Miércoles 26 de Febrero, 2014

Estimadas Familias,

Ojos de Dios again took center stage today. Several students brought back their projects from home to finish them, and others insisted on beginning new ones. some of their amazing creations were delivered as gifts to the principal, our host teacher, Ms. Corneen and, of course, to families at home and to serve magical purposes. I was impressed not only by the great variation of color combination of their pieces, but also by the experimentation with forms and patterns.

            Though difficult to do, I eventually rudely interrupted their creative passion to introduce them to Mafalda; a classic comic strip character highly regarded in Argentina with several published titles to her name. Mafalda is a young and very wise young girl who, with the aid of her band of friends - all about the age of Los Chicos - tackle trials and tribulations ranging from Mamá's soup (Mafalda hates it),  to national and international affairs of state. Each of the students was assigned a character and asked to read their respective part from the comic.

             The class literally ended on a delicious note, thanks to Rafaela and Martín's mom, Krishna, who delivered hot cheese empanadas for the class to share. If everything goes as planned, the students will be making their own empanadas in class next week. We'll get to bake them in the school's lunch room oven. Feel free to join us if you wish.

Ah, sí. ¡Sus hijos son maravillosos! (Oh, yeah. Your children are marvelous!)

Saludos y hasta el próximo Miércoles, 

Señor Lobo

Miércoles 19 de Febrero, 2014

Estimadas Familias,

After a brief rehearsal of De Cuerpo Entero we read Hoy Fué Mi Primer Día De Escuela (Today Was MY First Day Of School.) The students took turns reading to their classmates, but not before everyone agreed to avoid performing the teacher pranks illustrated in the book - specifically when it came to their Spanish teacher! The students read very well and enjoyed the story.

            Next, we crafted  Ojos de Dios (God's Eyes), using two sticks glued in the shape of an X and wrapped with yarn of different colors my wife Nancy kindly donated for the project. The kids loved the craft and several insisted on taking some materials home with them to make a second one. They may need your help to display their work in a window, or above a doorway at home. They also make good Christmas ornaments.

                   

Saludos y hasta el próximo Miércoles, 

Señor Lobo

Miércoles 12 de Febrero, 2014

           ¡¡¡Feliz Día de San Valentín!!! 

           
           We started the class with a brief sing along to go over the new song we learned last week. This sparked an animated philosophical discussion regarding the location of the Spirit in the body. Some students insisted the Spirit resides in the brain while others argued it is in the Heart. In the attempt to define humans, in one of the lines in the song, Violeta Parra refers to the heart:

De un Corá...De un Corazón que palpita, (Of a hea...Of a Heart which palpitates.)

Al Son de...Al Son de los Sentimientos... (To the Bea...To the Beat of the Feelings.)

          We welcomed Ari back to the group, after his worldly travels. He was kind enough to share some of the stories from his trip. Among them were a visit to my old neighborhood in Buenos Aires, exciting new tasty foods he found along the way, and several local animals which he illustrated in his journal.

          Next, came Valentine treats. The Valentine exchange worked out very well - I even ended up with some chocolate! Thank you. There was one student absent but, not to worry, treats will soon be in her hands. I also handed out two printed Valentine images to each student on which they wrote notes to friends or family members. Look for your Spanish Valentine...

          We ended the day with a game of Scrabble (Edición en Español) which contains the extra letters - ch, ll, ñ and rr. The students enjoyed the game and were successful creating vocabulary. Unfortunately, I left the Scrabble game in the classroom. If anyone happens to go by room # 2 please hang on to the game (play at home?) or, at least, let the teacher know I will get it next week. Gracias.

Hasta el próximo Miércoles, les deseo lo mejor.

Señor Lobo

Miércoles 5 de Febrero, 2014

Estimadas familias,

           We began this class learning a new song to add to the student's repertoire. After a quick review of the names of body parts we previously learned. We recognized we left out a very important one: El Espíritu. Luckily, the famous Chilean poet/composer Violeta Parra found a way to include The Spirit in the big picture in her song: De Cuerpo Entero (Of the Body Whole).
            
           As when we learned our previous song - La Mona Jacinta - we translated this one and then sang it together a few times to learn the melody. Please ask your child to practice these songs at home or in the car. They have the lyrics in their binders. 

           Our next class will be on February 12, a couple of days before El Día de San Valentín. The children decided to pick names out of a hat to determine which classmate they would bring a valentine for on Wednesday. They also agreed to include the name of the recipient while leaving the author anonymous. Please remind your child to bring a simple valentine gift.

            We did get to try our likes and dislikes finally. We took turns saying - Me gusta ______, y me gustas tú, ( I like ______, and I like you) to pass it to the next person. Among my favorites were, mi familia and mi Papá. Of course we also looked at a few things we didn't like - No me gusta ______. Several students chose schoolmates they were not particularly fond of. Stand outs were Chocolate and mine: Sandía (Watermelon).

Hasta el Miércoles,

Señor Lobo