You know you're a teacher when...

Jeannie over at Kindergarten Lifestyle has an adorable little linky that I felt I just had to take part in entitled "You know you're a teacher when...". Being a dual teacher I must say, that I generally act, dance, and sing my way through the majority of my day in my best attempt to ensure all of my students are understanding what it is I am trying to get across. Thus, I thought the following only appropriate:

Click here for a link to the template to create your own!

What's in the news?

So yesterday was our 100th day of school! I am one who is all for celebrations, because I think they just provide a fun change of pace every once in awhile. I do intend to post pictures of the variety of activities we did, but we are still finishing up one on Monday (we ran out of time in the afternoon- this never happens to anyone does it?), and I wanted to post them all together. Thus, here is a little teaser- my puff-painted t-shirt I created for the occasion. (In English, it says "We are a 100 days smarter!") Expect a post highlighting our whole day on Monday :)!

On a different note, we just recently finished up our unit on communities and government. One of the things we spent time discussing during this unit was the news as an outlet for getting information out to people in the community. I already had a "News Center" in my classroom in which I place those delightful "Scholastic News" articles we receive as well as any other interesting articles I find that I think my class may enjoy. (This is a good center for main idea/detail focus). 

However, I thought wouldn't it be fun if the kids could begin writing their own news each week and relaying what is going on in our classroom community? Thus- a new center idea was born! 

Now when they arrive at this center, the students select a quarter sheet of paper with the heading "¿Qué pasa?" (What's Up?). They share one thing that took place that week in the classroom as well as what they learned from the event or why it was important (I have a little anchor chart handout in the center for them to use to remind them what should be written.). Once they finish their article, they "post it in the news" by placing it on our news wall out in the hallway. Parents and students who visit are then welcome to see our classroom happenings! I am lucky in that I have magnetic walls, so I just have a little container of magnets in the center the kids use to put up their piece. So that the newspaper is constantly up-to-date with the latest news, it is the students' responsibility each week to take down their old news and replace it with their new article. 

They love this center. It is short and sweet and a great way for them to reflect on what they have been doing in class. Not to mention- it is a great informal assessment for me to see what they have been learning and enjoying in class!

Click here to download the news article activity sheets. (In English and Spanish).

Also, for those of you who teach bilingual or dual (or maybe just practicing your Spanish), here is a site that was brought to my attention this school year that has news articles in Spanish that are more relevant to kids/teens. Sometimes I print articles from here to put in my news center- 

http://tweentribune.com/spanish

Happy Reading!

Mmm...Yogurt!

So we had a homework party this week. At the beginning of January (to revitalize the kids "turning in the homework" spirit), I shared with them that if they got all of their homework turned in as a class, including their monthly reading log, we could have a celebration of their choice. Our district has a new healthy food policy for any celebration (so this kind of limits our choices), but they got quite creative with it! They voted on having a pajama themed day, in which we would come to school in our pajamas and have breakfast. What kills me is their healthy breakfast choice as a class was yogurt complete with different mix-ins. Thus, we had ourselves a good ole' yogurt buffet. Kids are so creative! It was delicious!

My class has been studying different types of graphs as part of our math curriculum. Thus, I found this  a perfect opportunity for a tie in- Check out our "What is your favorite mix-in?" graph :)

On a different note, this week in Writer's Workshop we began focusing in depth on the "Organization" trait. We created this anchor chart together relaying the different parts of a paragraph. (Not the neatest thing I have ever created, but it gets the point across.)

What types of activities do you find work best for teaching paragraphs? Anyone have a lesson they always do? I would love your suggestions!

Happy Friday!

Writer's Workshop

One of my (and I think my student's too) favorite parts of the each day is Writer's Workshop. This is a time in which the kids truly take charge of their own learning and can express their creativity. Each day for Writer's Workshop we follow the same general routine. I have a very limited time (as I am sure you all understand) to squeeze it all in- but here is a general idea of how it looks in my class room:

(10 minutes) Mini-Lesson
(20 minutes) Writing and one-on-one or small group conferencing
(5 minutes)  Author's Chair
= 35 minutes in all

I told you it was short, sweet and to the point! However, I know if they had the time my student's could spend hours completely focused and engaged in what they are creating every day!

Here are the posters I use in my classroom for the students to relay which stage of the writing process they are currently at (superkid themed of course). The kids begin with their clip on the first poster and continue moving it down as they move through the process.

Up Close :)

You will notice that all of the signs are bilingual. This is because my students often write in both languages!

The first step my students begin with is their first copy. They then move on to revise/edit. There is a specific guide sheet to help them through this process that I have attached below for you as well. After they revise their paper, they meet with a peer who has also just finished revisions/editing to have a peer conference. Once finished with this, my students must sign up for a conference with me. You will note (sorry you cannot see it so well- this was a quick cell camera pic) that on this poster the student must sign up on the English column or Spanish column relaying to me in what language they have written their story. This helps me out, particularly on days when I have small group conferences. Final step- publish! My students can chose how they would like to publish their story. I have had kids make everything from a simple paper attached to a drawing to theatrical plays with puppets! I try my best to give them the tools they need to utilize their imaginations! Sometime soon I hope to dive into digital storytelling with them as a possible venue for publishing as well!

Writing Supplies :)

Here are a few of the documents we use each day to guide us through this process:

1. Revise and Edit Checklist my students use that they staple to their first copy.
2. Writing Conference log that my students keep in their data binders. I fill this out each time they have a conference with me sharing something positive about their writing and something I would like them to work on.
3. Our Author's Chair sign up. I have this laminated on construction paper and hung on my board. Students sign up once they have finished publishing their piece.

Click here to download the checklist. (It is in Spanish too if you scroll down!)

Click here for the conference log in English and Spanish.

Click here for the Author's Chair Poster.

What types of handouts, organizers, etc. do you use for Writer's Workshop? I am always looking for new ideas!

Nothing like a little math art...

This week we have been reviewing a variety of the concepts covered in our latest math chapter (for those of you who use Everyday Math- we just finished Ch. 7). As part of our review we have been having a little fun and doing some art and math combo projects.

The first, I found in this Math Art Projects and Activities book, that I borrowed from one of my colleagues. We have been studying basic multiplication using arrays, and I found this really cute constellation project to reinforce this. I gave each student a different multiplication problem, a piece of black paper, and a star shaped sponge and they went to town. They look perfect hanging from our ceiling- like a little starry night :)

We have also been working on measurement- specifically using inches and centimeters as well as a ruler as a tool for drawing a straight line. I have done this "Elastic Man" project in the past. The students must follow the number of inches listed on the activity sheet to create their bendable friend. However this year, I took it a step further, and had my students write stories during our Writer's Workshop time about their "Elastic Man/Woman" as well. They got quite creative with them. Check out a few below!

What types of math and art combo creations do you do in your classroom? I would love to hear your ideas!

Transition Words

So this week we focused on how to use transition words effectively to organize our writing. To start off the week, we looked at a piece of writing, and I asked the students to share any words in the piece that they thought helped to organize it and put it in order.

On Tuesday we created this transition words pencils. The purple is in Spanish and the green in English. They each have two sides- one (pictured on the Spanish pencil) provides the students with different words they can use at the beginning, middle or end of their stories. The other (pictured on English pencil) are other examples of transition words that students may find useful. The students keep these pencils in their Writer's Workshop folders and can pull them out whenever they need!

Throughout the week I utilized pieces of student writing as examples and we worked together (using our nifty pencils) to add transition words to enhance the piece.

On Friday, we read the story "Si le das un pastelito a un gato" by Laura Numeroff. All of her books work great for transition words- she uses so many examples! I gave each student a post-it note and asked them to listen for transition words that the author uses in her writing and jot them down as I read. Afterword we shared the examples we had found as well as discussed how using these words helped the author to better organize her writing. 

Here is an example of some of their post-its. (Sorry the dark purple wasn't real conducive to a photo.)

Look forward to a post soon about how I do Writer's Workshop in my classroom. (As soon as I can get a grasp on this whole embedding Google Docs business.)

Have a great Monday!

Let the adventure begin...

Welcome everyone! I am so excited to embark on this blogging journey!

I figured that to start off with it may be a good idea to share a little information about myself to kick off my blog! So here goes (a few tidbits about me):

* I have always been one to be passionate about sharing ideas with others as well as well as learning from others ideas. I think as teachers we are busy enough as it is- why reinvent the wheel if there is something great already out there!
*I am a dual language teacher. What does this mean? It means I teach roughly 80% of my day in the Spanish language and 20% in English. I have a classroom comprised of not only English language learners, but Spanish language learners as well. I love teaching in this setting, because I am part of giving my students the gift of two languages!
*The theme in my classroom is "We Are Superkids" (hence my blog name). My goal as a teacher is to teach my kids how to be productive citizens of not only our community, but our world. In my classroom, students learn ways to help one another, build on their strengths and ultimately see themselves as "superkids" soaring toward success.

I thought that in the spirit of this being the "kick off" to my teaching blog, that I share one of my favorite activities I do to "kick off" my school year with you. Of course...it is superkid related.

I love this story. (If anyone has seen it in Spanish, let me know!) It is about this dog who is weak and gets picked on by others until he decides that he is going to become a super hero. In the story, he helps others and his community in a variety of ways. In the end, he even helps one of the bullies that was picking on him! 

After reading, my students and I discuss what are some of the characteristics that Superdog as well as other Superheroes possess. 

Then we create our first bulletin board of the school year. Each kid colors a "Superkid" to resemble themselves. They write about the characteristics that they will strive to possess as "Superkids" of our classroom this school year (...and beyond ;)). 

Looking forward to sharing many more adventures in our "Super Salón (Classroom) with you!