Day of the Dead was a raging success! I am thrilled with how the days went. Between the cultural foods, face painting, arts and crafts and movie watching the celebration was phenomenal!
I am attaching only several of the fotos I was able to capture. If you have any fotos please share them with me 🙂
I am excited about tomorrows celebration of dia de los muertos! I have received most permission slips, however if you cannot find yours I will attach the doc below for you to print and send in ASAP.
Any food you bring in needs to have a list of ALL INGREDIENTS and MUST be approved at the front desk. If it is not approved, it cannot be served.
Dress your best and come ready to celebrate our families and loved ones who have died. I am excited to celebrate as a community!
Face Paint Permission Form
Dear Parent/Guardian,
As part of DÃa de los Muertos, Señora Oliver is requesting permission to paint the face with non-toxic face paint, if the child wants. Please sign and return the permission slip at the bottom of this form by Monday, 10/30/16, even if you would like to opt out.
Date: Wednesday or Thursday (depending on their class period), 11/01/17 and 11/02/17 for DÃa de los Muertos
Purpose: To immerse ourselves in the Mexican culture of DÃa de los Muertos and celebrate our families/heritage
Volunteer: If you would like to come in and help paint faces during class we would love to have you join us!
Special Instructions: PLEASE RETURN THIS FORM, EVEN IF YOU DO NOT GIVE US PERMISSION TO PAINT THEIR FACE!
Save this part of the form for future reference.
Cut here——————————————————————————————————————Cut here
Sign this part of the form and return it to your child’s teacher.
_____________________________________________________ , my child,
Does Does Not (circle one) have permission get his/her face painted with washable, non-toxic face paints (if he/she wants) by the volunteers or Señora Oliver.
Parent/Guardian Signature: ___________________________________
Date: _____________________
Would you like to volunteer during your student’s class: ___________________________
What favorite family dish will you be sending (each student will have their food displayed with a small card explaining the dish) : _________________________________
What is dia de los muertos? Ask your kindergartner! They can use their new bilingual book to explain the most important aspects of dia de los muertos.
Fotos below 🙂
dia de los muertos : day of the dead
If your student has had me before you know what a HUGE deal dia de los muertos is! It is a day full of face painting, eating, dancing and celebrating life! It has been fun to talk about the many differences between day of the dead and Halloween. This year we are going to have a very LARGE dia de los muertos celebration! On top of face painting, students are invited to bring their favorite foods to class. I am also inviting students to bring in pictures of loved ones who have passed to place on our classroom ofrenda. Permission slips will be sent home next week!
I am attaching more information on dia de los muertos below so you can gain a better understanding of the cultural importance for dia de los muertos.
dia de los muertos:
Nov. 1 & 2
Day of the Dead is a holiday (or festival) when family members who have died are remembered. In Mexico, this festival is considered to be the most important holiday of the year.
It is a period full of life, happiness, color, food, family, and fun.
Outdoor markets sell many symbolic goods, such as special breads, flowers, pottery, baskets, candles, paper puppets, candy skulls, etc. The main symbols of this holiday are skulls and skeletons.
Sugar skulls represent a departed soul and honor the deceased.
Here is an educational video to help you gain a better understanding of the history and cultural significance of dia de los muertos:
SÃ, se puede! Yes, you can!
This is our theme this week and we dive deeper in vocabulary and are further exposed to language and culture!
Today we begun class by listening to a variety of Spanish songs. At first the students seemed overwhelmed, until the chorus´ hit. I was playing popular Disney songs in Spanish! It was amazing to see their faces light up as they realized the connection. After we listened to Spanish songs we used our white boards to spell! Again, they seemed overwhelmed at first but caught on quickly!
Again, it is all about flipping ¨off¨ our English brain and flipping ¨on¨ our Spanish brain! We reviewed the sounds of the Spanish Alphabet and talked about the many differences in the two languages.
As always, it is a pleasure to teach your students.
Kindergarten is a bundle of energy! We have been using a lot of Total Physical Response (TPR) which is often incorporated in ESL classes. The students are having a BLAST learning the introductory words and phrases. We’ve started dabbling in directions, extensive body parts and the difference of masculine and feminine words.
Today I introduced 2 new songs which I am attaching the link for below. It is important to use song and dance throughout the lessons!
As always, it is a pleasure teaching your students. Please reach out if you have any questions.
Parents and educators understand the many benefits received by learning multiple languages. By beginning early, the K-5 students of Quest Academy will be prepared for the middle school curriculum, and later for the curriculum of high school.
Some parents have asked why their student is not fluent. This is a marvelous question that I would love to address so that you can reinforce language in your home as well!
Most classes have Spanish class 2x/week for 45 minutes. Once they leave my room they are back into an all English speaking environment. Most students have said they speak English at home so that limits all Spanish exposure to an hour and a half/week. The students here at Quest Academy make tremendous strides in language acquisition, but if it is not reinforced at home the target language time is limited therefore making it hard to become fluent.
I love that so many parents have reached out asking what they can do to reinforce the Spanish language and culture throughout their home. I have compiled a list below that I believe will help tremendously!
Here are some things you should do to bring Spanish into your home:
-Find a tandem partner to have free, regular conversation practice in an informal setting. As a bonus, they’ll probably come away with a new friend!
-Change the language of all electronic devices and social media sites to Spanish and you’ll both pick up new technology-related vocabulary without realizing.
-Make the most of free resources like newspapers and library publications, which are perfect for reading and translation practice.
-Watch Discovery Kids Latino, Disney Latino chances are any show your student likes has a Spanish version!
This year I have the great problem of way too many ideas of what to do on the first day of school.
I could not be more excited about beginning another school year of teaching PreK-5th! Spanish is so importante and I am blessed to be able to teach the language and culture.
Allow me to give you a glimpse into the first day of class!
BEFORE CLASS – A Spanish Pandora Station will be playing to acclimate them to the LATINO climate of my classroom
GREET – I greet all students at the door in Spanish with a smile and a seating card. I will ask their name in Spanish, modeling “Me llamo Senora Oliver” “¿Cómo te llamas?”
INTRO MYSELF – I will introduce myself using a PPT in Spanish with a lot of actions, movement and enthusiasm.
¿y tú? – I will ask each student what language is spoken at home
CIERTO O FALSO – We will play a fun game about common misconceptions about the Spanish language and the people who speak it
REFLECT – We will talk about expectations within the classroom and throughout Quest Academy
Next week is Meet the Teacher Night and I will handing out curriculum outlines for each specific grade. If you are unable to attend please email me and I can send it to you!
The week before Spring Break I was able to chaperone the ifly trip with PreK-1st grade!
We had a fantastic time making parachutes and FLYING! I was impressed by the bravery the students exhibited as they stepped up for their turn to fly.
Here is a video for you to get a glimpse into this amazing field trip.
A lot of repaso this week! We continue to move forward with our vocabulario del material escolar y material de la clase and we are compounding on our existing knowledge!
We are incorporating songs, TPR and fine motor skills to further solidify our understanding. I am attaching some images of their hard work as well as some videos we have watched in class.
Here are some images of students writing the vocabulary and sounding them out as a class.
Here is the ever familiar & fun Mochila Song!
This is the fun video that reinforces the school vocabulary!
We watched this video to observe the differnces between la escuela en Mexico y en Los Estados Unidos.
