4/5/6: January 15, 2014

In class today, we began talking about the history of chocolate.  We focused on how the Mayas made a beverage from the seeds of the cacao tree.

Ask your student:

• How did the Mayas use cacao beans?  (They ground them up and made them into a drink with corn meal, water, and chilis.)

Today's vocabulary (some words are review from last week's activity):

• las mayas ~ the Mayas
• el árbol ~ the tree
• las vainas ~ the pods
• la semilla ~ the seed
• usa ~ he/she uses
• hacer ~ to make
• la bebida ~ the drink/beverage
• amargo/amarga ~ bitter
• picante ~ spicy
• cacao ~ ground cacao seeds/cocoa
• harina de maíz ~ cornmeal/corn flour
• el chile ~ the chile
• canela ~ cinnamon
• comen ~ they eat
• beben ~ they drink

Homework: 

• Sing along the South America Countries and Capitals Rap!  (Click HERE, if that link doesn't work, here's the LINK to the song on YouTube)  Make it your goal to know all of the countries and capitals by April 16!
• Practice our new vocabulary words with THIS game. 
• Complete THIS assignment on Quia.  (This assignment is worth 2 stickers) 
• Mayan Chocolate Beverage recipe coming soon!  (I have to tweak it a bit yet!)
• Some students were interested in learning more about how cacao seeds are processed into chocolate.  We won't be focusing on that in this unit, but if you are interested in learning more, check out these resources from Chicago's Field Museum. 
• Making Chocolate
• Making Chocolate Interactive Game
• Second semester Bible verse.  Verses 1-3 are due on Feb 19.
• Psalm 23 in Spanish (Text only)
• Audio Version