World Languages

Spanish Language and Culture (Mr. Fontalvo, Ms. Gonzalez)

Last week, students practiced greetings, farewells, and some basic questions in Spanish. They also completed a writing formative. As part of our National Hispanic Heritage Month celebration, students learned about inspiring Hispanic figures who have made history.

This coming week, students will continue exploring Hispanic culture by learning about important landmarks in Spanish-speaking countries. They will also take a listening formative and a second writing formative.

Finally, please remember that the deadline to turn in assignments for the first half of the term is September 25

Spanish I (Mr. Donaldson, Ms. Cuffee)

It was so great to see so many parents, guardians, and student scholars at Back to School Night! Your presence and support mean so much. We hope you found our presentations engaging and informative. Spanish I scholars have been busy this week! In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, each scholar completed part of a collaborative poster. The posters have been laminated and placed in the hallway in lower Reno. They look amazing!

This week we explored the use of the verb “estar” and prepositions to identify and describe the location of various items, objects, and people in relation to other items, object, and people. Scholars have been putting this vocabulary and new knowledge to use by writing complete and grammatically accurate sentences in Spanish! We are so proud!

As a reminder, the late/retake deadline for the first half of Term 1 is Thursday, September 25. No work from that date or before will be accepted.

Next week students will put all that we have studied into practice. Students will complete three open-notes Practice & Application (PA) assignments to determine where different people and objects are located in the home and classroom. Students will end the week with both an IB listening formative and an IB writing formative to show mastery (without their notes). The first listening summative assessment for this advisory will be on Monday, September 29th.

Spanish II (Ms. Wooten, Ms. Henderson, Mr. Almanza)

This week in Spanish 2:

Thank you to everyone who came out to back to school night. It was great to meet so many families! A few key points if you missed it: 8th graders in Spanish 2 have the option to travel to Costa Rica with EF tours. The trips are family funded, however, due to generous fundraising, students who receive free and reduced lunch AND are on honor roll (As and Bs) in 1st advisory qualify for a scholarship. Please reach out to Mr. Rottman if you have additional questions about scholarships. This year's trip is not yet officially approved, but is tentatively scheduled to overlap partially with our spring break. Now is a good time to start having some family conversations about the trip, so that when it is approved you have a good idea of whether you want to sign up!

This week in Spanish 2 we taught new vocabulary in preparation to begin our first book of the year. Students analyzed the son "A las tres" and practiced speaking about it in a group speaking activity. Next week, we will officially begin our first book, reading chapters 1 and 2 and do a variety of comprehension activities to practice both the vocabulary and the content of the chapter.

Spanish Humanities, grade 6 (Ms. Balestra)

Last week we focused on vocabulary for our reading of "Once" by Sandra Cisneros. We began reading in small groups on Thursday and Friday. In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we also talked about Sonia Sotomayor and César Chávez.

This week we will finish our reading comprehension work on "Once" and continue to discuss our childhood and how it is the same or differs from growing up in other parts of the world.

Spanish Humanities, grade 7 (Ms. Henderson)

Thank you so much for attending Back to School Night! I also want to express my gratitude to those who have supported my class — I am not part of a core team, so your donations are especially appreciated.

This week, we wrapped up our exploration of names and identity. Students are beginning to connect their learning about the Hero’s Journey and personal names with poetry, using texts by Monterroso and Coolidge as entry points for reflection and discussion.

Next week, we’ll take a brief pause from our current unit to begin creating informational posters about Spanish-speaking countries in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

SPANISH:
¡Muchas gracias por asistir a Back to School Night! También quiero expresar mi gratitud a quienes han apoyado mi clase — no soy parte de un equipo académico principal, así que sus donaciones son especialmente agradecidas.

Esta semana terminamos nuestra exploración de los nombres y la identidad. Los estudiantes están comenzando a conectar lo que han aprendido sobre el Viaje del Héroe y los nombres personales con la poesía, utilizando textos de Monterroso y Coolidge como punto de partida para la reflexión y el análisis.

La próxima semana haremos una pausa breve en nuestra unidad actual para comenzar a crear letreros informativos sobre países hispanohablantes en celebración del Mes de la Herencia Hispana.

Spanish Humanities, grade 8 (Ms. Wooten)

Humanidades 8vo:

Thank you to everyone who came out to back to school night. It was great to meet so many families! A few key points if you missed it: 8th graders in Spanish humanities have the option to travel to Costa Rica with walking tree travel. This trip will be fully immersion (in Spanish), with a service component in a local community, a homestay with a local family, and lots and lots of fun- ziplining, surfing, waterfalls, wildlife, and more. The trips are family funded, however, due to generous fundraising, students who receive free and reduced lunch AND are on honor roll (As and Bs) in 1st advisory qualify for a scholarship. Please reach out to Mr. Rottman if you have additional questions about scholarships. This year's trip is not yet officially approved, but the Spanish humanities trip is tentatively scheduled to happen in mid-march, potentially overlapping with the days we have off for conferences and PD. Now is a good time to start having some family conversations about the trip, so that when it is approved you have a good idea of whether you want to sign up!

This week in humanities, we finished up our profiles of notable Latinos and did a peer speaking activity, interviewing one another about each person and making connections. Students self-reflected on their use of 100% Spanish, which is our class target. We then read a number of example poems using the "soy yo" or "de donde vengo" format, and began the planning to write our own poems. Next week, students will complete this first poem, and then we will dive more deeply into a study of figurative language use in poems.

French Language & Culture (Ms. Bullock, Mr. Almanza)

It was great to meet so many families at Back to School night! Thanks for taking the time to learn about your student's upcoming year. This week in introduction to French we will be learning to talk about our age and our birthdays. We will also be preparing for our first writing assessment in which students will be creating a getting to know you dialogue. Students should be reviewing our vocabulary nightly to prepare.

Homework for French includes studying our vocabulary every night—a little study every day makes students stronger language learners! Students can access study materials on Canvas, using their reference sheet or with Match review.

Finally, please remember that the deadline to turn in assignments for the first half of the term is September 25

French I (Ms. Balestra, Mr. Osei)

In French One last week we took a Friday Formative to show our understanding of how -ER verbs work in the present tense.

Next week we will focus on mastery of the irregular verbs ALLER, VENIR, and FAIRE. We will also grow our vocabulary to include rooms and things in a house.

Please remind your student that Friday's Formative will be listening, that they can always practice their vocabulary using the Quizlet on our Canvas page, and that homework should be done at home in order to refresh their memory of what was covered in class.

French II (Dr. Mbayu & Mr. Osei)

Students explored personality traits and strengthened their adjective agreement skills. They learned descriptive adjectives, listened to interviews about friends, and wrote paragraphs describing their best friend. Roleplay games encouraged guessing personalities, while reflections centered on choosing the correct adjective forms.

Chinese (Ms. Liang)

Grade 6

Last week our students learned about numbers and high frequency words through etymology. We had summative assessments on speaking and writing last week. Next week students will learn about Chinese greetings. Students will have a formative assessment next week on Friday on common greetings. We are excited to see their progress as they build their foundational communication skills in Chinese.

Grade 7

Last week our students learned about telling time and daily activities. We had two summative assessments on daily activities last week. Next week we will continue exploring how to learn more about daily activities and focus on reading comprehension. Students will take a formative assessment on Friday covering telling time and describing daily activities. We are excited to see their progress as they build their speaking and writing skills in Chinese.

Grade 8

Last week our students learned about school life. We had two summative assessments on school life last week. Next week we will start the new unit on transportation. Students will take a formative assessment on Friday covering telling distance and asking for directions. We are excited to see their progress as they build their speaking and writing skills in Chinese.