A Cool Website Find!

Tonight I was looking for an interactive rekenrek that I could use on my smartboard; when I came across a website from the Indiana Department of Education.  What else had can I ask for a rekenrek and Garfield. How cool is that?  Plus it had even more activities on the site so it was a bonus, and it's available in Spanish. I know my bilingual teachers/friends are always looking for things that are available in Spanish as well. :) 

So I won't keep you in suspense by writing a long post.  Here's what you can find on the website:

"What Do I See?"  This will help students to visualize a number.  It will show the number in beads to the students then the curtain will close.  They will give the students three numbers to choose from.  If they can't remember they can click on to see it again.

"Push to Make 10"  Here students practice pushing beads on a rekenrek in a certain amount of pushes. Helps students to get away from counting each bead.

Another great math game. There are other things on the site as well so be sure to check it out.  This is primarily for grades K-2.  

Professor Garfield

Made it through the first week!

Virginia and I started back to school this past week.  Monday and Tuesday we had Teacher Institute Days.  The students came on Wed.  We both enjoyed meeting our new group of students, but the first week is always an exhausting one.  Of course it didn't help that our playground is not ready yet for the students to play on.  On Friday afternoon one of our blacktops was free of construction material so the students could finally get out and play.  Even though it was hot and humid out it nice to finally get some fresh air. 
We are ready to start our first week now and get into the weekly routine of a weekly story, starting writer's workshop, math, science, and social studies. 

This week we also have our Curriculum Night.  Virginia found a site with reading tips for parents at different grade levels and comes in both English and Spanish.  Just click on the either one of the images below to take you to the website.  Just scroll down for your grade level.

In Spanish

 

In English

 

We will be back with more ideas to share at Curriculum Night.

 

Have a good week.

 

Virginia and Sandy

 

 

The Before Classroom Pictures

Last month I mentioned that my friend from school was going to be joining my blog.  Virginia is our first grade bilingual teacher at our school.  Virginia was one of the lucky or maybe unlucky ones that had to pack up and move classrooms this summer.  (Depending on how you see it. I personally don't mind moving.  It forces me to get rid of some stuff that I have been hanging on too.)

The reason for moving classrooms and our construction theme is that Kindergarten is going all day starting this year.  So this summer two classrooms needed to be built and the now four kindergarten rooms need to be renovated to meet the needs of kindergarten students. 

The construction is yet to be finished (keeping our fingers crossed that is for the first day of school), but most of us are now able to get into our classrooms.

I'm always bad about remembering to take pictures. However Virginia did take some before pictures. 

It also looks like when they cleaned they put some Smartboard boxes in her room.  I'm sure there are some anxious teachers that will want those in their classrooms. 

Looks like Virginia's Smartboard has been installed already.  I have to same I'm a little jealous that she gets her projector mounted to the wall.  Mine has to go on the cart, and I have to worry about students (and me) tripping over cords all the time.

I love the bright colored backgrounds on the bulletin boards. 

A view of the back of the room. Yes, that's a green chalkboard back there.  Our school is slowly turning all of the chalkboards to white boards.

Now for some bulletin boards in the hallway.  Virginia's classroom is the main hallway so all the classes in our school go up and down her hallway for most of our specials.  So the bulletin boards have to be great. No pressure.

Miss Duran' Class Sign is from Vistaprint.

Welcome to First Grade Bulletin Board

So Welcome to my blog Virginia. I'm sure you will have lots of great ideas to share with all of us.

So if you know someone that teaches a bilingual class (Spanish) please tell them about our blog.  It's not just second grade stuff in English.

Here is one of Virginia's documents that she has translated into Spanish.

My Great Ideas to Write About

Virginia also has another item in the blog post below so if you haven't seen it check it out.

Stayed tuned for the makeover pictures and much more.

Don't forget about our sales at TPT and TN.

Click on the image below to visit our shop.

All my items are 20% off on TN.  Click the image below to check out this shop.

A New Addition to My Blog

A few weeks ago I had someone suggest having things offered in Spanish.  Since I don't know how to speak let alone write in Spanish this isn't something I can do.  It seemed like a great idea. So I asked my friend Virginia Duran to come on board with me and create things in Spanish.  Virginia will be blogging here soon.  She has some great ideas to share.  Yesterday Virginia and I were going to take our picture to share on here, but I forgot all about it.  Since I was at Virginia's wine tasting party maybe that was a good thing.  I promise I will get a picture uploaded of the two of us so you can "Meet us".



In my general education classroom. I usually have about 5 families where English/Spanish is spoken at home, and there is usually a few that is just Spanish. Our school sends newsletters and things like that in Spanish.  But the things that I send home it's only in English. Usually an older brother or sister translate things for the parents.  Of course as a classroom teacher I always want all of my parents to read what I send home.

So now that I have Virginia on board I now have a back to school survey that I  send home.  Of course Virginia might have to read the survey's when they come back to me if they write in Spainish.

My Parent Brag Sheet is a two pages where I ask questions about their child.  This is the parents time to brag about their child; telling me about their child at school and at home.  You learn so much just from reading these.  I always tell my students this is homework for the parents.  They get such a great kick out of that.    I have to warn you though  you might need some kleenex when you read these. 

The second part I added to the file is a student survey.  This is for the students to fill out in class. (3 pages)

So between these two surveys you get a well rounded picture of the student/family.  If you are interested in purchasing this they can be found at TPT and TN.  I apologize if the thumbnails at TPT are not working. 

 In Spanish TPT   TN

In English TPT   TN

So what are some other suggestions that you would like to see in English/Spanish?  Any suggestions would be great.  Just leave a comment below and we will take your requests into consideration.