Identidad y La Ropa en Primera Infancia / Identity and Clothes in Early Childhood

Identity and belonging is about children developing a positive sense of who they are, and feeling that they are valued and respected as part of a family and a community. In Spanish class, opportunities and activities are provided to help nurture these concepts so that each student can feel that she or he has a place and a right to belong here at AFS.

A most recent activity offered is one we call the Identity Foam Doll. To start the conversation, we began by discussing the many ways we are all the same and different. We all have a cuerpo (body) but the shapes, sizes and shades are different. That is true for our ojos (eyes), pelo (hair), piel (skin) and other attributes. To guide our conversations, we read various books.

We then focused our attention on something we all share the same, yet our choices are different - the clothes we wear. The students were introduced to the Spanish words that describe basic items worn, ropa (clothes), to cover our body. To help with vocabulary retention, many games were played.

Vocabulary:

camisa - long sleeves shirt

camiseta – t-shirt

vestido - dress

saya- skirt

pantalones - pants

pantalones corto - shorts

medias - socks

zapatos - shoes

sandalias - sandals

tenis – tennis shoes / sneakers 

To culminate the study, each EC student was given the opportunity to dress their own Wonderfoam Body© which we titled “Identity Foam Doll”, that come in multicultural colors. 

A highlight of the project was pairing the students with their 3^rd grade buddies.  After picking the one they felt came closest to their piel tone, the students were invited to dress their foam figure with their choice of ropa. As the students, with a little help from their 3^rd grade buddies, designed their attire from construction paper, they were encouraged to apply their new vocabulary by stating what piece of garment they were constructing and in what color, e.g., camisa azul, pantalones verde, vestido rojo, etc.! (A great opportunity to integrate topics!) Los Cardenales, los Gorriones y los Catbirds had so much fun decorating these body shape durable foam pieces. Make sure to stop by and admire their amazing work that is displayed on the walls outside the Lower School library.