Identidad y la ropa en primera infancia / Identity and Clothes in Early Childhood

Identity and belonging are 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 they have a place and a right to belong here at AFS.

A most recent activity offered is one I call the “Identity Persona Project”. To start the conversation, we began by discussing the many ways we are all igual y diferente (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 young learners were introduced to the Spanish words that describe basic items worn to cover our body; ropa. To help with vocabulary retention, many games were played.

Vocabulary:

ropa – clothes

camisa de mangas largas - long sleeves shirt

camisa – shirt

vestido - dress

saya- skirt

pantalones - pants

pantalones corto - shorts

zapatos - shoes

botas - boots

tenis – tennis shoes / sneakers

To culminate the study, our talented art teacher, Amanda, and I combined EC’s art and español classes. Each student was given the opportunity to “dress” their own Wonderfoam Body©, “Identity Persona”, that come in multicultural colors.

A highlight of the project was pairing the students with their 2^nd grade buddies.  After picking the foam shaped body they felt came closest to their piel tone, the students were invited to dress their persona with their choice of ropa. As the students designed their attire from a variety of fabric prints, they were encouraged to apply their new vocabulary by stating what piece of garment they were constructing. Putting their fine motor skills to work, the students traced stencils unto fabric pieces and then cut them out.

Los Cardenales are done with their project and soon Los Catbirds will have their chance. Once all are done, the amazing work of our youngest learners and their second grade buddies will be displayed on the wall next to the LS library. Stay tuned. I guarantee, it will be a spectacular display of the array of Identity Personas in our EC classrooms!