WAKA WAKA CLASSROOM AGREEMENTS FOR ELEMENTARY SPANISH: THE HONEYCOMB APPROACH

Discover how pairing a Waka Waka chorus with a honeycomb visual turns classroom agreements into a joyful, memorable routine. This approach blends music, movement, and clear visuals to help elementary Spanish learners internalize expectations, every day, in minutes.

This year, I was inspired by Bertha Delgadillo’s idea of Connections Through Hexagons. While Bertha uses hexagons to help students make academic and cultural connections, her approach gave me the idea to rethink how I present our class agreements.

I teach young learners, and I wanted them to see how our classroom values are not just separate rules but interconnected commitments. To make this concept visible and memorable, I decided to use the image of bees and a honeycomb. Bees work together, each cell is connected, and the hive grows stronger through those connections, just like our classroom.

So instead of a simple poster (which I’ve done in the past), this year I created a honeycomb hexagon design for our agreements.

Our Core Agreements

At the center of our hive is nuestra clase, and around it:

• Respeta
• Mira
• Escucha
• Habla español
• Participa

These words are familiar to my students because I’ve been using them for three years.

Songs, Gestures, and Fresh Tunes

Each year, I reinforce our class agreements using the same set of words paired with gestures. The words stay consistent, but the tune changes—keeping the activity fun and engaging. This year, we sing our agreements to the rhythm of Waka Waka 🎶. The energy of the song makes it a favorite, and the movements help students truly embody the meaning.

The first version was my original set of agreements, and the second one follows the tune of Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.

This year the lyrics are:

Respeta, mira ¡Eh, eh!
Escucha, habla ¡español!
Nuestra clase
Respeta y participa.

This combination of repetition, music, and movement ensures that our agreements are not just rules posted on the wall, they become part of our classroom culture.

Why the Honeycomb?

The honeycomb makes our agreements visible as connections. Each piece matters, and together they form the foundation of our classroom culture. The design, paired with music and movement, helps my students internalize that these agreements aren’t just words, they’re what hold our classroom community together.

This activity reminded me that small shifts in how we present routines can make a big difference. By using the honeycomb, my students now see that when they respect, look, listen, speak Spanish, and participate, they are contributing to something bigger than themselves, the hive that is our classroom.

If you’re looking for a way to make your own classroom agreements more engaging and meaningful, I encourage you to try this approach. Whether you use hexagons, circles, or another symbol, the goal is the same: helping students understand that we are all connected.

✨ To help you get started, I want to share the honeycomb, so you can use with your students. Click here to download!