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May 6-16, 2014

Las piñatas

Español I: 1st Period

This semester, students learned how to say things, like transportation, names of places, restaurant foods, rooms of a house, furniture and household chores--in Spanish. They have come a long way this year, becoming good speakers and writers of Spanish.

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Las clases de Español

¡Vivan los vikingos!

The Spanish I class got to celebrate the end of the school year by making piñatas. They are the first Spanish I class to do so. The students came up with some WONDERFUL designs: “Hubert the Whale,” “Sam the Duck” and “Kevin the Minion.” On Friday, May 9th, the elementary grades and faculty voted on what they felt the best-decorated piñata was. They gave “Kevin the Minion” the most votes.

Travis liked the minion too.

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Español II: 2nd Period

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On Wednesday, February 19, from 8:00 to 11:30 a.m., the Spanish II Class traveled to Norfolk to explore examples of Spanish vocabulary and Hispanic culture outside of the classroom. The trip began with a visit to Wal-Mart. It is an appropriate place for a Spanish class field trip, due mostly to the Hispanic food section in the Market side of the

Spanish II Takes Annual Field Trip to Norfolk

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store. There, students studied Spanish names of different herbs, beans, vegetables, juices, sodas, sauces--and other non-perishable foods. Students practiced saying these foods, then took a few minutes to explore the foods, finding vocabulary that they have studied or could take meaning from right away. The second destination was to "La Macarena," a Mexican general store in the downtown area. There, students were given questions to

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answer in Spanish about the produce, dairy and frozen foods, baptism and quinceaños (15th Birthday) celebration supplies, personal care products and the piñatas. Students were encouraged to ask questions to the owners in Spanish and took a look at supplies for making tortillas and tamales. The trip concluded with a quick run to Taco Bell. (Mrs. Rojas, the Spanish II teacher, is not at all against going there!) It was a great trip!

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The Spanish II Class also got to make piñatas to celebrate the end of the school year. The students had several last-minute design changes, but pulled off AMAZING designs: Mike Wozowski from “Monster’s Inc,” an Easter egg, Kevin from “Up,” a fish, wearing a mask; and a wolf. The piñatas were displayed at Exhibit Night, where the public was invited to vote on what they

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felt was the best-decorated one, or the best concept. “Kevin from ‘Up’” won with 29 votes. But, all the groups

did well with building (and hitting!) their piñatas. The winning piñata’s

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group got their piñata goodies provided for,

while the

other groups brought their own.

Español II (continued)

Las piñatas

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Continued

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Third Period Spanish students got to travel to Omaha to attend for the first time two shows by the Hispanic Flamenco Ballet, a non-profit dance company, based in Miami, Florida.

The first was the “Latin American Show.” Through music and dance, the performers provided a survey of Latin American culture, including music from Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic,

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Colombia, Argentina--and other Latin American countries.

The second was the “Spain Show.” The performers danced the “jota,” flamenco and zarzuelas, which are the structured dances on which flamenco is based.

Throughout both shows, two guitarists played traditional songs in Spanish and encouraged the audience to sing along. They also had the audience practice different

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categories of Spanish vocabulary. The final song in both shows involved audience participation, in which audience members came up to the stage and danced with the performers. There is also a certain photo of Mrs. Rojas, dancing to “Macarena.” (Shhhh! Don’t tell anybody!)

After a morning of wonderful performances, the group ate a “delicioso” and “grande” lunch at “Hector’s” in Omaha.

Field Trip to Omaha: March 25th

Combined Spanish Class: Spanish II, III and IV--3rd Period

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Continued

The 3rd Period class got in on the piñata-making action too. They set out to make a burro, but then realized that their piñata had more of a llama shape to it. The girls applied the technique of making 1-centimeter or finger-width cuts into folded strips of

Making the Class Piñata, “Dolli Llama”:

tissue paper and wrapping the tissue paper around the piñata in rows. They enjoyed the process and even featured the finished piñata as the centerpiece for their class lunch during the seniors’ last week of classes.

The girls did not display “Dolli Llama” at Exhibit Night, so they could hit it sooner. It became quite an event, starting with taking many photos and ending with a mock funeral. It was a humorous way to end a very productive year.