Sunday, December 6, 2015

Poinsettia: La Flor de la Nochebuena

If there is one flower that represents Christmas is definetely the poinsettia. Right after Thanksgiving I start my Christmas shopping by buying a few poinsettias. I place them in a basket with a  Christmas bow and enjoy their beauty throughout the holidays and beyond.
When I was in the classroom, I would also have these flowers there, right next to Tommie DePaola's book The Legend of the Poinsettia. After reading this book a popular activity was to make paper poinsettias. Today, I will share with you my favorite way of making them.
  • Copy the pattern in green and red construction paper.
  • Cut the outside circle and the inside lines.
  • Fold  over the ends of each petal and glue them together. Just a little bit of glue will do, but you need to hold them together for a few seconds. You will need to model this step. It may be tricky for some students at first, but once they figure it out it's not hard. I have made these with first and second graders.
  • Once all the leaves have been folded, glue the red ones to the center of the green one.
  • Use yellow glitter for the center of the poinsettia.
These flowers make a beautiful classroom display. To get the pattern click here.
If  you  are looking for more activities for the book, you might want to check my Tpt product.
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Legend-of-the-Poinsettia-Unit-Activities-2215047 
Have fun learning about  La Flor de la Nochebuena!
    Mrs. G. Dual Language
        TpT    Pinterest



Monday, November 16, 2015

We Teach by Example-Let's Be Thankful

We are our student’s heroes!  They look up to us, they learn from and we teach by example!  So, during this Thanksgiving season, we need to model and teach our students how to be thankful for everything, including our classroom family.

So, how about we find at least one thing that we are thankful for in each of our little sweethearts and we let them know!  I have created some certificates that you can use and see how you light up the faces of your little ones as you hand them their certificate.

You can also discuss how they felt when they received their certificate.  Ask them if they would like to bring the same feeling to someone else.

Then, have each student find someone in the school personnel that they can thank for something that person has done for them.

Finally, turn it into a parent involvement activity.  Their child will find someone in the family to create a certificate for and hand it to that person.
Certificados De Otono




Angie Soto (A La Escuelita)
Pre-K-2 Bilingual Teacher

Texas, USA

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Preparing for a Bilingual / Mutlicultural Holiday Season

A great way to engage dual-language learners and to build excitement among all students during the holiday season is to add a multicultural and bilingual twist to your classroom holiday festivities.  Below are 5 suggestions to liven things up in the classroom. Each idea has a link which will provide much more detailed information and examples.

1) Highlight the Spirit of Giving Thanks

The holidays are the perfect time of year to focus on gratitude, appreciation and thankfulness, both at home and in the classroom. In bilingual classrooms, the topic of thankfulness can involve language learning (learning to say “thanks” in many languages) and also cultural sharing (how different cultures show their appreciation). See this link to learn more about teaching thankfulness in bilingual classrooms.

2) Learn About a New Holiday

When you learn about holidays from other cultures, you’re learning about new religions, customs and languages.  Kids also gain an appreciation for diversity when they see how other holidays are different and similar to the ones they celebrate.  Click here to receive a free, standards-based lesson plan that explores traditions from many different religions and cultures, including Christianity, Hindu, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism.


3) Arts and Crafts from Around the World

Bring cultural diversity and international flavor to your holidays with crafts from around the world.  Click here to find five easy multicultural kid crafts. The best part? They can all be made with materials you probably already have. Plus, they involve minimal mess, and are simple enough for most kids to complete on their own.


 4) Celebrate with Holiday Foods from Other Cultures

Don’t let holiday stress get you down! Take a culinary journey by trying out these winter holiday dishes from all around the world. Use it as a creative potluck theme, and everyone can join in the fun!

5) Engaging Bilingual Students

The holidays are a great time to get your bilingual students talking with you and one another! Students’ minds are full of happy memories from holidays past, and they will want to share how their families celebrate at home. Check out our tips to help your students direct their holiday excitement into fun language opportunities.

We hope these suggestions help to bring excitement and inclusiveness to the holidays as you celebrate with your students!

Note: this article was adapted from Language Lizard's blog article: “5 Ways to a Bilingual / Multicultural Holiday Season”.

Saturday, November 7, 2015

iPad Tech Tip for Teachers


Have you ever assigned your students to work with a specific APP only to discover a little later that they had exited that APP or accidently clicked on a part of the APP that lead them to an unsafe feature? 

Teachers often have a difficult time getting students to remain within an assigned APP because of how easy it is for them to exit and choose other APPs. Some APPs also have some share features and in-APP purchase options you don't want students to have access to.



Did you know iPads, iPods and iPhones come with a built-in setting that will lock a student into one APP and allows you to control which features are available? The setting I am describing is called Guided Access. If you use any of these Apple "i" devices in your classroom this safety tech tip is just for you. 

Watch this tutorial to learn how to lock students into one APP using Guided Access. This 5 min. tutorial is about to make your life easier and keep your students on task!



Nancy Alvarez (Teaching with Nancy)
Blog - TpT - FB Pinterest
Texas, USA

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

DIY Twisters for Teaching Number Sense

DIY number twisters for teaching number sense, place value and expanded form
Number twisters are a great way to teach number sense and place value. The good news is that they are super easy to make. Sll you need are Styrofoam cups and a permanent marker. Then write the numbers 0-9 around the rim of each cup. Finally, stack them together and twist them to make different numbers. I find that they really for teaching place value as my students pay more attention to the location of each number.
Need to teach expanded notation? No problem! Just pull the cups apart and add the corresponding number of zeros to each number. When stacked together students will see how each number is written. When pulled apart, students will see the true value of each number.
What other ways do you help students understand larger numbers and place value?
Image Map

Friday, October 23, 2015

Altarcitos del Día de los muertos

     Nuestra clase estará aprendiendo sobre el Día de los muertos durante la semana de octubre 26 al 30 del 2015. Durante esa semana, los estudiantes tendrán la oportunidad de completar su tarea semanal o, hacer un altarcito del Día de los muertos. Esta opción se la doy a mis estudiantes por si acaso no celebren días festivos.

     El Día de los muertos es una celebración Mexicana. Aunque también se celebra en muchos países Latinoamericanos y ciudades con poblaciones de habla hispana, originó en México. El Día de los muertos honra a los difuntos del 1 de noviembre hasta el 2 de noviembre. 
     Durante el Día de los muertos, las familias decoran un altar. El altar es decorado con artículos especiales. Todos estos artículos, u objetos recuerdan a la persona.

     A los altares, le ponen una fotografía de la persona que están recordando. Junto a la foto, le ponen las comidas favoritas del ser querido. Decoran con papel picado, velas, flores de cempasúchil, pan de muerto y calaveras de azúcar y calacas.

     Tus estudiantes pueden tomar parte en esta tradición Latinoamericana al crear su propio altarcito y recordar a un ser querido que ya a fallecido.

     El propósito de esta actividad es para que tus estudiantes hablen con sus familiares y aprendan sobre sus antepasados. 

**Todos estos altarcitos fueron creados por mis estudiantes y sus familias el año pasado.**
Aquí están las instrucciones para que tus estudiantes hagan sus altarcito.
--------------------------------
Recuérdele a sus estudiantes que: 
Un altar es un espacio que se usa para recordar todas las cosas maravillosas sobre un ser querido que ya a muerto. Consiste de fotografías veladoras, flores, golosinas y comidas deliciosas. Estos obsequios son considerados ofrendas para los muertos que vienen a visitarnos en un día mágico.

Para hacer tu altar del Día de los muertos necesitas:
1.Caja de zapatos de cualquier tamaño
2.Papel para envolver tu caja
3.Fotos de tu ser querido
4.Artículos que le gustaban a tu ser querido –recuerda que cualquier cosa cuenta como ofrenda.
5.Una velita real o de LED
6.Flores de papel o ceda (opcional-pero las flores son una gran parte en la decoración del altar.)
Para armar tu altar:
1.Envuelve tu caja con el papel de envoltura. Es bonito usar papel de colores brillantes que le gustaban a tu ser querido.
2.Decora con las foto. Es bueno pegarlas adentro de la pared de la caja. Puedes usar palito de paletas para hacer marcos.
3.Agrega cualquier otro tipo de decoración. Usa cruces, signos religiosos si quieres, y también corazones y gemas.
4.Pon también comidas y golosinas como chocolates y papitas reales.
5.Finalmente, ponle unas velitas y las flores.
Espero y tus estudiantes disfruten de este proyecto tan memorable.



Friday, October 9, 2015

Three Ways to Get Your Professional Development on Instagram




Sometimes professional development is on target and really beneficial...and sometimes you sneak a stack of papers to grade in and try to make your PD Day productive!



How about some professional development you can do in your pajamas? And personalize to target just what you're teaching? With proven tips from real teachers in the trenches? PD that is FUN?

It exists, and it's called Instagram! Twitter and teacher blogs are excellent, too, but today is all about the Instagram.

I was later than many joining Instagram, because I don't have a smart phone. Did you know you don't need a smart phone to benefit from Instagram? While you can't publish from your desktop (as far as I know), you CAN see everything anyone else is posting!

We teachers love keeping  up on the latest brain research and best practices, but we don't always have time for long reads during the school year. You do, however, likely have time to scroll through a few pictures, and you'd be surprised how much benefit you can derive from it!

Here are three ways to get your professional development on Instagram

1. See what real teachers are doing in their classrooms and adapt their ideas to fit yours.

Scroll through posts for inspiration, or search for ideas on a specific topic. Teaching place value? Search the hashtags #placevalue and #valorposicional. You'll find posts like this one from me:




2. Get book recommendations from teachers who are in the trenches with you.

We all know how hard it is to find great literature, especially authentic books in Spanish (not translations)! That just got easier, particularly if you teach lower elementary. Teachers and bloggers are sharing books with the hashtag #hoyleemos, and more people are joining in every day!


From @schoolencasa
From @elcuentodelanoche


3. Extend your PLN worldwide

There are Instagrammers all over the world, and as bilingual teachers, we're uniquely equipped to communicate and connect with them! You can also connect with companies, like book publishers; they pay attention to what people are recommending and saying about the books they print, and they'll respond to your questions and comments!

How else would you know that today is Día de la Comunidad Valenciana? Sharing culture with your students just got a lot easier!


From @ninosenmochila

And here are three things to remember when you post on Instagram:

1. Everyone can see your photos, and anyone can steal them.

Be cautious. You are sharing with the whole world, and while you don't want to be paranoid, you also  probably don't want to share all the details of your whereabouts and habits publicly. Also, while you can't right click and copy photos off of Instagram, there are lots of websites that allow you to do so. They're not illegal. (And that's how I got the pictures for this post!)

So, at least consider watermarking your pictures. Then when they are floating around the internet, they're at least identified as yours. I use the free app A Beautiful Mess; you can add text easily and share straight from the app.



2. Respect student privacy.

Your school may have policies about taking pictures in which students are identifiable; even if they don't, parents may not appreciate it. I generally take pictures so that my children are included but their faces don't show. Other teachers put hearts on top of student faces (also easy to do with apps like A Beautiful Mess).


From @maestrasandovalin1st

3. Hashtag, hashtag, hashtag!

Hashtagging on Instagram is essential to helping people find your content. And while you want to be careful on Twitter not to use TOO many hashtags, on Instagram you can use all you want! Having ten on a post is not uncommon or considered uncouth. Here is a list to get you started with hashtagging; you can search any of these in the search bar to see how people are using them!

#duallang #duallanguage #iteachbilinguals
#literacy #iteachmath #iteachscience
 #iteachsocialstudies #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram
 #iteachtoo #iteachk #iteachfirst
#docentes #maestras #educar
 #educación #enseñar #aprender
 #bilingUe #colegio #hoyleemos
#lectura #librorecomendado #lectoescritura
#pedagogia #manualidades #matematica #matemática

So, if you're not on Instagram yet, check it out! And because it's way more fun if you have people to follow from the beginning, here's a list of our I Teach Bilinguals crew's Instagram handles! Just search these in the search bar, and you'll find us. You can click on "follow" and then all of our posts will show up in your feed! Can't wait to see you there!

@schoolencasa
@learningattheprimarypond
@kindergarten_corps
@lecturaparaninos
@maestrasandovalin1st
@mrmrsbrightside
@kinderbilingue101
@thedualtrio
@bittybilinguals
@mmbilingual
@languagelizard

And if you want more recommendations of people to follow, you can sign up for my newsletter! I always include several recommendations in each issue!




Virginia of School en casa is a teacher by profession, now homeschooling 4th grade, 1st grade, and preschool bilingually. She loves integrating Montessori theory into her teaching, and sharing their experiences on her blog!


Monday, October 5, 2015

World Teacher Day

We hope your school year is off to a great start this fall. We know most teachers celebrate “Teacher Appreciation Week” in May, but did you know that there is also a “World Teachers’ Day” in October? 

To celebrate this special day, several of the teacher-author bloggers here at “I Teach Bilinguals” have teamed up for a collaborative sale on TpT. That means that today, Monday, October 5th you can save up to 20% in our shops. Check out the following participating shops for some great deals: 





Also, to sweeten the day, we’d like to give away a $25 gift card to a place of your choice. To enter, just fill out the rafflecopter below. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy World Teachers’ Day!
The “I Teach Bilinguals” Team

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Cute DIY Pumpkin Cupcake Recipe

Cute DIY fall pumpkin recipe for elementary teachers
Happy October friends! I love making holiday cupcakes for my class parties, and I think these pumpkin cupcakes are so cute. The great news is they are easier than they look. 

You can make them ahead of time, or even make them in class with your students. The recipe works great at an adult supervised center, or can be made with the whole class during a fall or Halloween party. All you need to do is bake the cupcakes ahead of time and bring the rest of the ingredients and let students have fun decorating them. As you can imagine, they love frosting them and adding the sprinkles and stem. 

Whether you decide to make these ahead of time or together with your class, everyone will love eating them. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients
  • a box of cupcake batter
  • cupcake wrappers
  • white frosting
  • yellow and red food coloring
  • orange sprinkles
  • green licorice or candy (optional)
Directions
  1. Make the cupcakes according to the instructions on the box.
  2. Color the frosting orange using a few drops of red and yellow food coloring.
  3. Frost the cupcakes with the orange frosting.
  4. Squirt four lines for pumpkin "ribs" on the cupcake using the frosting.
  5. Cover the frosting in orange sprinkles.
  6. Press a short piece of green licorice (or any green candy) in the center for the stem.
  7. Enjoy these cute cupcakes with your students!
As always, happy teaching!
Image Map

Friday, October 2, 2015

Celebrating the Bilingual Child Month... and a Special $300 Celebration Giveaway!

October is here!  That means fall harvest festivals, Halloween fun AND Celebrating the Bilingual Child Month!

Celebrating the Bilingual Child Month began in 2006 to recognize the many children that speak two or more languages and understand multiple cultures. This is a time to recognize their achievements, encourage continued language learning, and explore the differences and similarities of diverse languages and cultures with all students.  These efforts will help connect our communities and improve global relations.

Here are some ways that you can celebrate this month in your classroom:
  •  Ask bilingual children to share a bit about their languages and cultures
  • Highlight children in other countries
  • Invite parents to read bilingual books, bring traditional foods and teach about their country
  • Show different alphabets / scripts
  • Share information about the benefits of bilingualism
  • Throw a party to celebrate diversity!

In recognition of this month, Language Lizard is giving away a gift certificate for $300 worth of language learning materials in a choice of over 40 languages.  To learn more about entering the giveaway, and to read about more ways to celebrate this special month, please see the latest Culture Connection newsletter.  Or you can enter the giveaway directly at www.languagelizard.com/bilingual-book-giveaway.htm.