Buenas tardes a todos,  (Good afternoon to everyone)

¡Bienvenidos a la clase de español! Welcome to Spanish class! We are off to a good start this year with a bit smaller class sizes and enthusiastic students. So far we have started learning and singing the alphabet, numbers 0 to 30, the date, a few weather expressions, international symbols as a language, calendar differences, cognates, and class expectations. And it's only day 2! The students have been very receptive and I am looking forward to a productive year with them all.

Within the next week, we will be picking Spanish names to use in class, doing some housekeeping activities such as setting up our notebooks and folders, using euros as a reward system for homework and participation, learning the months and focusing on the numbers by writing down everyone's birthday in Spanish, learning how to speak with basic questions and answers, taking a few notes, learning the countries and capitals, passing out the books and much more.

Here are a few expectations for my classroom:
No chicle - no gum. It is hard enough to speak Spanish without a wad of gum in your mouth.
Always bring your 5 subject notebook, a folder, your covered book, a pencil and a good attitude.
Cooperation and respect for others will go a long way towards having a pleasant year.
Homework should be done completely and ready for the day we need it, usually the next day.
Effort, effort, effort - show me what you can do.

Homework will start next week and is considered an integral part of my class. Please do it! Talk to you all next week.

Gracias,    Señora Schneider

Buenas tardes a todos,

This week we will be starting our family projects in class by making an initial rough draft of our families, making a rough draft of a family tree, and starting our essays in class. The rubric was passed out last Friday and that gives all the details of all the expectations for this project. It is worth 3 test grades so it is very important that you do a good job. The bulk of the poster will be done at home, however, we will nail down the rough draft in class before you start the poster. I want to check your draft before you start. If the draft is not correct, the poster will be off also.

We will also start the essay in class with more explanation and samples. There is a sample of one paragraph on the rubric. Please read it so you know what to do. I will give hints on it in class. It will consist of five small paragraphs about your family in correct Spanish, so take your time, think, and do a good job. No repeats on the essay.

The presentations will start on Tuesday, May 28th after Memorial Day. Everything is due that day; the poster, the essay, and readiness for the presentation. You cannot read your essay as I explained in class. Use your poster with the extra chores and activities drawn on it so you can talk about your 3 people that   you picked. Again no repeats of adjectives, chores, adverbs of time, or activities.

This is a project that  incorporates many things that we have learned all year, so it is very important that you practice before you present. Show me what you have hopefully learned.

We will also be continuing with  the rest of the chapter and practicing the chores, directions and locations, reviewing the verb "estar" = to be, learning about negative words such as nobody, never, neither, and nothing, and learning a few new expressions.

As you can see we are not quite done yet because the expectation is to finish chapter 5 before you go on to high school. We will get there with everyone's cooperation with homework, classwork, and the project. We have a short week again this week with more SRI testing on Friday's half day and no school on Monday. Please continue to hang in there and do this project!

Tarea por esta semana:
lunes noche: paquete - paginas 49 y 56 - los quehaceres. Continua con el proyecto.
martes noche: paquete -  paginas 57 y 60  y el proyecto
miércoles noche: paquete - paginas 58 y 46 y el proyecto
jueves noche: el proyecto -  no clases el viernes. Los examenes de SRI reading test
viernes noche y el fin de semana - El proyecto

If you do not want to have this hanging over your head during the weekend, I strongly suggest you start the poster and essay during the week after I check your draft of the poster. You need to buy your own poster board, have colorful pictures, and be neat.

I will be staying after school Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday until 3:00pm each day. If you want to work on your project after school, you are more than welcome to come in. I hope to see some of you that really need a push to stay.

PS. I have been trying to put a book link on my blog but it will not connect to the book because we are not registered with book company and there is a cost. However, if you google expresate or go.hrw.com  keyword: EXP1 CH5, you should be able to get to the book, it just won't be through the link on the blog which I now need to remove. Thanks for your patience.  

¡Buena suerte!  Señora Schneider  

Buenas noches a todos,

Well, this week is an interesting week with a Tuesday half day, and MCAS testing Wednesday and Thursday which is like having 2 more half day schedules. Monday we reviewed our possessive adjectives by playing a group game and worked on stem changing verbs by playing battleship in Spanish. We will finish it another day before we finish the chapter.

Today, we had a quiz on the above items plus the family vocabulary. It was a bit harder than the quizzes last week and I think some of you need to study more if you want to finish off the year strong. Tomorrow, after MCAS, we will finish the quizzes (5 minutes), finish our Chile notes, and hopefully, listen to some Spanish music that will tie in with a verb activity. Thursday, we will be starting our family project after seeing some examples and going over the requirements. Friday, we will be working with our new house vocabulary and learning about  and brainstorming chores people do around the house.

Tarea por esta semana,

lunes noche: work sheet pages 64 and 85. study for the quiz on possessive adjectives and new verbs.  
martes noche: no tarea
miércoles noche: no tarea
jueves noche: paquete nuevo - paginas TBA
viernes noche: paginas TBA

La semana proxima: another half day day on Friday the 24th so we need to push on with the project with some devoted time in class, plus still learning some new expressions and vocabulary to finish off the chapter. We are not done yet!

Hasta mañana,  Señora

Buenos dias a todos,

The first week of May has arrived and the year is quickly coming to an end. For the rest of the year, we still have lots of classwork and homework to do as well learning about the Cinco de Mayo,  finding out more about Chile, learning new verbs and expressions, and making a family tree in Spanish complete with labels, pictures and other interesting information. There will also be a presentation in front of the class and an essay. This will be a culminating project of most of the things that we learned this year, so I expect everyone to put in a good effort!

We just finished our artist projects and they came out beautifully. They are currently hanging in the 8th grade hallway and our room. Nice job by everyone! The presentations overall we very good also.

We are now in the last stretch of school and learning will be a challenge with the nice weather, sports games, field trips, MCAS, and other distractions that come up at the end of the year.  It is important for the students to hang in there and not slack off from homework and studying. I am expecting wonderful family projects! Information on them will be coming home soon.

Tarea por esta semana:

lunes noche:  calendario - 8 places in a casa (house)- drawings in color and labeled in Spanish
martes noche: nada - MCAS testing
miércoles noche: paquete -paginas 53 y 54. new verbs and possessive adjectives. Study for Friday quiz.
jueves noche: paquete - pagina 43 !estudien! hay un examencito mañana. verbos y adjetivos posesivos.
viernes noche: nada

Hasta luego,   Señora Schneider

Buenas tardes clase,

Here we are again with another shortened week with 2 half days and so much to learn! We started the family chapter last week and learned some more adjectives to describe our families and friends. We will be using those this week along with some new possessive adjectives and perhaps some new verbs. We chose new partners today using the  states of Mexico and saw where chihuahuas and tabasco sauce come from. We will be working with new partners tomorrow and finish getting back our artist projects so they can be put up on the bulletin boards. We have quite a few good artists in the 8th grade!

Our new country this chapter is Chile and we will be learning some more interesting facts within the next 2 weeks. We will also be having a quiz on Friday, May 3 on family members, adjectives, and possessive adjectives. We will also be having a family project coming up soon where the students will need to draw their family trees on both sides, label them in Spanish, and either draw pictures, get pictures on line, or scan photos from the family albums to present tot he class. There will be an essay in Spanish also. More details will follow soon.

Tarea para esta semana:

lunes noche: pagina 41, toda la pagina en el paquete
martes noche: pagina 52 toda la pagina y pagina 42 toda la pagina
miércoles noche: papel de adjetivos posesivos (possessive adjectives) , not in packet - hand out
jueves noche: papel de adjetivos posesivos y de vocabulario, no packet ¡estudien! examencito mañana
viernes noche: nada

¡Hasta mañana!    Señora Schneider

Buenos dias a todos,

I have a couple of updates for this week. There will be a calendar for April due tomorrow and you will need to draw, color, and label in Spanish 8 spring things such as flowers, rain, baseball, etc. Anything that reminds you of spring. There is no homework on Thursday night. I cannot really stay today because there is a staff meeting after school. Thursday is still a half day, however, I can stay until 2:45 on Friday as I have an appointment at 3:00 that day.

Gracias,  Señora

Buenas Noches a Todos,

Well, we finished a successful Technology week with math, science, English, and bit of Venezuelan culture and geography mixed with facts about the Yanomami tribe. Thanks for all your attention and comments! We have another mixed up week this week, so we will be doing the "Artist Project". You will be researching a famous Hispanic artist, drawing one of his famous works, writing a short one page biography about the artist, presenting your findings in English in front of the class, and taking notes on a form about the artists that your classmates talk about. It should be fun and interesting and a lot of you are very good artists too!

The only homework this week will be to finish the project and get ready to present by Wednesday, April 3. There will not be any tests or quizzes this week, however, some of you need to finish the major chapter  4 test from March 22. I am staying after school Monday, Tuesday, and part of Wednesday of this week. There is a half day Thursday and I might be able to stay until 2:30 on Friday. I will let you know. I am also available during most home room periods. Please come in and finish your test and perhaps retake a quiz.  After this week, the grade you have will be it. I want them all completed before we go to Washington and vacation!

In the meantime, have a good night, a good week, and good luck on your projects that are due Wednesday April 3. Señora