All classes have daily homework assignments. These assignments are listed in my room.
8th grade regular - I have a large easel with all the assignments for 8th grade regular. Students can check what homework was in the past as well as check ahead for what is coming up. Quizzes, tests and projects are also listed on this easel.
8th grade Honors- There is a dry erase calendar on the red bulletin board for 8th grade Honors. Students can see the whole unit, all the assignments, tests, quizzes and projects.
7th grade Honors- The bottom dry erase calendar on the red bulletin board is for 7th grade Honors. Students can see the whole unit with all the homework, tests, quizzes and projects.
Structure, Scope and Sequence
1st step: All of the classes focus on a specific pool of vocabulary in each chapter. Students create colored flashcards on the concrete vocabulary words which gives them a symbol, in color, for each word. All language is symbolic and the immediate goal is to have the student associate the written Spanish word with an image of that word NOT the English word. In class we will then practice with those cards so students associate the spoken Spanish word with that image.
2nd step: Following the flashcard quiz, students will use the vocabulary in a variety of ways. We will have matching quizzes, listed on the assignment boards, homework assignments and in class activities as well as videos.
3rd step: Students should now be increasingly comfortable with the vocabulary and the in class activities will become more sophisticated. We will have spelling quizzes, again listed on the assignment boards, group activities, oral presentations and written essay assignments.
4th step: Each chapter will be tested with oral/written questions, verb fill-ins, written essays and reading sections which synthesize all the activities we have done for the unit and integrating vocabulary from all the previous units.
7th grade Honors - We will cover through Chapter 12 of the Paso a Paso Uno book and prepare students for 8th grade Honors Spanish. The cultural focus is Mexico. Students finish the equivalent of First Year Spanish.
8th grade - We will cover through Chapter 12 of the Paso a Paso B book and prepare students for the Carl Sandburg Spanish 2 placement test. The cultural focus is Spain.
8th grade Honors - We will cover through Chapter 10 of the Paso a Paso Dos book and prepare students for the Written essay placement test given by Carl Sandburg High School for Spanish 3 Honors placement. The cultural focus is Spain.
In class we work on speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in Spanish. At home, students will continue written work. It is imperative that they do their own written work in order to slowly build up the proficiency they need to improve in Spanish. On line translators impede this process and do not provide authentic Spanish. Artificial intelligence is not available for free on the web! These translators have very few words available for each English word and for example, if a student puts in an English sentence with the word "kids" they generally get the Spanish word for baby goats putting in the English word "will" they generally get the Spanish word for desire or fortitude. SPANISH IS NOT CODED ENGLISH! Any use of an on
line translator hurts your student's progress, gives them incomprehensible Spanish and will result in zero credit. Please discourage the use of on line translators.
To view the text books at home visit
Students can change the language on many dvds and listen to Spanish for content that will make sense to them. Listening to Spanish newscasts is also an excellent way of hearing oral language that they can understand. All the graphics on weather broadcasts and clips on sports broadcasts help oral comprehension skills.
Muy Buena Suerte as you learn Spanish both this year and in the future!
