In celebration of the fall, first and second graders have been decorating calabazas to practice a variety of vocabulary, including emotions, parts of the face, shapes, numbers and colors. First graders have been using felt board pumpkins, while second graders have been using pattern blocks to allow for more varied vocabulary. Over the week, we have done several different activities to build both listening and speaking skills. To start, students followed oral directions to decorate their pumpkins in a certain way, building their listening comprehension skills. Later, students were given more freedom to create an original design, and shared details about their pumpkin in Spanish, such as the shape and size of various parts of the face, the emotion of the pumpkin, etc. l Finally, listening and speaking were combined when pairs of students took turns giving directions to each other in Spanish to create an original design. While these are simple tasks, the open-ended prompts gave students a chance to stretch their thinking to use a mix of different vocabulary and to be creative with both their designs and language.
If you have pattern blocks at home, these are a great tool that can be used to practice Spanish. Though pumpkin season is drawing to an end, having students talk about other designs that they create is a great way to reinforce Spanish vocabulary at home. If you would like to try this with your child, here is some vocabulary to start you off:
If you have pattern blocks at home, these are a great tool that can be used to practice Spanish. Though pumpkin season is drawing to an end, having students talk about other designs that they create is a great way to reinforce Spanish vocabulary at home. If you would like to try this with your child, here is some vocabulary to start you off:
el círculo -circle el hexágono - hexagon el triángulo - triangle el rectángulo - rectangle el cuadrado - square la estrella - star el diamante - diamond la boca - mouth la nariz - nose los ojos - eyes el pelo - hair las orejas - ears la cabeza - head los brazos - arms las manos - hands las piernas - legs los pies - feet | rojo - red azul - blue verde - green anaranjado - orange amarillo - yellow café - brown blanco - white grande - large pequeño - small feliz - happy cansado - tired enojado - angry emocionado - excited sorprendido -surprised triste - sad enfermo - sick ¿Qué color es? - What color is it? ¿Cuántos __? - How many ___? ¿Cómo estás? - How are you? |
Can you guess how these calabazas are feeling? How many of each shape do you count in each? Take a look at the vocabulary above for help, or check out the Música y Videos: Grades K-2 page for more resources to practice vocabulary and pronunciation!