News & Events

Pre-School Monthlies - Spanish

Ms. Peterson

February 2008

Dear RMDS Parents,

In Spanish we continue to use games, songs, reading and activities to reinforce concepts and in learning new ones.

We start each class by singing our "Hola" song.  At the end of "Hola", the children look at all their "amigos" and excitedly say "hola" to each other. We then sing "Buenos Dias” which is followed with greetings. Each child takes a turn looking into the eyes of the child on their left and greets them by saying "Hola/Buenos dias Jane, como estas?" and the child responds by saying, "Muy bien, gracias!" The children learned a little rhyme which helps them remember what each phrase means. "Como estas means how are you. Muy bien gracias - I'm fine, thank you!"

After our greetings, I go over colors, body parts and nino/nina with the children. I do this in order to keep alive previously learned concepts in their minds before going on to new concepts and words. I do this through tactile and active participation. For example, I might say, "If you are a nino, find me something el color rojo (red)." And, all the boys will run around the room pointing to items and say "Rojo!" This is helpful for children who might not remember what rojo is as they learn from watching their peers and then by participating in the activity themselves. For those who do remember what rojo is, this works to keep the word in their working memory. Other examples might be, "If you are a nina, show me your nariz (nose)", or “If you are a nino, put your manos (hands) on your cabeza(head)", or "If you are wearing something el color amarillo (yellow) stand up and brinca (jump)."The children love these activities!

We follow this with the activities of the day. Right now we are working on learning animals, number recognition, counting, abre/cierra (open/close) and the phrases, "Donde esta? (where is)", and "Aqui esta! (here it is).

All children are learning open/shut (or close) through a game that also uses parts of the body. I start out by saying, "Abre las manos......Cierra las manos......Abre las manos.....Cierra las manos...." The children say this with me while they open their hands and then close their hands. We do this several times and follow this with brazos(arms), piernas (legs), boca (mouth) and ojos (eyes). Once we finish with the eyes, I play a little game with them. I tell them Cierra! and they cover their eyes with their hands while I say, "Donde estan los ojos de los ninos? (where are the eyes of the children?.....donde estan los ojos de los ninos?" I repeat this several times as I move around the circle looking for their eyes, under their feet, in their hands etc....They keep their eyes covered, giggling with anticipation until I say "Abre!"  When they all uncover their eyes, I say "Aqui estan los ojos de los ninos!!!!!" They laugh with excitement and say "Otra Vez!!!" (again).

Abre and cierra are also used daily. Once the children are in the class I will ask, "Who would like to cierra la puerta? (close the door)" and, at the end of class I will ask someone to "Abre la purerta."

"Donde esta?" and "Aqui esta" are phrases that we also use in a book that we are using for number recognition, counting and animal words. I use Eric Carles "1, 2, 3 to the Zoo" for this activity. This is a great book for introducing many different words and phrases! It is a counting book with zoo animals so on each page I ask "Que numero es este? (what number is this?)", "Que animal es este? (what animal is this), "Que dice.....? (what does.....say?). I then have one child point and count out loud. On each page there is a little mouse among the animals and after counting out loud, I ask, "Donde esta el ratoncito?" (where is the little mouse?) and all the children point to it and call out, "Aqui esta! (here it is)".

Another game we play is hide and seek with farm animals. I pick up an animal and the children call out its name - sometimes with a little helpful reminder. After we go over the animals and the sounds they make, one child gets to pick an animal and then hide it while the other children cover their eyes - "Cierran los ojos, ninos!" Once the animal is hidden, the child returns to the his/her classmates and, along with me, will say "Abren los ojos ninos!". The kids then run to the circle and freeze when I call out, "Alto!" They then need to see which animal is missing from the group and say, "Donde esta el ...........?" As they look for the hidden animal, I call out caliente (warm) or frio (cold) depending on how close or far away they are. Once the animal is found, they call out, "Aqui esta el......!"  In this game, we use phrases that have been learned in other contexts and adapt them to new situations. This works to establish the phrases in their minds in various manners. We use already known words and phrases while learning new ones.

The children have learned grande (big) and pequeno (little) through active participation. I call out grande and they roar "GRANDE" and stand as tall as they can reaching up with their arms. When I say "pequeno" they tuck themselves into a ball and squeak "pequeno" in a little voice. This is something you can do at home with them. You will be surprised how much they enjoy this simple activity!

We continue to learn through singing not only with new songs but by revisiting old familiar ones. We also revisit old favorites in activities and games - "Alto" (freeze) and the "tired (or sleeping)" game remain great favorites.

We end class by singing, "Adios Amigos, Goodbye my Friends." After we finish the song I will ask the children to go to the door as one of the animals we have learned. For example, I might say, "Camina como un pinguino a la puerta!" (walk like a penguin to the door). At the door they call out "Adios!"

Vocabulary words

Starting to learn feliz (happy) and triste (sad)

Movement - camina (walk), corre (run), gatea (crawl), brinca (jump)

Body parts -  cabeza (head),pelo (hair), nariz (nose), ojos (eyes), boca (mouth), orejas (ears), manos (hands), brazos (arms), pies (feet), rodillas (knees), piernas (legs), dedos (fingers),

 

Colors - rojo (red), verde (green), azul (blue), amarillo (yellow) and for the older kids, blanco (white), negro (black), morado (purple), rosada (pink), cafe (brown), gris (grey) and naranjada(ornage).

Animals - leon, elefante, pajaro, ratoncito, cocodrillo, jirafa, oso, foca, mono, serpiente.

Farm animals - caballo (horse), vaca (cow), cerdo (pig), oveja (sheep), pollo (chicken), pato (duck), pollito (chick)

Pets - gato (cat), perro (dog), pez (fish)