8th grade Quinceañera Project

La Quinceañera de Mis Sueños

La introduction

You and your classmates have a close friend who was a foreign exchange student in your Spanish class last year. Your friend's name is Rosa Ortiz and she is from Guadalajara, Mexico. Sadly, Rosa had to transfer to a different school, but you and your classmates still keep in touch with her. In fact, you've all recently noticed that Rosa's 15th birthday is coming up next month. You and your friends are really excited for her! But Pobrecita Rosa! Her family still lives in Guadalajara and cannot be with her to celebrate her quinceañera. So you and your classmates your friends decide to throw a quinceañera party for her!

Pero, espera! There's just one thing: You and your classmates suddenly realize that you’ve never been to a quinceañera and you don't know how to plan one. You ask yourselves, “What is a quinceañera? And why is it so important in the Mexican, and in other Latin American, cultures? How does a quinceañera work?

*See Notes on La Quinceañera From Class Power Point

El objetivo

Each group member has a specific area of the quinceañera event to arrange: invitations, food, the dress, and gifts. Also, each group will be given a different budget with which to plan the party; this will give Rosa more options to choose from for her quinceañera. You and your friends will present the type of party that best fits your budget through tri-fold poster board booth. When the presentations are done, the class will vote on which quinceñera plans they like best. Keep in mind that your total number of guests will be 100.

Our group’s budget is: ______________________________________________

Each Person within the group will choose ONE for the following roles:

1. El creador de las invitaciones

This member of the group will be in charge of either ordering or creating the invitations for Rosa's party. Be sure to include all the necessary information in the invitation: the date, the time, the location, and any personal note you may want to add. Just make sure that it's in Spanish. Search the websites listed below to find ideas for creating your own invitation (in Spanish) or for ordering one from the internet. Will there be a specific theme to your quinceañera party? Make sure if you order invitations that it fits within your group's budget. This person must also find a location for the reception. This could be in someone’s house, a church, a restaurant, park, or banquet hall. Your location might depend on your budget but must be within the Grand Rapids surrounding area.

http://www.celebracioninvitacion.com/invitations.cfm?MainCategory=91

http://www.quinceanera-boutique.com/invitations.php

2. Director de la moda

For the style savvy member of the group, this person's mission will be to find a great quinceañera dress for Rosa using the links below. Find the nicest quinceañera dress that you like and think Rosa would like also. However, keep in mind that your group has a budget. So make sure the dress alone won't take up your entire budget (including shipping and handling). You must also plan out any extras that she might want, such as a tiara or special jewelry. Also plan what her court will where (although this will not take away from your budget).

http://www.quincegirl.com/es/dressfinder.html

http://www.laquinceanera.com/Spanish/

http://shop.ebay.com/items/__quinceanera-dresses_W0QQ_nkwZquinceaneraQ20dressesQ20QQ_cqrZtrueQQ_nkwuscZquincenearaQQ_nkwuscZdresses

* Local Store: Rafaela's Creations - (616) 246-6896

1505 Grandville Ave SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503

3. La persona encargada del regalo

This person has a knack for picking just the right gift for any occasion. Therefore, his or her mission will be to find out the appropriate type of gift(s) to give for Rosa's quinceañera. You will also plan and budget for the “recuerdos” that guests will receive for attending Rosa’s party.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art40433.aspa

http://www.quinceanera-boutique.com

http://www.misquincemag.com/espanol/quinceanera-moda/quinceanera-joyas

4. El/la chef
Since the quinceañera is a special event, there has to be a special food and cake, right? El/la chef must look for information about the typical foods served at a quinceañera. And don’t forget about the cake! Find a quinceañera cake or cupcakes and one main authentic Mexican, or other typical Latin American, meal. Don't forget to stay within your group's budget! Create a menu or list (in Spanish) of the meals, cake, or any other refreshments you've chosen for the party.

http://www.misquincemag.com/quinceanera-plan/organize/quinceanera-cakes

http://www.applause-catering.net/menus/Applause-Quinceanera-Menu.pdf

* Local bakery: M&M bakery M & M Bakery (245-8989), 1506 Grandville Ave, SW Grand Rapids

5. Director de la Música y Entretenimiento

It is not an official quinceañera without music, entertainment, and dancing. This person must decide what type of dance (or dances) Rosa, her court, and guests will do. Will these dances be choreographed by a professional (if you can afford it)? What song will she dance with her Dad to? Will they be danced to with a live band, DJ, or a playlist on an Ipod and speakers? Will the dance or dances be traditional, modern, or both? Will there be any other form of entertainment (band, musicians, comedians, games, etc).

http://www.misquincemag.com/quinceanera-plan/organize/dad-dance

· You will have TWO class periods to put your presentations together

· You will be presenting the plans for your quinceañera on _______________________

· You will be graded on the following for a total of 50 points

o Use of class time, effort put into this project

o Creativity, neatness in presentation

o Thoroughness, knowledge of subject matter

o Tracking and staying within your budget

o Documenting sources used for websites/pictures

Total Budget: $______________	Budgeted Price	Total Actually Spent
El creador de las invitaciones expenses
Invitations:
Reception Venue:
Director de Moda expenses
The dress
The shoes
The extras
La persona encargada del regalo
Gifts for Rosa
Gifts for Guests
El/la chef
Food and Drinks
Cake
Director de la Música y Entretenimiento
Music
Entertainment
Extras
TOTAL SPENT:

Pen Pals Video Tour

Here is a video that was created by one of my 8th grade classes to show our pen pals in Honduras what our school is like! They did a great job putting it all into 1 min! We hope to get a video tour of the International School In Tegucigalpa in return!

Nuestra Escuela from becky bagnall on Vimeo.

Bagnall Blurb #4 diciembre y enero

Bagnall Blurb #4

December & January

Padres y Amigos,

“Casi casi”… we are so close to the half way mark of our school year! It is always great at this point in the year to look at how much we have accomplished so far while at the same time anticipate continued growth with another semester on the way! You may be aware that report cards will be sent out in the next week or so, that means that all make up or missing work needs to be turned in by this week Friday, Jan. 20^th. Please check on net classroom to see what work is missing for your child in Spanish class. Also read below to get the details on what has been happening in the different Spanish classes!

Quinto Grado (5th): The 5^th graders are now studying unit III, “Mis Actividades” (my activities). When we start a new unit we get a corresponding packet to put in our Spanish binders. I encourage you to once and awhile ask your 5^th grader to take their “cuaderno” (binder) home so that you can see and practice what we are doing in class. As we continue on in the year we will be adding some more “take home” work to practice for the upcoming years where they will be getting more outside of class work. One of these assignments will include a student written booklet coming home to be read and then signed by an adult at home. We are also preparing right now for a skype date with a Christian International School in Guatemala. The 5^th graders raised money to send this school Bibles and when we skype them we will be saying hi and singing to in Spanish. The songs that we are singing can be found at http://spanishsongs.posterous.com/tag/alabanzaniños “Soy yo, soy yo Señor” and “Tengo gozo, gozo, gozo”.

Sexto grado (6th): The 6^th graders just finished doing skits that they wrote and performed in Spanish. Please check out the blog post that has some video examples of those great skits. The students are gaining a lot more confidence in their speaking abilities and continue to expand their vocabulary with new verbs and nouns! We have finally set a date to visit the 1^st graders at Cesar Chavez School! We will be visiting their classrooms on the afternoon of Friday, January 27^th. The students there come from Spanish speaking homes and are in a special ESL (English as a Second Language) classroom to improve their English speaking, reading, and writing skills. During our time together we will be reading together, playing games, and just building great relationships! Look for more trip details in a separate email.

Séptimo Grado (7th): 7th graders had the Christmas celebration extended in Spanish class by learning about and celebrating 3 Kings Day together. 3 Kings Day is celebrated in the Hispanic world on January 6^th with the arrival of the magi. We were able to eat special bread together and a few lucky students received a figurine of baby Jesus in their piece! Now we are now studying, “La Casa” (the house/home). Our new unit packet is now in their Spanish binders complete with notes, vocabulary lists, and homework assignments. Please encourage your child to take his or her Spanish binder home when needed to study or get work done. We just took a quiz on the page 5 vocabulary list; those grades are now posted on net classroom. Will have at least one other vocabulary quiz in the next month. Before the long weekend we were able to do a fun project, making bookmarks for the students at a Christian School in the Dominican Republic. Each student decorated a bookmark with their favorite bible verse written on it in Spanish. These will be sent to the same school that they raised money to give Bibles to; you may know it as the M.O.B project.

Octavo Grado (8^th): The 8^th graders just finished learning about the verb form, “present progressive” or the “ing” verb. They also completed a speaking activity day where they traveled from one conversation group to another asking questions and answering in Spanish the entire time. Some of the topics of conversation included Christmas plans, weather, school, and family. I was so impressed on how comfortable our students are at using their Spanish in ways to communicate their opinions and thoughts. We are now studying the cultural celebration of “la quinceañera” (Sweet 15) which is the religious “passage to adulthood” of a 15 year old Hispanic girl. Students are in groups planning their own quinceañera celebration, plans that need to include invitations, venues, cake, music, and all on a budget! We will be hearing from our Honduran pen pals on how their families have celebrated la quinceañera. Before the end of the week please make sure that your students has turned in all their work for 1^st semester!

Sra. Becky Bagnall

bbagnall@grcs.org

616 574 6343

7th grade Unit III Vocabulary

7th graders have started a new unit on "La Casa" (the house). Our first vocabulary list involves chores and things that you have to do in order to keep a house up and running :) We will have a QUIZ on this list on Wed (for Drenth´s home room) and Fri (for Gredanius´ home room). Below are some quia games to help you prepare...
http://www.quia.com/cm/512029.html
http://www.quia.com/jg/2149305.html
http://www.quia.com/pa/201861.html

Día de los Tres Reyes

Lean about 3 Kings Day and how it is celebrated. Please use page 14 in your cuaderno to fill out as you follow along!

Los Tres Reyes on Prezi

Rosca de Reyes (3 Kings Day Bread)

watch this prezi and fill in notes that go along with it in your cuaderno on page 13

Rosca de Reyes on Prezi

Trabalengua...Tongue Twister 2

8th graders here is another tongue twister to practice...

Poquito a poquito Paquito empaca poquitas copitas en pocos paquetes

(Little by little Paco packs little cups in small packets)