Maybe you haven’t gone back yet and still have two full weeks of summer (SUMMER ON!) or maybe you went back at the end of July (hello midterm!), wherever you are in your back to school season, school is likely on your mind at this time of year!

We had a great first week doing our Two Truths and a Lie activity (grab it free here), but as much as I love getting to know them and starting the year with some real connections to their lives, it is also so much fun to come back this week to completely different lessons at all levels! 🙂 Those two truths and a lie cards were really wearing me out.

Today in Spanish 2, we are starting Kristy Placido’s Es una broma unit. I have added a few things of my own to the mix, but from this unit on… through three full years of class, they will use, laugh at, and love the phrase “Es una broma”. Our class story includes a $20 bill on fishing line, a kid who keeps falling asleep while trying to pull off the joke, and a lot of laughs!

In Spanish 3, we are starting off the year with Huellas 1.1 Parecidos. BUT… this year we have Huellas Your Way 1, so we are diving first into the grammar in vocabulary in context! I can’t wait! I’ve seen teachers posting about how well it went and I haven’t had the chance to try it yet! I’ll share back on some of our favorites from the three day dip into the new expansion pack! If you’ve seen me talk about the new Level Up Card Decks, they came to be as I was brainstorming activities to add to the HYW expansion!!

In Spanish 4, we are planning to do Huellas 2.1 (En guerra- mental health and body image), but the weather is great right now and the leaves have not yet started to turn… so we are bumping Huellas 2.3 (La biodiversidad y la conservación) to the front of the list! I have 15 units available to me in Huellas 2, so I just listed them on a Google Form with a short description of what we’d study in each one. Kids then used the star rating system to give the one they wanted to study most 5 stars, next most 4 stars, down to their 5th pick with 1 star. The 10 units with the highest star ratings made the cut! We didn’t get to do Medicina o cura last year in Spanish 3, so I included that as a choice as well and they picked it!

Today, Spanish 4 is making a mind map of everything they know about the outside world (landforms, animal names, flora, etc) and once those maps are on the wall, they’ll have to use all new vocab to discuss the world around us! It’s a great way to take away their security blanket of level 1 and 2 language!!

It’s exciting to be back at school!! I’m going to be doing a series of blog posts in September about reading with your students!! Follow the blog to make sure you know when they are posted! If you are planning to read El espíritu de Xólotl with us at Book Club in February (or any time of the year using our free book club resources), don’t forget that class sets are so much cheaper on Somewhere to Share! impACTO is available right now on Amazon and is coming soon to Somewhere to Share (I hope right at the end of October). French teachers, the sister books L’esprit de Mélusine and impACTE are both available on Amazon with TG materials and audio books available on Somewhere to Share and TPT. Find links to ALL readers and reader materials here.

ALSO! There’s a sale at TPT and on Somewhere to Share this week! On TPT, at checkout, use code BTSBONUS26 to get 25% off your cart Tuesday, August 25 and Wednesday, August 26. On Somewhere to Share, no code is needed (and the items are already on sale through Thursday morning).

Have an amazing year and keep an eye out on somewhere.to.share on Instagram to see how our week is going!!