Mexican Hat Dance & Fiesta

To complement our story of the week, Pepita Talks Twice, we scheduled a fiesta!  We learned and danced the Mexican Hat Dance. Click here to go to our Learn Spanish video. 

¡Qué grandes bailarines! 

(What great dancers!)

and we had a special taco bar! 

¡Gracias padres!
(Thanks parents!)

After dining, Mrs. Yollis put on some more music and dancing ensued!

¿Qué piensas de la fiesta?

(What did you think of the fiesta?)

Use translate.google.com to leave a comment in English and Spanish!

Learn Spanish! ¡Aprender Español!

This week, Mrs. Yollis' third graders is reading "Pepita Talks Twice!"

Pepita, who can speak both English and Spanish, decides that she doesn't want to "speak twice" anymore. When her decision creates problems she hadn't thought of, Pepita realizes that sometimes it can be a good thing to understand two languages.

The story was even written in both English and Spanish,

so we began learning some Spanish words ourselves.

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The video below, made by former students in both Mrs. Ranney's and Mrs. Yollis' class, demonstrates many Spanish words we learned!

Translations:


¡Bueños días! Good day!


¡Bueñas tardes! Good afternoon!


¡Bueñas noches! Good night!


¿Cómo estas? How are you?


¡Muy bien! Very well!


¡No muy bien! Not very well!


¡Que lástima! What a pity!


¡Gracias! Thank you!


De nada. You're welcome.


¡Hasta mañana! See you tomorrow!


¡Hasta luego! See you later!



Los Días de la Semana The Days of the Week


lunes Monday


martes Tuesday


miércoles Wednesday


jueves Thursday


viernes Friday


sábado Saturday


domingo Sunday

Me gusta...I like...


el pan bread


los tacos tacos


escuela school


matemáticas math



¡Que divertido! What fun!


¡Que buena idea! What a great idea!


¿Vamos a aprender Español? We're going to learn Spanish?

Video: Nonfiction Text Features

Mrs. Yollis' class is learning about nonfiction. 

Nonfiction writing is based on facts, real events, and real people.  There are many helpful text features found in nonfiction writing.  Some common text features are:  headings, subheadings, captions, diagrams, time lines, maps, charts, and the glossary.

Below is a humdinger of a video made by Sheriff Yollis and Sheriff Salsich. They hope their video helps you greenhorns learn about about these important reading features!

Yee-haw! 

Here it is on YouTube:




If YouTube is blocked, here's a Vimeo version:

The Nonfiction Trail from Jonah Salsich on Vimeo.

Are you reading a nonfiction book right  now? If so, what is it?

What did you learn from a text feature?

Video: The Benefits of Blogging!

I am passionate about educational blogging.  Below is a video I created with my second and third grade students. We hope that our video inspires and motivates other teachers to consider blogging with their classes. There are so many wonderful benefits!

Enjoy!

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If you are new to blogging, here is an informative video made by my former students. They offer FIVE great tips for writing quality comments. 

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If YouTube is blocked, here is the same video on Vimeo:

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Interested in learning more about blogging? 

Here is my Educational Blogging Wiki.

Here is Kathleen Morris' Educational Blogging Resources. 

Kathleen and I presented "Flattening the Classroom Walls With Education Blogging" at ISTE last year. 

Photo by John Miller

  

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These video were made to share. Feel free to use them at a staff meeting or embed them in your blog. Be sure to link back to this site! 

What are some other benefits of educational blogging?

California Science Museum

On Thursday, the split classes at our school split! In other words, the 2/3 split and the 4/5 split classes embarked on a field trip together to the California Science Center! What an incredible day of learning!

Because the second and third graders are studying animals and their habitats, we spent a good deal of time at the Ecosystems Exhibit.

Enjoy some photos from the plethora (pleth • ə • rə) of exhibits. A plethora is a fancy word for a large amount.

California Science Center on PhotoPeach

The Giant Kelp Forest Exhibit was spectacular! Watch and learn!

One of the highlights of the trip was viewing the Endeavour Space Shuttle!

Photo by Mrs. Yollis

 It is a triumph of scientific achievement! Here is a link to some amazing facts about the Endeavour. Mrs. Ranney's student, Alex, wrote a post about it too:  The Enormous, Enthralling Endeavour. 

What was your favorite zone?

Share one or two facts you learn while visiting the California Science Center!