MURSD Spanish Immersion Update
¡Todo lo bueno!
Fall/Winter 2023-2024 Update
The 2023-2024 school year is off to a great start for the MURSD Spanish Immersion Program. Here's a peek at some of the highlights from our first semester and updates about important upcoming events.
School Highlights
Clough and Memorial
Kindergarten - Sra. Ibañez
Sra. Ibañez' kindergarteners learn the days of the week in Spanish through song and movement.
Kindergarten - Sra. Martinez
At their winter holiday party, Sra. Martinez' kindergarteners perform the Hanukkah song "Ocho candelas para mi". Thank you to all the parents who were able to attend this fun event!
1st Grade - Sra. Calvo
Young Spanish immersion students develop their language skills organically through context, and on their own often notice patterns that become part of their developing Spanish grammar. In this video a 1st grader in Sra. Calvo's class noticed that during an activity an adjective changed from masculine to feminine, "entero" to "entera", and asked why. Together the class determined that it was because the noun it was describing in this context was also feminine, "la pizza entera" (the whole pizza). These moments are glimmers of the magic that happens in our children's developing bilingual brains!
1st Grade - Sra. Moreno
Students in Sra. Moreno's class practice writing sentences in Spanish.
2nd Grade - Sra. Mumbiela
Students in Sra. Mumbiela's 2nd grade class work on their math skills.
2nd Grade - Srta. Molina
Srta. Molina's 2nd graders practice measuring in their Spanish immersion math class. They used popsicle sticks to estimate the length of their classmates and several objects in the room, all the while communicating only in Spanish with each other and their teacher.
3rd Grade - Sr. Dominguez
Sr. Dominguez' third graders work out a word problem together.
4th Grade - Sr. Garcia
Students in Sr. Garcia's 4th grade class work on division during a math lesson.
Welcome Srta. Noor, our Spanish Language Assistant
Through our partnership with the Education Office at the Consulate of Spain, we have been enjoying our collaboration with our Spanish Language and Culture Assistant for this school year, Noor Habichi. Noor helps with activities such as reading and writing, and as pictured below, she often helps direct small group conversations.
Miscoe Hill Middle School Classroom Updates
5th Grade - Sra. Crawford
5th graders in Sra. Crawford's class explored the physical and chemical properties of 4 different white powders to see if they could identify each of the substances. The students acquired many new Spanish terms to describe each of the powders; while the powders looked very similar at first, the students discovered that each of the powders has its own unique properties. Most groups figured out that three of the powders were "sal, azúcar y bicarbonato". The final powder was Borax - that was harder to determine!
6th Grade - Sra. Pike
Students in Sra. Pike's 6th Spanish Immersion Social Studies classes put on a Gilgamesh play to explore this historic epic poem written in Mesopotamia 4000 years ago. Sra. Crawford's 5th grade and Sra. Obrador's 7th grade SI classes came to watch the performances!
7th Grade - Sra. Obrador
Sra. Obrador's 7th graders were visited by Elisa Castaño, the exchange program coordinator from León, Spain, during the Spanish exchange students' experience at Nipmuc in December. Elisa shared information about Spanish culture with the 7th grade students, many of whom will be traveling to Spain on our Miscoe trip this April!
8th Grade - Sra. Fermin
La vida feliz
In October, Sra. Fermin's 8th graders discussed the topic "La vida feliz", and students created an original quote of their own on what happiness meant to each one.
Agradecimiento
In November, to practice writing and speaking students discussed things to be grateful for.
Tradiciones
In January, students learned about the different New Years traditions in Spanish speaking countries. For example, in Spain Spaniards eat 12 grapes during the last 12 seconds of the year, therefore students wrote 12 wishes representing those last 12 seconds.
Nipmuc Classroom Highlights
Kindergarten Spanish Immersion Info Night - February 8
Parents of incoming kindergarteners can fill out this 2024 Kindergarten Spanish Immersion Interest Form.
Nipmuc Spanish Exchange
The Nipmuc Spanish Exchange was a great success! Students arrived from León, Spain to stay with their host families from December 3 through December 19. It was a jam-packed two weeks filled with visits to Fenway, the Natick Mall, Freedom Trail, Hebert Candy Mansion, Pinz, Old Sturbridge Village, and multiple days of shadowing students at Nipmuc for classes and other fun activities. Host families had kids ranging in age from elementary to high school, and the bonds formed between the visiting students and their host families will never be forgotten. You can see the entire photo album from the exchange here.
Sra. Soto, our Exchange Program Coordinator, had this message of thanks to all host families and everyone who helped in any way to make the exchange program a success:
"GRACIAS to everyone that opened their house, to everyone that reached out, everyone that had inquiries. Without your support this would have never happened. De corazón, ¡GRACIAS!"
Ana Soto
Spanish Teacher
In April our students will be traveling to Spain to reunite with their Spanish friends and complete the second half of the exchange.
Next Spanish Immersion Advisory Board Meeting - February 28
The Spanish Immersion Advisory Board is a group made up of parents, educators, students, and administrators of the MURSD created to provide support to the Spanish immersion program in our District. We meet quarterly in the Nipmuc PDC to discuss happenings in the program and also to break down into subcommittees to work together on different initiatives.
Our current subcommittees are:
- Information and Outreach: To coordinate outreach activities for SI families and to communicate about SI programming through website and social media
- Exchange Program: To support the development and implementation of a Spanish Exchange Program
- Events: To help coordinate and support SI related events like Multicultural Night
- Spanish Staff Transition: To help create and refine a welcome guide to support future teachers and staff from Spain
If you are interested in being part of this work, please join us for our next SI Advisory Board Meeting on February 28th at 6:00pm in the Nipmuc PDC.
For more information about Spanish Immersion Advisory Board, please see our SI website.
Save the Date! Multicultural Night May 16, 2024
This year's Multicultural Night will be held at Nipmuc on Thursday, May 16. We are looking forward to another exciting event featuring many of the favorites from last year: Country and culture tables with food and crafts, performances in the auditorium, multi-cultural read-alouds, highlights from district travel opportunities, photo booths, world games, food trucks and more!
We are looking forward to another amazing event!
Spanish Enrichment for Parents
About us
Email: mpike@mursd.org
Website: http://mursdspanishimmersion.weebly.com/
Location: 150 North Avenue, Mendon, MA, USA
Phone: 508-634-1585