Moscas y arañas

Flys and Spiders-a preschooler's best friends!

We added one more song to our reportoire-The itsy bitsy spider.  The lyrics are below and you can click on the title to hear a little girl singing.

                 La araña pequeñita

     La araña pequeñita subió subió subió

     Vino la lluvia

     Y se la llevó

     Salió el sol, y todo lo secó 

     Y la araña pequeñita subió subió subió

Scavenger Hunt

It seems all kids love nature.  I thought the little girls might have an aversion to arañas and moscas but they haven't picked that up yet-YES!  In fact they were all ecstatic every time we spotted another mosca.  The 3 year olds didn't quite have the fine motor skills to circle the animals as we found them but L gave a thoughtful "hmmm" and scribbled on her clipboard like a true explorer.

• ¿Dónde está?  (Where is?)   Buscamos (We are looking for)
• una mosca (fly)
• una mariposa (butterfly)
• un palo (stick)
• una araña (spider)

More language notes: (hand washing routine)

     Jabón                       Soap
     Lávate las manos     Wash the hands
     Entre los deditos      Between the fingers
     Y encima                 And on top
     Ahora con agua       Now with water
     Y con la toalla         And with the towel

Notes from/for the teacher:  

     I have to remind myself not to force learning or expect kids to perform when I want them to.  I catch myself, after we've already transitioned out of Spanish, trying to quiz them about what we've learned-usually they aren't interested in performing.  But if one waits patiently out of the clear blue they throw something amazing at you.  
     Like this week when M made up her first original sentence. During snack time, I'd been pushing the phrase, Quiero una fresa  (I want a strawberry).  M was determined to not even taste a fresa but then the other two were chowing them down; she couldn't resist it any longer and communicated that she wanted one, "¡una fresa para mí!"  (a strawberry for me!)
     And when we were singing the color song and we were about to begin without our pointing pencils and L calls out lápices (pencils) in a worried tone.  I believe she even pluralized it without hearing it first!
     Or when my little guy asks for canela (cinnamon) at breakfast without realizing he's speaking Spanglish.  Our real goal is to play using another set of vocabulary and maybe one day the kids will realize it's a whole new language.

Just for fun:

     Have you ever done un brindis (a toast) as a family.  I learned this popular saying in Spain and just found this 30 second video on a Spanish podcast.  Try it at dinner with plastic cups full of leche.  It also explains the history behind toasting:  Originally roman, drinking was thought to include all of the senses except for hearing...so the toast was added to make drinking a six-senses experience.  Also, it was customary for the host of a party to extend a toast to ensure the guests that the drinks weren't poisened.     ¡Hasta la semana entrante!