Building Spanish Language skills in Fourth and Fifth grade

Submitted By: Diana Sanchez, 4th and 5th Grade Spanish

In the second semester, the fourth and fifth grade students read poems based on the season and short stories that help improve their reading comprehension of the Spanish language. They have also learned new vocabulary words related to the season, greetings, holidays, weather, and emotions. Additionally, students in each class reviewed calendar related vocabulary, such as fecha(date), día(day), mes(month), and año(year). Each grade level has practiced both writing and speaking numbers in Spanish. The students have also worked on their communication skills in Spanish by engaging in conversations with one another, or groups about the various topics covered in class. They have practiced using personal pronouns in both singular and plural forms by creating sentences that correctly use pronouns. In each class, they create sentences about themselves, integrating both writing and speaking skills. Furthermore, they have practiced pronunciation by asking and answering questions in Spanish using complete sentences. To support their learning, students practice speaking, reading and writing through interactive activities such music, videos, games and presentations.    

Fourth grade
The fourth-grade students are learning the parts of the house and the places of the city. They also created a poster where they drew the house and the city of their dreams. In addition to practicing pronunciation, they made a presentation in class and recorded a short video explaining the poster using only Spanish vocabulary. The students asked each other questions on different topics allowing them to practice communication in Spanish. Using new vocabulary words, the students learned to write, read, and pronounce the articles or objects in the classroom. They also practiced using definite, indefinite articles, as well as prepositions by incorporating them into complete sentences in both plural and singular forms. Students will continue learning vocabulary related to food, family, possessive adjectives, animals and more.  

Fifth grade
The fifth-grade students have practiced using singular and plural personal pronouns to form complete sentences. They also learned the conjugation of the verb to be “ser, estar”, as well as regular verbs ending in ar, er and  ir, in the present tense, depending on the plural and singular pronouns. Additionally, they practiced writing, reading, and pronouncing six-digit numbers in Spanish. Reading comprehension exercises have been incorporated by analyzing stories and poems, with students answering questions in Spanish related to the readings. The students also had the opportunity to interview various Spanish-speaking individuals from different professions who visited their classroom. To further practice comprehension, writing, and speaking, the students completed several exercises at home and occasionally in class using the Duolingo website. Moving forward, students will continue to study the conjugation of the verbs poder(to can) and  ir(to go), as well as topics like telling the time, household chores, and more topics. They will also work on a project creating their own restaurant, learning vocabulary related to food and useful phrases for the restaurant setting.