Compliment Valentines, reactions

So, the compliment valentines were a hit! Not only did the kids enjoy doing them (and practiced their vocabulary in the process!), but I was so touched by the things they wrote about one another. Really sweet!

I did decide to change how each kid got the names of the kids they were to write to. I picked the names ahead of time out of a hat, (and strategically assigned a few kids to others in the class.) We have some kids who just absolutely don't get along, and it seemed to make for a more pleasant experience if I monitored the choices a bit. In the end, I am glad I did it this way. No groans when the kids saw their list of names....

Compliment Valentines

I was trying to come up with a creative way to do Valentine's that included everyone in the class and worked to build community amongst my students. My fourth graders worked on learning adjectives to describe themselves earlier this year, so I came up with the idea of 'Compliment Valentines'. Each student picks three names out of a hat, then writes a 'compliment valentine' for that student. So, for example, Johnny picks Felicia's name and could write "You are kind." or "You are very creative." or another compliment using the vocabulary we have learnt previously in the year. Every student will end up receiving three compliments- some from friends and some from classmates they don't know well. It's a fun way to say something nice about someone else and use the target language at the same time!

Tarjetas Navideñas

Now that all of our K-4 students are together in one school, I thought it would be fun for the 'big kids' (4th graders) to make Christmas and Channukah cards for our Kindergartners. It is a fun way for students to use the language for a real purpose and builds community between grade levels, fostering the notion that Spanish can be used to communicate with others. We are keeping the messages very simple, so that the Kinders can understand them, with a related illustration on front. The added bonus is that students reinforce letter-writing vocabulary, such as 'Dear...' and 'Besos y abrazos' or 'Saludos' or 'Adiós'.

Too cute!

Word Banks

Word banks are a great way to organize vocabulary for students, collecting the necessary words and phrases around a particular theme or activity. Sometimes a word bank consists of vocabulary around a cultural theme, such as this one for a unit my first graders are doing on Venezuela.


We have just begun this one, adding important cultural info to a large map of Venezuela on the wall in my classroom- Salto Ángel, bolívares, chocolate, cacao....more to follow. For the little ones, this is a great visual as well as an organizer and reinforcer of what they are learning.

Great video!

This is short but terrific! An aerial view of Salto del Ángel in Venezuela.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEztVvy3G_4

Really neat website

These cuentos interactivos are so cute!!!

http://www.cuentosinteractivos.org/

List Poems

List poems are a great way to allow students to create a finished piece that has intrinsic value all on it's own and at the same time reinforces vocabulary and structure. This list poem about a butterfly egg was done by a second grader- she chose a picture to write about, made a list of vocabulary which described the picture, and illustrated the poem. The nice thing about list poems is that there is no need for rhyme or meter, making them accessible to lower level students. Even students with a small core of vocabulary and little knowledge of grammar can create one- at it's very simplest it can be merely a list of adjectives or verbs centered around a theme, such as an object, a picture, an idea, etc.