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by Sharon Blumberg

I teach Spanish to seventh grade students. After students and I return from holiday vacations such as winter and spring break, I need to mentally transition myself back into the school routine. If I need to do this, I figure my students need assistance with this, as well.

Sometimes, I ask my students individually to verbally share with the class what they did over break, or what they will be doing, if a break is about to begin.

One activity that encourages written literacy, and fluency along with self-expression, is what I refer to as Holiday Participation Strips or Tiras de Participacion in Spanish. Since most of my students are beginning Spanish language learners, they need to write on their notecards in English. I ask them to write at least four to six sentences in English about their favorite activities during vacation. Beforehand, though, I share and talk about my own highlights with them - to model and encourage an atmosphere of sharing.

This activity encourages written fluency because students are writing about enjoyable activities from their holiday vacations. They are also writing about a high interest topic they are quite familiar with, themselves! So even students who do not participate in the writing can individually reflect upon their experiences as a means to transition themselves back into school life, socio-emotionally. A few students sometimes ask to read about their experiences to the class before turning in their completed cards.

Since this activity is not part of the Spanish language curriculum, I don’t require everyone to take part in it. They have an option. I like giving students choices from time to time. Students who turn in a notecard to share receive credit. Students who choose not to participate will not have it count against their participation grade.

I tell students ahead of time that I will display the notecards for their classmates to read. Some students turn their cards in, but write a note saying they don’t want their card publicly displayed, and I honor that choice.

After collecting the holiday participation cards, I paste them on sheets of construction paper by class periods, laminate them, then post them on a display wall. Students occasionally peruse through the writings. They are allowed to read the cards during circulation opportunities within the classroom.

Their highlighted activities fall under a number of categories. Students enjoy writing about going shopping in Chicago, traveling with their families to exciting destinations, visiting with relatives, socializing with friends, watching movies, attending parties, receiving presents, and how they celebrated the holidays. Many students have written that they enjoyed sleeping later and having the time to watch television shows that they did not typically have time to watch.

The most exciting part of this activity for me is to read the little things that make my students stand out in unique ways. The contributions come under many categories, but all are written in their own personal ways. For example, one student shared that it was the first time he had traveled in an airplane.

This is a writing and reading activity that enhances literacy skills in the classroom. It fosters connecting instruction as we, together, transition full circle back into the classroom and the curriculum.

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Learn more about Sharon Blumberg on OUR STAFF AND FACULTY page.

This week’s Teaching Tips column comes from Sharon Blumberg.

Blumberg is a junior high Spanish teacher and a freelance writer. She has been teaching for 17 years. She currently teaches seventh grade Spanish in Illinois. She has two grown children and resides in Indiana with her husband and dog. She is an active member of The Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club and The Story Circle Network.

As a seventh grade Spanish teacher of eighteen years, I strive to maintain a sense of variety in my class activities. Among these are what I refer to as “Culture Day” on Fridays. At the beginning of class on Fridays, I present a learning activity that deals with Hispanic culture or language.

One way I enhance literacy skills in the Spanish language is by selecting Bilingual Children’s books by Scholastic and I Can Read Spanish…Language Learning Story Books by Barron’s.

The Bilingual Scholastic books display beautiful illustrations of the concepts featured. Research states that when students are learning a foreign language, if phrases in the target language are paired with their native language, the language acquisition process is learned much quicker. As I read each page to my students, I read the paired bilingual phrases in Spanish and English. Even though these books are intended for a younger children’s audience, my junior high students enjoy eyeing the illustrations as the bilingual phrases embrace the pictures. Each book takes about five minutes in duration for me to read and present.

Among these books is Polar Bears, Osos Polares, by Susan Canizares and Daniel Moreton, September 2002, Scholastic Inc. This book displays illustrations of Polar bears frolicking in their native habitat of snow, ice and water. The phrases are brief as they demonstrate taking part in the gerund form of activities such as napping, descansando, and walking, caminando.

Another book from this series is titled Sea Creatures, Criaturas Marinas by Pamela Chanko, September 2002, Scholastic Inc. This bilingual children’s book displays colorful illustrations of sea creatures that inhabit the deep waters of the seven seas.

The Birds, Pajaros book from this series, by Susan Canizares and Pamela Chanko, September 2002, Scholastic Inc., displays colorful aspects of various kinds of birds.

Corral Reef, Arrecife de Coral by Susan Canizares and Mary Reid, December 2002, Scholastic Inc., displays beautiful, vibrant colors of life among the waters of the Coral Reef. This book does a nice job in teaching some basic colors in Spanish and English.

Frogs, Ranas by Susan Canizares and Daniel Moreton, September 2002, Scholastic Inc., portrays the life cycle of a frog while various kinds of photos of frogs are displayed.

For those braver in spirit and heart, you can present Snakes and Lizards, Serpientes y Lagartos by Daniel Moreton and Pamela Chanko, December 2002, Scholastic Inc., where various kinds of reptiles and aspects of their bodies are featured.

Within the I Can Read Spanish…Language Learning Story Books, the bilingual book, I’m Too Big, Soy Demasiaso Grande by Barron’s Educational Series Inc., gives the reader wonderful messages about embracing one’s individuality. Two animals, the giraffe and the elephant are depicted in humerous ways. Each animal takes on characteristics of the other in a silly way. For example, the giraffe gets very long ears and the elephant grows a long neck, like that of the giraffe.

The book concludes by each animal telling the other one that he is great as he is. The back of the book supplies the reader with a pronunciation guide for the Spanish phrases, read throughout the story. What a fantastic and creative way to teach such a wonderful concept! My students eagerly tell me the moral messages that prevale upon experiencing completion of the story.

Reviewed by Sharon Blumberg

Title: A Kit Mystery-A Thief In The Theater

Author: Sarah Masters Buckey

Publisher: American Girl Publishing, Inc. (2008)

Soft cover: 171 pages

ISBN: 978-1-59369-294-0

During the Depression era of the 1930’s, Kit Kettredge spends a week of her summer break doing volunteer work at a local theater called The Burns Theater. With dreams of becoming a reporter, Kit writes articles for the children’s section of a newspaper called The Cincinnati Register. Kit befriends a boy her age named Stirling Howard who is a boarder in her parents’ home. Stirling sells a different newspaper from the one Kit writes for, on a street corner. Stirling collaborates with Kit by agreeing to illustrate her article.

Stirling is often confronted by a group of brothers who bully him by stealing his papers and profits. This leaves him feeling intimidated and penniless. They are a force with which Stirling has to endure. Can he overcome them?

Kit and Stirling arrive at the Burns Theater to watch their first play together there when they hear that the theater will soon switch over to presenting Macbeth fom a Midsummer Night’s Dream. This choice is due to the theater management’s need to attract more patrons and revenue.

While Kit and Stirling help out at the theater and discuss plans to write a newspaper article on the play, someone inside the theater steals money from an unlocked cash box. So the actors not only have to deal with superstitions connected with this play Macbeth, but a thief wandering around the theater building.

Kit and Stirling see and hear more events taking place at the theater than they could ever imagine while they work with the management. Working together as a group, they try to crack the case. Can they find the culprit?

There is a section at the end of the book called “Looking Back-A Peek Into The Past,” explaining about entertainment in the 1930’s such as radio, TV, and theater. I have a fondness for this story because of personal connections through my family in the theater world.

About the Author: Sarah Masters Buckey lives in New Hampshire with her family. She is the author of A Light in the Cellar: A Molly Mystery and two mysteries featuring Samantha Parkington: The Curse of Ravenscourt, which was nominated for the 2005 Agatha Award for Best Children’s/Young Adult Mystery, and The Stolen Sapphire which was nominated for the 2007 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery.

She also wrote Three American Girl History Mysteries: The Smuggler’s Treasure, Enemy in the Fort, and Gangsters in the Grand Atlantic, a 2003 Agatha Award nominee.

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Sharon Blumberg is a junior high Spanish teacher in Illinois and a freelance writer. She has been teaching for 17 years. She currently teaches seventh grade Spanish in Illinois. She has two grown children and resides in Indiana with her husband and dog. She is an active member of the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club and The Story Circle Network.

I considered going on the weekend, but after having to do a four gallon fill-up on Tuesday night to get-by, I decided to fill-up my tank on my way home this evening. I get no joy out of pumping my own gas, something I didn’t have to do as a teenager in NJ, where [...]