Thursday, April 4, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
About Me and a few of my Interests
This post will let you know a little bit about me......
I love to travel. I have traveled to Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Mexico (several times), and Nicaragua. I have also traveled some within the United States. If I had more time and money available to me I would travel constantly. Instead I go to travelchannel.com/ and pretend that I am there.
Of course, being raised in Nebraska and living here my whole life makes me a very avid Nebraska Cornhusker fan. You could say "I bleed Husker red". I have great memories from my childhood of watching the football rivalry game between Nebraska and Oklahoma every Thanksgiving weekend. I enjoy going to Husker football games since we are season ticket holders. My son is currently a freshman attending the University of Nebraska - Lincoln so this has made me even more of a fan. Two websites that I visit often are http://www.huskers.com/ and http://www.unl.edu/ to find out what is going on with my favorite team.
Another of my interests is singing and music. I really like listening to music in Spanish. I've included a link to my favorite on-line Spanish radio station http://www.batanga.com/#/es/ so you can listen, too.
Finally, something fun (that seems to take up much of my time) is surfing the web for new teaching ideas. I have found that Pinterest contains a wealth of ideas and information. When I search "Spanish classroom" or "Teaching Spanish" it leads me from one "pin" to another. It's free at http://pinterest.com/ . I also have discovered a blog that keeps me up to date on some of the latest uses for technology in my classroom at http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/ . Since our school has gone One-to-One it's been a great source for new ways to use technology in the classroom.
I love to travel. I have traveled to Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Mexico (several times), and Nicaragua. I have also traveled some within the United States. If I had more time and money available to me I would travel constantly. Instead I go to travelchannel.com/ and pretend that I am there.
Of course, being raised in Nebraska and living here my whole life makes me a very avid Nebraska Cornhusker fan. You could say "I bleed Husker red". I have great memories from my childhood of watching the football rivalry game between Nebraska and Oklahoma every Thanksgiving weekend. I enjoy going to Husker football games since we are season ticket holders. My son is currently a freshman attending the University of Nebraska - Lincoln so this has made me even more of a fan. Two websites that I visit often are http://www.huskers.com/ and http://www.unl.edu/ to find out what is going on with my favorite team.
Another of my interests is singing and music. I really like listening to music in Spanish. I've included a link to my favorite on-line Spanish radio station http://www.batanga.com/#/es/ so you can listen, too.
Finally, something fun (that seems to take up much of my time) is surfing the web for new teaching ideas. I have found that Pinterest contains a wealth of ideas and information. When I search "Spanish classroom" or "Teaching Spanish" it leads me from one "pin" to another. It's free at http://pinterest.com/ . I also have discovered a blog that keeps me up to date on some of the latest uses for technology in my classroom at http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/ . Since our school has gone One-to-One it's been a great source for new ways to use technology in the classroom.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
El Club de Español
I am the sponsor for our school's Spanish Club. Being a member of this club is a lot of fun! Here is some information for those who would like to join.
What is Spanish Club and what do we do? Spanish Club is a social club for students in grades 9-12 who are interested in the culture and language of Spanish speaking countries. Usually students who have taken a Spanish class are the students who join but this is not a requirement to be member. Any student can join! We meet every first Wednesday morning at 7:45 a.m. in Room 717 and have one fun activity each month.
In Spanish club we have fun together. In the past Spanish Club has sponsored Spanish language movie nights, made a Homecoming float, gone out to eat at authentic restaurants, gone Christmas caroling at a nursing home, had fundraisers, done pumpkin painting, held an annual Day of the Dead Fiesta, and lots more!
In Spanish Club we also help others. Spanish Club members have volunteered to be interpreters, helped at elementary school carnivals, donated items to several service organizations and held a winter coat drive.
Spanish Club Dia De Los Muertos Fiesta Photos
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Costume Contest - First Place |
See Sra. Stark in Room 717 if you want to to join Spanish Club!
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Saturday, March 9, 2013
My blog is evolving!
As you can see I have added several things to my blog. The experience of creating a classroom blog is extremely enjoyable. It is also something that I know will be valuable for my students in order to access all of the resources that will help them learn Spanish! I can't wait to show it to them when it is all finished!
First, I changed the template and created a banner using picmonkey. My intent will be to change the four pictures on he banner from time to time to images of the cultural topics that we are discussing in class. It took me a little time to figure out how to make the banner the right size but with perseverence and a lot of clicking around I figured it out. Along with that, I also gave my blog a better name - Avancemos Juntos. Avancemos is the name of our textbook and the whole phrase means "Let's Advance Together".
I also picked out several simple gadgets to add to the blog for now. I added a place for Links and have put one click links to three important websites - Avancemos, Edmodo, and studyspanish.com. We use these sites often so being able to access them easily from the blog is important. I also added Pages for stand alone pages. The image gadget is there so that I could post a picture of our school's mascot logo. Go Cardinals! I added a Visit Count because that will be fun to keep track of and see how many views my blog gets and of course there are the Blog Archives and the About Me gadgets. (I'm still searching for a decent picture of myself to post - haha!)
Finally, I added a Translation gadget. How awesome that with a few clicks you will be able to translate the entire blog to Spanish!
There are several other things that you will see added to my classroom blog as it continues to evolve. In the future I will be adding a video link and also am hoping to find a place to put links to resources specifically for teachers who visit this site.
First, I changed the template and created a banner using picmonkey. My intent will be to change the four pictures on he banner from time to time to images of the cultural topics that we are discussing in class. It took me a little time to figure out how to make the banner the right size but with perseverence and a lot of clicking around I figured it out. Along with that, I also gave my blog a better name - Avancemos Juntos. Avancemos is the name of our textbook and the whole phrase means "Let's Advance Together".
I also picked out several simple gadgets to add to the blog for now. I added a place for Links and have put one click links to three important websites - Avancemos, Edmodo, and studyspanish.com. We use these sites often so being able to access them easily from the blog is important. I also added Pages for stand alone pages. The image gadget is there so that I could post a picture of our school's mascot logo. Go Cardinals! I added a Visit Count because that will be fun to keep track of and see how many views my blog gets and of course there are the Blog Archives and the About Me gadgets. (I'm still searching for a decent picture of myself to post - haha!)
Finally, I added a Translation gadget. How awesome that with a few clicks you will be able to translate the entire blog to Spanish!
There are several other things that you will see added to my classroom blog as it continues to evolve. In the future I will be adding a video link and also am hoping to find a place to put links to resources specifically for teachers who visit this site.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
If I Had a Million Dollars....
After studying the conditional tense, students were given the task to write 6
original sentences in Spanish telling what each of them “would“ do if they had a
million dollars. After listening to and watching the Youtube video of the song
“If I Had a Million Dollars“ by the BareNakedLadies for inspiration, the
students wrote sentences in Spanish such as “I would give the money to
the poor“, “I would buy ten monkeys“, or “I would go see Justin Bieber in
concert“. Students were very creative with their ideas on how to spend a
million dollars!
The next step in the process was to choose pictures that represented each of their sentences from Google images and also select a presentation program to upload the pictures and type the text of their original sentences. The only limitation was that they could not use PowerPoint!Students needed to explore and find out what other presentation programs are on the web. Students explored and found great websites such as picmonkey, prezi, voicethread, and sliderocket.
After the visual was created the students posted their finished assignment to Edmodo so that the other students in the class could see how each of them would spend their money. The students then commented on each other’s posts to give feedback. This assignment was one of the most motivational assignments that I have done with my students in a long time! The students had a lot of fun with it and learned about how to form the conditional tense in the process.
The next step in the process was to choose pictures that represented each of their sentences from Google images and also select a presentation program to upload the pictures and type the text of their original sentences. The only limitation was that they could not use PowerPoint!Students needed to explore and find out what other presentation programs are on the web. Students explored and found great websites such as picmonkey, prezi, voicethread, and sliderocket.
After the visual was created the students posted their finished assignment to Edmodo so that the other students in the class could see how each of them would spend their money. The students then commented on each other’s posts to give feedback. This assignment was one of the most motivational assignments that I have done with my students in a long time! The students had a lot of fun with it and learned about how to form the conditional tense in the process.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Bienvenidos - Welcome!
To my students.......Bienvenidos! Welcome to my Spanish Classroom blog. I have entered the 21st Century with the rest of you.... are you smiling? Blogging is a great way to share information with each other and to take our learning outside of the classroom walls. There is so much that we can learn from each other and so much to discover about the Spanish language and culture! That is the main purpose of Sra. Stark's Spanish Classroom blog....to learn from each other.
Since all of you have computers to use in class and at home this blog is a way for you to share work, accomplishments, thoughts, and cultural insights with others in the class. As this blog develops you will use it to share thoughts on the classroom themes and also share with each other more about the CULTURE of the Spanish speaking world. Very soon, you will all post videos and pictures of your cultural discoveries to view and comment on. (specific requirements and information about how many and how often will be coming in a future post)
This blog will also have links to important reference documents that will help you improve your Spanish skills. In a few weeks I will be posting links to helpful websites as well as well as the Goals and Standards for Learning Spanish. We will continue to use Edmodo to post assignments and classwork so there will be a link to that site as well.
Since all of you have computers to use in class and at home this blog is a way for you to share work, accomplishments, thoughts, and cultural insights with others in the class. As this blog develops you will use it to share thoughts on the classroom themes and also share with each other more about the CULTURE of the Spanish speaking world. Very soon, you will all post videos and pictures of your cultural discoveries to view and comment on. (specific requirements and information about how many and how often will be coming in a future post)
This blog will also have links to important reference documents that will help you improve your Spanish skills. In a few weeks I will be posting links to helpful websites as well as well as the Goals and Standards for Learning Spanish. We will continue to use Edmodo to post assignments and classwork so there will be a link to that site as well.
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