Travel Journal - Spain

English Class – 2nd Grade

• Greetings
• The digital textbook is opened (the classroom is equipped with a smartboard).
• Students begin working on an exercise that involves correcting sentences in English. Example: What ARE he wearing? → Correct form: What IS he wearing?
• Each sentence is written on the board.
• Students take turns coming to the board to correct the sentences.
• The teacher translates all the sentences into Spanish and draws lines on the board to help students write neatly.
• The lesson lasts 30 minutes.
• The entire lesson was focused on a single exercise.
• Magnetic name tags are placed on the board, and students take them when they leave the classroom during the lesson.

5 years old

• They are free to use all activity centers.
• Worksheets and activity sheets are permanently displayed on a wire in the middle of the classroom.
• For Women's Day, the children painted a woman representative of badminton (Carolina Marin), and everyone was careful to stay within the lines.

5th Grade (11 years old) – French

• Students sit in groups of 4-5, facing each other.
• Knowledge reinforcement is done through interactive games (e.g., Bingo).
• At the beginning of the lesson, the teacher explains the rules, and they follow them until the end.
• Their notebooks are well-organized, and all of them use binders.

3rd Grade

• Each desk has a sheet with the alphabet, numbers, comparison signs (<, >, =), even and odd numbers, days of the week, months, and seasons.
• They participate in a reading contest ("Come libros")—whoever reads the most books gets a surprise.
• There is a dedicated area in the classroom (a small library) where all textbooks and notebooks are categorized.
• The teacher encourages them to eat healthily every day (fruits, bread, vegetables). On the wall, there is a chart ("Tarcero!") with each student's name, and every day, the teacher asks what they ate and places a stamp next to their name.
• When solving multiplication, addition, or subtraction problems, they write the operation sign on the left side.
• They write the date on the board in the upper left corner.
• They sit in desks individually, in pairs, or in groups of three.
• At the beginning of the lesson, they sang a multiplication song.

The most interesting activity we saw today was in the science class (3rd grade), where they had a lesson about nutrition.

• To begin with, two students distributed the notebooks to the entire class, and then the teacher read the lesson title: “Healthy Nutrition” and moved on to the first question from the textbook: “What foods are healthy? And which are unhealthy?”
• The students started answering and also analyzed the food pyramid from the textbook.
• Then, they opened their class notebooks and wrote down the date along with the “Remember” section from the textbook. (Observation: their notebooks had a completely different type of ruling.)
• The most interesting aspect was that the students spoke freely during the lesson and approached each topic in an open manner, without necessarily following the textbook’s structure. However, they still managed to go through all the key points of the lesson.

Finger Painting Activity

Age Group: 3 years

On an image representing the number 8, each child contributes to painting it using pink paint and applying it with their fingertip. After each child dips their finger twice in the paint and uses the watercolor, their fingers are wiped clean, and they are ready to return to play so that the next child can do the same.

The children watch a video accompanied by additional information and questions from a nurse, who explains each image in the presentation.

After the presentation/video ends, each child takes out a plush toy to practice resuscitation, performing the exercise to the rhythm of a song played by the nurse.

Later, the children take turns, individually or in groups of 2-3, to come forward and practice cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

4th Grade – Mathematics

• For today’s lesson, students worked on several problems from the textbook. To begin, the teacher divided the board into three columns: "Datos" (problem data), "Operaciones" (operations), and "Solución" (solution).
• All students use the same type of notebook, and each new line starts with a small train icon.
• Lessons last 30 minutes, and the only break they have is a 30-minute lunch break.
• The library is well-organized and provides a comfortable space.

We spent time with the 3-year-old group, where we read them stories in Spanish and played with them. We also got to observe a "morning meeting," which was almost entirely made up of songs.

They sang when they had to count to 10, they sang when they didn’t know what day of the week it was, but the most interesting part was when they sang about how they were feeling:

"Good morning, ... (child’s name)! How do you feel today?"

And the children responded honestly: happy, sad, joyful, angry, etc.

Outdoor Reading

We attended a unique activity, held by the teacher outdoors. Why was it so interesting? First of all, because it offered something different—different in the sense that we had never seen this way of conducting an activity before. The combination of usefulness and enjoyment made it even more beloved by the children, who were happy with every moment spent together on the sports field.

More specifically, the children sat on the ground in a semicircle, with their reading books. The teacher randomly called them to read a small passage from a story, while the other children listened carefully and followed the lines. At the end of the reading, the teacher asked them questions about the story's characters and the plot and made sure that the students understood its message.

Then came a truly unique part—the little ones lay down on the ground (and we did too, of course), closed their eyes, and the teacher invited them to imagine they were on a vast beach, with the sea in front of them, fishing for a little fish, which they also imagined in terms of its color. It was a moment of calm and relaxation, which we enjoyed together with the children.

We believe that this type of activity is extremely important, as it takes children out of the routine they are so used to and from the monotony of classroom hours. It is a moment when peace dominates the usually energetic and enthusiastic atmosphere of the children, a moment of inner peace that is always welcome in their schedule.

Group: 5-Year-Olds

• Morning Meeting: The teacher called a child to the board to complete the day, month, year, and current season. Then, the children assigned weekly responsibilities (watering the flowers, washing the paintbrushes, gathering the crayons, and two children in charge of handwashing).
• Handwashing is done differently. Each child receives a napkin, which they tuck into their shirt, and then they go to the bathroom in groups of 2-3 (both girls and boys). Before leaving the classroom, the two responsible children for that week have the duty of putting soap on their hands.
• After the morning meeting, they had a language education activity. The teacher projected a game on the board where they had to match a word with a rhyming image.
• The classroom provides plenty of space, including princess and fairy costumes that the children can use anytime.
• The week's theme was the circus, so during the art activity, they had to create a contortionist using the initial letter of their name.

The day began with a math lesson, during which the children were given a test to complete. Before starting, the teacher gave instructions for each exercise. During the test, she walked around the classroom, offering support to the students.

It was clear that the teacher speaks very clearly and repeats important points to ensure everyone understands. She also did not impose a time limit—the test ended when all the children had finished. Meanwhile, those who completed the test early received a worksheet.

3rd Grade: Spanish Language

The teacher starts by reading aloud the text from the textbook titled "MIEDO SIN FIN" (this text is about a monster who goes to the library to ask for a horror book). After reading the text, the teacher writes the title and date on the board (note: when writing the date, a class monitor comes up and writes the date on the board as well, exactly as the teacher writes it) (note: when writing the date, the teacher uses different colors for each number: 2025 = 2 green, 0 blue, 5 orange).

All students use a regular pencil to write in their notebooks (only for the date, they use colored pencils).

After finishing the reading, the teacher asks the students to identify pairs of nouns and adjectives in the text. Based on the pairs they find, the teacher explains how the agreement between the noun and the adjective works. She asks them to find adjectives that agree in gender and number, as well as adjectives that do not change form.

Based on the text, the teacher moves on to the following exercises:

She asks the students to think of an appropriate title for the text (telling them the title must be related to the action in the text).

She asks them to choose the right cover for the book the monster starts reading in the text and explains the importance of the cover, analyzing each of the 3 options and explaining why the first two do not fit the action described in the text.

As the final exercise, after they have completed everything in the textbook, the teacher plays the audio version of the text from the digital textbook and asks the students to briefly tell what happens in the text.

Group: 3-Year-Olds

9:15 – The morning starts with lots of good energy, songs, and movement. The children have three songs:

• "Hello, hello, how are you?"
• A dance song
• A song with body warm-up movements, gymnastics, and balance exercises

9:25 – Morning Meeting

They begin with a "Good Morning" song, followed by a child responsible for attendance that day. The child comes forward, calls out each name from the attendance chart on the wall, and counts the students, practicing numeration.

Next, they sing a weather song and complete the daily calendar. The teacher sings a short personalized song for each child: "Hello, (name), how do you feel today?" and each child describes their mood in one word.

The child responsible for attendance then receives number cards from 1 to 10. As the children sing about each number, the child places them in ascending order. Once finished, they count aloud in both ascending and descending order. Each child then takes their assigned attendance number and places it back.

The teacher writes the date on the board, pronouncing each letter and number for the children to repeat in unison. The child of the day writes their name on the board (e.g., 8 ANTONIO) and draws a weather-related image (a cloud with raindrops).

Together with the teacher, the children break down each name into syllables, clapping to count them.

9:40 – Number Recognition Game

The children line up in a row while the teacher writes four random number sequences (1-7) on the floor with chalk.Example: 3 4 5 1 6 2

The teacher calls out a number, and each child must run and stand on the correct number, then perform an action:

2 → Each child finds number 2, stands on it, and jumps twice.

3 → Each child finds number 3, stands on it, and claps three times.

For the remaining numbers that weren’t used, children receive wet wipes to erase them.

9:50 – Alphabet Practice

The teacher plays an alphabet song on the smart board. After listening, the children identify letters that match the first letter of their names.

After alphabet practice, they receive a worksheet focused on the number 2, where they: practice writing the digit, associate it with quantity (coloring two stars and drawing two clouds), complete a sequence using red and green dots

11:00 – Handwashing and Snack Time

11:30 – Playtime

English Language, Review Lesson, 1st Grade

I attended a very interesting lesson. The English teacher entered the classroom, greeted the students in English, and captured their attention with a black box covered in colorful question marks. She explained to the students that they were going to review everything they had learned in preparation for the test the following day. The teacher divided the students into four groups of three members each. In total, she had prepared four tasks that each group had to complete.

First, the teacher assigned a task to each group. Once a group finished its task, they moved on to the next one, so that they would complete all four tasks by the end of the lesson.

• First task: "The Box of Questions" – Each student had a small whiteboard and a marker. Inside the box, there were slips of paper with pictures of objects on one side and the names of those objects on the other side. The students had to draw a slip from the box, look at the image, recognize the object, and then write its name on the whiteboard. At the end, they would check the back of the slip to see if they had worked correctly.
• Second task: An online game with challenges like "Name the seasons," "Name the months of the year," "Name the days of the week," etc.
• Third task: A worksheet with the names of the four seasons in English. The students had to assign a color to each season (winter - blue, spring - pink, summer - yellow, autumn - brown).
• Fourth task: The students created an outfit by cutting out clothing items and sticking them onto a sheet of paper shaped like a body. They also had to write the names of the clothing items in English.

The lesson ended when all the groups successfully completed all four tasks.

• The teacher played a song for the children, which they listen to every day. After that, one child at a time went to the front and sang a verse into the microphone.
• During the arts and crafts activity, the teacher let us show the children how to create a cactus using our palms.
• Since last week, the children had made drums from baby formula boxes. Each child created a rhythm, and the others repeated it. Then, they played in different ways and groups.

3rd Grade:

Spanish Language

The students share their textbooks and notebooks, write the date in their notebooks, and begin reading a text about an astronaut. Each student reads one sentence, and at the end, the teacher also plays the audio version of the text from the digital textbook.

The teacher follows the same steps as with the previous text: she asks them to choose an appropriate title for the passage, the students need to select a corresponding image for what they've read, and then they start solving most of the exercises orally from the textbook.

After several exercises, the teacher asks the students to summarize what they remember from the text and asks them questions (e.g., "In what year did she land on the moon?" "Where was the astronaut born?").

Mathematics

The next lesson was about the euro and the appearance of each coin and banknote. The teacher shows pictures of each banknote and coin, and at the end, she asks the students to recognize them through a game where only the banknote with the correct pictures and colors is shown, but the number is missing. The students need to identify the value of each one.

In the remaining time, she explains that 10 coins of 10 cents are equivalent to one euro, two coins of 50 cents are also worth one euro, and 5 coins of 20 cents are worth one euro as well.