Warm-Up Activities for Spanish Class {Facebook Corner}

Conversaciones de maestros en nuestra página de Facebook 

I am always impressed by how the teaching community loves to share their ideas and materials. I decided to create a space on my blog where I  keep track of some of the most popular "conversations" on my Facebook page.

This group of teachers was sharing ideas for warm-up activities at the beginning of the class. 

Dianis says:

"What kind of warm-up activities do you use in your classes? I use the calendar, but my students look bored. I teach K-5. Thanks for your help!"

Kristina: We song a buenos Dias song and sing a weather song b4 picking the weather for the day. I vary the way we sing so they don't get bored- girls vs boys, loud then soft etc.

Lisa:  Following

Kristina: *sing

Elizabeth: I do the calendario every day since my 5th graders read the date over the PA system for morning announcements, they have to practice!

Caitlin: We sometimes pass a ball around and ask each other questions, such as ¿Cómo estás?/¿Cómo te llamas?/¿C´mo es tu familia? and questions based on what we are doing at that time. Or I will pass around an object (a plastic food during the food unit) and they have to say something about it in Spanish. They also love counting while stretching and exercising. Also I use a smartboard for daily routines, in gr 2-4 students come up and have to ask the class about the calendar, weather and their feelings, students respond by clapping or raising their hand (whatever the student leader tells them in Spanish). They enjoy this! But always looking for new ideas too.

Ellen:  I make one student the weather person. They hold pictures of different types of weather, and they ask the class "Hace frio hoy" Hay niebla hoy?

Ellen: The class has to answer.

Nathan: Use the Thumball.

Joe:I use these songs for warm-ups in the lower grades, K-2.

http://www.screenr.com/rkmH

Pam: Following too.

Brittany:  I draw a circle or square on the dry erase board. For the I'll say como estas hoy and someone will come up and illustrate their emotion and the class will guess. The square is either a window and we say como esta el tiempo ? A student draws a weather scene and classmates guess. We've done it for clothing, seasons, etc they love illustrating and having friends guess. Eventually they can identify 5-10 items in a detailed seasonal picture.

Caroline: I have a warm-up smartboard lesson that my students love. It has the Buenos Dias and Hola amigo song, calendar activity with Cuenta song, meses with Macarena song, weather and other songs and dances. I can email you the lesson if you'd like. I also use commands, such as hands up, hands down, move them fast, slow. Jump 5 times, sit down, stand up, etc.

Sarah: I do 3-4 brain-friendly activities to get them in the zone for class. All of my classes come after they just had lunch and recess.

While they are standing up:

1. El espejo - move your hands around slowly and have students mirror you. I usually like to do something silly like a mime-box or the macarena to keep them entertained. Or let a student lead, but then everybody wants a turn

2. Countdown stretches - We throw our hands up in the air and say diez. Then we "count down" while touching various body parts (nueve-top of head, ocho- sides of face, siete- shoulders, seis- hands on heart, cinco- hands on hips, cuatro- hands on thighs, tres- hands on knees, dos- hands on shins, uno- hands on toes, cero- hands on the floor.) Then we count back up. I may throw in a couple other stretches too afterwards like stretching to the sides (izquierda, derecha), etc.

3. Partner talk greetings - Turn to someone near you and say "hola!" shake their hand and say "buenas tardes" ask them "¿cómo estás?" give them a thumbs up and say "muy bien" wave "adiós". They are just repeating but eventually I will build in the conversation skills of taking turns, looking each other in the eye, waiting to hear the answer, listening closely, and hopefully they will eventually actually have the conversation on their own with out repeating.

4. Rhythm patterns, clapping, a song, etc.

Simone: Strangely, my young students really enjoy pantomiming the classroom rules:

1.Yo levanto la mano para hablar.

2.Yo escucho cuando la maestra habla.

3.Yo sigo direcciones rapidamente.

4.Yo no hablo inglés durante los cuentos.

5. Las manos y los pies están quietos.

Cecilia: @ joe. I like the screener deal I'm going to try it out what a great resource. More practical than what I was doing.

Visit Fun for Spanish Teachers on Facebook for more exciting conversations like this one!