10/26/2013 0 Comments HomeworkNow that we have two months behind us, we are getting into the routine of homework. First comes the habit of making sure to bring it home, setting aside time to do it and handing it in on the day it is due. By now we hope those habits have been established and we can work on improving the quality of how homework is done. One strong focus of ours in fourth grade is writing in English. In the third grade the students wrote extensively in Spanish. This year we will bridge what we have learned about being good writers to English and extend the expectations for length, craft and word choice, being that English is the students L1 (first language). Our practice with the Spanish written language will also continue and extend with higher expectations for grammatical accuracy on the Spanish language structures we have explicitly learned.
Classroom performance expectations will transfer to homework. We began fourth grade with a strong focus on sentence writing. What makes a complete sentence? How can we vary our sentences to create a nice flow and rhythm in our writing? We then moved on to the descriptive paragraph. How can we create a mind picture in the reader's head of what we want them to see? How can we maintain the focus on one topic per paragraph? How can we show, not tell? Having had the practice in class, the students should be ready to do it at home. On the Spanish packets, students will now write a complete paragraph instead of complete sentences. What makes a complete paragraph?
Expectations for the English reading packet will also increase. Much of our '40% instruction in English' is being used for writing. Much of the reading we do as a class and in small groups is in Spanish. Therefore the English reading packet and blog is essential to the development of English reading fluency and comprehension. On Wednesday nights the students have to write a blog responding to a text in English. This is a great time for them to build their analytical and reading strategy skills. Last week the assignment was to blog about inferences. Not only do they get to practice the 'making inferences' strategy, they then get to see how their classmates made inferences when we read each other's blogs in the computer lab Thursday mornings. It's definitely beneficial to help your child find the time and resources to complete this assignment. Even if a computer is not available that night, the students can always write the blog paper and pencil style and type it the next morning at school. The English reading packet will now come with the following list of tasks and will need to be signed by a parent/guardian/after school staff to show the list has been completed.
November will be our first Spanish Book Project month and you should already have all materials necessary! The project will be on the summer reading books and your child will have three choices. One choice is creating an illustrated list of events from Pisco y la boda del Capitan Caiman and labeling each event, 'real', 'dream', or 'story'. Another is creating a character map from a character in El Superzorro. And the third is inspired from the book El dragon y la mariposa. (There were not enough copies available for purchase for the whole class, but we do have a small set in class that some students have started reading and could 'check out' if this choice interests them.) For this project, students must research the origins of their name and persuade the reader whether they agree with the premise in the book which is, your name defines your who you are. This project will be passed out and posted at the end of the week. Enjoy!
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10/7/2013 1 Comment Speaking Spanish in the ClassroomFourth grade is a big jump in understanding, discussing and writing about literature. Students in Spanish Immersion must do this in Spanish and in English. English being the majority language (meaning the one predominantly spoken in our immediate environment) plus being the native language of the kids.... plus being the language students are expected to perform in on high stakes tests; makes valuing the Spanish language ever more challenging.
Promoting Spanish in the Classroom Spanish time in the classroom is distinguished with a few stars around the room. One I wear hanging from a lanyard and one is displayed on the white board. Encouraging students to respond in the target language to the teacher or in whole class discussions is a relatively easy task. Having students respond to each other in Spanish during partner or group work-- now that can be challenging. Currently the students have set reading groups of two to four per group. Each group has a point sheet and can earn 'caritas felices' for speaking in Spanish during group work. Classroom rewards for speaking Spanish:
Promoting Spanish at home Recently a parent asked me if translating Spanish homework to English was a good strategy to use when doing homework. My first reaction was a definite "no". Students should learn to think, problem solve and synthesize information in their L2 (second language of instruction) in order to move towards fluency. However as the research shows, once you know more than one language these systems never operate completely separately. Once you speak two or more languages your brain is accessing all systems when speaking, reading, listening or writing. Therefore in studying the languages is there a need to keep each language totally blocked off from the other? Of course not. One of the biggest benefits of knowing a second language is the depth of understanding it brings to your first language. As I try to instill upon the kids: use what you know about English word structure to help identify new Spanish words and vice versa. Returning to the original question of how to best complete Spanish homework, should you filter every assignment through an online translator? No. Make every effort to read the instructions, literature passage or informational article in Spanish. Then paraphrase the key concepts and ideas that are definitely understood in Spanish. If this is a struggle, instead of attempting to summarize understandings in English, first try using pictures, images or diagrams. Through this activity, decide what information is not understood or missing in order to complete the task. What are the key words that would help improve understanding? This is a good time to pull out the dictionaries. Make sure to have access to an online or actual dictionary that will provide Spanish definitions and one for English translations. This may seem like a lot of time to invest, but after a short while the process will become more automatic. Instead of wanting to translate an entire novel into English, a child can skim a page and determine, "I'll look up these four key words before I start reading and if anything else comes up that I can't figure out with context or structural clues, I'll keep my dictionary handy." |
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