LABELING: I have labeled all classrooms and other areas in my
school with laminated heavy oaktag paper and fastened with double-sided
sticky tape. The Spanish sign is placed under the one in English.
The classrooms have just numbers (just happened to be target numbers
in my curriculum 1-31!) and the cafeteria, computer lab, library, office,
music room, art room, health room, gym, and bathrooms as well as water
fountains have a sign. Labeling your classroom (if you have one) is also a
great idea to reinforce learning.
MAPS: For the fourth grade, a large map of the school helps us find way from one location to another. “What room numbers are the first grades?” “Where is the gym? It’s near the cafeteria.” I just thought that next year I could incorporate the compass rose into this activity as well – “Which rooms have windows facing north?” Which rooms have rooms with doors facing west?”
PLACES TO GO: I have made small icon pictures that relate the specific room in the school and teach with those pictures first. Then children pick the pictures out of the magic box. The children ask that student in the L2 “Where do want to go?” The child responds, “I want to go to art, please.” The children love to get the bathroom sign which causes giggling, of course.
PHOTOS: 8x10 digital photos of the faces of teachers in the school, cafeteria personnel, and office staff and the principal are used for the phrase “Who is this?” “Where is ___?”as well as for teaching Mr., Mrs., and Miss/Ms. Isn't it interesting that teachers in Spain are called Don and Doña. See this website for a picture of the entire faculty of a primary school in Andalucía:
CLASSROOM OBJECTS: Children learn the familiar objects in the classroom. I use realia when possible or laminated clip art on 8-1/2x11 sheets of paper. Once the children are familiar with the nouns, they love to play this game. A child sits in a chair in front of the classroom with his/her back to the class. S/he is wearing an empty clear plastic backpack., with its edge hanging over the back of the chair. S/he faces a poster of pictures with words (for second grade)or a word box on the board (for fourth grade) of the targeted classroom objects. A child from the class takes turns placing a piece of classroom realia or a laminated picture inside the backpack. The child in the chair then has three guesses to find the right object. “Is it a flag? Is it a book? Is it scissors?” The girls and boys like to compete against each other!
Here is the website for the clear plastic backpacks from Lakeshore Learning, called "Take-Home Backpacks"
SUBJECTS: For fourth grade, I create a list of subject areas – math, social studies, reading, writing, Spanish, music, etc. and appropriate icon pictures. Students take turns telling the class orally what subjects they like and don’t like. They also ask each other, “Who teaches _____________?”
SCHOOL MEMORY MIRROR: For a culminating activity before the fourth graders have a “moving-up ceremony” to the middle school, they make a “mirror” in Spanish that reflects favorites things about Goodwin School. To decorate both sides of the oaktag (light cardboard) mirror, each child chooses two pieces of multicolored design paper from Roylco. (I buy enough paper so that each child is able to choose a different kind to be unique.) See my Memory Mirror page for the selection of design papers.
I have designed a paper oval with fill in phrases and lines to fit the “glass” part of the mirror with the year on the top. There they write their name in Spanish, best friends’ names, their homeroom teacher’s name (including any instructional assistant that is always in the room), their Spanish teacher, their favorite teacher(s), favorite subject(s), favorite color, favorite recess activity, favorite cafeteria meal, favorite school year event or memory, etc. (Our wonderful school secretary receives small school photos from the company that takes the school pictures to be used in curriculum records. There are always a set of extras which she has given to me.) The children glue that photo in the place where the handle meets the actual “glass.” A hole is punched on the top of the frame; a yarn loop is inserted for easy hanging. Before “graduation” in late June, I display them on the Spanish bulletin board in the main hallway. The children take them home before the last day of school. The mirrors really make a nice keepsake!
Read more about this hands-on project, complete with template at my Memory Mirror page.
