Thursday, February 5, 2015

El estudio de héroes en primer grado / Hero Study in First Grade

The first graders have been studying the community of people they associate as being heroes, someone they look up to and/or admire. To integrate this social studies unit into Spanish class the students have been learning the vocabulary for heroes that may live within our hometown.

In a large group, the first graders talked about héroes and how they are not just people who lived long ago or far away. Some héroes live in our own comunidad that we can refer to as Ayudantes de la Comunidad (Community Helpers). These are people who make our neighborhood a better place by delivering a service that makes our lives easier.

We first read Bobbie Kalman’s book, “Community Helpers from A to Z.” This was an introduction to the Spanish vocabulary that describes the role some of these helpers do. Because in Spanish all nouns are either masculine or feminine, we practiced using the definite article to distinguish between genders. For example:

el bombero, la bombera – the fireman, the firewoman
el veterinario, la veterinaria – the (male) veterinarian, the (female) vetenarian
el cocinero, la cocinera – the (male) chef, the (female) chef
el maestro, la maestra – the (male) teacher, the (female) teacher
el cartero, la cartera – the mailman, the mailwoman
el granjero, la grajera – the (male) farmer, the (female) farmer
el policía, la policía – the policeman, the policewoman
el dentista, la dentista – the (male) dentist, the (female) dentist


After the read aloud, the first graders explored with large sized clip arts representing some of the professions that impact the lives of others. The face of the characters in the clipart where cut out and a mirror was taped unto its space. This way, when the students looked at the characters, they could see themselves (literally) in the role.  The first graders laughed themselves silly. What a great time!




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