One week left!

This year is flying by. It is hard to believe that next week will be our last week of school in 2013. Here's what we'll be doing with our last few days of Spanish in 2013:

7th grade: The 7th graders will have their Unit 2 Lesson 1 test on Thrursday, December 19. We've learned all of the material that will be covered on the test so we will review leading up to the test. 

8th grade: The 8th graders will finish up their midterm exam review packets for the DGS Semester 1 exam next week.  They will also finish their practice exam.  Over break they will need to study for the exam that they will take on January 22 and 23.  

New Spanish Class Policy

Effective today we implemented a new policy in Spanish called "Request to Retest".  If a student earns a C+ or lower on an assessment, he or she may petition to retake the assessment or a portion of the assessment.  Forms are available in the Spanish room or in the 7th Grade File Cabinet and 8th Grade File Cabinet.
Students must explain why they think they got their score of C+ or lower.  They must then complete three activities to improve their understanding of the concept.  They need to include evidence of those activities with their request.  If their request is accepted, I will let them know the date of their retest. Their new score will be taken for a grade.

  Please contact Mrs. Bergmann if you have any questions about "Request to Retest".  

8th Grade Exam Review

Today the 8th graders received their midterm exam review packets.  The dates for the midterm are: January 22, 23 & (if needed) 24.   Below are the due dates for completing the review packet. Over Winter Break, please spend a little time reviewing each day so that you do not have to scramble right before the exam.

Review packet due dates

Monday  12/9	Tuesday 12/10	Wednesday 12/11	Thursday 12/12	Friday 12/13
Parts A-I	Parts J-N	Parts O-Q	Parts R-U	X
Monday 12/16	Tuesday 12/17	Wednesday 12/18	Thursday 12/19	Friday 12/20
Parts V-AA	X	Parts BB-EE	X	X

Short Week

This week was very short, but we managed to squeeze in some learning!

The 7th graders learned how to tell time in Spanish.  They are extremely proficient with their numbers, as was demonstrated on their numbers quiz last week. They are now applying those numbers to telling time in Spanish. We'll continue with that when we return from break.

The 8th graders learned ordinal numbers in Spanish (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc).  They already knew how to say "first" from expressing dates in Spanish, but we added in words for 2nd-10th.  The chapter test will be next Thursday, December 5.

I hope you all have a nice Thanksgiving and/or a safe and relaxing break. 

Assessments

Today the 7th grade Spanish students had their first speaking assessment with numbers 11-100 in Spanish.  I am very impressed with their performance on the speaking quizzes.  Great job!

This week the 8th graders completed a written assessment in which they drew a layout of a house and then wrote a paragraph describing the house and the furniture in each room.  There is always room to improve our writing skills, but overall they did very well.

Have a good weekend! 

Upcoming Assessments

7th Grade: Your next quiz will be Friday, November 22.  It will be a speaking and writing quiz on numbers 11-100.

8th Grade: Your next quiz will be Wednesday, November 20.  It is on new vocabulary so you all need to spend time reviewing and studying.

Snapshot of the week

This week the 8th graders finished up their skeletons for el día de los muertos. Next week all of the Spanish students will vote on the skeletons that are the most festive for el día de los muertos.  The 8th graders also took their final review quiz as we have finished reviewing the material that we learned last year. Now they will be ready for this material that will be on their Spanish I midterm.  Now onto new words and grammar concepts!

The 7th graders finished up a chapter on describing themselves and others. They did a short writing assignment in which they described themselves and some of their likes.  I was very impressed with a number of the writing samples that the students turned in.  If students want a better score on their on their assignment, it can be rewritten and turned in by Wednesday of next week.  The 7th graders will also finish a unit of our book on Wednesday with a chapter test.

  I hope that everyone has a wonderful and safe long weekend!

El día de los muertos

El día de los muertos is a holiday celebrated in Mexico and some other Spanish speaking countries. It is often confused with Halloween, but this week we looked at the differences between the two holidays to remind us that they are very different. The 7th graders made some papel picado to wish you a "¡feliz día de los muertos!"  Come back next week to see what the 8th graders are creating! 

7th Grade Quizzes

1st quarter grades were originally due on Wednesday, October 30, which is why the 7th grade quiz from Tuesday, October 29 is going to be a second quarter grade.  The due date for grades has changed, but since the 7th graders were expecting the quiz to go towards their 2nd quarter grade, it will still go in the 2nd quarter grade book.  Please e-mail Mrs. Bergmann if you'd like further clarification. jbergmann@ccsd66.org

Repaso de la semana

This week flew by. We had a great week with Spirit Week days for Red Ribbon Week and an amazing assembly on Friday morning.  A big "¡Gracias!" to Student Council for arranging everything.

I hope everyone has a good weekend!

Upcoming Assessments

7th Grade:
   Your next vocabulary quiz is Tuesday, October 29. It will be on sections "personality" and "appearance" of the U1L2 vocab list. You'll need to use the words in sentences with forms of the verb ser. This quiz will be in the 2nd quarter grade book.

8th Grade: 
    Your next quiz will be Thursday, October 24. The quiz is on e>ie stem-changing verbs. You need to know the definitions of the infinitives and you need to be able to conjugate them.

Upcoming Assessments

7th Grade

Your U1L1 chapter test is Friday, October 18.  Use the Study Guide that you got in class to know which notes to review.  Practice your vocab for activities and snack foods and beverages.

8th Grade 

You have a quiz on Thursday, October 17 on interrogatives.

Textbook Website

This week the students received their log in information for the the website that accompanies the textbook. They played around with looking at certain book pages and saw that the website has flashcards for vocabulary review and fill-in-the-blank activities to help them practice what we've learned in class. It also has some games that the students can play for review.  This is something the students can use throughout the year.

Holt McDougal Online

Students: You need to keep your username and password all year. Put it somewhere safe!

Tiras Cómicas

The 8th graders made comic strips depicting different activities that they have to do during the day at school.  They shared them with their classmates on Tuesday. There were a lot of really great comic strips-here are a few of them.

Upcoming Quizzes

7th grade

Monday, October 7: Quiz on the activities on your vocab list

8th grade

Tuesday, October 1: Tener, Time, Classes, School Supplies, Places in School

Week in Review/Resumen de la semana

What a busy week!  Next week will be busy too with an Early Dismissal on Friday.

7th Grade
  The 7th graders took geography quizzes on the Spanish-speaking countries of Central and South America.  Now they are busy preparing for their first chapter test.  The test will be on Wednesday, September 25.  They have a study guide to use over the weekend so they know what vocabulary to review. On Monday we'll do a practice test that they should use to study.  

8th Grade
  We continue with our review of last year's concepts.  We're currently in the middle of the 2nd part of our 4 part review.  I've been really impressed with the studying that some of the 8th graders have been doing. I've seen some awesome quiz grades this week.  

7th Grade Geography

This week the 7th graders created notes with maps identifying the location and capitals of the Spanish speaking  countries of Central America, the Caribbean and South America.  They've done a great job starting to identify (without their notes) the locations of these countries that speak the language we're learning.  They will have quizzes next week in which they need to identify the location of the countries and match them with their capitals. Spelling counts for the names of the countries, but not for the capitals. We broke up the quizzes so that we don't have too many names floating around in our heads.

Quiz Tuesday(9/17): Central America & the Caribbean

 Quiz Friday(9/20): South America

7th Grade

We had a great week in 7th grade Spanish!  Some of the students chose a Spanish name to have in class. We learned how to greet others and how to ask and tell names.   We did a few speaking activities in class to help the students start to feel comfortable in conversational situations.

     You guys worked hard this week-have a great weekend!

8th Grade

Happy Friday! This week we began reviewing material that we learned last year.  We'll do a brief review of vocabulary and grammar concepts before moving on to our new material.  Next Thursday the 8th graders will have their first quiz.  The following will be assessed:

• Vocabulary: activities, physical descriptions, personality descriptions
• Subject Pronouns & Ser
• Gustar with Infinitives

Welcome Back!

What a great first week of school!  It was wonderful to see all of the 8th grade Spanish students after summer break and to meet all of the new 7th grade Spanish students.  I'm excited for what's ahead of us this year.

• Class information sheets were given out on Thursday.  See Sra. Bergmann if you need a new one.  The signed slip should be turned in by Wednesday, September 4.
• Next week the 8th graders will review the Spanish-speaking countries of Central America, the Caribbean and South America. 
• Next week the 7th graders will learn Spanish-speaking countries and capitals.  They will also learn how to introduce themselves in Spanish.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday weekend!

7th Grade recipes

This week the 7th grade classes shared their itineraries for their trips to Madrid.  Several students in each class also made recipe books of tapas recipes. Tapas are small, appetizer-size portions of dishes that are common in Spain. Feel free to peruse their selections-maybe you'll see something you want to make!

If the recipe book is white, you'll need to log in to your Google account to view it.

World Travelers

This week the 8th graders worked on planning trips to Central America to explore Eco-tourism.  Many of them have found some really cool things to see and do.  Others haven't wanted to venture too far out of the comfort zone asking if they can buy groceries and make food rather than finding a new restaurant to try.  I'm excited to see the excursions that they've found!

The 7th graders have been planning a trip to Madrid.  I was able to give them some suggestions of places to go that I remember from when I was in Madrid, but they have also found some really cool things to see there too.  I'm very pleased with the effort that many of them have put into planning this trip!

Congratulations!

A HUGE congratulations to the cast and crew of Annie!! I saw the show last night and it was fabulous. I could see how much work everyone had put into the show, from the acting, singing, choreography to the  costumes, makeup, set design and stage crew. 

Good luck tonight!

Next week

Next week will be a busy week with the band concert on Monday and the musical performances on Thursday and Friday. There will be no quizzes or tests next week in Spanish.
  7th graders: review your new o>ue stem-changing verbs
  8th graders: Finish your exam review packet and continue reviewing for the final exam

Cultura y artesanías

While the band students were gone the rest of the students made ojos de Dios, an ancient symbol used by the Huichol Indians as a protector for your children. For fun we also made máscaras de luchadores.

Have a great weekend. 7th & 8th grade vocab quizzes have been moved to Thursday of next week.

Final Exam Review Packet

Today the 8th graders received their review packets for their final exams. If you haven't yet registered to take the exam, remember that the deadline to register is May 2.  All 8th grade Spanish students will complete the review packet. 

Review packet due dates 
(Students also received a copy of this schedule in Google Drive and hard copies were available in class for the students who wanted them)

lunes, 22/4	martes, 23/4	miércoles, 24/4	jueves, 25/4	viernes 26/4
U3L2: A & B U4L1: A & B	U4L1: C, D, E & F	U4L1: G, H, I ,  J & K	U4L2:  A & B	U4L2: C, D, E & F
lunes, 29/4	martes, 30/4	miércoles, 1°/5	jueves, 2/5	viernes 3/5
U4L2: G, H, & I	U5L1: A, B, C & D	U5L1: E, F, G & H	Viaje de banda	Viaje de banda
lunes, 6/5	martes, 7/5	miércoles, 8/5	jueves, 9/5	viernes 10/5
U5L1: I & J U5L2: A, B & C	U5L2: D, E,  F & G	U6L1:  A, B,  C, D & E	U6L1: F, G, H, I & J	U6L2: A, B, C, D
lunes, 13/5	martes, 14/5	miércoles, 15/5	jueves, 16/5	viernes 17/5
U6L2: E, F, G, H & I Cultura: A	¡Estudia!	¡Estudia!	¡Estudia!	¡Estudia!

 Work ahead if you can to make sure you don't fall behind with the due dates. 

Spanish I Final Exam

The 8th grade Spanish students should have received an invitation from District 99 to register for the Spanish I Final Exam.  Remember: It is your responsibility to register to take the exam, it is not being done by Lakeview.  Soon we'll have the review materials and we'll start getting ready for the exam!

Spanish I Final Exam

Parents received an email from me on Friday, March 22 with the information that I have received from DGS regarding the final. Please watch for information about registering for the final from DGS as it is your responsibility to register for the exam.

Upcoming Spanish Quizzes

7th grade: jueves el 4 de abril-quiz on clothing and colors vocab. Be able to write a complete sentence like we did in class on viernes el 22 de marzo. An extra copy of that review was shared with you in Google Drive.

8th grade: miércoles el 3 de abril-quiz on reflexive verbs. Know the definitions. Be able to conjugate the verbs like we did in class on jueves el 21 de marzo and use them in sentences like we did in class on viernes el 22 de marzo.

Upcoming Assessment Dates

7th Grade

*Writing Quiz Corrections are due in Google Drive by the end of the day on Friday, March 8.
*U3L2 test is on Wednesday, March 13. 5th & 7th period received study guides on March 4, 3rd period received the study guide on March 5.
*The family tree you are creating is due by the end of class on Monday, March 11.  The whole project is being completed during class.

8th Grade

*U7L2 test is on Tuesday, March 12. 6th & 8th period received study guides on March 4, 4th period received the study guide on March 6.

7th Grade Speaking Quiz

This week the 7th graders took a speaking quiz on their numbers 200-1,000,000.  There was a noticeable improvement from their last speaking assessment. There is still room for improvement, but we are making progress. Great job!

Future Teachers

At the beginning of our current chapter the 8th graders broke into groups and made posters to review concepts that we have already learned, but that appeared again in this chapter. As we have gotten to those concepts the students have given a mini-review lesson to their group members on those concepts. Some of the posters were really good and helpful. It was fun to watch the students "teach" their peers. I think we may have some future educators in this class!

  Remember that your U7L1 test is next Friday, February 22.

Busy, busy!

These last two weeks have been packed with tests and activities! 

Congratulations to the 8th graders upon completing the Spanish I midterm exam.  I am eagerly awaiting your scores from DGS and will share them with you as soon as I get them.
  The 7th graders just finished another unit in our book so we will be moving on to study Puerto Rico in our next unit.

I hope everybody enjoys the long weekend-you've earned it!

Spanish I Midterm

The 8th graders are taking their Spanish I midterm from DGS next week! They have worked hard to prepare for the exam and I am confident that they will be ready on Monday to demonstrate what they have learned. Get lots of rest this weekend, review your notes, review packet and the cultural pages in your book and remember to bring a #2 pencil to class on Monday.

¡Buena suerte!