First Grade

First graders continue their study of the Spanish language, twice a week for 30 minutes. During this time students are immersed in Spanish while participating in a variety of activities that are often games-based and/or incorporate music, movement, and children’s literature. Activities continue to promote the development of basic vocabulary and conversational skills such as responding to/asking simple questions with one or two words or short phrases. Students practice describing familiar people and objects and learn to use contextual clues when reading as well as recognize the beginning sounds of words. Some topics of focus include comparing familiar items, counting by tens to 100, rhymes and fairy tales.

Second Grade

Second graders continue their study of the Spanish language, twice a week for 30 minutes. During this time students are immersed in Spanish while participating in a variety of activities that are often games-based and/or incorporate music, movement, and children’s literature. Activities continue to promote the development of simple conversational skills and beginning reading strategies such as recognizing familiar words in print and understanding letter sounds unique to the Spanish language. Toward the end of the year, students will have some guided experiences writing familiar words and phrases. Some topics of focus include weather, calendar, clothing, transportation, and animals.

Third Grade

Third graders continue their study of the Spanish language, twice a week for 30 minutes. During this time students are immersed in Spanish while participating in a variety of activities that are often games-based and/or incorporate music, movement, and children’s literature. The goals are very similar to second grade, such as continuing to promote the development of conversational skills, except there are more opportunities to practice/develop reading skills and strategies. Students will have practice using longer phrases to ask and answer questions about people, places, and things and will write simple sentences to describe a picture. Some topics of focus include the home and family, neighborhood places, and foods.

Fourth Grade

Fourth graders continue their study of the Spanish language, twice a week for 30 minutes. During this time students are immersed in Spanish while participating in a variety of activities that are often games-based and/or incorporate music, movement, and children’s literature. Upon completion of third grade, most students will have knowledge of a wide range of vocabulary/expressions that will allow them to follow directions and seek information in Spanish. As fourth graders, students will practice using complete sentences when speaking Spanish with their peers. They will also be introduced to Spanish text materials and practice reading in Spanish to peers, and writing about themselves and other familiar people. There will be a greater focus on important aspects of Spanish-speaking cultures and the various places in the world where Spanish is spoken. Some topics of focus include characteristics/personality traits, school activities and sports.

Fifth Grade

Fifth graders will continue their study of the Spanish language, twice a week for 30 minutes. During this time, students are immersed in the Spanish language while participating in a variety of activities that are games-based and/or incorporate music, movement, and literature. Students will expand their production of Spanish in both oral and written form. Unique aspects of Spanish-speaking cultures will be discussed, as well as famous people from these cultures. Spanish students will also receive text materials that will be used as resource guides to review prior topics, reinforce current topics, and practice reading and writing. Some topics of study include celebrations, professions, Spanish-speaking populations, and “Seven Wonders” of the Spanish speaking world.