TABE Conference 2011

TABE is an acronym for Texas Association for Bilingual Education. This year it was held in near my hometown. TABE is an organization to help people who are interested in Bilingual Education. They share and exchange ideas for more effective implementation. Different sessions occur to acquire ideas to implement in one/two way dual language classrooms. I was honored to attend this year. I have never attended and was pleased. There are different exhibitors to exhibit different materials to use in the classroom. I was honored  to come across Bilingual Planet. I had previous came across them through searching for bilingual material. I was honored when they added my blog to  their site under teacher resources. I went to their station to greet them and explain who I was. They were so happy to meet me in person. They are really nice people. I am thankful for their hospitality. My gratitude is immense and can't thank them enough. I am so  happy to have their material in my classroom. They  will be useful. Bilingual material is so limited that sometimes as teachers we have to translate    them. I love their material and its so kids friendly.In the pictures is Dolly Loaiza author from products from Bilingual Planet and myself.

Donors Choose

GIVING TO A GOOD CAUSE: I have posted a project to get funded. Our students lack the opportunity to being exposed to literature. My project is so students can read different books in both English and Spanish. I am afraid that my project won't get funded before the deadline. I ask all those that would love to donate to please do so. Please donate. My kids need all the reading material that they can be exposed to. Click on the image to see more.

Another way is to vote through http://www.limeadesforlearning.com/ using a valid email. Please vote for my project the name of the project is " On the road to reading!"

Motivational Glasses

I found these glasses at the Dollar Tree today. I thought of popping out the lens and have them in the library center. Students will be able to use them while they read. I will name them magic glasses. I will explain that these glasses have guitars on the side because like many musicians have to memorize so many songs. Students need to know how to read. They will help memorize words and help read faster just like musicians. What a great way to motivate those non-readers. Any little bit helps.

Making Ten

I saw this video in teachertipster.com and was waiting for season to come around. Today I stopped at the Dollar Tree and purchased the material for the project. Students are to use counters (Halloween treats) and place them in the ice cube tray. I loved it. The tray is little pumpkins and my counters are small rings. Its adorable and I know my kids will love it. Can wait to use it in my math center. Its a perfect ten frame.

Restroom Passes

I always had a problem to know who goes to the restroom. I got some letters from Wal-Mart and painted them. My dad made a hole on them so I could tie a ribbon on them. This is how it works: If students want to go to the restroom they are to get the pass and place it on their desk. I ask them not to take it to restroom so it won't get filled with germs. That way we don't all get sick. I only created one for boys and one for girls. I plan to do two. Here is the outcome. Love the ribbon.

Classroom Rules

Just wanted to share a few pictures of my classroom. I really don't have a camera (because I broke the lens oops). I took pictures with cell phone so they might not be all that great. I just think its the intention that counts. I was looking for authentic way to display classroom rules. I came across http://www.thekinderpolkadotpatch.com and loved the classroom rules. I had to do my own. I really didn't know how to make bows. I asked one of my coworkers and she made it for me without hesitation. I love the outcome. If you need rules please let me know. I will send them to you. Please comment on pictures.

My Calender

Here is a picture of my morning calender. I so grateful for pinterest. I got so many great ideas.  Its has everything I need.

Crates Seats

I came across with the idea through ProTeacher last year. I decided to make them this year and have them near my library center. My brother made some furniture for my classroom and used the left over wood to create the crates. My students love them. I have seen so many adorable crates in different blogs and just wanted to share my own. The cushion are exact measure. Sorry for not being adjusted.

Child 1st Publication

If you like to purchase great high frequency words for right brained click on the image below.

New Snap Words List in Child 1st

Perfect for native English speakers learning Spanish or for working with children in a bilingual classroom, these cards include a stylized high-frequency word on the front, plain word and word used in a sentence on the back. Click the link for more info, including a list of the words in this set! You can click on the image below or on the image on the sidebar to purchase them.

Learning from Animals (Teamwork)

I learned a lot when I was shown a video similar to this one. As teachers we need to work together as a team. If one person gets lost on the way we need to do all means to get them back on track. Geese form a "V" formation but I never fully understood why. I never thought that they would follow an injured or tired one till they got better. This is an awesome video! It shows that one grade will impact another. We must not blame no grade level and work on what we have. You should take  a look at the video.

Source: youtube.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Task Cards

Here is another task card from PT. Its about syllables. Students can clap to know how many syllables the word has. Its all in Spanish. Click on picture to download.

Student Information Sheet

Most of us ask parents to fill out a student information sheet. I found this one in PT and asked if I could translate it and post on my blog. I love it because it is two in one. It has student information and parent contact log. Some districts ask at the end of the year to turn in parent contact logs. Well this avoid me the hassle and I don't have to have separate documents. I store mine in a binder and have it on my desk for easy access. Click on the picture to download.

Classroom Helpers

I created a list of classroom helpers to put on a pocket chart. Its ideal for the beginning of the school. I hope it helps someone.

Important Reading 20 min

Some parents don't understand the importance of why their child should read everyday. I came across this document in PT "Why I can't skip my 20 minutes of reading each night." I thought this would be ideal for parents to have when we have Meet The Teacher night. This will be definitely on my agenda. I translated it into Spanish. Here is the Spanish version. Someone else in PT made it for 15 minutes. I doing the original 20 minutes.

PT Task Cards (parts of a plant)

I don't know if you guys are familiar with PT www.proteacher.net. It is a website where teachers share lesson plans, activities, or ask questions. Well when I came across this website in 2009. There I saw different task cards. Task cards are like flashcard that teach a specific objective. Unseen001 (Doris Corley) is a retired teacher that has created so many task cards to help teachers all over the world. I had one dilemma when I saw them. They are all in "ENGLISH". I asked her if she could send me her originals to translate them. I asked her it was okay to publish the ones I had translated into Spanish. I teach mostly in Spanish except for Math. I told her it would benefit a lot of bilingual teachers. I am not planning to sale or make profit out of them. All I want is to share them. I will be posting the ones I have translated little by little.

Center Labels

If you are in a dual language you know that you have to have things labeled in both languages. I created these labels. I like them because they aren't that big nor to small. I hope someone can use them.

Bilingual Planet

I recently came across a website  www.bilingualplanet.com Its a great resource.  There are a lot of material for dual language classroom. Most material are in Spanish. I love their alphabet. Each letter of the alphabet has different pictures of things that have the same beginning sound. This fall they will have new posters that will come out. Some are a list of syllables and the vowels. They look adorable.

Working with syllables

At the beginning of the year we get students that tend to forget what they learned. This activity is great for working with syllables. Students are to clap to the syllable and put a counter in the correct place.  Hope this helps someone.
Clapping Syllabels

Tape vs Hot Glue

I noticed that hot glue tends to come off when you glue poster on the wall. I used Scotch Masking Take  #2020 (high adhesion) found in Home Depot. Things don't fall off. It last all year long. One roll goes a long way. I just purchased a roll to start decorating my classroom. You might take this into consideration. I highly recommend it to anyone that has to use the wall as bulletin boards. I have personally used it. Give it a try. You have nothing to loose.


I am not sure if it works on bricks but it does on concrete walls.

Using Ten Frames

If you use EnVision as a math curriculum, you know that you use ten frames. Well I created this for making ten with a ten frame. I hope it helps someone.
Using Ten Frame

Pinterest

It is one of the most fun ways to organize your creative bookmarks. Its a place to store all the beautiful things you find on the web. Its a  series of inspiration boards, just waiting to be filled up with wonderful photos. Pintererst has boards that allow you to organize thematically. All the things you find online are stored in one place. Forget about "I saw it once but don't remember where?"  All you have to is pin a picture that links to your favorite site. A pin is just a picture and it will remember where the source came from.  I have become addicted to Pinterest and have come across wonderful ideas for the classroom. So many creative ideas out there. Its so much fun.

To get started you need an invite from someone who has it. You can't simply join. An invitation has to arrive via email. If you know someone that has it request an invitation. This is the faster way to start your own pinboards. If you need an invitation let me know.Here is mine if you like to take a look Pinterest

Prime Numbers

I know that many students struggle with prime numbers. I have created this sheet to help students remember all the prime numbers from 0-100. My first year teaching was in fifth grade. I used this and made a story to help them remember the box. Its great when doing factor tree, multiplication, reducing fraction, etc. I hope this helps someone. It is both in English and Spanish.

Desk Fairy/La Hada

Students never keep their desk clean. I read about the desk fairy and told them that she comes every once in a while to check on student's desk. She checks for things not to be a clutter. She picks the neatest desks and leaves a reward. Well, last year I used the English version and it worked great. First graders always wanted to know more. How she get in? When does she go? How can she carry all those prices? I would just hear them and let their imagination go wild. This year I created "La Hada". Its the same concept but the Spanish version. This will help all bilingual teacher wanting to give students a price. Remember prices can be anything. Kids will love it!

Click Here to see

La Hada

More Spanish Snap Words .........

Child1st has created SnapWords™ sight word cards in both Spanish and English. These cards help students with a variety of learning strengths,  including right-brained and visual learners, and those labeled with ADD/ ADHD, autism, or dyslexia. Images are embedded into the sight words, allowing students to create mental images of the words and be able to quickly recognize them. Students also learn how to properly use the words in a sentence, adding to comprehension skills. The English SnapWords™ cards also provide a recommended body movement for each word. I have requested if more Spanish words will be available, and Child1st has said that there will be soon! The creators are working hard to help the bilingual students become fluent not only in their native language but in their second language as well.


Follow the link below if you like to purchase what is available.
http://www.child-1st.com/#a_aid=4de9a339772a5

Professional Development

Today we had a inservice. Every year we have our Early Childhood Conference. Different things are discussed throughout the week. Today we had some special guest. We had  bilingual authors: Suni Paz, Dr. Alma Flor Ada, & Dr. Isabel Campoy. We learned different ways to do poetry, how to use books to teach different concepts, and bout reader theather. It was so much fun. When is that you have an author come to an inservice. This is such a wonderful experience. They have so many wonderful books that students can be engaged.  We would surely have a different perspective in how to use books in the classroom.

Display Students Work

Have you ran out of room to display student's work? Here is an idea.What can you do with duct tape and ziploc? Well you can do a giant quilt to display student's work. You can do it horizontally or veritically. Its your choice. Some of us don't have alot of wall space and this resolves the problem. I saw this on a workshop early in the year. I saw this picture and wanted to share a great idea. The duct tape can be as fancy as you want. I saw so many cute duct tape in Staples. It was suggest in the workshop to use the Wal Mart ziploc brand because the top of the ziploc aren't the same size. The higher part goes to the back. I love it and plan to do this.

Moose Binders Storage

Binders occupy alot of space especially in large quanity. I saw this on Lakeshore and had my brother build it for me. He used scrap wood that he had. He does alot of wood work so you can't actually tell. Well I saved $119. I just gave him the dimensions and told him what I wanted. Here are the dimensions 16 5/8" x 16 5/8" x 27 1/4".  He made it higher so it won't touch the ground. He thought of the students and how much cleaning goes in the classroom. 

Spanish MOOSE binders

About 80% of our students are native Spanish speakers, and receive literacy instruction in Spanish. For this reason I took the initiative of translating the M.O.O.S.E. binder. I created the B.E.E. binder and did the contents into Spanish. Our homework is send home in Spanish. I want to make it more interactive. Its a great way to connect with the teacher, the parent and the student. This is what I came up with. I hope it is useful to someone.

Free Giveaway

Check out and follow this new blog! http://lessonplandiva.blogspot.com

 It has some great activities that will help your students learn or review dictionary skills and guide words. There is a pocket chart center, cut and paste activities, and worksheets to help reinforce these skills.

Motivational Videos

Everytime I see this video that even though things look so bad we should always get up and strive to do our best. It amazed me when I saw these video at workshop. I got goosebumps. You should always be the best you can be. I always tell my kids that they are the best and never give up. Never quit everything is possible...no limits.... Many kids come to our classroom with so many problems from home and struggle with school work. I tell them that they should do their best and never give up.

Spanish Snap Words

Have you ever wondered how to teach HFWs to Spanish speaking students who are stuggle readers? I found these snap words at Child 1st Publications.

Who are they for? Bilingual SnapWords™ are perfect for native English speakers learning Spanish or for working with children in a bilingual classroom.
Details
Set 1 includes 60 high-frequency words. The front of each card portrays a stylized word, giving children a way to grasp the meaning of the word and remember its meaning. On the reverse of each card is the plain word without the image, a sentence using that word in Spanish and the English translation. Each card is 5.5" X 4.25".
What products you might find?
You will find Snap words in both languages (English and Spanish)
Snap words (Teaching Cards and Pocket Chart)
Landscape and Mini Word Walls
Decodable Readers
Math
Nouns Snap Words
......more check it out.
Click on link below or imagine on the right.
http://www.child-1st.com/#a_aid=4de9a339772a5

Awesome Giveway

Lindsey from theteacherwife.blogspot.com is has a great giveaway. She is choosing one winner and giving $15 dollars to spend at Heidi Songs. Here is what you have to do:
1. Go to her blog http://www.theteacherwife.blogspot.com/

To Enter This Giveaway:

To Enter: Become a follower of her blog (or already be one).

Bonus Entry #1: Visit the HeidiSongs website and tell me what you would buy with your 15 bucks.

Bonus Entry #2: "Like" Heidi Songs on Facebook.

Bonus Entry #3: Follow her TpT Store.

Bonus Entry #4: Blog about this giveaway!!

Bonus Entry #5: Rate one of my TpT products--either one you recently purchased or my featured freebie!!

Runde's Room

Jen is giving out a prenium membership as a giveway. http://rundesroom.blogspot.com/

Read about it sounds supper amazing. All you have to do is
1) Become a follower her blog.
2) Become a follower of her TpT Store.
3) Download one of her free products from her TpT Store and give it a rating.
4) Add her button to your blogroll.
5) Blog about this contest.

Contest Ends Sunday evening (May 29th).   Hurry Hurry!

Mother's Day Project

Feliz dia de las madres!

Today we celebrate mother's day. Most of my student's mother's come from Mexico. I decided to send today the project my students did. They came out really nice. It was funny when one student said "I am going to water my plant". First graders always come out with the craziest things.

Power Towers

I love http://www.teachertipster.com/ It has great idea on how to use dixie cups. I teach mostly in Spanish. I want my students to learn from early on the HFWs in English. I write the words on the bottom. As the students says them they can stack them to create a tower. My kids get so excited when they make the huge tower. Here are some pictures. They can be used for basic facts as well. I use the HEB brand because you get 200 dixie cups. They are cheaper.

DonorChoose

I am so excited I just submitted my first request. I hope I get funded. My students need alot of reading material both in English and Spanish. I praying that it gets funded soon.
Click here to see my project.

Parts of a Plant

We have gone over the parts of a plant. I sent home a sunflower printout. Students were to create the flower using stuff found around the house. (Example macaroni, beans, rice, etc). They had to label the parts of the plants. I teach science in Spanish so some of the pictures are in Spanish. But they came out some beautiful.

How to reuse unwanted CDs

Have you ever wondered what to do with scratch CDs? Well I used this idea from The Bag Ladies. I used the CD and created a clock to tell time. What a create way to reuse and go green!

Good idea for reusing

This February I attended a workshop with The Bag Ladies. They have a great ideas. One of the ones they used was reusing the toilet paper rolls. What you do is smashed them and cut them in half and create  a little book. This is how it suppose to look.

Confused...

I still getting the hang of blogging....I am wondering how to you insert a google docs. I need some cheat notes. Please help. TIA

Homework Helper

At the beginning of the year I create a homework binder. I like to put some type of study guide that will help them throughout the year. I created this homework helper for math. It has the basic concepts that students should know.
Homework Helper (click here)

Science Interactive Journals

I have tried to make science as fun as possible. I have students decorate a notebook where they can put their assignments. I has worked well with my students. On one side the students write notes and the other they glue whatever I given them.

About Me

My name is Melissa. I been teaching for five years. I have taught fifth and first. I love first. I work in a dual language immersion school. I teaching basically Spanish and only Math in English.