Canciones

This is an adorable video captured of one of the Dragonflies singing Juan Pequeño! 

(If anyone knows how I to rotate...please let me know!)

Today I heard Ms. Tracey (Daisy's teacher) say to Braylen "I swear you say 'baila, baila, baila' more than you say anything else!" There is absolutely no doubt that Juan Pequeño Baila is everyone's favorite song. Whenever I ask which song they'd like to hear it's usually a unanimous "Juan Pequeño" or "Baila, baila, baila!" Ha! It seriously is a wonderful teaching song... I am positive that if you asked any of the 2's 3's 4's most of the tods where their dedo, mano, codo, culo, cabeza, hombro, rodilla y pie are... they'll know!!! All because of this song! Gracias Juan P! Obviously when it comes to body part teaching (which we have been doing the past two months) songs like Cabeza, hombros, rodillas y pies are great, other ideas to incorporate more movement and more vocab is just raising your manos arriba, abajo, al lado, al otro lado, detras, en frente... or your pies or your hombros.... also just mad- up tunes of washing your hands or your face or your toes or whatever... because you are "sucio" or "huele mal" or use an animal or a puppet to convey the idea of washing.... I use Mr. Mofeta/Mr. Skunk... he toots a lot and helps us with our lessons.. he's a gorgeous hand puppet, maybe he'll make an appearance in this blog... but yeah! Use puppets or toys to help convey teaching points! Kids LOVE it. Oh! I have a Dora puppet.... anytime I bring her out... we spend at least 4 whole minutes giving her besos y abrazos.... (it is almost too cute) but the worst part is... they are like...Ms. Jessie who? Dora is a shining star teaching element.. I use her books, and I give out her stickers as surprises or treats! (I know I know... reward systems... I try not  too do it too often!) Can't forget about Diego! Usually on Fridays when we don't have a project, I bring my laptop and I either play some songs, or have them watch some cartoons in Spanish. The latest greatest site I've found is Sorpresa Tv, it has a ton of cartoons all in Spanish I believe the Wumblers use a little English... otherwise Noah Comprende is a riot! It's about a Latino boy who doesn't speak Spanish and gets himself into a ton of lios... The site linked also has a ton of games, videos and project ideas!! So I am 100% positive that these sites will hook you up with plenty of lesson ideas!!! They sure did for me!!!!

More Songs!! Chuchuwa!! Dragonflies dancing to Chuchuwa!

If you want to check out  the professionals do it then here you go! 

A day in the life

Our Buenos Días song! 

A look around...

Here is where I post what we are doing every month. This month (April) it's Primavera (obvio), things like jardines, insectos, really just anything that has to do with Springtime! 

Spanish Wall... everything we are working on... numbers, colors, body parts, our favorite songs, and on the left side is where the Spanish Student of the month from every classroom gets to display their artwork! 

Los números I displayed them with elefantes because of the song by Grupo Encanto Un elefante se balanceaba  that we listen to, it counts to ten with elefantes walking on a telaraña, and my kids looove it! 

Hasta diez.

Along with our Garden theme... we spent the majority of March working on food (continue to through April) I know there is some dissidence on whether or not to use flashcards, but I am up to almost 50 food flashcards with the 2's 3's and 4's... they can name them all and probably 25 with the tods... they are able to recognize them in their toys... at the dinner table... (Parent:  "We were having chicken the other day and she kept saying pollo pollo.... " that was learned with a flashcard....Don't get me wrong it is great to mix things up because every child does learn differently, some like the idea of being able to hold something in their hand while we repeat the words... so I do use toys sometimes!!) Anywho... on the board parents can stop by to quiz their kiddos on what they are learning...most kids could name off everything in this picture...(the ones that can talk at least!) :)

La Oruga Muy Hambrienta... Classic story, it's great to choose books to read to the kids in Spanish that they are already familiar with. I look around the classroom see what their teachers have in the library, or ask which books they like and those are the ones I tend to pick up. Kids are already going to be familiar with the content so this will leave them open to just listen to the words and learn new vocabulary. On this portion of the Spanish wall I highlight a book every month... I think for our May theme the book will be "Vamos a cazar un Oso"  Going on a bear hunt, but don't quote me because I haven't decided! Por si acaso you want some ideas of what to do with the book! La oruga muy hambrienta- Project!

So, my bf's father who lives out in the country in WISCONSIN :) saved a birds nest for me because he thought my kids might like to see it... and boy did they love it. I showed them the nests and then we did a project of making our own!  Here they are making them... with the nest as inspiración.. 

Project: I got a make-a-bowl cut-out... had them color it brown, taped it up, cut up gazillions (approx.) of brown paper towels, shopping bags, and construction paper (think different textures for a nest) and we glued and filled it up! We also added Bird cut outs to put in our nests, ones that could fly or flap their wings... to rest in the nests and we colored eggs as well! Kudos to Joe for inspiring a GREAT Spring LESSON!

Another art project were flores, where I either traced and cut out their hands or they traced and cut them out themselves depending on ability level... wrapped 'em around a Popsicle stick added a leaf and had cute flowers!! 

Speaking of Arco Irises (Rainbows) the cutest book ever... GREAT for teaching colors... is  ¿De qué está hecho el arco iris? My kids looooove the way the ribbons slide through and at the end the rainbow pops up... we get to work on color vocab as well as animals! It's legit. 

¡Hola y Bienvenidos!

Well, well, well... I'm beginning this blog for a few reasons, number one, to keep parents informed on what is going on in Spanish here at ITAV, (because, it's a pretty big deal), and number two, perhaps to give other preschool teachers out there (wherever you are in mystery cyber world) some ideas, because I know it was pretty difficult for me to find some solid resources and information regarding toddler/preschool language teaching! Please keep in mind, I am by no means an expert, but occasionally I stumble upon some great lesson days, where I even surprise myself! Wait, I guess a number three reason for starting this blog has to be that I truly hope to convey to parents what an integral part they play in their child's second-(or third for some) language acquisition. I hope to post some valuable literature I've come across on the topic, and some resources to use at home! I really really want parents to get involved because what ITAV is doing here by beginning a Spanish program is WONDERFUL!!!! Actually, there we have it I'm going to begin this blog with the top 10 reasons why learning Spanish at an early age is sooooooo beneficial! 

For this I'm going to link a Muzzy site... which is pretty funny because I remember growing up with my Gram, she had a Muzzy video in Spanish that I loooved to watch! There was some song about vowels and they run away together on a motorcycle...and they are aliens.. it was great??.. Ha, however, dear parents, please be thankful, that instead of spending demasiado dinero$ in learn Spanish at home products you guys have the opportunity for your kids to do it at school! Please take advantage! 

Uh ohhh, as you might have noticed… I am a bit rambly, but I promise to always bring it back into focus! Bear with me… or hey… skim it… I can’t see you... skim away!!!

Anywho back to Muzzy and the Early Advantage:

Top Ten Benefits of Early Language Learning:

1. Higher test scores

2. Better and more advanced reading skills

3. Greater confidence

4. Gives brains a boost

5. Natural-sounding, native-like accent

6. Greater opportunities for college and careers

7. Bigger view of the world

8. Greater grasp of one's first language—including a bigger, richer vocabulary *
9. Building and keeping cultural connections

10. An all-family activity

 *#8 Quick comment, I have actually had one of our parents come up to me and say, "Wow, since so- and-so started Spanish class, he has been talking a lot more in English, but also in our native language." At first I just chucked it up to coincidence, but nope across the board these are all the comments that I'm hearing... the more you learn in your weaker (second or third) language, the stronger your first language gets!! Today even, Ms. Betsy (Dragonflies teacher) said to me "Wow, I can't believe how much so-and-so talks during Spanish, this is the only time I hear him talk all day!" So in case you are worried that your kids are going to get confused... they aren't!!  

So there you have it. It's super important... if you want more in depth explanations on why just click on the link! Oh! And Welcome/ Bienvenidos to the ITAV blog with me, Ms. Jessie!!! :)