Lesson 4.2 Shapes

Steps

1. Warm-up

   Do this together: Look around the room. Can you find something round like a circle? Something with four equal sides like a square? Something with three corners? Today you learn the shapes in Spanish.

2. Teach the new idea

   Read aloud: The story. High on a hill in Granada, in the south of Spain, stands a palace called the Alhambra, the red castle. It was built more than six hundred years ago by the Moorish kings who ruled Granada, and when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella won the city in 1492, they made it their palace too. The walls of the Alhambra are covered with tiles of green, blue, black, white and gold, cut into hundreds of tiny shapes and fitted together like a puzzle: stars with eight points, triangles, squares and little diamonds, all spinning out from the center in patterns that seem to go on forever. Craftsmen called alicatadores cut every piece by hand. People come from all over the world to look at these walls of shapes.

   Read aloud: How Spanish sounds. Many shape words sound like English: círculo, triángulo, rectángulo. Just say them the Spanish way, with the accent mark showing which part to lean on: SEER-koo-loh, tree-AHN-goo-loh. Estrella has the ll that sounds like y: ehs-TREH-yah.

   Read aloud: Say it and move. Draw each shape in the air with your finger: a big round círculo, a cuadrado with four equal sides, a triángulo with three corners, a long rectángulo, and a twinkling estrella. Then make each shape with your arms!

3. New words

   Do this: Say each word clearly; your child says it back twice. Point to a picture or the real thing when you can.

   • el círculo [ehl SEER-koo-loh]: the circle
   • el cuadrado [ehl kwah-DRAH-doh]: the square
   • el triángulo [ehl tree-AHN-goo-loh]: the triangle
   • el rectángulo [ehl rehk-TAHN-goo-loh]: the rectangle
   • la estrella [lah ehs-TREH-yah]: the star
   • la luna [lah LOO-nah]: the moon
   • la forma [lah FOHR-mah]: the shape
4. Picture study: Panel of Alicatado Tilework from the Alhambra

   

   Do this: Look at the picture together for a quiet minute before anyone talks.

   Read aloud: This panel once decorated a wall of the Alhambra and is now kept in the palace's museum. Every small piece was cut by hand from glazed tile and fitted into the pattern. The white bands go over and under each other like ribbons, and the colored shapes fill the spaces in between.

   Point and find:

   • Find a star shape (una estrella). How many points does it have?
   • Find a small triangle (un triángulo).
   • Which colors can you name in Spanish?
   • Follow one white band with your finger. Where does it go?

   Ask:

   • “How long do you think it took to cut and fit all these pieces?”
   • “What shapes would you use to make your own pattern?”
5. Show how

   Show: What shape is a slice of pizza? Say it in Spanish.

   Say this: “A slice of pizza has three corners.”

   Say this: “Three corners is a triangle: el triángulo.”

   Answer: Un triángulo.

   Show: What shape is the full moon? Say it in Spanish.

   Say this: “The full moon is round.”

   Say this: “Round is a circle: el círculo.”

   Answer: Un círculo.

6. Practice together

   Do this: Ask out loud. Let your child try first; help only after a real try.

   Ask: What is el círculo?

   Listen for: The circle.

   Ask: What is la estrella?

   Listen for: The star.

   Ask: How do you say square in Spanish?

   Listen for: El cuadrado.

   3 more on the lesson page.

7. Project: Alhambra tile pattern

   Read aloud: Make your own tile pattern with paper shapes, like the craftsmen of the Alhambra.

   Steps:

   1. Cut out circles, squares, triangles and stars from colored paper (a parent can help).
   2. Start in the center of the white square with a star, una estrella.
   3. Arrange shapes around it in a repeating pattern, the same on every side.
   4. Glue them down.
   5. Count each kind of shape in Spanish and label: cuatro triángulos, ocho cuadrados...

   Tips for you:

   • Make the pattern match on all four sides, like a mirror.
   • Use the colors you know in Spanish: azul, verde, amarillo, blanco, negro.

   Done when your child can say:

   • My pattern uses at least four kinds of shapes.
   • I can name and count the shapes in Spanish.
8. Sketchbook

   Do this: Your child picks one or more; you write the date.

   1. Draw a circle, a square, a triangle, a rectangle and a star, and label each in Spanish.
   2. Draw the night sky with the round moon and many stars, and write la luna y las estrellas.
9. From history

   Read aloud: In 1492, the same year Christopher Columbus sailed west across the ocean, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain entered Granada and took the keys of the Alhambra. Columbus himself was there to see it, and soon afterward the king and queen agreed to send him on his famous voyage.

10. Watch for
    • Saying circle and triangle the English way. Lean where the accent mark is: SEER-koo-loh, tree-AHN-goo-loh.
    • Saying el estrella. Estrella takes la: la estrella.
11. Game: Shape hunt

    Set a timer for two minutes. The child runs around the house finding shapes and naming them in Spanish: la ventana es un rectángulo, el plato es un círculo. Count how many shapes were found, in Spanish. Then the parent tries to beat the score.

12. Narration

    Say this: “Tell me what you learned today.”

    Listen for: Name shapes in Spanish: el círculo, el cuadrado, el triángulo, el rectángulo, la estrella.; Find shapes in the Alhambra tiles and around the house.; See God's handiwork in the moon and stars.

13. Scripture

    When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

    In the Spanish Bible this verse says Cuando veo tus cielos, obra de tus dedos, La luna y las estrellas que tú formaste: when I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you formed. The craftsmen of the Alhambra made beautiful stars of tile, but God made the real ones with His fingers.

Spread over the week

3 sessions of 15–20 minutes. Stop while it is still going well.

1. Session 1. Warm-up, then read and teach the new idea and the new words. Picture study and show how.
2. Session 2. Practice together, then start the project. Finish the project, then the sketchbook.
3. Session 3. Narration, the game and the Scripture.