For those you of who would like to practice Spanish at home, which I highly encourage, I have attached a website that has many different, fun games for the kids to practice their vocabulary online. The new library in Glenwood Springs also has a large section of Spanish/Bilingual books available for checkout. I have also attached a link to a website with wonderful, educational songs in Spanish. I hope you enjoy practicing! Gracias!
http://pbskids.org/games/spanish/
http://musicwithsara.bandcamp.com/music
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Friday, October 25, 2013
Changing of the quarter
This past quarter I have really enjoyed working with your child. I will see them again for 3 week during 4th quarter. I have included below a description of the other two E/I classes.
Ask your child about the storied and chapter books we created and read. Ask them about their vocab and the games we played to practice those words. Thank you so much for your support. Gracias!
Ask your child about the storied and chapter books we created and read. Ask them about their vocab and the games we played to practice those words. Thank you so much for your support. Gracias!
Writers
Workshop: Ann Perrin
The Enrichment team has an exciting addition
to its 2013/2014 curriculum: Writer’s Workshop.
The Writer’s Workshop will offer a creative, enticing and integrative
writing experience to the Enrichment block.
Your children will be amazed by how effortless and entertaining it is to
express themselves through writing.
Their writing process will include high-interest level experiential and
hands-on activities integrating grade level science themes. We will coordinate with community experts on
a greenhouse project, build a model of the solar system and travel back in time
to prehistoric eras via realistic fiction stories, just to name a few. I am
thrilled about the new journey your students and I are about to embark on
through their own creative genius! I am a
Writer at heart and have been a classroom teacher and ELL teacher in the RFSD
for 12 years. My current adventure in
academia is STEM (Science,Technology,Engineering,Math) certification, an up and
coming teaching model, which involves integrating multiple subjects in Science
themed units. I love new adventures and can’t wait to get started!
-Ann
Perrin
Modular
2 South
Science:
Stephanie Dungan
Hello,
My name is Stephanie Dungan and this is my
second year teaching science at Sopris Elementary. This year in science we will
be focusing on using science notebooks. Students will be doing hands on
experiments and investigations then recording their learning using the
scientific method. The steps we will use are aligned to the notebooks and are
1.) Question 2.) Hypothesis 3.) Plan
4.)
Experiment 5.) Observations & Data 6.) Conclusion. I look forward to
working with many students and expanding science learning. This is going to be
a great year in science.
-Ms.
Dungan
Modular
2 North
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Spanish After School
Padres,
With next semester rapidly approaching, I will be offering an after school Spanish class here at SES. The day has not been set yet, I will leave that to majority rules. Monday seems to be a popular choice. The kids would come to me right after school, one day a week, and would stay with my until 4:45pm. I will be taking subjects and units from class, and will expand upon them into greater, in depth detail. The cost will be $15 a session in a group, $25 for a individual lesson. I will have punch pass available for purchase. If this is something that interests you and your child please feel free to call, or email me. If you call or email, please include your name, your child's name, their grade and what day works best for you. Thank you for your support of Spanish here at Sopris! Gracias!
Ms. Houchin
khouchin@rfsd.k12.co.us
970-384-6141
With next semester rapidly approaching, I will be offering an after school Spanish class here at SES. The day has not been set yet, I will leave that to majority rules. Monday seems to be a popular choice. The kids would come to me right after school, one day a week, and would stay with my until 4:45pm. I will be taking subjects and units from class, and will expand upon them into greater, in depth detail. The cost will be $15 a session in a group, $25 for a individual lesson. I will have punch pass available for purchase. If this is something that interests you and your child please feel free to call, or email me. If you call or email, please include your name, your child's name, their grade and what day works best for you. Thank you for your support of Spanish here at Sopris! Gracias!
Ms. Houchin
khouchin@rfsd.k12.co.us
970-384-6141
Chapter books
Hola
Padres,
The past few weeks we have been learning about the continents,
working on our essential vocabulary and continuing with our
storytelling. Additionally, we are continuing to read our chapter books in
Spanish. Pobre Ana in 5th grade. Las Aventuras de Isabela in 4th grade and
Berto y sus Buenas Ideas in 3rd grade.
The book Pobre Ana is used in Spanish language classes to help
students learn Spanish words in a simulated real-life setting. Each story is an excellent 'beginning' book for students who wants
to increase their Spanish learning. It consists of 300 of the most
frequently used words in a elementary Spanish class. It uses
realistic fiction to create a wonderful story, and allows the reader
to have comprehensible input. When reading their chapter books,
beginning students discover that they have actually learned a significant
amount of Spanish by reading. It is very exciting for me to watch this process
happen with my students.
I
have attached a youtube video giving a little overview of what Pobre Ana is
about. Make sure your kids don't watch it, I don't want to spoil the ending! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EVQbVT3xpo
Monday, September 16, 2013
Dia de Independencia
DIA DE INDEPENDENCIA
Hola
Padres,
In
celebration of Mexico’s Independence Day, we will be having a Fiesta de Independencia
on Tuesday, September 17th during E/I time. We have been studying Mexican
culture, and how they celebrate Independence Day. During our fiesta will taste
traditional Mexican foods, learn a bit more about the history and play
traditional Mexican party games.
I am asking that each child brings a traditional
Mexican dish to share with the class. If he/she can not bring a dish, I would
like for them to write a one paragraph essay describing a typical Mexican dish.
Each class has approximately 26 students. Please no
candy or soda. Some ideas for a healthy Mexican snack include: mango with
chili, chips and salsa, guacamole, bananas with honey or cheese quesadillas.
There are many ideas available on the internet.
If you put your food in a dish that you would like
returned please put your name on it. Also, I have told your child they must
bring their food to me, room 1East, on Tuesday BEFORE they go to their homeroom
in the morning. I will provide silverware, plates and napkins.
These past few weeks, we have been having so much
fun in Spanish class. I appreciate the opportunity to teach your child, and I
look forward to sharing some holiday cheer with them in Spanish! Additionally,
we welcome any parents who wish to help during the party. Please feel free to
contact me with any questions or concerns.
Gracias,
Ms. Houchin
khouchin@rfsd.k12.co.us
970.384.6141
Thursday, August 8, 2013
More About TPRS
Below is a clip that goes in depth about how Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling works. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl9eBJkRkeQ
Below is a clip that goes in depth about how Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling works. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl9eBJkRkeQ
¡Bienvenidos! (Welcome)
Hola Padres!
This is a very exciting opportunity for your children to begin (or continue) the journey of becoming billingual/multilingual. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to teach your students Spanish. I will be using many fun and interesting strategies to help your student begin to acquire the Spanish language and become more familiar with Spanish-speaking cultures.
Methods
In the beginning I will often give commands (TPR, Total Physical Response) and students will respond by doing something physically or gesturing that they do not understand. Using movement and acting out words will help students acquire the language more quickly. It's a lot like how your children acquired their first language. You, parents, are excellent language teachers! Another very powerful way to acquire language is through simple stories. We will create and even act out situations or stories in class to work with new vocabulary and teach grammar contextually (TPRS, TPR Storytelling). Often the stories will be silly or crazy. You may agree that children love to make up fun or goofy stories. We use props, movement and theatre to make it easy for students to understand at all times and to make the experience fun and memorable. Spanish songs will be taught also to improve listening skills, reinforce language and even explore culture. A literacy component begins early in the first grade curriculum with students reading simple stories in Spanish early on. The fourth and fifth grade Spanish curriculum has been carefully backward planned in order to prepare the students to read the short story Pobre Ana.
The student role
The two skills that I coach students to use at all times are WATCHING and LISTENING. In order for them to understand as many messages as possible in our short time together they must be actively listening. I will encourage students to keep their hands free and watch me and other students when speaking and acting in order to maximize their comprehension through the nonverbal cues: pictures, props, gestures, and body language.
Students are not required or even expected to speak Spanish in the beginning. I do, however, ask that they refrain from speaking English, raising their hand to get permission to communicate in English (unless it is an emergency of course). Most students will start in a "silent period" where they are watching, listening, and perhaps choosing to respond nonverbally only. It’s as though they are a “babies” in new the language. However, you'll find that their comprehension of the language will increase rapidly and they'll be "toddlers" in no time wIth many students speaking, with limited vocabulary, very soon. Other students take longer to begin speaking, just as in one's first language.
Can I help my child practice? Of course! Please do. If you speak Spanish to any degree I encourage you to use the language with your student in simple, easy to understand messages. You'll find the vocabulary that they are learning posted on the blog each week and ideally you could recycle these words with your children via basic communication in Spanish. Remember that practice in the early stages of language acquisition is mostly listening (input) and understanding as they haven't yet acquired enough language for much speaking or writing (output).
If you don't speak Spanish (yet) ask your students to teach YOU what they are learning in class using the vocabulary and activities posted on the blog. This gives them the opportunity to switch roles and become the teacher and reinforce their knowledge You might be surprised how well your children may be able to teach you. Please check this blog for information about what your child is learning in class. In addition I'll post cultural information, simple stories, songs, links, etc. to reinforce and extend the language acquisition opportunity beyond the classroom. I believe that acquiring a new language happens best through joy. Please communicate with me if there is anything I should know about your child to make their learning experience more effective or more joyful. I love world languages and cultures, and I want your child to love them too. Thank you for your support of the Sopris Spanish program.
MUCHAS GRACIAS,
Señorita Katie Houchin
Spanish Teacher
Sopris Elementary School
khouchin@rfsd.k12.co.us
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