3rd Grade: Our First 6 Weeks

This year in Spanish class, third graders will learn all about Mexico.  Students in grades 3-5 have Spanish for 30 minutes at a time (instead of only 20 minutes as in K-2).  This means that we have much more time to explore culture than we did when they were younger (we spent years K-2 touching on the culture of the 5 countries known as the "Andean region" of South America - Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, and Bolivia), and students at this age are typically quite eager to learn about far-off places.  Even more exciting is that now students know enough Spanish to learn about Mexican people and places in Spanish!

During our first 6 weeks of Spanish, we started off learning about Mexico's Independence Day, which was on September 16.  We made a chart to compare and contrast Mexico's independence holiday with the USA's Fourth of July celebrations.  This chart was all in Spanish and included information about important dates, heroes, presidents, and colors of each country's flags, to name a few of the things we discussed in September.

We also watched a video of Presidente Calderón's celebration of Mexican independence, which is also commonly called "el Grito de Dolores".  You can check it out here. 

In addition to all of this, we have been studying the map of Mexico.  Ask your child about their Mexican ID cards that they created in class!  Their ID card is their Mexican "identity" for the year, with a name, a Mexican city they are from, and an age.  We will be using these "identities" throughout the year to learn more about cities throughout Mexico.  We have also been working using the compass directions in Spanish to identify bordering nations and bodies of water on a map of Mexico.  This is a great way to reinforce Social Studies while learning new vocabulary in Spanish. 

Here is a copy of the map your child has been working with in Spanish class.  Ask your child where they "live" in Mexico.  Also, see if your child can tell you the countries and bodies of water that border Mexico in each direction (norte, sue, este, oeste).  

Throughout the year, we will connect our learning to Mexico and their culture.  We will learn about the climate in various Mexican cities, a variety of landforms and landmarks throughout Mexico, Mexican communities, food, sports, activities, clothing, and more! 

Keep checking back for more updates on the fun we are having in third grade Spanish!