Art, Science, & Spanish

In "Art, Science, and Spanish" the students made tri-fold animal riddle books. 

When working with a foreign language--in this case Spanish--I find researching and writing non-fiction books easier than reading and writing fiction books. The language is more straightforward, there usually aren't any metaphors or similes (which might not translate culturally), and the vocabulary tends to be relatively contained. 

For example, when focusing on animals, vocabulary for colors, textures, locomotion, and reproduction are words the students would encounter time and again. 

STEP 1: Observe

An alligator eye

I read the students animal books that revealed only one part of the whole animal at a time. They listened to facts about that animal (in Spanish), and tried to guess what animal it might be. When I turned the page, the whole animal was revealed, they its name (in Spanish), and listened to more facts about it. 

Students heard me ask them same questions over and over for each animal. 

(For example: Que color es? Donde vive? Que come?)

Porcupine paw

As students listened about and guessed animals in the books, they became familiar with certain phrases, such as "it lives" and "it eats" (vive en.... come...). 

The students were asked to pay close attention to detail, such as the textures, colors, and features of the animal, such as claws (garras). 

STEP 2: Model drawing and painting

Attention to detail

From this picture of a robin, I illustrated an eye (un ojo) and a section of a wing (una ala). We discussed the colors, and noticed that there was more than one shade of each.

I demonstrated how to use oil pastels, and then paint over them with water colors. The water colors allow you to create many shades of one color, and blending looks super cool!

The students were asked to choose an animal they would "make a commitment to" for the duration of the class (so, choose wisely!). Then they began their illustrations: the cover (animal covering), one feature (an eye, or a paw/flipper/hoof/etc.), and the whole animal in its habitat. 

Some students remarked they had never noticed so many colors on a "solid color" animal, such as a green frog.

One student had difficulty recreating such a small detail--such as an eye--onto such a large piece of paper. I took a sheet of paper and cut out a small square so that all that was visible of the animal was that one part she wanted to recreate. This also worked for focusing on a small area of the animal covering.

STEP 3: Generate a community word bank

Personal word bank (alphabet book)

I printed out alphabet books for each student--a BIG letter, followed by three or four blank lines. Because we worked in Spanish, I didn't print some letters (K, W) and added N-squiggly (enye), as well as phonemes (such as Ch, Ll, Qu).

We generated words as a class for our community word bank. We started with words and phrases needed to describe the robin (feathers, beak, lays eggs, flies). 

Because we were working in a language the students were still learning, I wrote the verbs in the infinitive, and these were copied into their word banks (volar, cantar, poner huevo). 

STEP 4: Research

Using an organizer (optional) to take notes

I gave the students an organizer (a Microsoft Word template) to write down interesting facts about their animals. I asked the 4th graders to find twelve facts--but they were so excited they all found about twenty! I asked the 1st and 2nd graders to find find five or six facts--but they each found twelve!

Researching facts in Spanish and/or English

To make sure the students had enough information, I went to the library and checked out one or two books on their animal. I got books in Spanish when I could, but some were in English. I also brought some of my own books in Spanish if they applied. Students also had access to the internet to find answers to specific questions that wasn't in books I had for them. (I typed in the searches with and viewed the pages before allowing them to access the them.) So as not hand them the answers, I provided three or four web pages (tabs) for them to read through and find the answers to their questions.

These rising 4th grade Spanish immersion students took notes in Spanish

If the students COULD take notes in Spanish, I encouraged that (these rising FCPS Spanish immersion  boys going into 4th grade could)--but I didn't want language to be an obstacle at this point. If they read in SPanish and wrote in English, or read in English and wrote half Spanish and hal English, that was fine. This was their research, their chance to get to know their animal and what they thought was most interesting about it. 

STEP 5: Writing, editing, and recopying

An introduction to rules of conjugation (Goal: Awareness, not mastery)

I posted this verb chart on the wall, but didn't get into explaining it (until it was relevant, I saw no point in it).

As a class we came up with five facts about the robin (in Spanish) in first person and I wrote them on the wall (for example, "I lay blue eggs"). 

An introduction to the concept of regular and irregular verbs
(Learning a foreign language helps you reflect on your own language's grammar rules)

Once we had five sentences up, I referred to the first verb chart. I changed the verb endings according to the rules (if they were regular). If they were irregular, I referred to the other chart. 

I knew this was confusing, so I told them to write their verbs in the infinitive. My goal at this point was just to familiarize them with the idea that their verbs would change when we edited their writing.

Students relied on books, the web, dictionaries, the teacher, and each other

The students took the facts from their organizers and wrote five sentences (in Spanish) in first person. They had access to an online bilingual dictionary as well as paper dictionaries, me, and each other to ask words they did not know. New words were added to their personal dictionaries. I asked them to the best they could. If they wrote parts in English, that was fine. The goal here was to try to write in Spanish and learn new words to express themselves. They each worked to their ability.

These five sentences in first person would be the riddle part of the book.

1st student makes corrections to her writing after editing with the teacher
2nd student neatly copies second draft of her writing onto her book page

I edited one-on-one with the students as they finished their five sentences. I was surprised that some of them had attempted the conjugations by referring to the chart and done them correctly. I pointed out the endings of the infinitives and how to use the chart--and which chart (regular or irregular). When they returned to me a second time--after the words were all in Spanish and the verbs conjugated--we looked at sentence structure and word order (which is different in Spanish) and punctuation.

Students then recopied their writing neatly onto a book page.

When the writing for the riddle page was completed, we moved on to the acrostic poem. They wrote the animal's name (PETIRROJO) in capital letters, vertically. Once again they did their best to write in Spanish, this time beginning each sentence with the corresponding letter of the animal's name. They wrote in first or/and third person, and were more familiar with how to use the verb chart. (For example, for "ROBIN" the poem might begin: Races through the blue sky.)

After tese sentences were edited and rewritten, they were copied in neat handwriting onto a book page.

This non-immersion student learned a ton!

Once the writing was completed, the pages were decorated. 

The students wrote an "About the Author and Illustrator" page where, once again, they used first person verb conjugations.

MURCIELAGOS acrostic poem

Finally, the tri-fold book was put together in an order that did not reveal the animal until the last page!

An "extra facts" book page about bats

Most of the students wrote MORE than they were asked to! They worked quickly to add more pages to their tri-fold books--with more facts and another picture. This made folding it a little challenging! 

An "extra facts" page about red-tailed rat serpents

An "extra facts" book page about sea turtles

I ran out of time to photograph the completed books! I was amazed at HOW MUCH the students learned in just three days. We worked three days in a row for 2.5 hours each day. Ir was a lot of FUN!