¡Feliz Navidad!

The 8th graders will have their Midterm starting on Thursday, January 5 when we get back. They all should study and review over break. 7th graders will have a vocabulary quiz on Wednesday January 4.
It is important that all of the Spanish students practice some Spanish over break. It's hard to jump back into Spanish if you haven't practiced for two weeks!

I hope you all have a fun and safe Winter Break!

las clases

Here are some review games for you to play with your classes. Make sure you review over break!

U2E1 Vocab Pics

7th Graders: Here are the Word Dynamo games for your Vocab Pics on School/Classroom objects. It would be a good idea to practice these over break!

Prepositional Phrases

8th graders: Here are the prepositional phrases notes if you didn't get all of the phrases in class.

8th Grade Vocab Quiz

Uds. tienen una prueba de vocabulario de U4E1 viernes el 9 de diciembre. Visita Word Dynamo para unos juegos para repasar el vocabulario.

Práctica con la fecha

Play these Word Dynamo review games to quiz yourself on our dates vocabulary. Make sure you study the words for next Wednesday's test.

7th Grade Test

7th Graders: ¡Tienen un examen! La fecha del examen es miércoles el 7 de diciembre. Make sure you are prepared for the test! Use the study guide you got in class to organize the notes that you need to study.

DGS Midterm Exam Information

8th Graders: This week you received a brochure from DGS explaining the process for you to earn 1 World Language credit for taking Spanish here at Lakeview. Here is a link to the brochure if you need another copy. The dates for your midterm are:

• Jan. 5-6: Listening & Reading


• Jan. 9-11: Vocabulary, Grammar & Culture

You will get review materials in the next couple of weeks. Make sure you spend time outside of class preparing and studying for the midterm!

7th Grade Numbers Quiz

7th graders: We reviewed all week for your numbers quiz. Make sure you practice pronouncing the words out loud this weekend to be ready for Monday. Remember-you can visit Word Dynamo to practice your numbers. Or you can quiz yourself on a blank numbers notes sheet. If you do the Word Dynamo practice, here are the keys to make accents for the four numbers that have accents:

á=alt+160

é=alt+130

í=alt+161

ó=alt+162

ú=alt+163

¡=alt+173

¿=alt+168

Numbers 11-100 review

7th graders: Our quiz on numbers 11-100 will be next Monday, November 21. Click here for a numbers review on Word Dynamo (hint:don't capitalize the numbers if you're typing them, but do include accents where necessary!).

Baby Bergmann

This weekend, Dr. Bergmann and I get to find out if we are having a Baby Girl Bergmann or a Baby Boy Bergmann! We are excited to find out and share the news with our family, friends, co-workers and the students! On Monday, I'll be wearing pink if we're having a girl and blue if we're having a boy.

Have a wonderful, safe weekend here in Illinois or on the Washington D.C. trip!

Family Vocab practice

7th graders: You should be practicing your family vocabulary every night this week for our quiz next Tuesday. Visit word dynamo to play some review games with your vocabulary to help you study!

Weather Review

Need to review your weather vocabulary before Thursday's quiz? Go to word Dynamo to quiz yourself with some word games from your vocab list!

• el tiempo
• Misc. Vocab: Seasons, clothing, accessories
• Places, vegetation

el Día de los Muertos

On Monday and Tuesday, many people in Mexico celebrated el Día de los Muertos. This holiday is an opportunity for people to remember and honor their loved ones who have passed away. Families set up altars for their loved ones with flowers and the deceased person's favorite foods and drinks. Families also visit the grave sites of their loved ones and will spend time reminiscing about the person who has passed away. In class we talked about how people who celebrate el Día de los Muertos say that they "make fun of" death" as a way to make it seem less scary. They believe that death is just a step into another life for them. It was really interesting to hear the students' perspectives on this concept.
The 8th graders are making Día de los Muertos skeletons and we'll vote on the best one next week. The 7th graders made awesome Día de los Muertos masks today.

Weather

The 8th graders just learned weather vocabulary and phrases. Just in time for the changing weather outside! We will have a quiz next Thursday so make sure you have the notes.

el paraguas

el sol

la tormenta



Está lloviendo.

Está nublado.

Fierce Competition

Competition is heating up between all of the Spanish classes. Both the 7th & 8th grade classes had vocabulary quizzes this week and lots of students wanted to know how their classes stacked up to the other classes. Here's how many people got 100% in each class:

• 3rd: 6
• 4th: 7
• 5th: 7
• 6th: 11
• 7th: 12
• 8th: 13

Overall, everybody did a great job on their vocabulary quizzes this week. Keep up the good work and have a great weekend!

7th Grade Clothing Quiz

7th graders: Don't forget to study your clothing vocabulary for our quiz on Thursday! If you want to quiz yourself at home, here is the review sheet that we did in class. It would be a good way to practice spelling the words!

8th Grade Notes

After today's quiz, you should have checked your binder for the notes that we need for our next review. If you need them and did not pick up a copy you can print them from here.

• Sports Vocab (Use the white sheet you did for homework after taking the quiz)


• Jugar


• e>ie stem-changing verbs


• Saber


• Making comparisons

7th Grade Vocabulary Quiz

We will have a vocabulary quiz on our physical description words on martes. Make sure you know how to spell the words correctly!

Here are some of your words. Do you know these yet?

alto(a) largo(a) pequeño(a) fuerte bonito(a)

rubio(a) moreno(a) bajo(a) guapo(a)

El día de la raza

Monday is known as Columbus Day to most of us and that's why we don't have school. Many hispanics know Monday as el Día de la raza or el Día de la Hispanidad. Those who celebrate el Día de la Hispanidad celebrate their connections with all the other Spanish-speaking people in the world. El Día de la raza is a time for indigenous people to celebrate their heritage and pre-Colombian history.
My father is from Canada so on Monday I will be celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving with my family.

Have a great weekend celebrating whatever Monday means to you!

8th Grade Etapa 3 Repaso

Our next set of notes to review are below. Check in your binder to see if you have them from last year. If you don't, get a copy from my room or print a copy from below.

• Acabar de + infinitive


• Venir


• Gustar


• Phone Vocab


• Invitations Vocab


• Emotions Vocab

8th Grade Quiz

8th graders: Our next quiz will be on jueves, el 6 de octubre. These are the concepts you need to review for the quiz. You can print the notes or see me if you need them.

• Ir+a+Infinitive


• -er/-ir verbs notes


• Verbs with irregular yo forms


• After school activities vocabulary

Walk to End Alzheimer's

We had a great time walking in Naperville yesterday (Sunday) for the Walk to End Alzheimer's! Together, the 7th grade team raised over $1,400!! It was great to walk with my co-workers, some students and their families. THANK YOU to all the students, teachers, friends and family who donated to our team.

7th Grade Quiz

7th graders:

Your next quiz will be this viernes, September 30. It will be on the following concepts. Click on them for blank copies of the notes if you need them or want to quiz yourself.

• Subject Pronouns & Ser


• Vocabulary (Boy, girl, man, woman, teacher, doctor, etc)

Walk to End Alzheimer's

Some of the 7th grade teachers and students will be participating in the Walk to End Alzheimer's in Naperville on Sunday. The 7th grade students did an amazing job raising funds for the walk! Miss Enzbigilis's and Miss Nyhlen's Homebases both raised well over $100 dollars for our team! Thank you so much to the students and parents who contributed. We are looking forward to seeing some students and parents at the walk on Sunday as well! Please visit our team page for more information regarding the walk.

Have a great weekend!

8th Grade Quiz

Our next review quiz will be on Wednesday, September 28. The following concepts will be on your quiz:

• Obligation


• Ir


• Time


• Estar (see me if you need estar notes)


• Interrogatives

El mundo hispanohablante

This week the 7th graders identified the Spanish-speaking countries of Central America, South America and the Caribbean along with their capitals. They have notes with their maps and are preparing for a quiz next Thursday.

7th graders: Here are blank maps of centroamérica y el caribe

and of Sudamérica

so you can quiz yourselves.

¡Buena suerte!

Today's in class review

Here are the answers from the repaso that we didn't finish in class today. 6. Answer the questions in a complete sentence.
¿Quién enseña la clase de computación?
La señora Foellmer enseña la clase de computación.
¿Qué estudia Paco?
Paco estudia ciencias.
¿Qué miras?
(Yo) Miro la televisión.

7. Answer the questions with an expression of frequency.
¿ Con qué frecuencia preparas la tarea? (every day)
(Yo) Preparo la tarea todos los días. OR
Todos los días (yo) preparo la tarea.
¿Con qué frecuencia llegan Uds. tarde a la clase? (rarely)
(Nosotros) Rara vez llegamos tarde a la clase.
¿Con qué frecuencia usas la computadora?
(Yo) Uso mucho la computadora.

Happy Studying!

8th Grade Quiz

¡Tenemos una prueba el viernes!

Make sure you have all of the notes that we have reviewed. There are extras in class, or you can get them here:

• 
  
  Tener


• 
  
  Numbers 11-100


• 
  
  Expressing Possession with "de" (See me if you need these)


• 
  
  Possessive Adjectives


• 
  
  Dates


• 
  
  Regular -ar verbs


• 
  
  Classes vocabulary (See me if you need these)


• 
  
  Expressions of Frequency (See me if you need these)

Remembering 9/11

This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on our country. For many people this is an emotional anniversary and I will never forget where I was that morning or the feeling of sadness and fear that I felt while watching the news. I know that many of our Lakeview students are too young to remember this day. For me this weekend is a time to remember the lives that were lost and those that changed forever. It is also a reminder that our lives will never be the same in this country and that we all have to take a lot of precautions now to ensure our safety and security.

Take a few moments this weekend to remember those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.

7th Grade Test

7th graders: We have our first examen on Monday! Make sure you're prepared for it. Go over the pink study guide and the white review sheet that we did in class this weekend. Make sure you can spell your vocabulary words.

El alfabeto

Today the 7th grade students learned the Spanish alphabet. It is similar to the English alphabet with a couple of extra letters.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N Ñ O P Q R RR S T U V W X Y Z

Visit this website for pronunciation help:

http://www.spanishspanish.com/alfabeto_ipower.html

Have a great weekend!

¡Bienvenidos al año escolar!

Welcome back to school!

I hope that everybody had a fun and relaxing summer. We had a great first few days back at school. I was happy to see the 8th grade students again and excited to meet the new 7th grade Spanish students.

We kicked off the school year with our PBIS Cool Tools to remind us about how we're expected to behave in different areas of the school.

We started 7th grade Spanish by reading a book called Say ¡Hola! to Spanish. In that book we saw some Spanish words that we already knew and learned some new ones. Here is the Spanish information letter for the 7th grade Spanish students.

The 8th graders reviewed some of the common classroom phrases that we learned last year. They got their binders back and made sure they were organized and ready to dive into our review on Monday. Here is the 8th grade Spanish information letter that they received in class today.

Have a great weekend!

WOW Day

Our 1st WOW Day was a success! What a great day! Thanks to all the teachers and students who were flexible and brought their good attitudes today. The students came up with some amazing products. Here are a just a couple of them...

Amazon Law

This week in Brazil, politicians and farmers are trying to pass a bill that will allow farmers to cut down trees on their property. They aren't allowed to right now because laws that protect the Amazon Rain Forest saw that farmers have to conserve a certain percentage of their property as rain forest. However, that makes it difficult for some farmers to make enough money to live off of. The new bill will allow them to use more of their property for agriculture. Part of the bill will also give amnesty (forgiveness) to people who illegally cut down trees in the Amazon before 2008. Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff says she will veto a bill that includes amnesty for illegal deforestation.
The Amazon Rain Forest is a vast area of land (about 1.7 billion acres). It is home to more than 2 million insect species, 2,000 birds and mammals, 40,000 plant species and 3,000 fish. Do you think the government should continue to protect the Amazon or let farmers use their own property to grow crops and make a living?
Read more about the bill here.

7th Grade Career Fair

Today the 7th Grade Team hosted a Career Fair for the 7th grade students. We had several parents come in as well as some family members of the team. I'm so glad that my sister-in-law was able to come to talk to the students about her job as a web trainer. A big Thank You to Miss Enzbigilis for organizing the Career Fair!

8th Grade Spanish Final

Our 8th grade Spanish final is coming up. We're reviewing all week! You got a purple Study Guide in class this week, but click here if you need another copy. Make sure you review your vocabulary and infinitive definitions so you're prepared!

Dates: May 23, 24 & 25 (if needed): listening, vocabulary & grammar
May 26: writing (in class)

cinco de mayo

Yesterday was cinco de mayo. We talked about some misconceptions about cinco de mayo and learned a few things. Many people think that cinco de mayo is Mexican Independence Day, but that's in September! Cinco de mayo commemorates the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla, a town near Mexico City. French soldiers arrived in Mexico in 1862 to collect money that Mexico owed them. Their underlying mission was to establish themselves in the Americas. The people of Puebla fought off the French even though they were outnumbered. It took about five years after the Battle of Puebla on cinco de mayo to get the French out of Mexico. But cinco de mayo is remembered as a special holiday because it was the first time that Mexican born Spaniards, Mexicans and the indigenous people of Mexico came together for a common cause.

¡Viva México!

Happy Jalapeños

As part of our recognition of cinco de mayo, some of us purchased "Happy Jalapeño" shirts from one of the 8th grade Spanish students. He thought of the "Happy Jalapeño" to use for an advertisement project. Lots of students wanted to order shirts too! Here are some of the teachers and students who ordered the shirts. Thanks, Mike!

Los deportes

The 7th graders just started a chapter on sports and sporting equipment. We're working on what equipment they need for various sports like el baloncesto, el fútbol y el hockey!

8th Grade Quiz

The 8th graders have a quiz on Wednesday. You need to know your vocabulary (click for list) and you need to be able to use the Present Progressive (click for notes). You also need to be able to use pronouns with the present progressive. Spelling will count!

7th Grade Test

7th Graders-you have your test on Wednesday! Use the study guide (click on "study guide") you got last week to locate the notes you need to study. Use the sheet we did in class today to help you prepare for the format of the test. Spelling will count!!

Bossy, bossy!

8th Graders-Here's the command "Cheat Sheet" I had up for you today:

regular affirmative tú commands

-Use the él/ella form of the present tense.

• Caminar>camina


• Correr>corre

-Pronouns get attached to the end of the command.

• Comer la ensalada>Cómela


• Cepillarse los dientes>Cepíllate los dientes ********************************************************************************

regular negative tú commands

-Conjugate the verb to the yo form. Drop the -o ending and add the appropriate ending.

• -ar verbs: -es


• -er/-ir verbs: -as

-Pronouns go in front of the command.

• Comer la ensalad>No la comas


• Cepillarse los dientes>No te cepilles los dientes

Tom's Shoes

• Normally I wouldn't blog about what I wear to school, but today I wore some shoes from Tom's Shoes that many students (and teachers) asked about...probably because they are pink and sparkly.

• Tom's is a retailer that sells shoes and for every pair of shoes purchased, a pair of shoes is given to a child in need in a developing country. The company was founded when a traveler met some children in Argentina and realized that they didn't own any shoes. Many children in developing countries don't own shoes and they are susceptible to diseases from walking barefoot all of the time. Many schools require shoes so children who don't have shoes miss out on the opportunity to go to school, simply because they can't afford shoes.

• As of September 2010, Tom's has given over one million pairs of shoes to children who don't have any. Feel free to read more about the mission of Tom's and maybe do a little shopping! Tom's Shoes can also be found at certain retailers.

http://www.toms.com/

When we get back from break we are going to jump back into our Spanish studies!

7th Grade-Quiz on Wednesday, April 6. The quiz will be on your emotions vocabulary words. Remember your adjectives need to match the ____________ & ______________ of the nouns they describe. You also need to use the correct verb to describe people's feelings. Think about our rhyme: How you feel and where you are is when you use the verb ___________.

8th Grade-Quiz on Wednesday, April 6. The quiz will be on reflexive verbs. Make sure you know the definitions of the infinitives (to brush one's teeth=_____________; acostarse=____________), how to conjugate the verbs (yo/dormirse=_____________) and how to use them in sentences (I wake up at 6am.=__________________________)

I hope that everyone has a relaxing and safe break.

¡Hasta el abril!

Crisis in Japan

The earthquake that hit Japan was a week ago, but the people of Japan are still feeling the effects of the quake and are facing very serious problems, especially regarding a potential leak of radiation. Workers are working in unsafe conditions to try to prevent a catastrophic leak. The costs of repairing the many aspects of life and things that have been destroyed are still mounting and it might seem like there is nothing that we can do to help.
You can help! You can donate money to help Japan through the Red Cross's website. A donation will support disaster relief efforts in Japan. You can go to the Red Cross's home page http://www.redcross.org to read about some bits of good news coming out of Japan as people get in contact with loved ones. Then you can click the Donate button to make a contribution. I did this morning and it didn't take much of my time to contribute to the relief effort. I encourage you to consider doing something to help too!

Spanish Tests

Next week the 7th & 8th graders have Spanish tests.

8th Grade Test: Tuesday, March 15

• Vocabulary
• Extreme adjectives (-ísimo[a])
• e>i stem-changing verbs
• affirmative and negative words
• gustar

7th Grade Test: Thursday, March 17

• Vocabulary
• Ir+a+infinitive
• Regular -er/-ir verbs
• Sequencing words
• Verbs with irregular yo forms

¡Impresionante!

The 8th graders took a vocabulary quiz this week and most of them did really well on all the words that they were responsible for. We have been focusing on food vocabulary, adjectives to describe food and table setting words.
A special felicidades to my 3rd & 6th period classes-EVERY student in those class got an A on the quiz. Way to go, chicos y chicas!!!

¡Los chicharrones!

One of the 7th graders vocabulary words is los chicharrones. Not many of the 7th graders were familiar with what chicharrones are. Chicharrones are fried pork rinds. They have the consistency of cheetos and can be plain or come in different flavors.

One of our classmates brought some chicharrones for us to try this week. Everybody in the class who wanted one tried one, many asked for seconds! ¡Gracias María!

Nahuatl

Recently the 8th graders did a little research on the Aztec calendar system. It's an intricate system to track the passage of time. The students figured out what the equivalent of their birthdays would be on the Aztec calendar and they illustrated the images. They did a great job! You can find the equivalent to your own birthday at this site: http://www.azteccalendar.com/
We also learned a couple of English words that were derived from Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs). Words like chocolate came from xocolatl; tomato from tomatl; and avocado from avocatl. I studied the origins of the Spanish language as part of my master's degree and I think it's interesting to see how words adapt and change from one language to another. Hopefully the students find it interesting too!

Pack the Place 2011

The boys' Pack the Place game was rescheduled due to our snow days and I participated in the Pie-a-teacher activity again. See the video below! Unfortunately the boys lost, but it was great to see so many students at the game. Thanks to Mrs. Mesker and the Leadership Team for organizing all of the pre-game activities!!

Interrogativas

This week the 7th graders learned interrogative words in Spanish. We also learned a song to help us remember what the words mean! Here are the lyrics to the song. It is sung to the tune of "Jingle Bells".

La canción de interrogativas

A dónde is to where

de dónde is from where

cuánto is how much

a qué hora asks what time

(repite)

Por qué-why

cuándo-when

qué-what

dónde-where

cómo-how

quién means who

cuál is which or what
(repite)

Snow, snow, snow!

What a short week! I hope that everybody stayed safe and warm during the two snow days that we had. Now we need to catch up!

On Monday February 7, the 7th graders will have a quiz on Spanish time.

On Tuesday February 8 the 8th graders will have a quiz on Indirect Object Pronouns.

¡A regatear!

This week the 8th graders talked about some of the unspoken rules for bargaining in markets in Spanish speaking countries. We also looked at a couple of items that I have acquired with my expert bargaining skills! The five rules that we talked about are:
1. Speak in Spanish as much as you can.
2. Don't act like a rich tourist-a poor student is more likely to get a better deal.
3. When the vendor tells you how much something costs, tell him/her, "That's too much!"
4. Look around at other stores to compare prices.
5. Smile! It doesn't cost you anything and being nice might get you a discount.

Los Osos de Chicago

This weekend will be an exciting one for Bears fans! Lots of students and teachers today showed their support of the Bears by wearing Bears gear. What does this have to do with Spanish? Visit univision to read predictions in Spanish about Sunday's game. http://nfl.univision.com

Have a great weekend!

Go Bears!!

New vocabulary

All Spanish classes got new vocabulary this week after our chapter tests.
The 8th graders learned words like: el anillo, los aretes, el cinturón, la jarra and el plato because they are learning about items that you can buy in open air markets, specifically in Oaxaca, Mexico.
The 7th graders learned words like: el semestre, la cita, el almuerzo and el descanso because we are doing a chapter on the school day.
We'll dive into and start using this vocabulary next week!

Have a safe and restful holiday weekend!

¡Hicimos mucho!

We had a busy first week back. The 7th graders ROCKED their -ar verb quizzes. It was the best quiz of the year! The 8th graders directed me through a 'town' with great directions on a speaking quiz.

Next week will be busy too. The 8th graders have a chapter test on Wednesday. They need to study: Vocabulary, Prepositional Phrases, Affirmative tú commands, Salir para and Decir que.

The 7th graders have a test on Friday. They need to know: Vocabulary, -ar verbs, Expressions of Frequency and Expressions of Obligation.

Have a great weekend!