Monday, October 08, 2007

Hola,



It is now October and progress reports have gone out. Grades on the progress reports are progress grades. Remember I have only seen your child(ren) between 3-5 time since the beginning of the year and I do not have a lot of grades in my grade book as of yet.


Things for this month (October):

I have assigned each Spanish class a Spanish Speaking country and every Latin Class (7-8) a city during the high point of the Latin Language. Each month, I will ask the students to research and find out some information on their country/city. They are as follows:


Spanish

Kindergarden: Arvay- Bolivia; Knotts-Puerto Rico; Mears-Bolivia; Peronti-Puerto Rico

1st: Creasy-Peru; Curl-Argentina; Norvell-Ecuador; Radel-Mexico

2nd: Crumlish-Uraguay; Aquino-Costa Rica; Roberts-El Salvador

3rd: Squires-Honduras; Groo-Guatamala; Phillips-Nicaragua

4th: Grace-Colombia; Di Ienno-Panama; Steele/Bailey-Belice

5th: Cobble-Venezuela; Pinder-Dominican Republic; Heilig- Paraguay

6th: Cornell-Spain; Jackson-Cuba; Radis-Chile

Latin

7th: Stewart-Carthage; Decker-Rome; Hudson-Athens

8th: Muldoon-Constantinople; Bullen-Alexandria (near Mediterranean); Belton- Pompeii


This month I would like K-6 to look up basic information about their country. Some examples: country flag, map, symbol, location, motto/song/anthem, population, etc. (basic information and statistics). For 7-8 , I would like some basic statistics: where is/was located, population, languages spoken besides Latin, and basic historical information. I would like the information by Oct 25th. I am hoping to do something at the beginning of November with this information.

The information found on the assigned country/city can come from numerous references: encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas, internet, magazines, newspapers, etc. I would like the information printed neatly, copied or typed (printed) so that it can be read and so that copies can be made. Please make sure the information is appropriate to the school setting.


El Dia De Los Muertos

As you know, Holloween is at the end of October. The hispanic culture does not really celebrate Holloween. They celebrate on November 2nd El Dia De Los Muertos: The Day of the Dead. This is a time for the families to celebrate and remember their loved ones that have died and to celebrate life. In Mexico (and other countries) families have a parade, have a procession to the cemetary, make offerings of food and drink and place the marigolds (flowers) on the gravesites, and then they have a picnic and a fiesta. This varies from place to place, but in general is similar.
The roots of this holiday are firmly planted in native folklore and tradition in Mexico. The holiday came about through the blending of native beliefs and religious belief brought from Europe. This day was created as a means of continuing the belief in the circle of life in which death plays a part and is not eto be feared.

I will be doing a cultural activity relating to El Dia De Los Muertos toward the end of this month into the beginning of the next month (depending on the rotation). The activity I think I may be doing will probably involve use of self hardening clay (homemade). I would really appreciate donations of flour, alum and salt to make the clay and ziploc baggies for each student. I will try to send out donation lists to the teachers for the supplies as a reminder. If my activity changes, I will post it as soon as possible. All donated supplies for the activity would have to be dropped off/given to Senorita Morrin by October 24th. Any questions, please email or call (Ext. 207).

***It would be great if the students would looked up if their country has some tradition similar to Holloween or El Dia De Los Muertos.***

Students should be studing their vocabulary they have been using in class. I will be posting the vocabulary very soon. I will give another update soon.

Adios

Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home