Learning about Día de los muertos or Day of the Dead, helps us understand other cultures and celebrations.  Many people confuse this celebration with Halloween.  Day of the dead is a time for families to remember their loved ones by making altars, decorating their homes with flowers, favorite foods, candles and pictures of the deceased.  Most families celebrate on November 1st and 2nd.  They may take food to the cemeteries and clean the tombs, light candles and sing songs.  Students made some fun crafts to celebrate this fiesta.

Students are happy to be back in school. We are learning Spanish through chants, literature and rhymes. Preschool and YK have practiced some call and response phrases. MK and OK are reading and writing in Spanish. It is fun to build vocabulary and comprehension through stories and cultural understanding. September 15th through October 15th, we will be celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. Enjoy these pictures of students in Spanish classes.

This spring has certainly been a new learning adventure. Teaching Spanish online is not ideal. I love speaking with my students and having opportunities for peer conversations. Thank you for your patience and perseverance with online learning. I miss everyone and wish our graduating 5th graders the best. If you want to keep your Spanish skills sharp this summer, please check out the link to 10 Spanish apps for kids.

Students have had fun celebrating Groundhog’s day, Carnival, and Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Preschoolers and YK enjoyed some rhymes and listened to Huevos verdes con jamón, (Green eggs and ham) in Spanish. MK presented a choral reading in Spanish about the marmota (groundhog) seeing his shadow. For carnival, students sang along to the traditional Brazilian song “Mama Paquita” and danced in a conga line. Experiencing the culture through literature, dance and music gives meaning to the language. Enjoy these fun pictures.

Students are back at work building their language skills. Preschoolers and younger kids have discussed common greetings and animals. They are practicing describing animals using color, number and size words. Middle kids are listening to stories in Spanish and reading sentences to match the story line. Their translation skills are really improving. They are learning a choral reading about Groundhog’s Day. Older kids are focused on applying their vocabulary to writing descriptions about snowmen. They are improving their verb conjugations and sentence structure skills. Games are a great way to practice dialogue, grammar and build vocabulary. Students received a card with a body part name in Spanish. They had to draw that part to help create a snowman. They also worked in partners to read clues in Spanish about different snowmen and match them correctly. See pictures below from theses activities.

It has been a busy winter and students are speaking, reading, writing, and listening in Spanish. If you want to help your student improve their skills here are some ideas. Duolingo is a great free app for your phone that reviews vocabulary. Freerice.com is another program to practice language skills and provide food for the needy. The library is a great resource for bilingual books and media. Buena suerte and enjoy!

What a fun experience for the school! Students enjoyed walking around the commons listening to the sounds of vendedores shouting “Compralo,” seeing the beautiful crafts, smelling the delicious treats and spending their pesos. It was a fiesta of the senses! On Monday, fifth graders presented a skit in Spanish about a family visiting a mercado. Their pronunciations were outstanding. The effort, enthusiasm and energy were inspiring. I love the way Rivendell students rise to the challenge! Working with these remarkable students is a joy.

The preschool and younger kids learned a poem in Spanish about trees dropping their leaves. It was fun to pretend they were ‘arboles’ dropping their colorful ‘hojas.’ The middle kids presented a choral reading in Spanish called “Listen to the Desert.” The preschool and younger kids classes enjoyed their bilingual reading and beautiful illustrations. The OK are busy practicing their dialogue for the Latin American market on Tuesday, November 19th. They are making crafts and food items to sell to the rest of the school when they visit the mercado. This is a fun opportunity for students to experience a cultural custom and use their language skills. The 5th graders will also present a Spanish skit on Monday, November 18th about a family visiting a mercado.

Thanks to all the families that donated hygiene items for the people of San Miguel, Guatemala. We distributed much needed supplies to over 300 families. Our team built a home for a struggling family and I was able to work with the beautiful children in the village.

A highlight of the trip was helping to build solar lanterns. Students from Preston middle school prepared the components. Our team transported the parts and assisted with the assembly. Families were also provided solar chargers for their lanterns. Since the homes don’t have electricity, the families were thrilled to construct their lanterns. Women of the village shared their basket making skills. It was a wonderful experience and opportunity to converse in Spanish.

Students have been enjoying bilingual literature to improve vocabulary, listening skills and cultural appreciation. They celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday with favorite stories and rhymes. Younger kids created a Spanish version of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Students explored Spanish fairy tales and customs. Literature has provided an opportunity to teach grammar and sentence structure. Middle and older kids have practiced verb conjugations and improved their writing skills.

The middle kids presented a choral reading to the preschoolers about animals hibernating in winter. They made stick puppets and recited lines in Spanish about different animals that sleep during winter. This cold, gray winter weather makes us all want to duerme, duerme, duerme.