Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo, May 5th, commemorates the defeat of the French by the Mexican Army in 1862. It’s a national holiday in Mexico, and is celebrated by Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans in the United States.

Finding high-interest materials for students to read, and activating prior knowledge, are both good instructional strategies, so in that spirit I offer another “The Best…” list.

Here are my choices for The Best Sites For Teaching & Learning About Cinco de Mayo:

The Orange County Register has a good interactive graphic about the day.

EL Civics has a good Cinco de Mayo Lesson designed for English Language Learners..

The History Channel has a Cinco de Mayo feature.

Here’s a video presentation of a Cinco de Mayo Celebration by the San Jose Mercury News.

This is a simple historical explanation by Social Studies for Kids.

How Stuff Works has a presentation on How Cinco de Mayo Works.

Glencoe has an online slideshow on the day’s history.

For students who are not from Mexico (and for those who are) here are some accessible links for them to learn some basic information about the country:

Apples 4 The Teacher has a “talking book” about Mexico.

Here’s an interactive timeline of Mexico’s History. It’s from PBS.

Mr. Nussbaum has two good interactives for learning about Mexico.

Brainpop, Jr. has a movie about Mexico, though you need to have a paid subscription to view it.

MSNBC has a short article on President Obama’s celebration of the holiday.

A Brief History of Cinco de Mayo is a TIME Magazine slideshow.

Read Write Think has a number of good resources, including lesson plans, related to the holiday.

The Detroit News has a slideshow about a local Cinco de Mayo Parade.

Nation’s Capital Celebrates Cinco de Mayo is a video from ABC News.

ESL Holiday Lessons has a lesson for English Language Learners about the holiday.

The U.S. Census Bureau has a fact sheet on the day.

The Modesto Bee has a video of a local celebration.

Why Do We Celebrate Cinco de Mayo is a CNN video.

President Obama Celebrates Cinco de Mayo is a video of the celebration at the White House.

Cinco De Mayo History: 7 Must-Know Facts About The Annual Celebration is a slideshow from The Huffington Post.

Cinco de Mayo goes hip is a slideshow from The Orange County Register.

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, here’s a short excerpt from PBS’s profile of America’s first all-female mariachi band, Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles:

Remember, Remember, The Fifth Of May is a very good NY Times article on Cinco de Mayo.

Rethinking Cinco de Mayo is from The Zinn Education Project.

Cinco de Mayo a Mexican import? No, it’s as American as July 4, prof says is from CNN.

CBS News has a slideshow on Cinco de Mayo.

What to Really Eat on Cinco de Mayo is from Smithsonian Magazine.

Shared by Larry FerLazzo

La ciudad

Next week, my students and I are going to start a new unit about LA CIUDAD y LA COMUNIDAD.

Here you can find the vocabulary that we are going to learn.

Venn diagram

Here is a great site to create your own graphs!

1. Venn diagram in Spanish 

Calendar activity steps

1. Write the name and the date.
2. Take Agosto and Septiembre calendar from the folder. 
3. Write the numbers.
4. Write the number words in Spanish.
5. Check your spelling. 
6. Color it.

Códigos secretos / Secret codes

 

As you know there are some Spanish letters and characters that we don't have in our american keyboards. Here it's a chart to teach students how to use these Spanish letters and characters.

á = alt+160	é = alt+130	í = alt+161	ó = alt+162	ú = alt+163
ü = alt+129	ñ = alt+164	Ñ = alt+165	¿ = alt+168	¡ = alt+17

Vamos a hacer cómics / Let's make comics

My students are working on school vocabulary (school personnel, school locations, subjects and school activities) and some language patterns such as:

Me llamo, Soy el/la, Estoy and Me gusta.

Veamos un ejemplo:

Me llamo Cristina Castillo. Soy la maestra de Español. Estoy en la clase de Español. Me gusta cantar. 

We have gone to the computer lab. Students need to create a comic strip using the school vocabulary learned during the unit. Here you have an example of the assignment.

We have used this site to make the comics. 

Campanadas 2013

Here you have 2013 Campanadas

Flor de Pascua / Poinsettia

The poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) is a culturally and commercially important plant species of the diverse spurge family that is indigenous to Mexico and Central America. It is particularly well known for its red and green foliage and is widely used in Christmas floral displays. It derives its common English name from Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States Minister to Mexico, who introduced the plant into the United States in 1825. For more information, go to Wikipedia.

My students and I are reading the Legend of the Poinsettia. We are learning about the origin of the flower and other interesting facts about it. Then, they make their own poinsettia.

Profesores y personal de la escuela / School personnel

My students are learning about the school personnel vocabulary in Spanish. Also, they have learnt how to use some language patterns such as:

Quien es? Es la maestra de Musica.

Quien es? Es el director.

For PW Moore students:

Here you have a quizlet to practice the new vocabulary.

For CES students:

Here you have a quizlet to practice the new vocabulary

4 aspectos a recordar cuando escribimos / 4 things to remember while writing

1.                  Empezamos la frase con letra mayúscula.

Each sentence starts with a capital letter.

2.                  Ponemos punto al final de la frase.

Each sentence finishes with a period.

3.                  No tenemos faltas de ortografía.

Each word is spelled correctly.

4.                  Nuestras frases tienen sentido.

Each sentence makes sense.



La escuela / School locations

Students learn about the school locations. Flashcards and a power point with real pictures of the school are shown. Then, we learn the new vocabulary playing games:

1. Silent game:

2. Quizlet game: Once the students get familiarized with the vocabulary, we go to the computer lab, so they can practice the vocabulary individually.

Póster de los colores / Color poster

Fonética del español / Spanish phonetics

Fonética: Los sonidos del Español: This is a great tool to teach our students how to pronounce the Spanish phonemes. I use it exclusively with higher grades and mainly for my personal reference. Sometimes, it´s hard to explain to our students how to pronounce some specific phonemes like:

 /θ/ ----- decir
 /ʧ/ ----chico
/ʎ/-------Castillo
/ɲ/--------Señorita
/x/--------jugar

However, this tool provides you with videos, images and other resources that makes it easier.

Class dojo

ClassDojo is a tool that helps teachers boost classroom engagement and improve student behavior quickly and easily, with just one click! It also lets teachers communicate behavior data with parents and students. Best of all, it’s completely free!

Behavior management finally made positive

• Award feedback points for specific behaviors, learning habits, and accomplishments in class

• Everything is logged in realtime - with just one click.

See engagement in minutes

• All of the avatars, behaviors, virtual badges, and other engaging visuals are pre-loaded for you so you can hit the ground running 

• Everything else is also instantly and easily customizable for your classroom! 

Get beautiful, hassle-free behavior reports - with no data entry

• Track behavior and skill trends - with just one click! No after-school data entry, and without diverting attention from your class

• Gain valuable insights that might otherwise go unnoticed

Let students track their own progress

• Let students reflect on their in-class performance with their own accounts

• Build positive learning habits that last a lifetime

Send reports to parents with one click

• Share student progress with parents regularly

• Get parents informed and on your side quickly and easily

Track points with your smartphone, tablet, or iPod Touch

• Award points on the go, wherever you are: in a class, at home, on a field trip or anywhere else!

• No more lugging clipboards around, taking time or being tied to your computer.

Student Introduction to ClassDojo - YouTube

Check it our this handout! and this article!

Since I use Class dojo, my students behave much better, they are motivated and on task. Each class have their own file so I can check what class is doing better as well as those aspects that they need to improve as a class and individually too.

My positive stickers are:

- Be prepared ( When they bring their supplies)

- Participation ( When they participate actively)

- Citizenship ( Being a good citizen implies helping other students and being respectful to the teacher to the other students). My students get citizenship stickers when they allow others learn by participating, being quiet and respectful or by helping other classmates.

- Content (Students get content stickers when they show that they speak Spanish).

- Performance ( My classes involves a lot of speaking activities and language performance, so when they do a great job, they are rewarded).

-Being quiet in line: Sometimes students need to wait for their home teacher, so I have stickers for this time. It´s a amazing how well they behave now!

My negative stickers are:

- Unprepared ( Students do not bring their supplies). One of my goal as a teacher is to make them responsible for their own learning. This s a great starter even with lower grades!

- Disrespectful ( Students get this sticker when they misbehave by stopping me from teaching or other students from learning).

- Off task ( Students are not on task)

- Talking in line.

This my routine with Class Dojo:

First of all, we take attendance and students can see how many points they have. Those that have more points become my helpers by passing the folders, leading the activities, etc. My whole point is to show the rest of the classroom that this is the behavior and attitude I expect from them.

Obviously,  the rest of the class participate actively too. For instance, if Amaya is one of the top of the class, she can choose who is going to lead the next activity, do the calendar activity and so on. In my opinion, we need to make our students be an active part in our teaching because it´s not about us, it´s about THEM! 

THEY ARE THE MAIN ACTORS AND ACTRESSES OF THIS MOVIE!

At the end of the class, we have a look at the points and I reward verbally those that they have done a great job. Then, we choose those who collect the folders and everyone lines up. Then, looking at the scores, I choose the person that is going to monitor the line using my Ipad. This person is allowed to give Quiet in line or Taking in line stickers. Before implementing this, you need to train your students to make sure they know what to do.

It seems to have a lot of work, however using Class dojo, my classes go smoothly and I don´t have behavior problems anymore. If you have an Smartphone or an Ipad, you can move around the classroom while tracking points.

Actividades para dia de los muertos / Dia de los muertos activities

For lower grades, I have read the book titled "The day of the dead" / "El dia de los muertos" by Bob Barner and translated by Teresa Mlawer.

For higher grades, I show them a Power Point presentation and we talk about Dia de los muertos. Many pictures are shown, so students see real examples of Dia de los muertos.

Geografía / Geography

This is a great site to practice the learn about Central and South American countries. 　
　
　
　

Dia de los muertos

We discuss Dia de los muertos and I show them examples of Sugar skulls and decorate calaveras.

Here you can find the calaveras worksheet:

For lower grades:

Female version: Check out the girl version of this calaca, click here.

Male version: For a male version of this calaca, you can click here.

For higher grades:

 For 4th and 5th, we are using this site that has a good T chart explaining the differences between Dia de los Muertos and Halloween. Then, using the chart, students complete a Venn diagram comparing the two holidays.

Quizlet

We make simple learning tools that let you study anything, for free.

Colores / Colors
1. Colores

Los días de la semana / Days of the week
2. Los días de la semana 

Los días de la semana y los meses del año / Days of the week and months of the year

3. Los días de la semana y los meses del año / Days of the week and months of the year

4. Los meses del año

Números / Numbers

5. Los números del 0 al 10 

6. Los números del 0- 30 

7. Los números del 0 a 101

Famosos españoles y latinos en América / Famous Spanish/Hispanic American

 
 


Last week, my students used this site to research a Famous Hispanic American.  5^th graders worked independently and 4^th graders worked with a partner.  Students or pairs will record why the person is important and their place of origin.

Cuadernos de español / Spanish notebooks

Hola,

My students are working on their cuardernos de español. I showed both sites to the students and they choose one. Then, we go to the computer lab and they make a page to decorate their cuadernos de espanol. The final work has their names, my name. Also they are given with a list of adjectives in Spanish for them to use to describe themselves.

1. Wordle

2. Tagxedo