CURRICULAR CONNECTION

It is hard to believe summer is over and school is back in session.   The first month of school is review for all age groups.  By doing this, we can go back and cement original material that students should know and understand while allowing new students to feel comfortable about catching up and being able to cope with new material that will be presented.  All students are reviewing greetings and salutations, counting and number recognition from 1-20, days of the week, and names for parts of the body.  New units of study will begin starting the middle of September for each age group.

KINDERGARTEN
Students will be learning to communicate through songs, games, and dance.  The body and how to help keep in healthy will be the central idea for the first six to eight weeks of school.  Students will learn some names of parts of their body, the names of some simple healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables, and the name of some activities they can do to help keep their bodies healthy.

FIRST GRADE
The First Grade unit of vocabulary for the month of September is “Things found in a Classroom”.  Students will be taught the names of basic items they see and use every day while in class.  They will be introduced to the days of the week, numbers 1-30, and colors and shapes.

SECOND GRADE
Students is Second Grade will be asked to know and be able to recite the days of the week, months of the year, seasons of the year and weather conditions.  During the month of September, students are introduced as to the proper way to use and English/Spanish Dictionary in order to learn how to look up words they may not know or understand.  This is a difficult concept as they are just starting to learn how to use a dictionary in English. 

THIRD GRADE
Students are being asked to know how to write the calendar day of the week correctly.  It is different from the way they are being asked to do it in English.  Both the long and short form for the correct way to write the date will be introduced to students.  Definitive articles and number and gender agreement are the two areas of grammar that students need to understand when speaking and writing in Spanish.  These will be introduced and reinforced throughout the school year.

FOURTH GRADE
Fourth Graders review definitive articles and number and gender agreement.  They will be asked to use it in all their writing, including during test presentation.  If the correct article is not used, the answer will be counted as wrong.  Test taking skills are introduced along with internet sights that students can and may use to help study and learn vocabulary being presented. 

FIFTH GRADE
Telling time using the Military format is introduced to students so they may know how to travel abroad and not miss their flight.  Addition and subtraction are introduced with the help of a children’s Nursery song.  Students are expected to be able to state how they are feeling, their telephone number, and weather conditions taking place.  Definitive articles and number and gender agreement are revisited and used on a daily basis.  Continued test taking skills will be presented and reinforced during the year.

As one can see, are first two months of school are full of new information being introduced while still reviewing old material that was presented last school year.  The students are enjoying their new challenges and I am enjoying working with each and every student.  It is nice to be back and greeted on a daily basis with their big warm smiles.