¡Hola a todos! and ¡Bienvenidos! to Sr. McCoy's página de Schoolnotes.

¡Felicidades! to the class of 2010. We will miss you and les espero todo lo mejor en la vida que viene. Those of you who are waiting for that big day in the next year or so have a little more to go: We're going to talk about what to say when you're in an accident, we'll see how to talk about what will happen, and we'll see how to talk about what you want to happen.

Because of the backlog of final exam grades, not all seniors recieved the grade when the system locked out today. Please be patient and trust that this will be resolved shortly. Please keep in touch, but remain patient. Snafu's like this are why we give seniors 2 weeks to get details hammered out before going.

If you turned in a final exam project without a name it is impossible to give you a grade and it will be recorded as a zero. If the following is one of your themes you need to confer with McCoy (this may apply to a couple seniors too!): The church, A garden (with an anime style girl), Outer Space (rolled up and taped together), The Bathroom, The Courtroom, and The Sea (the one with a sun in the top right, and a crab in the bottom right). Once again, if any of these is yours, please let me know whose it is.

Final exam projects will be due on the 24th of May (A day) and the 25th (B day). Yes, you may turn them in early. No, you may not turn them in late.

Click here for the list of words to be on the essential vocabulary quiz.

Many students have been asking about grade recovery, the policy has not changed except regarding the project. Please see below.

The afterschool tutoring section has been updated.

Well the papers and presentations were done and the semester drew to a close. Now we open up our final semestre together in Spanish II. Remember that we will be incorporating more Spanish dialogue into class this semester, so please review any phrases or words you think we might be using in class on a regular basis. I'm so happy to see kids catching on to the past tense even better then they were on the present tense.

**AFTERSCHOOL TUTORING**  I will tutor in room 242, Mrs. Lullo's Room after school. Find me either there or next door in room 241. This will take place from 1:45 - 2:30ish . If you stay on a Tuesday I can write you a pass to another teacher's tutoring and you should come to me instead of the study hall in the media center. If you stay with me on a Monday or Wednesday at this same time (by appointment only), please have a ride home or another afterschool activite planned, I will not write bus passes for you.

***Skills*** On your Oncourse.com you may see assignments listed as "Skills - ..." These are not assignments per se but rather concepts we have been working on since the beginning of the year. These are Spanish I concepts that you should have brought with you. If you do not have a grade there or have a zero, you must demonstrate this skill to me to receive credit. Worksheets will be given out to help with practice. They are to be shown to me, and not turned in to the inbox. If you are interested in Grade recovery (December) then you need to show me you can do this stuff. Thanks.

**Students in my 1A class**: I put in the grade change forms and it will show on the next report card, not progress report. Here are the initials of those students whose grades went up a full letter grade after checking the work left in the box the last day of the quarter: Ch.L.E. ->B, S.N.G. ->B, S.A.J. ->B, B.M.M. ->C, N.L.P. ->C, N.M.S. ->A, M.D.S. ->D, K.J.Y. -> B. Thank you for your patience.

Attendence and tardies majorly hinder a few students. Mostly the same students from before are showing me they are at risk again. Guys, I'm pleading with you to take action to ensure that your education is the best it can be.

Tutoring with Mr. McCoy is limited to Tuesdays 1:15-2:30ish or Monday or Wednesday by appointment. Meet me in room 242 (or find me in room 241) If you want extra practice on your own, please see the links to the book sites at the bottom.

After school tutoring is back on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Private tutoring (like mine) will meet in tutors' rooms (room 242 for me) immediately after school. Afterschool activities (sports, band, etc.) will have study halls with their sponsors in their sponsors' rooms. If these students want help with their Spanish, they can find me and I can write them a pass to their afterschool activities. Students waiting for SLC tutoring will meet in the Media Center, then go to their tutoring rooms.

12 y 13 mayo - Today we went over the vocabulary from Ch. 5B worked on reading for comprehension skills and did activity 4 in 5B for homework.

11 mayo - Today we reviewed the present perfect and worked on some translating skills with 2 paragraphs from p. 223.

10 mayo - Feliz Día para todas las madres mexicanas. Today in class. we work on translating skills with 2 paragraphs from p. 223. We also read "El grillo y el jaguar" en p. 202.

9 may (domingo) - Feliz Día de las Madres. Abracen a sus madres.

4 y 7 mayo - These days students reviewed the present progressive with Ms. Ramos and learned new forms with words that change a little with this tense. See p. 171 and do activity no. 19.

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23 y 26 abril - we took the 2nd part of our essential words vocabulary test. The words are still listed above. It is imperative that you learn these Spanish I words that we have used over throughout the year. It is up to you to take ownership of your education & there is no excuse for not having learned this. We also did some readings on culture in grammar on pp 216-221. Homework, which will be checked Tuesday and Wednesday, was actividades 6 and 10. 

21 y 22 abril - today we took the first part of our essential words vocabulary test. These covered a small range of words that one needs to know to be able to speak Spanish. Most of these are Spanish I words with the exception of some Dora the Explorer level words and a couple from Spanish II. We have covered all words in class and extensively used much of them. We also read through a dialogue and talked some about the Euskara people, a.k.a. The Basques, about whom we had learned some previously.

19 y 20 abril - On these days we reviewed as a class the words on the upcoming vocabulary quizzes. We also went over vocabulary for chapter 4B.

15 y 16 abril - on these days we learned a lot about Spain: the people groups who inhabited it and when it was occupied by the Muslims, various cities and why they are important, various regions and how they are different, where Spain is located in the world, why 1492 was such an important year, how Spain grew out of a few kingdoms, the civil war and dictatorship of the 20th century and how Spain became a democracy with some traditional elements.

[material between this time and the 2nd week in April was deleted]

5 y 6 marzo - We will be focusing on some FCAT reading skills today and will be having a vocab quiz for Chapter 3. FYI, the test will not linger very long behind FCAT. Also, rememeber that there's only one more tutoring session before the grade recovery exam will be adminstered.

3 y 4 marzo - Today we reinstituted the Warmups at the beginning of class. We read in groups focusing on pronunciation. Also, we got practice with out commands by drawing either a jogging route or a treasure map. This may be done using the city you made for me earlier. Use either tú commands or the Ud. commands, but not a mix of the two. You must use 8 commands, including the commands for start, go, continue or keep going or follow, pass, and turn.

1 y 2 marzo - Today we reviewed a lot of the stuff we've been going over lately and we went over the vocabulary for Chapter 3B. 

25 y 26 febrero - Students learned the past tense of some ticky verbs that require slight spelling changes. Also, they got some practice worksheets dealing with commands.

23 y 24 febrero - Today students learned how to command people they didn't not know and more than one person at a time using Ud. and Uds. commands.

19 y 22 febrero - Students learned how to boss each other around by forming tú commands.

17 y 18 febrero - today we continue going over vocabulary dealing with food and eating at a restaurant.

12 y 16 febrero - Today we talked about eating at a restaurant, including really useful phrases when you go to a restaurant. We also started looking at vocabulary dealing with food.

8-11 febrero - We've been going over the past tense and have been getting practice with a lot of verbs. The past couple of days we've been looking at the irregulars and all you gotta do is practice them and they'll be no problem to use. (See p. 510-513) Some verbs of interest are ser, ir, tener (obtener, contener, detener, etc.), estar, andar, poder, decir, hacer, venir, querer and verbs that end in -ducir (producir, reducir, deducir, etc.)

4 y 5 febrero - we went over vocab for 3A. Students are designing their own cities to be taken up on Monday and Tuesday. It should take up a full sheet of paper and show at least 3x4 city blocks. It will include the 4 key things found in all Latin towns: la iglesia, el parque, la pulpería and el campo de fútbol, as well at least 5 other buildings, all well-labeled in Spanish. They should also name their streets in Spanish.

2 y 3 febrero - Today we learned about "backwards verbs", phrases that in English we think backwards from how they think in Spanish. Know the following: "me gusta, me cae bien, me duele, me importa, me parece, me falta" Also, know the indirect object pronouns.

29 enero y 1er de febrero - Today we reviewed the AR endings and did some practice to make sure we understand it (Show me when you've got it.). We also learned the IR verb endings in the past. (See p. 110)

*Report cards went home on the 28th.

27 y 28 enero - Students worked on pronounciation,correcting each other and reading aloud. They also reviewed the AR in the preterite.

25 y 26 - Today were were learned about the 2 kinds of past tenses in Spanish, we learned the endings for the AR verbs in the preterite.  See p. 110.

20 y 21 enero

15 y 19 enero - We will go over the Test answers for the second test.

11, 12, 13, y 14 enero - Students present their countries to the class.

7 y 8 enero - Students took the 2nd test.

5 y 6 enero - Students received study guides for the 2nd test and reviewed for the test.

16 diciembre y 4 enero - Students had time to meet with their groups, learned about Christmas traditions as relate to Latin America, and worked on translating carols for bonus points.

14 y 15 diciembre - Students did some work to review the concept of telling time, prepositions, and question words. The worksheet packets will be checked Wednesday 16th and Tuesday 4th.

10 y 11 diciembre - Today we reviewed Estar's conjugation and the difference in usage of Ser and Estar. Afterwards, we practiced Ser v. Estar on page 34 in the WB. We also opened the class up to a discussion on the School Climate Survey taken the 10th.

8 y 9 diciembre - Students reviewed some key concepts such as question words, telling time, and prepositions.

4 y 7 diciembre - Students read for comprehension today and were quizzed on some of the vocab and grammar we've been going over recently. Students were also informed that the grade recovery test would take place on Tuesday, December 8, right after school in room 242 in lieu of normal tutoring.

2 y 3 diciembre - Students learned the demostrative adjectives (See p. 114 for notes.) and again practiced reading skills, this time from the book.

30 noviembre y 1 diciembre - students reviewed possessive adjectives and possessives pronouns. See page 88 in your book for notes. Students did a workbook page (p.35) to practice. They also worked on reading skills from the blue librillo and had a few minutes to meet with their groups. (A Day got ahead on the grammar and will double up next time on reading skills.)

23 y 24 noviembre - students will be introduced to vocabulary for chapter 2B and will continue demonstrating competence of Spanish I concepts (shown on Oncourse as skills...) Students will also be broken up into groups for their semester final group project.

19 y 20 noviembre - We will be discussing and celebrating the discorvery and culture of Puerto Rico. Students may bring Puertorican food to class to share and recieve bonus points. Mexican food is prohibited.

17 y 18 noviembre - students learned a little about Spanish names and the coat-or-arms of Spain. Students may have been able to research their own names and symbols associated with them and design their own escudos. *Differentiated instruction* Students who have not shown a mastery of conjugations and adjective agreement were given notes and practice excercises on those areas that concern them. They should show me their progress as soon as they can demonstrate understanding, be it today, the next class, or after school for tutoring.

13 y 16 noviembre - We reviewed clothing by drawing a couple people and labeling 12 articles of clothing and writing six sentences with "ponerse" or "verstirse con". We also practiced reflexive verbs yet again.

10 y 12 noviembre - these days we reviewed again reflexive verbs from our vocabulary. We talked about what order one would normally do these in. Do know these for the test. We also worked on our sentence writing skills. Assignment: write 10 sentences about getting ready in the morning incorporating reflexive verbs and words like "first, second, third, then etc."

11 noviembre - No school, hug a veteran.

6 y 9 noviembre - students broke off into groups and perfected spelling and pronounciation with colors. New seating assignments were given. Students leared ordinal numbers and practiced reflexive verbs.

4 y 5 november - students had their study sheets on irregular "yo" form verbs checked and went over reflexive pronouns. (Something they should already be able to do from Spanish 1)

2 y 3 noviembre - students worked on conjugating verbs with irregular "yo" forms: salir, tener, venir, hacer, decir, poner, traer, & caer. At least the first 6 of these should be commonplace to them and they should study them till they know 'em by heart. They should have a graphic organizer (that's a buzzword meaning studysheet with a chart) which ANYONE can use to help someone study.

29 y 30 octubre - students reviewed (from Spanish I) or learned family members and also practiced writing skills with very simple sentences. 

27 y 28 octubre - students were encouraged to self assess and, if they see themselves as top-tier students, to help others; if they see themselves as mid-range students, to practice; and if they see themselves as not understanding, to seek help. Today we reviewed verb conjugation.

23  octubre (B Day only) students will practice vocabulary from 2A with WB pp. 29 & 30. (First work of the new grading period.)

21 y 22 octubre - We covered the verbs meaning "to be" in Spanish, Ser and Estar.

19 y 20 octubre - We covered the first test, item by item. Parents should see their student's tests and sign it for points. Students should correct their errors 5 times each. Points will not be given for test corrections that are not correct. Because FCAT retakes may keep some students out of class, test corrections will be placed online; click the above links.

15 y 16 octubre - We covered vocabulary for Chapter 2A including Spanish 1 words from right before the chapter. We also touched on reflexive verbs.

13 y 14 octubre -

9 y 12 octubre - Students were to have extra practice with stem changing verbs in their workbooks. *If lesson plans were not adhered to, then students had time to make up work, study, or work in the workbooks for bonus points.

7 y 8 octubre - Students were to watch El Rey León and do an assignment based thereon. *Not all classes were able to watch as scheduled. Students not able to do so were given time to make up work, study, or work in their workbooks for bonus points.

5 y 6 octubre - We will have our first test. Any student unable to take the test will have to make it up ASAP (Monday 12th or Tuesday 13th [I will be staying after on the 13th]). We will not be able to go over the test before Tuesday 13th. *Tests were taken Tuesday 6th and Wednesday 7th

1 y 2 octubre - We will have the review for the test and study guides will be distributed. Attendence is very important.

29 y 30 septiembre - We'll review definite and indefinite objects  as well as do some practice with stem changing verbs and go over the vocabulary for Ch. 1B. This will be the last day of new material before the test.

28 septiembre y 13 octubre- (A Day only) We focused on reading and pronounciation skills with the story "Por qué pican los mosquitos".

24 y 25 septiembre - We are going over the conjugation of regular verbs still. Please make sure you are comfortable doing this. We will also be introduced to stem changing verbs, please read up on these in the books. We also reviewed days, months, and seasons from Spanish I.

22 y 23 septiembre - Today we took a quiz on the vocabulary we've been studying and further practed present tense verb conjugation. I will be taking up those packets next time.

18 y 21 septiembre - Today we practiced two key Spanish I concepts in our workbooks, gender/number agreement and present tense verb conjugation. As this should have been mastered in Spanish I, we will move on from this pretty quickly. If you do not have a firm grasp on this even after us reviewing this in class again, you need to stay after for tutoring.

16 y 17 septiembre - Today we got our workbooks, do bring these to class everyday. We went through the vocabulary for Chapter 1A. Then we reviewed colors and additional school subjects. Remember, it is your responsibility to learn vocabulary; study these on your own. We also started reading with the drama on p. 22. Make attendence a priority as there is no subsitute for immediate feedback when reading for pronounciation.

¡Casa abierta! We will be having oury Open House tonight, starting at 6 o'clock. I can't wait to meet all the new parents. My new day for afterschool tutoring has also been decided: I will be staying after school on Tuesdays.

14 y 15 septiembre - In order to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month, we talked a little bit about the geography and culture of Central America. To help decorate the room everyone drew a Latinamerican flag with a little of his or her own flair in there. Please make sure you have turned in your flag for your points.

10 y 11 septiembre - Today we reviewed some key concepts from Spanish I including conjugations of regular verbs and the verb "ser". We went over the question words on page 10 (notice how they are all written with tildes). We also learned the Spanish-speaking countries and how to call the people from that country. All material is in the first chapter, para empezar. Begin reviewing material from Chapter 1A on your own.

8 y 9 septiembre - In class we went over dictionary skills and getting ourselves familiar with our own dictionaries. After that we took our first Dictionary quiz. We then took a quiz on some Spanish I terms. After that we did some writing: write a full page on how you will use Spanish in your life. Do include: where you will go, what profession you will have, and whom you will meet. Proper grammar in English is very important.

3 septiembre - Well, here we are two weeks into the swing of things and this has been such a smooth start so far. I will spend the next week making calls to families to invite them to Open House, September, 14. If I haven't gotten ahold of you, please get ahold of me. Students should make sure to come prepared for class everyday: having their book, notebook, and dictionary. Don't forget out slogan: ¡Sólo hazlo! (Just do it!) We{ve finished going over pronounciation and everyone has seen which sounds they need to practice. Before next week, please review from Spanish I concepts such as greetings/goodbyes, numbers, colors, and days/months. Have a great day, nos vemos!

1^o septiembre - I can't express how maravillosos my students are! Thank y'all for a smooth first week of school. Now that we've learned a few days about Spanish class and pronounciation, we'll move on real soon to Spanish grammar. Be practicing your pronounciation with words from Chapters Para Empezar and 1A. I want to remind students and parents to sign up for notification: there's a link above. Bonus points for doing so will end on Wednesday. Also, make sure to buy a Spanish-English Dictionary. And also remember that we have Open House on Monday September, 14^th. I look forward to seeing you all there.