What is a Dual Language Coach?

Taking a week off from sharing a super site, to share something else I am "super" proud of with you all!

It was my goal this year to work to create the position of a Dual Language Instructional Coach within my district. For those of you that recall my beginning of the year posts, my position was a brand new one, freshly created this year, which I was more than thrilled to take on and make my own.

That being said, each year, we as staff members must set a goal to work toward throughout the year. As part of my annual staff goal this year, I decided that I would work to create a binder outlining the roles and responsibilities as well as resources to assist in performing these tasks for myself and future coaches in my position.

I am happy to report - mission accomplished.
Binder meet blog family. Blog family meet Dual Language Coaching Binder.

Upon opening up this freshly completed gem, one will find an introduction page providing an overview of the possible roles and responsibilities of a Dual Language Coach. 

For those of you wondering "What does she do all day?". This is it folks.

That last one is so true- every day is a new adventure. My schedule never really looks the same!

If you would like a copy of this overview for yourself or for someone else in your district, go ahead and click it to grab a copy! Fonts & Graphics: My Cute Graphics, KG Fonts, Creative Clips

Within the binder, I then tried to tie in resources I had created or found this year to assist with carrying out my role and responsibilities. Here is just a small peak at some of those resources within!

Everything from newsletters, to surveys, to meeting notes to meeting agendas and more!

This year has been such a great learning experience. Not only was I able to foster the development of this new role, but truly foster my development as a professional in the process.

Last week I was even able to share this binder and resources with dual coaches that will be new to the district next year. I am so delighted to have had something to give them to get them started on the right track and looking forward to seeing what they add to it as well as their year progresses!

Here are a few other links to posts I did this year containing resources from within this binder as well:

Peer Feedback

Parent Teacher Conference Planning

BOY Motivation

Dual Classroom Setup

Super Site Sábado #4

I may have shared this week's site a time or two before, but it is one of my favorites for getting relevant and age appropriate informational news articles in students' hands. 

If you haven't visited it yet, you've got to check out what Tween Tribune has to offer. 

This site is chalked full of news articles updated on nearly a daily basis for students at a variety of ages.

As you can see in the top navigation bar, the site is broken down for teachers and students to peruse a grade level or language most relevant to them.

My personal favorites are TTJunior for Grades K-4.

And TTEspañol for student friendly articles in the Spanish language.

Once you decide which grade category best fits you, one can scroll down to find a wide variety of article snippets from which to read. Here is an example from the main page of TTEspañol.

If you or your students are looking for an article on more a specific topic, you may want to refer to the "Topics" sidebar to select one of your choice as well.

While I do not believe they have done this for every grade level or for the Spanish articles, on TTJunior, there is a section that you can even refer to for help in determining the reading level of a particular article. 

Finally, once you have selected an article of interest, the entire thing is there in its short and sweet student friendly format to read, print, share, etc!

Seriously, you can't tell me these topics aren't going to peak your students' interest! 

Enjoy!

And happy Memorial Day weekend!

Bright Ideas: Keeping Classroom iPads Clean

Back for another "Bright Ideas Link Up". This month's focus is...

Our building just recently got a small set of iPads in all of the classrooms this school year. That being said, the teachers have been working to not only find the best ways to integrate them, but also keep them safe and clean so that they can be used for years to come!

Here are a few tips and tricks I have run across that I see them using in their rooms on a daily basis to keep their new tools fab and finger-print free throughout the year.

1. No food or drink while using the iPad.

With the risk of spillage and sticky fingers at snack time. It is just a good rule of thumb to have the kids keep these two things separate. 

2. Wash away the dirt and germs before each use.

If you only have a small set of iPads like the classrooms in our building, I would recommend asking the students to wash their hands before each use. Not only will these help decrease dirt and grime on the screen, but also the amount of germs spread between kids when they are passing iPads between them.

If you are lucky enough to have one-to-one or a classroom set of iPads, it may not be quite as feasible to have your kiddos wash between each use, but after coming in from outside, using the restroom, eating/drinking, or working with art supplies it still may be a good idea.

3. Find a student friendly cleaning tool.

One of my colleagues uses this little guy with a microfiber belly as a tool for her students to wipe off the iPads. I have seen these several places in hunting around the internet in every form from a kitten to a stuffed over easy egg shape. While I definitely think the kids would get a kick out of these, really any microfiber cloth will do. 

4. Return iPads to a safe (and clean) space after each use.

If you have an iPad cart, great, you are set!

But if not, have a place where students can place the iPads throughout the day when they are not in use so that they are up and off of the floor. 

Floor = likely to get stepped on = likely to get dirty or even worse, broken

I have seen teachers throughout my building do something as simple as have designated counter space for each iPad, to storing them in plastic containers individually like that pictured above, to creating their own "iPad cart" with a set of plastic pull out drawers.

What are some of the best ways you have found in your room to organize and sanitize these technology treasures? I'd love to hear your ideas.

Furthermore, if you enjoyed this bright idea, please consider joining me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest for more great ideas.

And for bright ideas from over 130 different bloggers, please browse through the link up below and chose a topic/grade level that interests you. Thanks for visiting!

An InLinkz Link-up

Super Site Sábado #3

I'm back with another super site to share with you all on this lovely Saturday evening!

This week I'm featuring a site I found this school year and have absolutely fallen in love with. It's  called Bilingual Monkeys. Have you heard of it? If not, you are in for a real treat! 

The site is written by a bilingual educator and parent and offers a variety of strategies and ideas for parents working to raise bilingual children. 

There are some great ones to share with your student's parents throughout the year. Or for those of you that are bilingual parents raising bilingual children yourselves, they may interest you as well!

Also included on the site is a section containing a wide variety of recommended resources and books for readers to peruse.

And did I mention, that you can even check out some "Bilingual Style" swag? Can we say great gift ideas!

The site is also chalked full of some pretty hilarious (yet informative) infographics. Here are a few of my faves:

Seriously how much fun are these?

For those of you that prefer to follow along on Facebook, there is also a Bilingual Monkeys Facebook page that you can access by clicking the image below.

I hope you all enjoy "monkeying around" on this site as much as I do! 

As always, you can find this site as well as a variety of others I recommend on my "Links" page.

Summer Vocabulary Building Pack

My "Summer Vocabulary Pack" is rearin' and ready to go. (Which pretty much sums up how I feel about summer's arrival ;))

Grab your copy to get your students chattin' about the season.

Also, feel free to check out my other vocabulary packs too for the other three seasons!

Winter Vocabulary Building Pack

Spring Vocabulary Building Pack

Fall Vocabulary Building Pack

Last Minute Cinco de Mayo Goodies

Looking for a great Cinco de Mayo lesson to do with your "niños" tomorrow?

Here are cinco "actividades maravillosas"  that might interest you. Click on any image to grab your copy.

1. My "Celebra el Cinco de Mayo" freebie pack includes a festive graphic organizer, writing paper and a sombrero themed writing craftivity.

2. This "Cinco de Mayo Roll and Cover" from Bilingual Classroom Resources 

includes different options for 1, 2, and 3 dice mats for students of different levels.

3. This "Cinco de Mayo Bundle" from Fun Monkey Bars

includes reading, writing and math activities to celebrate all in one!

4. The "Lotería de Cinco de Mayo" from Maestra Barrett includes

vocabulary building and fun all in one! 

5. This "Cinco de Mayo Craftivity" from Learning in Spain 

includes a delightful lil' craft couple with a great opportunity for some writing!

"Celebra" the occasion by grabbing one of the "cinco" activities today! 

The "mejor" part is that most are free today and tomorrow as part of the Bilingual Blog Hop, so even if you have your plans made for this year, save them now and use them for the next!

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

(And I hope you enjoyed the mini-Spanish "lección" along the way ;))

Bilingual Blog Hop

¡Bienvenidos!

I hope you are enjoying this very first bilingual blog hop adventure as much as we are and are snagging a lot of wonderful (and useful) resources along the way!

As Mother's Day is right around the corner, I thought it may be fun to create something that you all could use with your students to not only build their writing skills but also make a sweet little gift for their madres!

Similes and sweet words combine when your students work to put together this 

Mother's Day Mini-Book. 

Here are some examples of the inside pages.

Check out all that is included below and click on the image to grab your free copy during the duration of the hop in English or Spanish, of course! After May 5th, it will still be available in my store for purchase as well (but let's be honest, might as well grab it now while it's free! ;)). 

Furthermore, in order to keep this fiesta going, I, along with many of the other hop participants will be offering 20% off all of the bilingual items in my TpT store from May 3rd-5th. Click here to head to my store and check out even more goodies!

I'd also love it if you'd follow along with me on Bloglovin', Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram so that you don't miss a beat (or any future freebies and goodies!). 

Now it's time to hop along to your next stop and visit Mynda @ "B is for Bilingual" for more bilingual freebie fun! Thanks for stopping by!