¡Hola y bienvenidos a la Clase de Español! Welcome to the 2011-2012 school year!

I am very extremely excited to be teaching Kindergarten through Fourth Grade this year. It is my seventh year teaching at OWS and I am delighted to be part of the language learning experience for your children and look forward to helping them on their journey to becoming masters of the Spanish language.


This month, the students will be reviewing materials from last year to refresh and re-connect with the Spanish language. They will continue building new vocabulary and phrases throughout the year while consistently working on becoming more fluent in conversational Spanish.

Kindergarten through 2nd Grade

Kindergarten through Second Grade students will be taking home flashcards created in class with words and simple phrases each month to practice and reinforce their new Spanish skills. I encourage you to practice these flashcards regularly with your child. You may even find yourself learning some Spanish in the process! 

3rd and 4th Grade

I highly recommend Third and Fourth Graders have access to a Spanish / English Dictionary at home during the school year. This will help them build more strength in the language as well as serve as a resource tool for completing class assignments. Some good publishers of Spanish / English dictionaries include Larousse, Oxford and Webster. Additionally, with parent’s permission, I allow students (on a limited basis only) to use an internet search engine to look up Spanish translations to help with homework when necessary.

New OWS Students

To our new students at OWS, I will be sending out a Spanish handout containing simple phrases, vocabulary review, and activities to practice at home. Be sure to check your children’s backpacks for this information.

Latin Countries & Culture Study

This year we will also be learning about various cultures and Spanish-speaking countries through art projects, stories, videos, and more. I highly encourage parent involvement in the classroom for this segment of the student’s learning! And…if you have first-hand knowledge of a country we are studying, I’d welcome the opportunity for you to come in and share your experience. The country we are embracing this month is SPAIN!

How to Reach Me & Communication


I have an open door policy when it comes to communication so please feel free to contact me at any time. I am always available to speak with you about your student individually, provide more information about our class, and offer other resources to supplement the classroom curriculum if desired. To keep you apprised of what is happening in our Spanish class, I’ll also send out monthly newsletter blogs.

Thanks so much in advance for being so supportive of your children as we embark on a journey together. I look forward to a very exciting year with the students of OWS!

Gracias,

Mary Brodahl, Spanish Specialist

mariab@ows.org

(425) 747-2911 ext. 212

¡Felíz Tiempo de Primavera de La Clase de Español! Happy Spring Time from the Spanish Class!

La Clase de Kindergarten

The Kindergarteners are getting ready to perform their song about la primavera (the spring) for the cultural parade this month in Spanish. The song they will be singing is called Somos Como las Flores (Each of Us is a Flower). They are very excited to present this song to the parents. They are also learning new vocabulary related to what they see in the spring. Veo flores, lluvia, arcoiris, animals bebés, etc. (I see flowers, rain, rainbows, baby animals, etc.). We will also be practicing the alphabet in Spanish followed by another song “Marchando Alrededor del Alfabeto” (Marching with the Alphabet).

La Clase de Primer Grado

The First Grade students are continuing practicing action verbs such as: I’m going to give, drink, clean, write, eat, etc. using the phrase, “Voy a …” (I’m going to …). They are also learning various things that they see in la primavera (the spring). They are writing vocabulary words, creating art, and singing songs, all related to spring. I am very impressed by how excited they are to learn new themes every month in the Spanish Class and how well they are able to memorize, identify, and apply the vocabulary learned.

La Clase de Segundo Grado

The Second Graders are continuing to make flashcards to take home for practicing their Spanish vocabulary. This month, the students are reviewing the weather and the months of the year. The Second graders will become confident to state the current date and ask each other when their birthdays are. They will also learn the clothing by explaining what they typically need to wear each month according to the weather.

La Clase de Tercer Grado

This month, the Third Graders will be reviewing zoo animals and using adjectives to describe the animals. The questions they will be practicing include: ¿Qué animal es? (What animal is it?) and ¿Cómo es? (What is it like?). The Third Graders will also be identifying buildings in a city and asking each other where they live and where someone else lives. They will each create a collage of both city life and country life.

La Clase de Cuarto Grado

This month, the Fourth Graders will start Unit 4: En la Escuela (At School), where we will talk about classes, places in the school, and classroom activities, using questions such as, “¿Adónde vas?” and “¿Qué vas hacer?” (Where are you going? and What are you doing?). The responses will be followed by regular verbs, such as: Voy a estudiar, (I am going to study), Tu vas a estudiar (You are going to study), el/ella va estudiar (he/she is going to study). The Fourth Graders will be studying Costa Rica to learn about culture and geography. We will even be tasting a famous dishe from Costa Rica in class.

La Clase de Quinto Grado

The Fifth Graders are now moving on to Chapter 3 in their Expresate books. They are continuing to learn about their likes and dislikes using action verbs with sports and other daily activities, such as: “hablar por telefono” (talk on the phone) or study, rest, work, etc. We are also talking about the state of Texas and the large Spanish-speaking culture there. This month the Fifth Graders have another fun project to do; they will each select a Spanish-speaking country, and then they are going to promote and advertise the country to encourage people to visit. They will use voice thread to record the advertisement for their country of choice. With the help of Ms. Sachdeva in the technology room, they will again record their voices.

If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s progress, please feel free to contact me. Have a wonderful month of April!

Maria Brodahl
Spanish Specialist K-5
mariab@ows.org

What is Happening in Spanish in March!!

Que impresionante it is now March!! Can you believe that.

La Clase de Kindergarten


The Kindergarteners are currently learning the animals with a Spanish song called Vengan a Mi Granja (Come to My Farm). They will also be learning the names of places in the community using the question, “¿Donde vas?” and answering, “Voy …” (I’m going to…). They are individually making flashcards that they will be bringing home to practice the themes learned this month.

La Clase de Primer Grado

The First Grade students are reviewing the names of typical places in the community they live in by responding to, “¿A dónde vas?” (Where are you going?) and answering, “Voy a …” (I’m going to..). They are continuing practicing the numbers 1 through 30. The First Graders will also learn action words such as: I’m going to run, draw, color, write, eat, etc., using the phrase, “Voy a …” (I’m going to …).

La Clase de Segundo Grado

The Second Graders are continuing to make flashcards to take home to practice their Spanish vocabulary. As mentioned last month, you can expect to see the flashcards coming home frequently throughout the year. This month, the students are learning, “Tengo …” (I am cold, thirsty, hot, hungry, sleepy, scared, etc.). The Library Specialist (Ms. Simeon) invited the Author Samantha Vamos to school, and in preparation we read one of her books and reviewed the vocabulary. When the kids met the author, they were aware of the vocabulary words. They also completed a worksheet activity relating to the book.

La Clase de Tercer Grado

This month, the Third Graders will be reviewing the numbers 20-80 by throwing a beach ball filled with numbers and trying to say the number in Spanish. They will also learn to say their school subjects in Spanish followed by action verbs. For example, “Voy a la clase de arte para pintar.” (I go to art class to learn to paint.) The students will be bringing home some flashcards that they made themselves for review. I am very pleased that they have been submitting their Spanish homework each week. Thank you for helping to make this happen.

La Clase de Cuarto Grado

This month, the Fourth Graders finished Unit 3 of their program, which included reviewing the days of the week and the calendar using the question, “¿A dónde vas el fin de semana?” (Where are you going this weekend?) The students are looking forward to making masks in the style of the country we discussed in the previous unit, the Dominican Republic. Next, we will start Unit 4: En la Escuela (At School), where we will talk about classes, places in the school, and classroom activities, using the questions, “¿Adónde vas?” and “¿Qué vas hacer?” (Where are you going? and What are you doing?).

La Clase de Quinto Grado

The Fifth Graders did an amazing job with the voice thread activity mentioned last month, thanks to Mrs Sachdeva. It is worthwhile to take a moment to listen to your child and how impressive they sound using their Spanish sentences. The students should have a link to these voice threads. We willl have some other similar activities this year. The Fifth Graders have completed Chapter 2 and are moving on to Chapter 3 in their books “Expresate.” We will continue learning about their likes and dislikes using action verbs with their activities in sports and daily activities, such as, “hablar por telefono” (talk on the phone) or study, rest work, etc.). We will also be talking about the state of Texas and the large Spanish-speaking culture there.

I look forward to meeting parents for conferences this week. If you have any concerns or questions about your child’s progress, please feel free to contact me. Have a wonderful month of Marzo!

Gracias,
Señora Brodahl