rice
Students get to "go shopping" for the teacher by bringing her the 2 items she requests.
Students are introduced to a few more cognate foods: limonada (lemonade), tomates (tomatoes), café (coffee), and chile (chile pepper). They then see a magnified picture of a very small part of a food they know and try to guess which food it is.
Food dominoes are a fun way to match a food picture with the written Spanish word for it. Students get in small groups to play.
I can use Spanish to tell what I like and don't like.
Students are shown food phrases and must tell the class whether they like that food or not using 'me gusta' and 'no me gusta'. Students realize that they can combine words they know to make new foods. Here are some examples:
sopa de queso - cheese soup
sopa de pollo - chicken soup
leche de chocolate - chocolate milk
pan blanco - white bread
galletas de chocolate - chocolate cookies
arroz blanco - white rice
arroz café - brown rice
etc.
Students are introduced to the Patti Lozano song Jugo de naranja. This song is about a kid who doesn't like anything but orange juice. We do the same motions from the food chant we learned earlier, since the foods correspond.
I can use Spanish to tell what someone wants to eat.
We learn a fun little song to help us learn how to say that someone 'wants to eat'. Here are the words!
¿Qué quiere comer? What does he want to eat?
¿Qué quiere comer? What does she want to eat?
Quiere comer. He wants to eat... una pizza, una pizza!
Students make up sentences telling what different animals want to eat. Ex: El elefante quiere comer el plátano. El tigre quiere comer carne. etc.
We act out a story about a family in a restaurant. The waiter asks what the baby wants to eat. Each family member tries to tell him, but no matter what he brings, the baby doesn't want to eat it.
Charades are played where students must act out the food they want to eat and the class tries to figure it out.
I can use what I've learned in Spanish to write a story.
Students write a story that will become their portfolio piece. The story is evidence of all that each student has been learning this year in Spanish. Stories must be written in complete sentences beginning with capital letters and ending with a period. Students are encouraged not to stress out about spelling. They can just sound out the words and do their best. The spelling will come as they learn more and more, but communication is our primary goal. It is also important that they use only words we have learned or cognates. This way they are truly demonstrating what they have already learned and their classmates can read and understand their stories without difficulty. Illustrating the story is the last step. Once students finish their story, they partner up to read each other's stories and help to catch any mistakes that slipped through. Please take the time to commend your student on the incredible amount of learning they have accomplished this year. They have worked so hard and we are very proud of them.
I can use Spanish to tell what I want.
Students sing a new version of the song they learned earlier to talk about themselves:
¿Qué quieres comer? What do you want to eat?
¿Qué quieres comer? What doyou want to eat?
Quiero comer. I want to eat... una pizza, una pizza!
After talking about how the verb ending is changed to talk about oneself, students choose from pairs of food pics to tell what they want to eat.
We then take the verb chant we have learned and practice changing each of the verb endings to talk about what 'I' am doing. Here are the verbs in their 1st person singular form:
salto - I jump, I am jumping
corro - I run, I am running
subo - I climb/go up, I am climbing/going up
nado - I swim, I am swimming
como - I eat, I am eating
bailo - I dance, I am dancing
camino - I walk, I am walking
duermo - I sleep, I am sleeping
Students choose from plastic foods to tell the class which they want using 'quiero'.
I can demonstrate understanding of a story written in Spanish.
Students read and act out a story called 'El oso tiene hambre.'
I can use Spanish to tell that someone is coming or going.
After talking about el turismo in Spain, students hear the book La fiesta de coneja (Rabbit's party). Rabbit is having a birthday party and her friends all bring a different food/drink This pattern book helps students learn the words: va (goes, is going), lleva (brings), and zanahoria (carrot).
Students learn the song Va y viene (goes and comes). The song is fun as students are directed to go or come. Here are the words and translation. Different student names are inserted until every student has been directed to go or come.
Va y viene (goes and comes)
Va y viene (goes and comes)
Viene y va (comes and goes)
Jasper viene (Jasper comes)
Megan viene (Megan comes)
Jorge se va (Jorge goes away)
Act out the story about the fox and the lynx who go to McDonald's.
I can read and understand a chapter book in Spanish.
Students are given the chapter book El conejo tiene hambre. written by Carol Imperial (RRISD Spanish teacher.) there are 6 chapters and over the course of several lessons, students will read, translate, and illustrate each chapter. It is a good representation of all that they have worked on this year. The students feel a great sense of accomplishment at being able to read and understand a chapter book! Has your student read his/her chapter book to you yet? Make sure you get them to translate for you so you know what the story is about!
I can name some of the body parts in Spanish.
Students learn the counterpart to the English song Head, shoulders, knees and toes. Here are the lyrics and translation:
Cabeza, hombros, piernas, pies (head, shoulders, legs, feet)
Cabeza, hombros, piernas, pies
Ojos, boca y nariz (eyes, mouth, and nose)
Cabeza, hombros, piernas, pies
The cognates estómago and dientes are taught and then we play Simón dice where students are told to touch a certain body part, but must only do so if Simon says.
More body parts are taught to prepare to sing the song Juanito cuando baila by José Luis Orozco. Here they are: el dedito (little finger), el codo (elbow), la mano (hand), la rodilla (knee), la cadera (hip), la cabeza (head), el pie (foot).
Oh, no, poor Joe! picture cards are used to practice body parts. On each picture, Jose is missing a different body part. Students first listen (without seeing the picture) to the teacher tell which body part is missing. They must say it in English. Then the teacher shows the picture and students must tell in Spanish which part is missing.
Body part bingo: This is a hilarious version of bingo played with real people instead of on paper. The class is divided into 2 teams: boys and girls. Each team chooses a 'patient'. The patient doesn't play, but they are certainly involved in the game. A boy and a girl each come up to represent their team, and the teacher tells which body part hurts. Ex: Le duele la cabeza. (His head hurts.) The first person to correctly touch that body part and say 'ow' gets to put a band aide on their 'patient.' Play until everyone in the class has had a turn racing. The team with the most band aides on their 'patient' is the winner.
I can tell how discoveries have changed the way tortillas are made in Mexico.
Although 2nd grade's focus is Spain, they will be learning about Mexico next year as 3rd graders, so this lesson gets them excited about next year while connecting with their How the World Works unit of inquiry with the central idea, Technology has changed the way we live. Using pictures and short videos, students see how tortilla making has changed over the years as advances in technology have been made. Here are the video links, if you want to check it out!
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Video 4
The last Spanish class of the year is spent looking back at some of the activities, games, and songs we've participated in this past year. Students are encouraged to use their Spanish when the opportunity arises because the fact is...
If you don't use it, you lose it!