Taking Agency of Your Own Learning

The library is an integral part of the total language program at the Discovery School. It promotes a lifelong love of reading and supports students in their personal reading needs. This area offers a safe, quiet, welcoming place where students can acquire or extend knowledge, gain insight through literature and research and select books for home use . It offers support for students and staff in their exploration of the school’s program of Inquiry and an opportunity for student exposure to the Spanish language,

Holiday Book Fair is almost here!

 It’s coming! Spread the word!

WHEN:  Thursday & Friday, December 12th-13th and continuing Monday-Wednesday, December 16th-18th. Students and parents can view and/or purchase before and after school, as well as before and after concerts. This is a great opportunity to motivate your child to read, build their home libraries and maybe pick up a Christmas gift or stocking stuffer for someone special.

This fair also offers a direct incentive to the school library in terms of new books. Please help this be a successful, inclusive event for the entire school!

Working as Authors and Illustrators

Third grade students have been learning about the elements of a story. We have discussed the importance of the setting, plot, sequence, main and secondary characters, conflict and resolution. Students worked as “illustrators” in small groups, choosing their setting and making it come to life. What interesting choices!  Hot Springs, A Shopping Center, Neptune and the Badlands.      

In another class, they were asked to use their imagination to create a character that they would like to see in a story. Each student worked independently. What they did not know is that they would later have to return to their group and determine how these characters would interact with each other in the setting drawn earlier. They then became “Authors” and developed a story. These murals reflect the results.

3rd mural 5

Congratulations third graders. You not only learned about story development, but practiced being principled, thinkers, communicators, risk takers and well-balanced in the process.

Science in the Library

2nd graders have been reinforcing their new unit, Forces Simply Work, through stories and experiments. We read, “Camping with Mr. Magee” and then used story cards to identify the many forces/simple machines at work during their camping trip. 

They also experienced gravity concepts by comparing how fast objects of different weights fall and what happens to a paper that was subject to air flow.

The students in 3rd-6th grade created individual profile flags that hang in our library.

Second graders chose random objects to develop a story.  They had to determine the main character, sequence of events, conflict and solution. Sharing, planning and communicating in a small group was also an important lesson.

2nd story 132nd story dev. 42nd Dev. Story ASecond C

5th and 6th graders practiced writing words using the Spanish alphabet “sounds.”

Fourth graders are in the process of writing a short, group story from the ground up. Each small group chose, planned for and illustrated their own setting. (Badlands, Hot Springs, Neptune and a Shopping Mall were all unexpected choices!) Each member of the group then created a character using free choice materials. They will then determine the role of each of the characters within their setting and the plot. What Genre will they choose? Will it be a Fairy Tale? Mystery? Science Fiction? We will post the final product!

¿Cómo estás? ¿Como te sientes? ¿Feliz? ¿Triste? ¿Enojado? ¿Cansado?  Students in
K-6 are exposed to Spanish during each library class. Kindergarten recently drew
pictures related to our talk on emotions.

First graders have read books and held interesting discussions about rights and
responsibilities. After listening to “If I was the Boss for a Week,” they drew pictures
and provided statements of what they would do if they were in charge. There was
a lot of variety in their answers; from being in charge of all the police, running a
horse farm, and “borrowing” mom and dad’s money to buy all the toys they wanted!

Let’s Practice Spanish!

SPANISH VOCABULARY:  The following are some of the level 1 words that will be introduced, reviewed and practiced during the first trimester. Expectations are grade/age level dependent. Words in blue are level 2.

Greetings: Hola, Buenos días, Buenas tardes, Buenas noches, Adiós, Hasta mañana, Por favor, Gracias, De nada, Bienvenidos, Hasta Pronto, Pronto, Hasta Luego, El gusto es mio, El amigo, La amiga, Señor, Señora, Señorita

Personal Awareness: ¿Cuál es su nombre?, Me llamo ___, ¿Cuantos años tienes? Tengo cinco años, ¿Cómo estás?, bien, mal, regular, cansado, feliz. Y Usted? No entiendo,

 Questions: Quien? Qué? Cuando?  Dónde? Por qué?  Cuántos?  ¿Cuál es tu ____ favorito? ¿Dónde vives? ¿De donde eres? ¿Que pasa? ¿Me puedes ayudar? ¿Cuál es tu número de teléfono? ¿Habla usted Inglés? ¿Que pasó?¿Quieres ir a ___

Shapes:  El círculo, El cuadrado, El triángulo, La línea, El rectángulo, El óvalo, el semicírculo, El octágono, el corazón, la estrella, el diamante

Colors (Primary and Secondary): rojo, gris, verde, morado, azul, blanco, amarillo                negro, anaranjado, café, rosa/rosado

Numbers (Ordinal #’s) cero, uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez, once, doce, trece, catorce, quince, dieciséis, diecisiete, dieciocho, diecinueve, veinte—(higher depending on age level). treinta, cuarenta, cincuenta, sesenta, setenta, ochenta, noventa, cien, mil, mas, menos, antes, despues.  Ordinal Numbers: Primero, segundo, tercero, cuarto, quinto, sexto, séptimo, octavo, noveno, decimo, último

Calendar: Calendario, mes, fecha ,hoy es, el año, antes, después, mañana, Pasado mañana, ayer  Months of the Year: enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio, agosto, septiembre, octubre noviembre, diciembre  Days of the Week: Día, la semana, lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves,  viernes, sábado, domingo

 Seasons: Estaciones, verano, otoño, invierno, primavera  Weather: Hace…sol, frio, calor, viento, Está lloviendo, nevando, nublado, congelado

The Body:  La cabeza, La oreja, La cara, El cuello, El hombro, El pelo, La lengua, Los dientes, El ojo, La mano, La boca, La nariz, Los labios, La uña, Las pestañas, La ceja, Cinco sentidos, feliz, triste, cansada, asustado, El pie, El brazo, La pierna, El hombro, El estómago, El dedo, El tobillo, El codo, La rodilla, La barba, Las caderas, La uña, El talon

 

 

 

BIENVENIDOS! Spanish in the Library

A PYP school provides the opportunity for all students to learn more than one language. Exposure to, and experience with, language in all its richness and diversity, enriches personal development, helps facilitate international-mindedness, creates an inquisitiveness about life and learning, and a confidence about creating new social interactions. 

At Discovery School, students learn English as their first language, Mandarin as their second and Spanish as their third. At this time, Spanish is an “exposure” program only, with an emphasis on comprehension and basic vocabulary development. It is integrated into the Kinder – Sixth grade library period once a week. Bilingual books, video clips, the flannelboard, an array of visual aids, didactic materials and learning games are used to introduce and reinforce vocabulary.

Students are not expected to acquire higher level speaking, reading or writing skills. However, they will hopefully be motivated to continue their Spanish experience in middle or high school, as well as later in life. Vocabulary lists will be included on this site each trimester!