Week 5 BDLC

This week we began our Halloween rhyme: Diez Calabazas

Diez calabazas

Listas estan

Viene la bruja

Y rapido se va

Ten pumpkins

They are ready

Here comes the witch

And quickly they go

Each child gets a pumpkin and each time we say the rhyme, Katie, dressed as a witch, grabs one of the pumpkins. Then we repeat the rhyme, practicing counting down.

We also began reading, listening to and acting out the rhyme, Cinco monitos:

Cinco monitos

Saltando en la cama

Uno se cayo y golpeo la cabeza

Mama llamo el doctor y el doctor le dijo,

"No mas monitos saltando en la cama."

Five little monkeys

Jumping on the bed

One fell off and bumped his head

Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,

"No more monkeys jumping on the bed."

We also enjoy listening to this rhyme on the Sing Along with Boca Beth CD available at the Monroe County Public Library. We also like to say this rhyme while manipulating the feltboard pieces and by acting it out.

Week 4 BDLC

This week we continued our work with colors. We played with playdough-- each child received a different colored piece of playdough of varying sizes. We discussed whether our piece was grande (large), chiquito (small) o mediano (medium) as well as what color it was.

El tiempo y la fecha (weather & date)

We begin every class with a discussion of the weather, season & date. Since we only have class twice a week, the important words to learn are: lunes (Monday) and miércoles (Wednesday). So far, our important months are septiembre, octubre, noviembre & diciembre. The different weather conditions that we discuss are: Hace sol (It's sunny), Está nublado (It's cloudy), Está lloviendo (It's raining), Está nevando (It's snowing). Our current season is otoño (fall).

Cuento (story)

This week we began work on Los conejitos de colores (The Color Bunnies), a story about some white bunnies (conejitos blancos) who go out to play. When the winter (invierno) comes & there's snow (nieve) on the ground, their mother can't find them when it's time to come in to dinner. So she decides to paint them lots of different colors. Then when springtime (primavera) comes & the flowers (flores) come out, Mama Conejo can't find them again. So she washes them off and they become white again. This is a never-ending story, so watch out!

Week 3 BDLC

Hi folks!

This past week we continued our study of the colors as well as some of the other topics we've been learning about (greetings, please, thank you, you're welcome).

Since everything that I introduced at the beginning of the class was brand new, we need to take a few weeks to continue to reinforce the material so that your children can begin to internalize it. Did you know that students need to hear each vocabulary word between 50-100 times in order to acquire them? In addition to this unit on colors, I will continue to pepper every story with questions about color throughout the entire year to further reinforce it.

We also briefly began our numbers 1-10 (something which we will also focus on in the coming weeks). We sang "Diez Deditos," which is sung to the tune of the 10 Little Indians. It goes like this: (and here's a link-- this song can be found on the CD "Diez deditos" at the library)

1, 2, 3 deditos
4, 5, 6 deditos
7, 8, 9 deditos
Cuéntalos conmigo

2 manitas, 10 deditos
2 manitas, 10 deditos
2 manitas, 10 deditos
Cuéntalos conmigo

1, 2, 3 little fingers
4, 5, 6 little fingers
7, 8, 9 little fingers
Count them with me

2 little hands, 10 little fingers
2 little hands, 10 little fingers
2 little hands, 10 little fingers
Count them with me

And finally, one of my favorite songs to use to cue the children that we need to be quiet because a story is coming is called, La lechuza (The Owl)-- sung to the tune of Frere Jacques.

La lechuza, la lechuza
Que dice, “shhhh,” que dice, “shhhh”
Todos calladitos, todos calladitos
Que dice, “shhhh,,” que dice, “shhhh”

The owl, the owl
That says, "shhhh," that says, "shhhh"
Everyone quiet, everyone quiet
That says, "shhhh," that says, "shhhh"