MIA

MIA- BIG TIME!!!!!

SORRY! folks for the long absence! I’ve been crazy busy as I‘m sure many of you are too! Honestly there isn’t enough time for me to get everything done on my “To Do List”.

I guess part of the reason I’ve been so behind is football games, house building and SHOPPING! HA! 

Hook 'EM \m/

Meanwhile progress is being made on our casita! 

We hope to be in our new home late November or early December...we'll see how that goes! STRESSFUL building a house! I rather it be when we go on Christmas VACAY!

SO let's do a little rewind...a bit of a modge podge of things because this is all I have seem to have captured on my iphone! BOO! 

I LOVE the Even & Odd activity that I borrowed from that sweet Mrs. Genius over at The Teacher Wife....I just heart her to death! Super cute activity! You can check it out here! 

A quick way I like to do an informal assessment with my mixed groups is to do a class Thinking Map and have each students come up with there individual contributions to our maps!

For example: (Circle Map below) Even and Odd numbers each student had to tell me their number before placing it on the map so I could see who was getting the concept or not. No help from their partners.

WE are crazy for Circle Maps...here are some examples of Circle Maps we have done earlier this year! I also have examples of what our Spanish students are doing in their L1.

I do want to share that we also take the information off the maps and turn it into a writing piece. I will make sure I capture more of our final writing products to share with y'all in the future. 

Here are some examples of our "Math About Me" Circle Maps...my math groups are mixed with English and Spanish students.

My homeroom students love to play "Maps Around The World"! 

It's like "Musical Chairs" except for I have some sort of "THINKING MAP" they must fill in with the skill we are learning. 

You could also do this activity with other subject areas. 

I use it TONS in Math!

 My homeroom class was learning about short a families. I used Circle Maps for each word family (5 short a families). 

They walked around the room in a circle (as I played music) and when I stopped the music they had to fill in the map they were closes to with a word that belonged in that particular short a family. 

They must also write down their name by the word they chose. It was a quick way for me to see who was still needing more guidance.

My Firsties LOVE this game! 

Here are some great examples of our Spanish students doing some writing in their L1-Spanish...beautiful handwriting! 

Christopher Columbus Brace Map:

I really love using the Brace Map for vocabulary...Whole to Part relationship...we did this craftivity during our 

Oral Language develepment block.

Vocabulary is key in any language so this is a great way to show how some words have different meanings based on the 

context they are used in. 

Example "BOW" I was so impressed with how much they knew about how many different meanings this word could have depending on how I pronounced it...AMAZING!!! 

In this case BOW- the front end of a boat or to BOW in the presence of a King or Queen (greatness)! 

SMARTIES I tell you!

I absolutley LOVE Kim Adsit's Hooray for Columbus Day! 

She is soooo AMAZING!! I truly love all her activities! 

I used her "Parts of the Santa Maria" for this activity. 

My bilingual pairs really enjoyed this craftivity!

Check out her blog over at Kinder-Gals!

Brace Map: Parts of an Apple

Bilingual pairs created their own brace map for this activity. 

Here is an example of each L1-English on the left. 

L2-English on the right. 

Okay so I had to share some of my homeroom activities because it is just so darn caaaute! Brace Maps for practicing their spelling words!

They have to come up with some of their own words that have the same phonics rule...check out "AFLACK"! Love it!!! 

They must also illustrate their words if possible... love the suitcase! 

They seriously MELT.MY.HEART!!!!!!!

How can you not keep a HUGE smile on your face day in and day out! I feel so very blessed to be a teacher...the rewards are endless!