Based on the practical and excellent recommendations given by Christoff Yaffke, by the fourth grade I expect my students to have a more or less elementary active vocabulary relative to the following aspects of Spanish:

Regarding grammatical structures, the beginning fourth grade student might also be familiar with a few basic verb combinations, such as I want to.., I like to... can I…? etc., plus basic understanding about the use of gender and number as well as the most basic “movement” verbs.

In order to start the design of the fourth grade Storytelling curriculum, it is useful to know the list of desired structures to be taught throughout the year. We extract our curriculum from the children’s everyday lives. We look at what matters to them and we go from there. We form a list of most commonly used vocabulary and phrases, joining both general practical phrases and their age appropriate vocabulary. As we mentioned before, this is commonly called the Small Circle. In the Stories section I added two examples of how my choice of curriculum words matches what they need to express. Here are two examples of Small Circles.

Sample 1 was offered by a colleague and Sample 2 was my actual list for my students in the 2011-2012 school year. These are not recipes, only guidelines; I offer both so that you may compare and come up with your own idea of what you want or need to teach.

hay	there is, there are
está	is (location, emotions)
es	is (qualities)
le gusta	he/she likes
tiene	he/she has
no tiene	he/she does not have
se llama	he/she is called
quiere	he/she wants
necesita	he/she needs
le gusta + infinitivo	he/she likes to (verb)
se levanta	he/she gets up
se sienta	he/she sits down
se lava	he/she washed him/herself
se duerme	he/she falls asleep
se pone	he/she puts on
se quita	he/she takes off
se mira	he/she looks at him/herself
rápido	quickly
despacio	slowly
camina	he/she walks
salta	he/she jumps
para	he/she stops
sube	he/she goes up
baja	he/she goes down
da una vuelta	he/she turns around
grita	he/she yells
corre	he/she runs
mira	he/she looks
toca	he/she touches
señala	he/she points
come	he/she eats
la mano	the hand
la pierna	the leg
la cabeza	the head
los ojos	the eyes
la nariz	the nose
las orejas	the ears
la boca	the mouth
la chica	the girl
el chico	the boy
el piso, suelo	the floor
el techo	the ceiling
escribe	he/she writes
dibuja	he/she draws
tira la pelota	he/she throws the ball
atrapa, agarra, coge	he/she grabs
corta con tijeras	he/she cuts with scissors
toma	he/she takes
pone	he/she puts
le dice	he/she says to him/her
sabe	he/she knows
habla	he/she talks
necesita	he/she needs
llora	he/she cries
escapa	he/she escapes
escucha	he/she listens
puede	he/she can
va	he/she goes (adding the I and you forms)
sabe	he/she knows
llegar	he/she arrives
pensar	he/she thinks
pasar	he/she passes
vive	he/she lives
trabaja	he/she works
entra	he/she enters
sale	he/she goes out
contar	he/she counts or tells
dormir	he/she sleeps
el pelo	the hair
a la izquierda	to the left
a la derecha	to the right
el pie	the foot
el reloj	the watch
el brazo	the arm
el hombro	the shoulder
el lápiz	the pencil
la pluma	the pen
la cara	the face
arriba	up, on top
abajo	down
debajo	below
el papel	the paper
el libro	the book
vaso de agua	glass of water
jugo de naranja	orange juice
día	day
noche	night
tarde	afternoon
hombre	man
mujer	woman
familia: hermano, hijo, abuela, etc.	family: brother, son, grandma, etc.
nuevo	new
viejo	old
entonces	then
pero	but
ahora	now
ya	already
después	afterwards
antes	before
cerca	nearby, close
lejos	far
temprano	early
tarde	late
siempre	always
nunca	never
cuándo	when
dónde	where
quién	who
qué	what
por qué	why
adónde	where to
animales	animals

hay	there is
un chico	a boy
una chica	a girl
un gato	a cat
un ratón	a mouse
un problema	a problem
se llama	is called, calls himself/herself
corre	he/she runs
llora	he/she cries
grita	he/she yells
se ríe	he/she laughs
escucha	he/she listens
piensa	he/she thinks
habla	he/she speaks
le dice	he/she tells him/her
vive en	he/she lives in
tiene una idea	he/she has an idea
tiene miedo	he/she is afraid
tiene hambre	he/she is hungry
está contento (contenta)	he/she is happy
está enojado (enojada)	he/she is mad, angry
a ..... le gusta	he/she likes
dice	he/she says
debajo de la mesa	under the table
la silla	the chair
la puerta	the door
la ventana	the window
se pone	he/she puts on
se quita	he/she takes off
se levanta	he/she gets up
se acuesta	he/she lays down
se sienta	he/she sits
mira	he/she looks
se mira en el espejo	he/she looks at himself/herself in the mirror
salta	he/she jumps
escribe una nota	he/she writes a note
lee un libro	he/she reads a book
abre la puerta	he/she opens the door
cierra la ventana	he/she closes the window
camina	he/she walks
para	he/she stops
come	he/she eats
le gusta comer	he/she likes to eat
canta	he/she sings
le duele	it hurts him/her
pinta	he/she paints
corta	he/she cuts
señala	he/she points at
rápido	fast
despacio	slow
regresa	he/she comes back
quiere comprar	he/she wants to buy
compra	he/she buys
la tienda	the store
la vieja	the old lady
nuevo	new
pobre	poor
rico	rich
el campo	the countryside
la ciudad	the city
el hombre	the man
va a	he/she goes to
entra a	he/she enters into
ve	he/she sees
un papel	a paper
los lentes	the eyeglasses
sabe	he/she knows
sabe leer	he/she knows how to read
puede leer	he/she can read
puedo leer	I can read
sabe escribir	he/she knows how to write
por fin	finally
siempre	always
nadie	nobody, no one
nunca	never
pronombres: yo, tu, él, ella	pronouns: I, you, he, she
se va	he/she leaves
le pregunta	he/she asks him/her
le contesta	he/she answers
por eso	that's why
necesita	he/she needs
la pelota	the ball
la pelota	the ball
el espejo	the mirror
el reloj	the clock, watch

Pre-requisites