¡Buena suerte!

Tonight (Friday) our girls play for the championship of our conference. They have come a long way since they started playing as sixth graders and have really earned this honor to play tonight. I've had the privilege of seeing a few of their games this season. In addition to being great players they are a hard-working group of girls. Best of luck to Mr. Little and the girls tonight as they play!

Go Spartans!!

Casimir Pulaski Day

We don't have school on Monday! Some students didn't know that we didn't have school and a number of students didn't know why we don't have school. On Monday, we and a number of other public schools in the Chicago area observe Casimir Pulaski Day. Pulaski was a cavalry officer during the Revolutionary war. He contributed to the war by training soldiers and cavalry. He was born on March 4, 1745 which is why we observe Pulaski day the first Monday of every March.

Vocabulario nuevo

This week the 8th graders started a new chapter on daily routines. Here is some of our new vocabulary:el espejo

el cepillo de dientes

el champú

el secador de pelo


This week I've been taking a Mimio class offered by Mrs. Kucera. I've created lots of fun and interactive lessons, including one with this vocabulary, and can't wait to use them in my classroom! ¡Gracias to Mrs. Kucera for all of her help!

¡Un concurso de ortografía!

A B C

The 8th grade students are preparing for a Spanish spelling bee. They will compete with their classmates to correctly spell their vocabulary words for this chapter in Spanish. Here's a link to a website that has the pronunciations of the Spanish alphabet for those students who are a little rusty on the letters we learned last year! http://www.spanishspanish.com/alfabeto_ipower.html

¡Buena suerte!

A great scholar

Luis Leal (1907-2010) was a pioneer in the field of Chicano studies. He was born shortly before the Mexican Revolution. After becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States, he was drafted to fight in World War II. He fought to take the Philippines back from Japan.

Luis Leal made many literary contributions to the world of Chicano and Hispanic literature. Among other places, he taught at the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois. He also taught at the University of California at Santa Barbara, which is my connection to Dr. Leal.

During the three summers I spent at UCSB, I had the honor of meeting "don" Luis Leal. In August of 2007 we celebrated Dr. Leal's 100th birthday (which he celebrated in September of that year). This past summer, "don" Luis Leal was preparing to celebrate his 102nd birthday. He came to lunch with my classmates, professors and I. He entertained us with stories from his childhood and his career.

On January 25th of this year, Luis Leal passed away at the age of 102. He was a scholar who made many contributions to Chicano studies and literature. He will be remembered fondly and missed by those who knew him and have read his works.

Answers to trivia

Did you know any of the answers to last week's trivia questions?

• What vegetable is carved and judged at a festival in Oaxaca, México? Radishes
• What sea borders Spain? The Mediterranean
• What famous South American soccer player is known as "The King"? Pelé