Classification of Animals

The past few weeks we have been learning how to classify different animals.  We first learned about the types of animals by reading passages, playing true or false games for each type of animal and then writing characteristics about them.  Here's a glimpse of what we have done.  

South California Winter Blog Hop!

 

Who doesn't love sunny San Diego?  San Diego is my beloved hometown!  We are so lucky to live in a place with such wonderful weather and with great, fun attractions throughout the county.  

We live 20 minutes away from the beach and the bay.    Often our family will have a picnic day at a park/bay front called Ski Beach.  Ski Beach is actually located on the east side of Mission Beach.
It has a playground for the kids and a great path for jogging along the bay.
  Since we don't own jet skis, we usually rent them for a reasonable price right on the bay! 

Here's a picture of my husband and my daughter having a great time on the jet skis. 

Here is my WINTER FREBIE for you!  When I meet in guided reading groups, I need to know that my other students are working on a literacy station that is fun and engaging.  The literacy station my students love the most are my Matching Sentences.  I've made these for each month, so my second language learners are practicing fluency, writing and problem solving when it comes to learning new vocabulary words.

Have your students try them out!  

Click here for your FREEBIE!

Don't forget to enter this great giveaway!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Check out the next destination here!  Maybe you will be motivated to make a trip to Southern California this summer!

It's Time to Revise and Edit!

We're at the point where our students are beginning to write independently.  They are expressing their feelings and creating wonderful narratives, informative texts and opinions.  Often, we find ourselves asking our students, "Can you please go back and add capital letters to the beginning of each sentence or make sure you add punctuation marks at the end of each sentence."  How many times do our students go back to their desk and add a period to each line at the right margin of the page?  You can relate, right?

Well, this type of behavior happened often in my classroom until I started teaching the editing marks.  I modeled three times a week how to revise and edit a simple paragraph.  For first graders, I started using 4 editing marks: punctuation, capitalization, spacing and eliminate a letter or word within the sentence.  Using this technique, helped my students understand the meaning of a sentence and when it was right to add punctuation marks.         




Once your students get the routine of using the editing marks, they can practice what they learned by editing simple sentences during a literacy center.

Here are a few samples you try with your students.  

An InLinkz Link-up

PERISCOPE Mania!

FOLLOW ME ON PERISCOPE!!

About two months ago my brother Ricardo introduced me to an APP called Periscope.  I though it was pretty interesting on how people can broadcast LIVE.  So I started following my favorite TV hosts and comedians.  Then I thought how cool it would be to just Periscope from educational conferences and the classroom. 

Soon, I WAS ADDICTED!  I LOVE TO USE PERISCOPE!  I get so many ideas from other classroom teachers.  I also enjoy sharing my own classroom strategies with all of you.  

Don't hesitate, get the APP, it's so much fun to use!

Don't forget to follow Sheila Jane and the 5 recommended teachers.

4th of July Bilingual Blog Hop

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy 4th!  I hope you are enjoying your weekend with loved ones on this 4th of July.  We want to remember on this day that freedom is a gift from all those people who fought and struggled to win independence.  Let's keep working hard towards making our country a better nation.  

Enjoy this free summer passage along with comprehension questions and sentence strips that go along with the story.  

Click here the download!

Enjoy the rest of your summer and don't forget to hop onto the next blog for your fantastic freebie.  

"Un carnaval de recursos" BILINGUAL BLOG HOP

Welcome to our Bilingual Blog Hop!  

I hope you enjoy the different resources we have to offer.  Please don't forget to download your freebie and leave feedback!

Have you noticed that some non-fiction books are way too difficult for our emergent readers?  Well,  I've made some non-fiction passages easy enough for our emergent readers to feel successful in reading.  Here you see my student reading a non-fiction passage during guided reading.  This passage has lots of high frequency words that she can easily identify and read.

After repeatedly reading the passage, my students will write facts about the topic.  They write the non-fiction facts to build automaticity not only in reading but in writing as well.  

My students then get their own mini book to practice independently at their desk, Daily 5 routines or for homework.  Before they start reading the book, they highlight the high frequency words first.

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How about trying it in your classroom?  

Here is a freebie to try it out with your emergent readers.  

Let me know how it works! 

Click to here to download your freebie!

Hope on over to Mynda Rivera's Blog 

for some more fun!

Enjoy your weekend!

Bilingual Blog Hop!

I was inspired to make these cards by reading a story written from my 1st grade student.   She wrote about the Halloween parade we had at school last Friday.  She wrote "Había miles de niños en el desfile."  WOW!!  She is using voice in her writing.  I was reminded about using hyperboles in writing.  Almost instantly,  I got to work!!!   You can use these cards to teach exaggeration when trying to get kids to write exciting stories.  I hope you like them!!! Click here to download!!

Make sure to keep hopping!  

Your next stop is over with Sandra at Dual Language Garden!

Back To School Bilingual Blog Hop!

Writing is a big challenge in first grade.  We want all of our students to be proficient writers by the end of the school year.  How do we achieve that?  It's called writing fluency!!  We have to make sure our students write every single day!  NO EXCUSES!!  

In our class, we start out by writing narratives (not personal)!  We look at a picture and have a conversation on what is happening in the picture.  We then take those ideas and write a wonderful story.  At the same time, we are also building vocabulary for our second language learners in Spanish.

Last year we started with a basic and an easy journal because I had 20 kids new to dual immersion!!!  

This is what it looked like.

   

This year we started with a new type of journal.  My students were in dual language last year so they came in ready to write in Spanish.  We wrote ideas inside the circle map and then wrote a complete story using those same ideas.  Some students copied and others made up their own story, which were super cool to read!!  

Get the journal for FREE here!

                         

 

Enter to win a $100 TPT 

Shopping Spree HERE!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

Building Stamina in 1st Grade

Building stamina is first grade wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  It actually took my fourth graders longer than my first graders to build stamina in writing and reading.  My first graders were able to stay in one spot and continuously read and write for 20 minutes.  I actually stopped the timer because I saw some of my students massaging their little hands.    We have two more tasks to go; listening to reading and word work.  I have to admit that I am a bit scared when my students get the chance to pick their activity.  Will there be chaos?  We will soon see!!  

Vocabulary Cards in Spanish

I've always wanted to create these vocabulary cards so that students can learn new vocabulary that I don't have time to teach.  I made these cards to use either during word work or for writing.  

I  printed and laminated a set of 6 for each topic and then taped them onto a file folder.  They are now placed in a bin ready to be used by my kiddos!!!  They are excited to use them as well.  They saw when my volunteer was putting them together.

4th of July Bilingual Blog Hop!

Hello Friends and Welcome to our 

2nd Bilingual Blog Hop! 

 I am so excited to give you these cards!  I've had students pretend they are reading and as they are "reading" they are pointing to the wrong word.  You can relate, right?  Well, I created these cards to help with that skill.   Here you will find these simple cards for your guided reading groups.

Students will point to the star that corresponds to the word.  On the second card, they can practice writing the sentences as well. 

I have given you a set of 16 cards including the blank ones with just stars so that students can practice their writing.  

Get them FREE HERE!! 

The complete unit can be purchased on TPT,  

a total of 56 pages!

The basic pattern sentences with the same pictures include:  

  

Yo veo...

Es un...

Yo tengo... 

I hope you like these cards and 

let me know how they work in your class.  :o)  

Don't forget to follow me on FACEBOOK, TPT, 

TWITTER and PINTEREST! 

I'm also having a storewide sale!  

Everything is 20% this weekend only!

Happy 4th of July!!

Angélica

Grab your next fantastic freebie over at 

Learning in Two Languages!!