The elementary Spanish K-5 program in the New Canaan Public Schools is a content-based language program that is focused on developing students' language proficiency. This program uses the New Canaan Public School Social Studies curriculum as a basis for its units and lessons. All lessons are delivered in the target language. The Spanish K-5 schedule reflects the belief that seeing students more often in short periods of times supports language learning and overall proficiency.

Grade 5 - 20 minutes 3 times in the 6 day cycle.
Grades 1-4 - 20 minutes 4 times throughout the 6 day cycle.
Kindergarten - every day for 10 minutes.

Kindergarten

Proficiency Target: Novice Low

Kindergarten Unit Topics and Overview:

Mi Clase: Students discover that In Spanish class we all participate in familiar routines and activities such as counting, singing and guessing games; we use our Spanish to share how we are feeling and to describe aspects of our classroom and world, such as days, months and weather.
Mapas y globos: Students encounter and identify a range of maps and globes; they describe map features, such as land, water, and continents using colors and numbers.
Mi círculo: Students notice who is important to a series of storybook, tv and movie characters; they identify and sort a variety of people and animals at home and at school; they list the people that matter most to them as individuals.

Grade 1

Proficiency Target: Novice Low

Grade 1 Unit Topics and Overview:

Citizenship: Students learn about the role and responsibilities of being a good citizen within the classroom environment. Additionally, students learn how to become an active participant in their language learning journey.
Town: Students learn about the town of New Canaan; specifically, the various services that are available in their town.
Country: Students will identify the country they live in and the symbols that are important to our country.
North America: Students investigate their own continent. Focus is on the parts of North America, their location, and each country's flag.
South America: Students investigate the continent of South America by learning the names, locations, capitals, and sizes of each country, as well as landforms that are found in South America.

Grade 2

Proficiency Target: Novice Low

Grade 2 Unit Topics and Overview:

Connecticut: Students explore the climate, landscapes, and wildlife of Connecticut. By the end of the unit, students will be able to look at a picture and determine whether it is Connecticut or not and why.
Waterways: In this unit, students use their prior knowledge of climate, landscapes, and wildlife to describe in detail what they see in an assortment of pictures. Students expand their vocabulary by learning about different modes of transportation and popular activities.
India: Students note elements of nature in the Sundurban region in Asia. They make a field guide to the landforms, animals and plants particular to the region. Additionally they make a field guide to nature in and around New Canaan.

Grade 3

Proficiency Target: Novice Low / Novice Mid

Grade 3 Unit Topics and Overview:

All about Me: Students begin by talking about themselves and where they live. They can identify their town , state, country and continent. They can share information about their age, birthdate, likes and dislikes. They can identify leaders in the state and federal government. They create and share a presentation which includes the information gathered during the unit.
Regions: Students explore the five regions of the United States. Throughout the unit, they compare and contrast each region’s geography, climate, and wildlife by completing a series of Google Slides presentations on a few different states.
Asia: Students identify countries in Asia. They describe them in the target language using size, location, flags and capitals. They create a presentation about a country in Asia using this information.

Grade 4

Proficiency Target: Novice Mid

Grade 4 Unit Topics and Overviews:

Immigration: Students explore pieces of information that immigrants may have had to divulge in the past (and also present) when entering their new home country. Fourth grade students will practice this information by sharing information about themselves and also by taking on the identity of an immigrant of their choice. Finally, students will be given opportunities to hear from, as well as interview, adults in their schools and community who are immigrants from Spanish speaking countries.
Africa: Students explore the geographic diversity of Africa by learning about a variety of animals, biomes, and climate. Students also have the opportunity to explore the many different countries within Africa; specifically their locations, sizes and flags. Throughout the unit, students will be given multiple opportunities to analyze how cognates contribute to their language learning process.
Exploration: Students learn about a variety of explorers from three different time periods (the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and present day). They learn when each explorer was born and where, what they explored, and their character traits. They also investigate and compare each explorer’s motivations.

Grade 5

Proficiency Target: Novice Mid

Grade 5 Unit Topics and Overviews:

Colonization: Students will use maps and images to describe features of specific colonies - including the location, people, climate, and geography in that colony.
American Revolution: Students will describe and compare aspects of their own and others’ identities; they will share information about important historical figures from the revolutionary years, as well as the present day, both in the world and in their own lives.