We know that spring is right around the corner at Stewart School when the third- graders participate in the annual Fashion Show. Over the last few weeks, third grade students in Señora Gutierrez’s class have been learning the Spanish vocabulary words for clothing. They learned to describe what they were wearing, what a classmate is wearing, the color of the clothing, what body part the clothing is worn on, and the clothing worn in specific weather. The culminating activity to this unit is the annual fashion show. The students are partnered, and each one describes in writing the clothing their partner is wearing. Then as he/she walks down the cat walk, the partner describes the outfit to the audience. Each student is photographed, and all the photos are displayed in the third grade hallway.
The fifth-graders were busy learning adjectives to describe their appearance and personality. Activities included describing the physical traits of celebrities, and the physical and personality of a classmate, then trying to guess who was described. As a culminating activity, fifth-graders in both Stewart and Stratford schools wrote pen pal letters to each other. In the letters, the students described themselves, places they like to visit, their favorite food, day of the week, and information about their pets. The letters were exchanged, and the students recorded facts about their new pal and shared them with the class. In addition, fifth- graders at Stewart created a “Yo soy …” (“I am”) Quilt. Each student was given a rectangular piece of paper and wrote descriptive words around the rectangle, and then drew a self-portrait. These rectangles were then mounted on a large banner to resemble a quilt.
Finally, the students used iPad’s StoryKit app to record a sentence describing themselves. This app enables them to incorporate pictures, text and recordings – like a digital book.
Señora Cornachio’s second grade students learned all about the Spanish calendar, starting with numbers up to 31, then the months of the year, and finally the days of the week. They are now able to say the date in full, express when their birthdays are, the day of the week, what yesterday was, and what tomorrow will be. They also learned important cultural differences about the Spanish calendar (and the European calendar, as well). Unlike in North America, the day is expressed first, then the month, and finally the year. Also, Monday is the first day of the week, not Sunday as in our calendar.
The fourth-graders have been busy learning the vocabulary words for foods, focusing on healthy ones both in their own lives and of those from different parts of the Hispanic world. They learned the names of fruits, vegetables, protein and dairy foods, and beverages. They made a produce stand and sorted foods they learned by placing them in the corresponding bins. They gained cultural awareness of not only what Spanish-speaking populations eat, but how they shop, prepare meals and mealtime routines.
