Spanish Immersion
At Colores Preschool children are immersed in Spanish language and culture. Children are spoken to in Spanish the whole time they are at school and soon they start understanding the language and responding in Spanish. There are many benefits of learning a second language and it is best to start early in life. Please refer to the Resources tab of this website to find additional information and links to research and articles about the many benefits of second language acquisition at any age. Linking research to practice, at Colores Preschool children absorb language, culture and traditions through activities, interaction, stories, poems, music, art, crafts, holidays, community and free play.
Monthly Units of Study
We choose a new unit of study each month and center our learning around topics associated with our monthly theme. Our theme-oriented approach is one of the best ways of incorporating a whole language program that includes listening, understanding, speaking, producing (and eventually reading and writing) that language.
The advantages of organizing our learning around a theme or unit are:
- The theme provides a rich context for lessons and activities.
- The theme gives a common purpose to many different learning opportunities.
- In addition, themes or units allow for purposeful collaborative learning and can accommodate individual differences without singling out individual students.
Our monthly themes or units of study are:
September: I/Yo
October: My family/Mi familia
November: Fall/Otoño
December: Winter/Invierno
January: Animals/Animales
February: Shapes/Formas
March: Plants and Spring/Plantas y Primavera
April: Foods/Comidas or Vehicles and Transport/Vehículos y Transporte
May: Clothing and Summer/Ropa y Verano or Sports/Deportes or Community Workers/Trabajadores de la Comunidad
Each month, parents receive a list with our vocabulary, songs and books reviewed according to our planning.
Throughout the Year
In addition to our monthly units of study, throughout the school year students learn and practice the Spanish letters, letter sounds, numbers, colors, shapes, days of the week, months of the year, and others.
Music
Music is a beautiful way for kiddos to learn Spanish. “De Colores” is a song that we sing together and has somehow became our hymn.
De colores
De colores, de colores,
Se visten los campos
En la primavera.
De colores, de colores,
Son los pajaritos
Que vienen de afuera.
De colores, de colores,
Es el arco iris que vemos lucir.
Y por eso los grandes amores
De muchos colores
Me gustan a mí.
Uno, dos, tres…
Sing the numbers in Spanish with us: Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez, once, doce… y los cantamos otra vez!
