by Macky & Veronica | May 13, 2017 | Preschool
This week we continued working with“Servicios Publicos y/o Ayudantes de Mi Comunidad/ Community Helpers” unit. So, this week we were working with Community Helpers, specifically Police: This theme helps to inform children about the role of the police. They learned that their job is to enforce the law and they do this in many ways, by patrolling the streets, getting to know the people who live in the town, helping people who have accidents, directing traffic to avoid accidents and more. They really loved it and then we acted out playing a police officer. They used their imagination driving a car, watching the streets and more, it was fun! As well, they did different craft activities of police officers. We continued reviewing the vocabulary of the month:
Bombero/ firefighter,Policia/police,
Recolector de basura/ garbage collector,
Soldado, soldier,
Enfermera/nurse,
Doctor/doctor,
Veterinario/vet,
Dentist/dentist,
Cartero/postman or postwoman,
Bibliotecario/librarian,
Maestro/teacher,
Trabajadores de construccion/ construction workers,
Estilistas/stylist,
Reportero/reporter,
Panadero/baker.
In addition, to close the week, since Mother Day is coming this Sunday 14 Mother’s Day, and is the time of the year when we take time to show appreciation and express love for our mothers. The kids celebrated their mothers with a beautiful poem:Brillas como una Estrella/ you shine as a star
Hueles como una flor/ you smell as a flower
Por eso te quiero yo/ for that I love you
Con todo mi Corazon…Felicidades Mama! / with all my hearth…. Happy Mother’s Day!
Then they did a flowers art project using mommy and kiddo’s hands, and to finalize, kids showed their mothers that they can sing in Spanish “La arana pequenita”. I hope mothers enjoyed their celebration…Thank you moms who came in to celebrate with your awesome kids!
LETRAThis week we continued reviewing the letter Zz/ letra Zz. Be sure to point out the letter that we practice when you are reading. The English letter Z, can be pronounced as (zi). While the Spanish pronunciation is; Z (zeta, sounds like “s”). Some examples:
Zapato/shoe
Zebra/zebra
Zorro/fox
Zorrillo/skunk
We did activities like, handwriting the letter Zz, letters games and letters recognition.
NúmerosThis week we started working with number 13. We had a fun time playing and using some items sorted and counted. Sorting helps children see differences and similarities. We did activities such as counting thirteen/trece legos. As well, we traced the number 13 (numero trece).
La Figura y Color
We reviewed all shapes that kids are learning; circle/circulo, square/cuadrado, triangle/triangulo, rectangle/rectangulo, oval/ovalo, heart/corazon, and star/Estrella and diamond/diamante. also, the kids colored sheets of police officers and police cars too. They used different colors, reviewing our colors range; rojo/red, azul/blue, verde/green, amarillo/yellow, purpura/purple, cafe/brown, anaranjado o naranja/orange, pink/Rosado, baby blue/celeste, black/negro, white/blanco and gray/gris.
Happy mother’s day and have a good weekend!
by Macky & Veronica | May 6, 2017 | Preschool
“Be like a flower and turn your face to the sun”-Kahlil Gibran. I cannot believe how far this year has gone through, and May is here!
We started working with our “Servicios Publicos y Ayudantes de Mi Comunidad/ Community Helpers” theme. Community helpers is an important unit and one all kids will enjoy, so we put on the fire hat, turn on the siren, and we were ready to have some fun!First, I started asking kids if they know what community helpers are? and most of them think of police, nurses and mail delivers. I explained to them that a community helper can be defined as any person who helps with our health and overall well-being. Community helpers include dentist, doctors, construction workers, even grocery store workers! I am going to teach the kids that the trades these people do are very important to the function of our community, maybe they want to be one of those people “when they grow up” such as a farmer, doctor or soldier. I believe it is important to know who these people are and how important their jobs are to each and every one of us. My goal is that kids understand what each person does in their specific jobs. During this month we will do different craft activities, songs, read books, and to finalize this unit we are going to hit the road. We are planning a field trip to several spots, like the Camas library, the Camas fire station, and possible the post office and bank… Also, parents can help doing a game of spotting community helpers in everyday life. Parents can ask their kids to point out a community helper whenever they sees one such as a police officer parked on the side, etc.
Kids will learn new vocabulary as;
Bombero/ firefighter,
Policia/police,
Recolector de basura/ garbage collector,
Soldado, soldier,
Enfermera/nurse,
Doctor/doctor,
Veterinario/vet,
Dentist/dentist,
Cartero/postman or postwoman,
Bibliotecario/librarian,
Maestro/teacher,
Trabajadores de construccion/ construction workers,
Estilistas/stylist,
Reportero/reporter,
Panadero/baker.
In addition, this week we are focusing in firefighters and 911. Kids enjoyed calling 911 and pretending to be a firefighter. They learned that 911 is only for emergency, not for fun, as well, they learned what can they do if they are in the middle of the fire. We discussed the importance of leaving the building immediately, staying low to the ground, remaining with the group and never returning to a burning building.
LetrasThis week we went over the letter Yy/ letra Yy. Be sure to point out the letter that we practice when you are reading. The English letter-name Y, can be pronounced as (uai). While the Spanish letter name pronunciation is; Y (i griega). Some examples:
Yema/yolk,
Yoyo/yo-yo,
yogur/yogurt.
We did activities such as hands working with play dough, letters games, coloring and letters recognition.
NúmerosThis week we started working with the number 12. We had a fun time playing and using some items for sorting and counting. Sorting helps children see differences and similarities. We did activities such as counting twelve/doce legos and goldfish, rocks and ballons, tracing and coloring the number 12 (numero doce).
La Figura y Color This week we continued working with diamond /diamante shape. The kids could play through the shape tracing the shape with their fingers, lacing shapes, and shape bingo game. Also, the kids continued reinforcing the colors names that they learned as rojo/red, azul/blue, verde/green, and amarillo/yellow, purpura/purple, cafe/brown, anaranjado o naranja/orange, white/blanco, black/negro, and gray/gris. This week kids were coloring a sheet of paper with number 12 and firefighters with our color range of learning.
Have a good weekend!
by Macky & Veronica | Apr 23, 2017 | Preschool
This week we continued working with our Sport/Deportes Unit. Kids really love this unit and had a lot of fun playing, and doing different craft activities with our diferents types of sports like: basketball/basquetbol or baloncesto, football/futbol, and baseball/beisbol. We read different sports books through the week and they clearly enjoy learning about those sports. They did a good job with football lacing, a basketball art paint collage, and play games working on their gross motor skills. Playing baseball was a really fun for all of us! In addition, to close the week since Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22, we explained to children that is good to create objects from natural and recycled materials and spend more time outdoors, so we did a special craft with them; handprint Earth Day using tempera (in when the hand prints holding the Earth in a hearth shape). And shaving cream marble Earth. We also helped sort lids and caps for a school-wide project.
LetrasWe reviewed the letters they have learned in the past weeks (A,E,I,O,U,L, V, B, K, R, C, G, H, J, Q, W,). We did games to find letters in the books and looking into letters soup, also, before they leave the classroom, we reviewed the letter placed in our letters tree.
NúmerosThis week the kids continued learning addition 1 through 10. We did different activities, like counting and recognizing the numbers. We worked with football eggs, in which we placed a piece of paper with a number and kiddos had to recognize each number and place quantities beside each football egg. Then they did addition counting buttons and pompoms. They did a good job with addition.
La Figura y Color This week we learned the diamond /diamante shape. The kids could play with the shape, tracing the shape with their fingers and then lacing them. Also, the kids continued reinforcing the colors names that they learned: rojo/red, azul/blue, verde/green, and amarillo/yellow, purpura/purple, cafe/brown, anaranjado o naranja/orange, white/blanco, black/negro, and we introduced the new color to learn gray/gris. This week kids colored a sheet of paper with different sports, using the colors that they were and are learning.
Have a good weekend!
by Macky & Veronica | Apr 17, 2017 | Preschool
April arrived! And I hope every family of Spanish with Sarah enjoyed their spring break. This month we are going to work with our new “Sports/Deportes” unit. There are so many great things to do with the sports theme. Sports can provide children with lifetime benefits, from the encouragement of exercise to the development of interests and hobbies they can carry into and adulthood. We are going to teach kids about sports by emphasizing the fun aspects of each sport. Focusing on the most common sports like soccer, football, baseball, tennis, golf, basketball and swimming. Through this theme we’re going to read different books, do crafts, and play sports. Kids are going to learn new vocabulary:Fútbol Soccer/soccer
Beisbol/baseball
Fútbol Americano/football
Basquetbol/basketball
Tenis/tennisGolf/golf
Natación/swimming
Boliche/bowling
Casco/helmet
Gorra/cap
Guante/glove
Bate/bat
Raqueta/racket
Pelota/ball
Balón/ball (soccer and football)
Malla/mesh
Cancha/field, court
Campo/pitch, ground
Trofeo/trophy
Medalla/medal
This week we put our focus on two sports/deportes; soccer and tennis. In our circle time we discussed general sports ideas like accessories and kind of clothes the people used for these sports, and general ideas of soccer. Most of the students like soccer better than tennis, and everyone wanted to kick the soccer ball. Gross motor activities are very important to preschoolers, so we played indoor soccer with a soft soccer ball. We also did different craft as finger people soccer player and paper plate soccer ball and balloon tennis!
LETRAS This week we go over to the letter Zz/ letra Zz. Be sure to point out the letter that we practice when you are reading. The English letter Z, can be pronounced as (zi). While the Spanish pronunciation is; Z (zeta, sounds like “s”). Some examples:
Zapato/shoe
Zebra/zebra
Zorro/fox
Zorrillo/skunk
We did activities like letters games, coloring, making the letter with play dough and letter recognition.
NÚMEROSThis week we worked with addition 1-10. We continued really working with the kids this week on understanding the concept of addition. We have been working with numbers 1 through 10 and number combinations. We are doing this so they can continue knowing what happens when they add two numbers. We gathered up our collection of manipulatives to work with the kiddos to have fun with addition. They did a great job and also hey had the opportunity to learn while having fun.
La Figura y Color
This week we reviewed all shapes that kids are learning; circle/circulo, square/cuadrado, triangle/triangulo, rectangle/rectangulo, oval/ovalo, heart/corazon, and star/estrella. The kids were coloring sheets of sports like tennis and soccer. They used different colors, reviewing our color range; rojo/red, azul/blue, verde/green, amarillo/yellow, purpura/purple, cafe/brown, anaranjado o naranja/orange, pink/Rosado, baby blue/celeste, black/negro, and white/blanco.
Have a good weekend!
Macky J
by Macky & Veronica | Apr 1, 2017 | Preschool
This week we finished our Insects Unit,. The students (and teachers!) had a lot of fun with this unit. The little ones really enjoyed learning all about the insects. Throughout this month, the kiddos had the amazing opportunity to learn and express their ideas and thoughts related to the insects. They sang, played, and worked with different insect craft activities. Also, this week they had the experience to identify the differences between insects and arachnids. They learned that the insects have a head, thorax, abdomen, six legs, and four wings, while the arachnid has a eight legs, head and thorax. It was so great working with them during this unit! I asked them what they learned this month and they answered very well! They are awesome kiddos! We read the book, “The Very Busy Spider” by Eric Carle…Of course, reading this book naturally inspires us to make and take a walk through our own circle time spider web. We used our whole bodies to climb under, over, in, and out of the web. Kiddos were excited to play in our spider web! These activities were a great addition to finish our insects theme learning experience for kids.
LETRASThis week we went over to the letter Hh/ letra Hh. Be sure to point out the letter that we practice when you are reading. The English letter H(eich). While the Spanish pronunciation is; H (ache) “H” is silent. Some examples:
Hilo/thread,
Helado/ice cream,
Hojas/leaves,
Hombre/men,
Hueso/bone.
We did activities that the kiddos enjoyed since they had a variety of ways to learn the letter “H” as coloring, letter recognition, fine motor and letter practice tracing the letter “H”.
NÚMEROS
This week we were working with addition 1-5, and 1-7. Addition helps kids master the relationship between numbers and understand how quantities relate to one to another. So, we worked with kids doing different activities with our collection of manipulatives (this week we used insects, and little balls). They did a great job practiced addition with hands-on manipulatives.
La Figura y El Color
This week we reviewed all shapes that kids are learning; circle/circulo, square/cuadrado, triangle/triangulo, rectangle/rectangulo, oval/ovalo, heart/corazon, and star/estrella. Besides, the kids were coloring sheets of insects and free coloring and reviewing our colors range; rojo/red, azul/blue, verde/green, amarillo/yellow, purpura/purple, cafe/brown, anaranjado o naranja/orange, pink/Rosado, baby blue/celeste, black/negro, and white/blanco. Also, they continued practice the fine motor skills lacing circle, square, rectangle, oval, start, heart, and triangle shapes. Have a good weekend!
by Macky & Veronica | Mar 25, 2017 | Preschool
This week we continued working with our “Insects Unit”. Kids learned about flies and ants! They really enjoyed all about ants more than flies! This week the kids were obsessed with ants in our classroom and school. Anywhere they go they shout out when they’ve found an ant. And of course, some of them want to find some to squish them!
To start our week of ants we made a very simple ant and fly craft. Those crafts teach them that an ant and fly have three body parts (head, thorax, abdomen), antennae/antenas, six legs/seis patas, eyes/ojos and mouth/boca. We also read some books like; “Hola Hombre Mosca” and “El Saltamontes y la Hormiga/ The Grasshopper and the Ants”
“Hola Hombre Mosca” is a story; “A fly was flying. He was looking for something to eat. He was looking for something to eat. Something tasty. Something slimy. A boy was walking. He was talking. He was looking for something to catch. Something smart. Something for the amazing pet show.” The boy and fly meet and so begins a beautiful friendship.
“The Grasshopper and the Ants” is a story of a lazy grasshopper and some hard-working ants. The ants spend the summer gathering food to prepare for the winter. They warn the grasshopper to do the same, but he just laughs at them and plays music all summer long. When winter comes, the grasshopper has no food, but the ants are just fine! Will the grasshopper learn his lesson?
Kids love “The Grasshopper and the Ants” book, we discussed the book in our circle time, and it was amazing to heard the kids share all that they get from the book. They said that they learned that they have to work really hard to be successful in life and they do not want to be as a grasshopper! They are 
awesome, we are happy to have these wonderful kids in our class. 
Additionally, we continued learning the new vocabulary of this theme.
Oruga/caterpillar,
Caracol/ snail,
Hormiga/ant,
Abeja/bee,
Saltamontes/grasshopper,
Mariquita o Catarina/ladybag,
Araña/spider,
Libelula/dragonfly,
Mariposa/butterfly,
Escarabajo/scarab,
Mosca/fly.
LETRAS
This week we went over to the letter Qq/ letra Qq. Be sure to point out the letter that we practice when you are reading. The combination “qu”, in Spanish is always a “k” sound que, quien, quiero). Some examples:
Queso/cheese,
Quetzal/, quetzal,
Quitasol/umbrella,
We did activities that the kiddos enjoyed since they had a variety of ways to learn the letter “Q” like, letters games, coloring, letter recognition, fine motor and letter practice using flour to write the letter into it, working hands on play dough, and letters recognition.
NÚMEROSThis week we were working with addition 1-5. We started really working with the kids this week on understanding the concept of addition, we have been working with numbers 1 through 5 and number combination. Now they know what happens when they add two numbers. We gathered up our collection of green, blue, yellow, and red manipulatives to start working with our little ones to have fun with addition. They did a 
great job practicing addition (forming groups) with hands-on manipulatives, with this activity the kids had the opportunity to learn while also having fun.
La Figura y El Color
This week we continued working with star shape (estrella), and we introduced a new color, white (blanco). The kids were coloring sheets of insects as ants (hormigas), using the colors that they are learning. Also, they practiced the fine motor skills lacing circle, square, rectangle, oval, start, heart, and triangle shapes.
Have a good weekend!
by Macky & Veronica | Mar 18, 2017 | Preschool
This week we continued working with our “Insects Unit”. Kids learned this week that insects are characterized by having three pairs of legs, a body segmented (head/cabeza, thorax/torax and abdomen/abdomen), compound eyes, and one pair of antennae. Most, but not all, insects have wings. Insects represent the largest group of animals on Earth, and are found in nearly all environments on our planet. Insects typically go through a life cycle that includes hatching from an egg, a larva stage, a pupa stage, and finally and adult stage. So, kids were singing a song:“Tengo una cabeza, tengo un torax, tengo un abdomen…
Tengo una cabeza, tengo un torax, tengo un abdomen…
Tengo seis patas, tengo cuatro alas y soy un….INSECTO”
Kids enjoyed this song as they danced and sang at the same time !Additionally, we continued learning the new vocabulary of this theme.
Oruga/caterpillar,
Caracol/ snail,
Hormiga/ant,
Abeja/bee,
Saltamontes/grasshopper,
Mariquita o Catarina/ladybag,
Araña/spider,
Libelula/dragonfly,
Mariposa/butterfly,
Escarabajo/scarab,
Mosca/fly.
This week we showed the kiddos how bees make honey. We taught them that bees fly from flower to flower, sipping nectar and collecting grains of pollen. Bees have a special tongue that sucks up the nectar and crop in their throat for storing it until they get back to the hive. In the hive it is turned into honey to use as food. As well they learned that many plants depend on bees to spread pollen helping them to reproduce. Honey bees and bumblebees live in colonies or hives. All the bees in the colony work together for the good of the hive. Each has a job to do, the queen lays the eggs and the workers build the honeycomb, care for the larvae and collect food. Kids did activities working in the sensory bin, fine motor activities, and other activities like a bumblebee made with toilet paper roll, and a paper plate honey bee.
LETRAS
This week we learned all about the letter Ww/ letra Ww. Be sure to point out the letter that we practice when you are reading. The English letter W name can be pronounced as (dobel-iu). While the Spanish letter name pronunciation is; W (doble ve or doble u). Some examples:
Washington/Washington,
Wafle/wafle,
Wapiti/wapiti,
We did activities that the kiddos enjoyed since they had a variety of ways to learn the letter “W” like letters games, coloring, letter recognition, coloring rainbow writing, fine motor and letter practice using flour to write the letter in, coloring and letter recognition.
NÚMEROS
This week we were working with addition 1-5. We gathered up our collection of green manipulatives to start working with our little ones to have fun with addition. We did St. Patrick’s clover addition math mats. The kids worked in groups and individually too. They did a great job practicing addition with hands-on manipulatives, with this activity the kids had the opportunity to learn while also having fun.
La Figura y El Color
This week we continued working with star shape (estrella) and we introduced a new color, black (negro). The kids colored sheets of insects like bees (abejas), rainbow caterpillar using diferents color as red (rojo), yellow (amarillo), blue (azul), orange (anaranjado), purple (purpura) and back (negro). Also, they practiced their fine motor skills tracing star shapes and coloring it different colors.
by Macky & Veronica | Mar 11, 2017 | Preschool
Una Mariquita!
This week we continued working with “Insects Unit”. The kids enjoyed reading and singing books related to insects. We read “La Mariquita Malhumorada” book, “The Grouchy Ladybug” by Eric Carle. This classic book shows us the story of a bad-tempered bug who won’t say please or thank you, won’t share, and thinks she is bigger and better than anyone else. The kids were introduced to the important concepts of time, size, and shape, as well as the benefits of good friendship and good manners. We also continued learning the new vocabulary of this theme.Oruga/caterpillar,
Caracol/ snail,
Hormiga/ant,
Abeja/bee,
Saltamontes/grasshopper,
Mariquita o Catarina/ladybag,
Araña/spider,
Libelula/dragonfly,
Mariposa/butterfly,
Escarabajo/scarab
This week we showed the kiddos a ladybug life cycle. We explained the stages a ladybug goes through. It was pretty fun and easy to understand, since they only have 5 stages; eggs, larva, pupa, young ladybug, and adult ladybug. We did a visual project to help them to understand better this life cycle. Kids did activities working in the sensory bin and fine motor activities. They did activities like the paper plate ladybug, hat ladybug, tissue paper ladybug. As well, they were searching for bugs inside y outside the classroom, and had a “ladybug” snack with strawberries, blueberries and Nutella.
LETRAS
This week we went over to the letter Kk/ letra Kk. Be sure to point out the letter that we practice when you are reading. The English letter K, can be 
pronounced as (kei). While the Spanish pronunciation is; K (ca). Some examples:
Karate/karate,
Kayac/kayak,
Koala/koala,
We did activities as, letters games, coloring and letters recognition.
NÚMEROS
We worked and reviewed the numbers 1 through 10. Kids did activities
for counting and recognizing the number through counting ladybugs, tracing and coloring the number. As well, we placed Legos on the ground next to the caterpillar, and then I encouraged the little ones to sort the objects out to the corresponding caterpillar stomach. Kids love to work with Legos and they also built bugs houses with 1 to 10 Legos
Happy Birthday to this guy!
La Figura y Color
This week we continued working with star shape (estrella), and the new colors, pink (rosado), and light blue (celeste) color. The kids played in the classroom looking around for the star shape. We also reviewed the colors in our daily clothes, coloring insects with color indication, and in classroom insect’s decorations.
by Macky & Veronica | Mar 5, 2017 | Preschool
I can/t believe that the time is going so fast. Spring is almost here! And this is the perfect time to 
introduce children to the life cycles of a variety of living things such as insects. This month we are going to work with insects/insectos unit. There are so many things to do with a bug or insects theme. With over a million species of insects to learn about, the possibilities are endless. Kids will learn about the parts of an insect, insect life cycles, habitats, food and more. Through this theme, we’re going to sing, read different books, do crafts, and science lessons. Kids are going to learn new vocabulary like:
Oruga/caterpillar,
Caracol/ snail,
Hormiga/ant,
Abeja/bee,
Saltamontes/grasshopper,
Mariquita o Catarina/ladybag,
Araña/spider,
Libelula/dragonfly,
Mariposa/butterfly,
Escarabajo/scarab,
This week we started learning about Life Cycle of a Butterfly. We explained that a butterfly lays a tiny egg on a leaf. A caterpillar hatches from the egg and after eating a whole bunch it turns into pupa and forms a hard-protective shell around its body. The pupa opens and a butterfly is born. We read the books, “Life Cycle of a butterfly and “The very Hungry Caterpillar”. We did activities like the paper plate caterpillar: children’s paint them with their favorites colors and then they add a papercraft to embellishments to give the caterpillars life! We did a multicolor butterfly and a butterfly life cycle necklace.
LETRAS
This week learned the letter Rr/ letra Rr. Be sure to point out the letter that we practice when you are reading. The English letter R, can be pronounced as (ar). While the Spanish pronunciation is; R (ere). Some examples:
Rana/frog,
Regalo/present,
Relog/clock,
Robot/robot,
Reina/queen,
Ratón/mouse.
We did activities as, letters games, coloring and letters recognition.
NÚMEROS
We were working on and reviewing the number 10 this week. The kids are doing a good job counting 1 through 10. They did diferent activities like counting and regonizing the number through legos, tracing and coloring the number. As well, I placed manipulatives on the ground next to the caterpillar, and then I encouraged the little ones to sort the objects out to corresponding caterpillar stomach. Kids enjoyed doing this activity
La Figura y Color
This week started working with star shape (estrella), and a new color added in our range colors! pink (rosado), and light blue (celeste) color. The kids play in the classroom looking around for star shape and colors
in our daily clothes and in classroom insect decorations.
This week we continued working with“Servicios Publicos y/o Ayudantes de Mi Comunidad/ Community Helpers” unit. So, this week we were working with Community Helpers, specifically Police: This theme helps to inform children about the role of the police. They learned that their job is to enforce the law and they do this in many ways, by patrolling the streets, getting to know the people who live in the town, helping people who have accidents, directing traffic to avoid accidents and more. They really loved it and then we acted out playing a police officer. They used their imagination driving a car, watching the streets and more, it was fun! As well, they did different craft activities of police officers. We continued reviewing the vocabulary of the month:
Bombero/ firefighter,
In addition, to close the week, since Mother Day is coming this Sunday 14 Mother’s Day, and is the time of the year when we take time to show appreciation and express love for our mothers. The kids celebrated their mothers with a beautiful poem:
LETRA
Números
