Grade 2: Los Animales de la Granja

We have recently changed our focus from the winter season to the animals on the farm.  Our second graders are now able to name and describe many common farm animals.  Descriptions might include colors, sizes, some body parts of the animal (notably how many feet), and what (if any) product that we get from the animal.  We have played many fun guessing games in which students describe a secret animal and their partner guesses which animal they are describing.  Try using the descriptive sentences along with the animal game board below to play together with your second grader!

Es _____ (color). / It is ____ (color).

Es _____ (tamaño - grande, mediano, pequeño). / It is ____ (size).

Tiene ___ (#) patas. / It has ___ (#) feet.

Nos da _____ (producto).  / It gives us ____ (product).

Some of the animal products we have been learning about are - leche (milk), carne de res (beef), yogur (yogurt), queso (cheese), pollo (chicken), huevos (eggs), and tocino (bacon).  The children have really enjoyed learning how to say some of their favorite foods in Spanish! 

It's perfectly normal for students to point to the photo to guess the secret animal, or even just say the sound of the animal instead of naming it at first.  All of these responses are signs that your child is learning Spanish much in the same manner as they learned their first language: by hearing others use it and picking it up through games and natural interactions.  Children understand much more than they are able to say in a new language, so don't worry if your child doesn't recite every single statement/description in a complete sentence -- we aren't memorizing for a quiz, but rather making connections among several of the vocabulary units we've encountered to this point.

If you and your child want to try something a little different that what we have done in the classroom thus far, you might want to check out this Spanish memory game.  It uses many of the farm animals we have studied, but also adds some less common ones for enrichment.  In some cases, the game uses slightly different vocabulary than we do in class: this reflects varying usage in different Spanish-speaking countries.  That's another reason why this is a great enrichment activity; if your child finds it confusing, it's ok to skip it.