I decided to put together Spanish Centers as a form of practice, remediation, and reinforcement of skills for my students in PK, K, and 1st grade. My desire is to have all of the different learning styles addressed. My goal is to provide a fun, interactive way for the children to learn about Spanish to complement teacher-led, regular instruction. I assign groups (children have previously been placed in) to a certain center. I rotate them one time during a 30 minute class period. Assessment is through a completion grade based on the student doing what each center requires. A chart is posted on the south wall of the classroom for each classroom involved in the Spanish Centers. Once the center has been visited, a sticker is placed next to the child’s name under that particular center. Centers may be revisited.
Audio: Listening and Reading (CD- or teacher-read) Center—Bilingual
Visual: Putting together puzzles, playing matching games
Kinesthetic: Computer Games, Promethean Board Games, Board Games/Activities, Arts and Crafts
The following are current centers:
Centro Blanco (White Center)—Promethean Board games
Centro Negro (Black Center)---Wooden Puzzles (dinosaurios (dinosaurs), animales de la granja (farm animals) y ambulancia (ambulance)/coche de bombero (fire truck)/policía (police car). I have labeled the puzzles in Spanish.
Centro Rojo (Red Center)---Student Computer---Ideally, I would love to have two computers, and have them hooked to the Internet (a work in progress) so that children can play games I choose from the Internet. As of now, I am using Spanish DVDs that have activities to do within them.
Centro Verde (Green Center)---This is a center for playing a matching memory game. There are three groups (3 students per group) using this center. Memory cards are bagged in Ziplocs.
Centro Anaranjado (Orange Center)---This is an activity where a book is attached to an Etch-a-Sketch. The story adds a diagram that shows a step-by-step way to draw an item or write a number. The books are labeled in Spanish for exposure to the vocabulary.
Centro Azul (Blue Center)---This is a listening center. There are two books (both are the same book—one in English and one in Spanish). Students listen to a CD in English first in order to become familiar with the story. Next, they listen to the same book in Spanish while following along in the book in order to be exposed to the language visually while hearing the language spoken.
Centro Rosado (Pink Center)---This is a craft or art center. I have used it to spell ‘chico’ or ‘chica’ (boy/girl) while using letter beads in order to make a necklace. I use it to provide a coloring sheet if we have listened to a book, or I have shared a book with a group. I plan to use it for other activities in the future such as making a worry doll (Guatemalan tradition), making a symbol for our prayer wall, etc.
This is a work in progress that I am very excited about, and that the children LOVE! I am trying to gather ideas from other teachers (especially PK and K) in order to make sure I am utilizing what is needed for each age level.
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