Wed
22 Oct
2014
by

Halloween fun!

We just reached 3000 followers!

I am so happy I just decided it is the time to have a giveaway!

To celebrate I am also working on some of my old best sellers. I just updated the pumpkins unit:

 

For more Halloween units check out the whole HALLOWEEN BUNDLE.
We are almost ready for Halloween in the classroom. This week we create our Halloween witches. It was super EASY! You have the pdf at the end of the blog post.

 

I gave the students the pieces and they created all the details (hair, eyes…).
This year I have 26 kids. So I decided  to use Nicole’s idea. Check it in Rowdy in Room 300. We used scrap boxes and we found there lots of missing pieces. 🙂

 

 

Thu
09 Oct
2014
by

Place value week

This week has been all about place value! 
I have started to create my own classroom posters in A3. This makes them easier to see and to organize. I also added a small magnet at the back of poster to hang it on the wall. All my walls are great for magnets as I am in a portable. I saw this great idea in Teaching with Style. Thanks!!!
So going back to the Place Value stuff we introduced hundreds. First we created them with dough. We had fun creating numbers with Play Dough.
To work on this unit I have purchased some cool stuff from TPT. Check out:
 Number Knowledge {Place Value and Comparing/Ordering Numbers}Playing Around With Place ValueNumbers in Base Ten {5 Math Centers 0-700}

I specially love Amy Lemon’s stuff when I teach second grade. We used some of the manipulatives in one of her packets with this worksheet. Check out her blog posts about place value.

She makes visual stuff that I don’t need to translate to Spanish.
THANKS, AMY!
I also used some freebies. Blair Turner has this great Place Value activity with three different levels. My kids have already gone through level 1 and 2. We worked in pairs and I created the response sheet myself in Spanish. Thanks Blair! Check other free scoot games:
FREE Reading and Writing 3-Digit Numbers (Standard, ExpandPlace Value Rock Place Value Scoot - 3-digit numbers using base 10 (MAB) blocks
Sun
21 Sep
2014
by

Back to school names and descriptions

This is going to be great year! I am teaching a wonderful group of 26 secondgraders.  And I am also teaching ART in English during specials!!!

 

I know it sounds busy, but I could not miss this opportunity. I taught ESl to these kids while they were in Kinder and I am their Art teacher now. Teaching art is my favorite! I don’t have much time for planning. But who needs time when you have pinterest? 😉Follow Lita Lita’s board creative art in my classroom on Pinterest.

I have found so many cool ideas that I won’t have time to fit them all in a single school year.

 

I needed a simple craft to start the year and review some colors/numbers vocabulary. I found this cute one in pinterest and it worked wonders! Check it in Michelle’s blog I loved how she arranged the bulletin board.
This craft does not need lots of preparation. But as I only get 40 minutes a week for each group I prepared it as much as I could so it would fit in only one lesson.
The craft had to be a purpose for using English language so before making anything I taped the color on the blackboard (Yes, we still use blackboards… ). Then we wrote their names and counted the letters. They quickly understood it so we moved on with the making.
At first I stood by the colored papers so every kid should ask: Can I have some ‘blue’ paper, please?

Then I had to move to help some kids with the tearing process… It can be difficult for some firstgraders. One of the kids was in charge of the paper. And when they finished they could help the kids with the longer names.

 

I could not be happier with the results :)In my own classroom we were working with descriptions. I created a simple handout to write about themselves and a template to draw their portraits. You could use it in different ways.

We used the first paragraph to write about our face, the second one was for general appearance and  the last one for our personality.
We did not write our names so we could use it as a guess who game during Open House next week.
If you like the border it is from my good friend Mel (Graphics from the Pond) you can get it here for free:
As the kids were drawing I realized how similar their drawings are to my own clip art. This makes me feel honored.:)