Hi everybody!

Just a quick reminder that this is a short week again.  There are no classes this Friday, February 1.

This week we are going to continue reviewing verb conjugations and points of grammar.  We are also going to keep recycling our previous vocabulary words while adding more food and community related words to the mix.

Now that we have a very good foundation in Spanish, we are going to begin looking at the building blocks of the language.  Specifically, we are going to begin looking at how verbs conjugate, or change to show who is doing the action.  We will also study family relationships.  Throughout this we will continue to practice all of our current vocabulary.

Please be aware that we will begin to have some homework from now on.  The homework will be focused primarily on practicing the grammatical points we have learned in class, so it will not be long or difficult.

We only have class for two days this week!  We will continue working with our new vocabulary words. 

The students have approximately 400 words in their active vocabulary at this poitn and can execute multiple commands correctly without pausing to translate the directions into English.  Their monster projects were, in general, astounding.  Students wrote a minimum of ten sentences to intricately describe a drawing they had made of a monster, and then were able to draw the monsters which other students had written and illustrated.  By far this year's monsters were the most detailed in their descriptions.

I wanted to send out a brief explanation of why there are no recent grades posted for Spanish classes.  The students have been working on a long-term project which just ended yesterday.  There were no classroom participation grades during the interim.  I am posting grades for the projects as I work.

Welcome back everybody!  Thank you for all the wonderful gifts!  Your thoughtfulness never ceases to amaze me.

This week we will be finishing our monster projects.  Some classes will be done by Monday while others will complete their projects on Tuesday.  So far these have been amazing.  After we complete the monsters, we are returning to the beginning with new vocabulary.  Please make sure that you have your dry erase markers with you, as well as all of your class supplies.  We will be having fun, but you need to be prepared.

Don't forget that next week is a half week due to conferences.

This week we are continuing work on our monster projects.  Please make sure you have made arrangements for your project if you plan on beginning your winter break early!  So far I only have one student who has done so.

While I have not yet entered all the grades for the trimester so far, I have entered 0's for papers which I never received.  Please check your grades, if you want to make sure everything was turned in. 

Thank you and have a great holiday!

I will be out of the building on Tuesday, December 11.

For the last few weeks we have been focusing on adjectives and descriptions in Spanish.  We began with the story Rojo, el sombrero.  Students used their previous knowledge of Spanish to deduce the rules of grammar and how to use adjectives correctly.  Finally, last week, students put on a fashion show in which they described the outfits that they were wearing.  This week we will focus on the formal, written use of adjectives.  We will begin working on our monster projects on Monday, and students will continue working on these over the next two weeks.  We will present on Thursday and Friday December 20 and 21.  If you know you will be absent these two days, please make arrangements ahead of time.

This project should not incur much additional homework as the bulk of the work will be done in class.

This week we are learning one of Aesop's fables.  We will start by learning the vocabulary and build on that until students conclude the lesson by writing a moral for the story.

In Spanish this week we will be reviewing former vocabulary words, and then holding a fashion show to practice our clothing and adjectives.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!  Don't forget there is extra credit today and tomorrow if you bring in your food.  We will be reviewing the work students did last week while I was away for these two days.