5 For Friday Freebies and a Petroglyph Family Friendly Field Trip (Panama)

1. Petroglyphs!

This last week we went on a fun field 

trip to Nancito, Panama and other 

hidden but local petroglyph sites - The 

kids had loads of fun!  Petroglyphs in

Panama are a common occurrence

Anthropologists don't exactly understand 

their meaning but some have a 

lunar/solar calendar significance.  Others

appear to be types of road signs to 

passing travelers...

We set up a petroglyph station after our

field trips where the kids... 

a: found a soft rock & cleaned it at a

washing station

b: carved a petroglyph style design 

that they learned about or just 

something unique...

c. colored it with chalk pastels!

Eating Healthy local 

Fruit! 

 Finally to end a wonderful day we 

enjoyed our local fruits and learned 

about all the health benefits...

Maracuya Apple Beat Juice Recipe:

1 Maracuya seeds scooped out into a glass

3 Juiced Sweet Apples

1 juiced beat

Stir & serve over ice 

Yum!!!

2.  I Spy Sight Words in

 English & Spanish! 

I also finished up and bundled a new set

 of I Spy Sight words this week.  If you 

would like to check them out just click

 on any of the pictures:)

3.  I have also been getting

 ready for the Facebook

 Frenzy that's Coming Soon!

IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN TO A FB FRENZIE- 

MARK YOUR CALENDAR - YOU WILL ONLY 

HAVE 3 DAYS TO like AWAY & GRAB YOUR

 FREEBIES!  

 

You can get ready by Liking  my fb 

page now & grabbing this Freebie, (I have 

a great fb frenzy freebie planned - it's

 so hard to wait to share it with you

 all!) I will be keeping you posted:)...

  

4. New PanamaArt 

Artist's interpretation:  "a little girl wearing the chaquira"

Children’s Chaquira Indian 

Beaded Jewelry Set! 

 These are so cute...need I say more...and 

we custom make them with the colors

 you want!

 5.  5 For Friday Freebie

Free Shofar Clip Art

Just in time for the Jewish High Holy 

Days!  We have been celebrating the 7 

month on the Biblical Calendar = Jewish

 High Holidays

Yom Teruah is passed, the 

shofar announcement has been made and

 now we are counting 10 days until Yom

Kippur ( a fasting day of repentance to 

God as individuals, families, and as a 

nation)  This is a pen & pencil basket of 

gifts we made for our family & 

friends...along with our Yom Teruah 

notebook Bible study - you can make 

them to0! Click here and here for more

 info.  

The shofar is a very important part of 

every Jewish holiday. So I thought I 

would leave you with these freebies 

today; a shofar craftivity and clip art 

- enjoy!

Just click on the picture for the 

craftivity...

  You can right click and save the 

shofars below-don't forget to give credit

back to Thetravelingclassroom when

you use them! enjoy:)

Join in the fun below:)

 Cute Chevron Numbers Clip Art by Blair Turner http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Blair-Turner
Cute Frames by Dots of Fun http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Dots-Of-Fun

Poco A Poco - Little by Little

While it's been raining everyday here in Panama we have started to really dig into our Spanish classes.

Our classes have just started.   I have 7 new students and we have been having so much fun.

 Everyday we have been focusing on new vocabulary, conversational phrases, and conjugating verbs. These kids aren't your average first year freshman Spanish kids. They are international students. They are living in a Spanish Speaking culture where almost everything outside of their home is in Spanish. They want to be able to talk to others in Spanish.

 How do you do that?

 Well as I 've been sharing with my kids they need to put themselves out there and interact in the culture! 

 It may sound amusing that you can live in a Spanish world and not speak Spanish! So many people just do that. They only speak to friends that speak their native language, speak the minimal Spanish to get by, and just don't have the extra energy to put out to learn a new language. Anyone could get stuck not learning the language of the country they live in. It just seems overwhelming at times! I have seen this many times while living in California. There are so many immigrants from Asian, Latin America, and other countries with their own communities. Everyone has heard of China town! Well did you know there is a China town here in Panama City, Panama too?

 So if your finding yourself stuck in this rut of wanting to learn another language but just can't seem to - what do you do? Well let me give you some simple steps to follow that I am encouraging my students to do:

Poco a Poco- Little by little

1. Practice, practice, practice - every day!

Any chance you get try to practice the language. Put on the subtitles when your watching movies. Pay attention to the words in songs. Communicate with people in that language. Add a new word to your vocabulary journal everyday! Write it down! Look it up in a Spanish-English dictionary! Then try to use it again very soon.


2. Make efforts to understand why certain words or phrases are used. Make meaning out of them! Don't just try to memorize them because they won't stick!


3. Understand the grammar of the language your learning - at least a little bit! If you can find patterns you will be able to use them later in a conversation. For example understand the patterns for verb conjugations in Spanish. You may find yourself in the middle of a conversation and learn a new verb.  You can then apply your knowledge of verb conjugations and continue on with your sentence and conversation!


4. Finally step on that pride and embarrassment and just speak! The more you practice the better you will get. If you snooze you loose, right? Another wards keep at it, don't give up. Learning a language can be a lot of work and a times saturate your brain! You may at times feel like you have no room left in your brain to learn ! Just take a break and get back to it when your rested up!

5.  Don't forget to have fun while learning!


Recently some of my students had "light-bulb" moments with verb conjugations. They started to get it! It happened while we were playing some of our verb conjugation games...they were put on the spot to conjugate on their own and add new vocabulary while talking with their peers! Here is one that we were playing "I have who has " in Spanish.
















You can download this freebie in the download preview on TPT or just click on the pictures above or go here to google docs! I hope you and your students have many more "light-bulb" moments! That's what makes learning fun:)

I'm linking up with (where you can find other wonderful freebies and ideas)

What do you do to learn your foreign language? How do you teach your students? I would love to hear your insights and what works for your students. Leave me a comment and please share:)

Feel free to enter the Giveaway below to win a Beaded Indian Bracelet from Panama for you and to share with your classroom!

Celebrating our new Etsy Store - Panama Art - with a Giveaway!

We opened our new Etsy store a few months ago. It has been loads of fun for the kids to visit the local shop and learn how to bead and macrame. They love making jewelry! It really is an amazing art. No two items are exactly alike.

Meet Eliab and his beautiful wife...he is one of the main designers and artists of our shop! He is from the Kuna tribe and has learned his art from his parents, grandparents, uncles, and aunts before him! He even knows his ancient Kuna language as well as Spanish! His cousin sells his jewelry and art at the local Tuesday farmer's market in Boquete!



The Panamenos here are so talented you can even have a name beaded into a bracelet! We have lots of new items to share and it is high time for a giveaway! Check out some of the new items we will be adding to our store this week!

Hand painted feathers...

Beautiful macrame necklaces with stones and other types of necklaces made out of local seeds and tagua .

What is tagua? It is a nut that comes from a tree that is similar to a palm tree. It is also know as a kind of ivory. This is what the seeds look like before they are shaped and shined. ( Sorry the teacher in me couldn't resist to give you a little tagua lesson:)

Here is what they look like after they are prepared for jewelry.

Here are some beautiful butterfly necklaces...(perfect for our butterfly unit:)

Hand beaded bracelets...



Beautiful hand made molas...





Now for our giveaway! You can win one of these hand- made Chaquira glass beaded bracelets.   These are made by local Indigenous Indians of Chiriqui, Panama. One bracelet can take many hours of work. The triangular pattern is representative of the mountains that surround the area and are a beading pattern of the Ngobe. The flat Panama and shape patterns are characteristic bead work of the Kuna Indians.



Which one is your favorite? ( I am kind of partial to the flowers:)




Can't you just see yourself sharing some of this amazing art with your students, friends, family, &...????

Every time I see these beads it reminds me of the beads Laura would find on the ground in The Little House on the Prairie books!

I love the fact that the Indians here are not assimilated into the culture completely. They still walk around town in their traditional dress and some still can speak their tribe's language! Not only that, many are still artists making their crafts that their ancestors have made for generations before them! I am so glad to know these amazing people and to be able to share their art with you!

So what are you waiting for ??? Enter the giveaway so you can win!