Students in 7th grade Spanish should click here to join our class My Big Campus group!

Welcome to another school year and new entry on my Spanish class blog! I will be sharing what our estudiantes fabulosos are learning en la clase de español this year. I hope you check here often. Feel free to contact me anytime should you have any questions. I am here to help all our students learn! Buena suerte a todos mis estudiantes. Recuerden, en las palabras de Dory, “¡Sigue hablando, sigue hablando, sigue, sigue escuchando (Just keep speaking, just keep speaking, just keep on listening!)!”

Image: ‘Nemo Cover Wallpaper‘ 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29771201@N06/3306938931

Seventh and eighth graders have recently embarked on an adventure in technology: Glogster! Students created digital posters, called glogs, for recent projects using the website Glogster. After researching their ideal hotel and apartment in Ecuador, eighth graders wrote two paragraphs in Spanish, one for their ideal apartment and one for their ideal hotel. They then created a glog showcasing their selections with accompanying photos. Here is an exemplary glog, courtesy of Hipólito P in Grade 8:

Here is another phenomenal eighth grade project, courtesy of Lea R:

To see more examples of student work, please check out the Grade 8 Student Blogs!

Seventh graders used Glogster for a recent mini-project. Students had the choice of researching carretas (oxcarts) of Costa Rica or the cueca dance of Chile. Here is an excellent glog on the cueca dance, courtesy of Margarita C:

Here is a marvelous glog on Costa Rican carretas, courtesy of Jaime L:

Please check out more student glogs by visiting the Grade 7 Student Blogs. Thanks for visiting!

Open Glogster in one tab and your blog on another tab.  (You should be logged in to both sites)

On the Glogster Page-
Click on the Dashboard Tab.
Scroll down to Your Glogs.
Next to your Glog, next to the word “embed” click the copy button.

Now, go back to your blog.

On Your Blog-
Posts
Add New Post
Give your blog post a title.
In the blog area, write a paragraph describing your project.
Now, click on the HTML tab.
Click under the paragraph you just wrote.
Paste the code you copied.  It should look similar to this (DO NOT USE MY CODE OR IT WILL NOT WORK):
<iframe src= “http://edu.glogster.com/glog.php?glog_id=16717169&scale=40” width=”500” height=”580” frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” marginheight=”0″ marginwidth=”0″ style=”overflow: hidden;”></iframe>

It is VERY important that you change the scale to 40, the width to 500 and the height to 580!  (Your code will not say these numbers!)  If you do not, the blog will not show up properly!  Do not delete any part of the code or it will not work, just change the numbers to match mine.

Select SPANISH for the category (or the correct category for the class you are in).
Click Submit for Review when you are finished!

Thanks to Sra. Soriano for sharing these instructions with us!

Our eighth graders just created and participated in a bilingual fashion show with Mr. Schnurlein’s French classes. Check out these Animoto videos of each class!

Mod 6:

Mod 7:

Since we last blogged, much has taken place en la clase de español. Here is what each grade has been learning:

Grado 6

After learning the verb ser (to be) in all its forms, our sixth graders have acquired a comprehensive set of adjectives to describe people in terms of physical and personality characteristics. It is very impressive to see these students describe a variety of characters, from classmates to well-known figures from the fictional world. Most recently the students have been working on a project in which they pair a baby photo of themselves with a current physical and personality description (without their name attached). Later this week we will upload the presentation to VoiceThread and guess who is who based on the baby picture and description.

Grado 7

Our seventh graders have been learning about members of the family and descriptive terms used with people. They have been working on a culminating group project in which students are auditioning for a new reality television show about their fabulous family. Students will perform these projects later this week.

Grado 8

Eighth graders have had a busy month! Earlier this month they learned the reflexive verb sentirse (to feel) with several new terms for emotions. More recently students have learned positive and negative informal commands with and without pronouns. The acquisition of the various commands in the context of our health chapter has allowed students a great opportunity to show what they have learned through a project they are working on this week: El Programa de Jóvenes Sanos. Students are creating a PowerPoint/VoiceThread presentation to give guidelines for healthy eating and fitness habits.

All the students have something to be proud of this month after learning so much and demonstrating what they have learned through their fantastic projects!

November has been a very busy month! As always, thanks for visiting. Here’s what we’ve been up to en la clase de español:

Grado 6

Sixth graders have been learning the verb ser (to be) in all its forms. We have reinforced the acquisition of this verb through songs, activities on Conjuguemos, videos, and rhymes/raps that students created by using Google docs. Students just took a test on Capítulo 1 of our textbook, and after Thanksgiving we will be starting Capítulo 2.

Grado 7

In the seventh grade, students have been learning and practicing several regular and irregular verbs in the present tense. To demonstrate what they have learned, students have been collaborating in small groups using Google docs. Students created Google Presentations with slides that included visual depictions of the verbs we are learning and their names. Then they wrote sentences using the various forms of each of the verbs. Our next step will be to upload our presentations to VoiceThread to make comments about the verbs.

Here are some pictures of our students using technology to learn Spanish verbs:

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Grado 8

Eighth graders have been learning how to express their daily routines in Spanish through reflexive verbs – everything from waking up to brushing teeth to going to bed. Students have conducted a “walkabout” – an activity in which students rotate about the classroom to describe a series of pictures in Spanish at the sentence level. ¡Buen trabajo!

¡Hola a todos! Hello everyone, and thanks for visiting!

Here is some recent news from la clase de español.

Grado 6

Sixth grade students have been learning how to tell time, the days of the week in Spanish (including a catchy tune), and the verb ser, which means “to be”. Students are now able to work a the sentence level in Spanish, building on their previously-acquired knowledge daily! Also, sixth graders have studied the holiday Día de los Muertos, and can tell you what types of objects are used for this special occasion.

Grado 7

In the seventh grade, students have continued their study of ir + a + infinitive (going to do something), and are now working with the present tense with several new verbs. Students have learned verb endings for the present tense for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs, which is allowing them to expand upon what they have learned and create excellent sentences, both spoken and written.

Grado 8

Eighth graders have been working very hard learning and utilizing direct object pronouns. Now their sentences can be shorter, as they do not need to repeat the direct objects repeatedly! This new grammar form allows students to speak and write more fluently in Spanish, as direct object pronouns are commonly used throughout the Spanish language.

NB: Please check out my new page “Useful Links”, which contains a few sites for students to practice their Spanish. The page can be found under NAVIGATION (below my photo to the right).

Welcome! Please read below to find out what students have been working on in Spanish class over the past few weeks.

Grado 6

Sixth graders have been practicing their oral proficiency in Spanish with their presentaciones orales. Students receive a piece of text early in the week and hear a model of its pronunciation. Then they practice it every day aloud. Friday each student reads his/her piece to Sra. Dion and is graded on pronunciation. It has been fantastic hearing how great the sixth graders sound! In addition, sixth graders have been learning how to express time in Spanish.

Grado 7

Seventh graders have been very busy wrapping up the first section of Chapter 4 and moving into the second half of the chapter. They took a quiz on the vocabulary of school supplies and classes, the verbs tener and venir, and how to express much and few in Spanish. Seventh graders have also been working on oral presentations, and have demonstrated improvement and excellence in their Spanish oral skills. Keep it up!

Grado 8

Eighth graders have learned several stem-changing verbs in Spanish, both in meaning and in conjugation. These kinds of verbs are known as boot or shoe verbs in Spanish. Any eighth grader in Spanish can tell you why. Also, students took a quiz on food vocabulary, the verbs ser and tener, and stem-changing verbs. Great job!

Here are some students practicing their oral presentations:

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¡Bienvenidos a todos! Here is what we have been up to this week in la clase de español:

Grado 6

Sixth grade students have been practicing how to introduce each other in Spanish. They used VoiceThread to make comments introducing people to one another. The students are also learning how to ask and tell where people are from. Ask them to tell you the Spanish abbreviation for USA! It’s not what you may think.

Grado 7

Seventh graders have been continuing their study of all things school-related. This week they learned how to express quantity in Spanish using the forms of mucho and poco. They also examined the school schedule of a real Spanish student, Carla, and used VoiceThread to tell her about their schedules and ask her questions. We plan to share our students’ work with her and solicit her feedback in Spanish!

Grado 8

Eighth graders have been learning how to ask for help, describe tastes of foods, and express problems with food in a restaurant. They have been learning the distinction between ser and estar in Spanish, the two words that mean “to be”. They also participated in an activity in which participants had to guess a food problem based on the students’ clues in Spanish.