February 21-24, 2017

I hope everyone had a wonderful Presidents' Day weekend, even with the rain.  :)

3rd grade:  We have continued learning about how to say that we enjoy doing many different activities.  On Thursday, we will learn more about punctuation that is unique to the Spanish language, and we will also discuss cognates.  Cognates are words that look and sound similar in both languages.  An example that we discuss often is chocolate.  :)  It's spelled the same in both languages, it's just pronounced differently.  In this section of Unit 3, we have already reviewed the cognates: trompeta, fútbol, béisbol, intivo, guitarra, difícil, clase, escuela, and many more!  The third graders should have workbook pages 33-39 done at this point in the quarter.

4th grade:  We have finished up talking about places we go and activities we participate in while on vacation.  On Friday we will begin our last section of Unit 3, by introducing different events that we enjoy attending.  The fourth graders should have workbook pages 33-40 completed already, and 41 was assigned for homework today.

5th grade:  We have completed our review of time and school schedules.  On Friday and today, we talked about the letters j and g, and went over what sounds they make, and when they make them.  It was fun learning a Spanish tongue twister with those letters and sounds.  They have the opportunity to memorize the tongue twister and say it for me to earn an extra credit point on their next exam.  The fifth graders should have workbook pages 33-36 completed so far, and I assigned page 37 as homework today.

Have a great week!

February 13-17, 2017

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you all had a restful weekend and are ready for another great week.  I have been dealing with this awful illness that's been going around.  Both my kids have it, and I have it.  Also, my 9 month old nephew was admitted to the hospital with a mass in his stomach on Thursday, so I apologize that I have been away from school here and there, and haven't been updating as much as I would like.

In all grade levels, we are working diligently on Unit 3, and I'm hoping to be finished with it by the end of February.  We will have a Unit test, and I will let you know the dates for that as soon as I get the rest of Unit 3 mapped out.  I had to do some reteaching when I got back from maternity leave last year, and we only got through Unit 3.  I am really excited that we will be done with it so early in the year, and will be able to move on to Unit 4 and possibly Unit 5!

HOMEWORK:

• 3rd grade was assigned workbook page 39 on Thursday.  At this point, they should have all workbook pages 33-39 completed.  
• 4th grade was assigned workbook page 40 on Tuesday.  I was not there on Friday, so they had a few extra days to complete it.  I will be checking it tomorrow.  They should have all workbook pages 33-40 completed so far.
• 5th grade was assigned an assignment out of the textbook on Tuesday (I copied the pages for them).  I was not there on Friday, so they had a few extra days to complete it.  I will be checking it tomorrow.  I will double check their workbook pages when I am back at school, but I believe they should have pages 33-36 completed so far.

On an unrelated note, in addition to teaching 3-5 Spanish and 4th grade Math, I am also our Extracurricular Director.  (many hats!)  :)  Alongside Mrs. Fawcett, I love being able to offer our educators their stipends for sponsoring our before, during, after school, and early release Wednesday activities for our students.  In addition to this, your generosity helps us keep the cost of those clubs down.  In learning more about the extracurricular activities at others Archways, many of their teacher led clubs and study clubs cost families between $50 and $80 per quarter. Our teacher led clubs and Study Club cost only $20 per quarter!  This is just one of the many areas in which our Tax Credits are able to make a huge difference in our Archway Chandler community.  If you have not donated yet, would you please consider it?  It's a dollar for dollar tax credit, so it's basically a no cost donation.  :)  Also, would you please also consider asking around your neighborhood, church, work, gym, etc, to see if anyone else would like to take advantage of this opportunity to not only lower their tax bill, but also do some good in the lives of our students and teachers.  The link to donate or share is below.  

https://www.greatheartsonline.com/trans/archwaychandler_tc.html

Thank you so much, and have a wonderful week.  Please email me with any questions or concerns regarding Spanish or Extracurriculars.  

January 30-February 3, 2017

Happy Wednesday!

3rd grade:  On Monday, we reviewed numbers 0-30, and learned the similarities and differences between the Mayan calendar and our own.  We will have a short quiz on the numbers on Thursday.  It will be a five question quiz in which I say the number in Spanish, and the students write down the digits.  For example, if I say "catorce," the students would write 14 on their paper.  We will then begin talking about different cultural activities that we enjoy doing.  Workbook page 38 should also be completed by Thursday.

4th grade:  On Tuesday, we learned how to ask and answer the question, "¿Adónde vas de vacaciones?" (Where do you go on vacation?).  We also discussed different vacation locations, and enjoyed poking a little bit of fun at Sra. Barksdale's drawings (She is NO Mrs. Wuerfel!)  :)  We will delve deeper into the subject of vacations in the coming classes.  Workbook page 39 was assigned as homework, due Friday.

5th grade:  On Tuesday, we finished up learning about how to tell time in Spanish.  On Friday, we will have a small quiz.  It will be five questions.  I will say the time in Spanish, and the students will write the digits and time of day.  For example, if I were to say, "Son las tres y quince de la tarde,"  the students would write 3:15 pm on their papers.  After the quiz, we will begin a study of school schedules and compare our own schedule to schools in El Salvador.  All three classes were asked to study for the time quiz.  5B and 5C were also given a worksheet, due Friday, to assist them in studying.  5A has already completed the assignment.

Have a wonderful week and let me know if you have any questions!