Farmer in the Dell - Sentence Patterning Board

Teaching parts of speech can get pretty boring and redundant after a while. So why not make it more fun?!

For every unit that I teach, I include a "Farmer in the Dell" sentence patterning chart. Farmer in the Dell is from GLAD (Guided Language Acquisition and Design.) These are charts that include separate columns for adjectives, nouns, verbs, adverbs, and prepositional phrases. The teacher and students combine words from the charts to make sentences and "sing" the sentences to the tune of Farmer in the Dell.

It's easy to make and it does wonders in teaching parts of speech in the present, future, and past tense and more! Try it!

As you can see from the photos above, once you write down the student responses, you can manipulate the prepositional phrase column by cutting it and placing it at the beginning of the chart. This allows students to see how a sentence can be written in different ways.

For the holidays, (or any holiday) you and your students can create a sentence patterning chart for any noun!

Topics, for example can be: Santa, elf, gift, tree, reindeer, candy cane, stocking, etc. Have fun with it! I'm sure your students will get a kick out or singing, "Huge and furry candy canes

Huge and furry candy canes

Huge and furry candy canes  

run across the yard!"

Then they can draw it! How cool is that?! :)

I can't wait to do it in the month of December. I'm sure Grammar time will be much more fun when their working in partners giggling over "Large and bumpy elves swimming in the beach." Ha!

For a free Farmer in the Dell template (Spanish & English) click

HERE!

Altarcitos del Día de los muertos

     Nuestra clase estará aprendiendo sobre el Día de los muertos durante la semana de octubre 26 al 30 del 2015. Durante esa semana, los estudiantes tendrán la oportunidad de completar su tarea semanal o, hacer un altarcito del Día de los muertos. Esta opción se la doy a mis estudiantes por si acaso no celebren días festivos.

     El Día de los muertos es una celebración Mexicana. Aunque también se celebra en muchos países Latinoamericanos y ciudades con poblaciones de habla hispana, originó en México. El Día de los muertos honra a los difuntos del 1 de noviembre hasta el 2 de noviembre. 

     Durante el Día de los muertos, las familias decoran un altar. El altar es decorado con artículos especiales. Todos estos artículos, u objetos recuerdan a la persona.

     A los altares, le ponen una fotografía de la persona que están recordando. Junto a la foto, le ponen las comidas favoritas del ser querido. Decoran con papel picado, velas, flores de cempasúchil, pan de muerto y calaveras de azúcar y calacas.

     Tus estudiantes pueden tomar parte en esta tradición Latinoamericana al crear su propio altarcito y recordar a un ser querido que ya a fallecido.

     El propósito de esta actividad es para que tus estudiantes hablen con sus familiares y aprendan sobre sus antepasados. 

**Todos estos altarcitos fueron creados por mis estudiantes y sus familias el año pasado.**

Aquí están las instrucciones para que tus estudiantes hagan sus altarcito.

--------------------------------

Recuérdele a sus estudiantes que: 

Un altar es un espacio que se usa para recordar todas las cosas maravillosas sobre un ser querido que ya a muerto. Consiste de fotografías veladoras, flores, golosinas y comidas deliciosas. Estos obsequios son considerados ofrendas para los muertos que vienen a visitarnos en un día mágico.

 

Para hacer tu altar del Día de los muertos necesitas:

1.Caja de zapatos de cualquier tamaño

2.Papel para envolver tu caja

3.Fotos de tu ser querido

4.Artículos que le gustaban a tu ser querido –recuerda que cualquier cosa cuenta como ofrenda.

5.Una velita real o de LED

6.Flores de papel o ceda (opcional-pero las flores son una gran parte en la decoración del altar.)

Para armar tu altar:

1.Envuelve tu caja con el papel de envoltura. Es bonito usar papel de colores brillantes que le gustaban a tu ser querido.

2.Decora con las foto. Es bueno pegarlas adentro de la pared de la caja. Puedes usar palito de paletas para hacer marcos.

3.Agrega cualquier otro tipo de decoración. Usa cruces, signos religiosos si quieres, y también corazones y gemas.

4.Pon también comidas y golosinas como chocolates y papitas reales.

5.Finalmente, ponle unas velitas y las flores.

Espero y tus estudiantes disfruten de este proyecto tan memorable.



Penguins!

I don't know about you, but when it looks like this outside my window...

...I feel inspired to add a little bit of Antarctica into our studies!

And while there are tons of fascinating animals in Antarctica, you just can't beat penguins for unique, fascinating, AND adorable.

In case you feel the same, I have two free resources for you today! One is for beginning readers in primary, and one is for older elementary students.

For the littles, incorporate science into your literacy block with these mixed-up sentences. Just cut out the cards and mix them up. Students find the cards with the same clip art, and then rearrange them until they get a complete sentence. To extend the activity, they can write down the sentence or illustrate it. Or you might have some easy readers on penguins available so they can find out more penguin facts! There are simple four-card sentences, and longer, more complex sentences, too.

For older students, cut out the task cards and put them on a ring or in an envelope. Use them in a center or for your fast finishers. They'll learn penguin facts and practice some skills that always need review, like measurement and map reading.

And if you are working on multiplication fact fluency, you might be interested in this set of printable games. No prep for you, and fun and skill building for your students!

 

To pick up your free resources, just click over to my blog and download them there!

- Ginger at School en casa

Ruby Bridges en Español

Welcome to the Bilingual Teacher Clubhouse! 

February has arrived!  That means Valentine's Day is just a couple of weeks away.  For many of us, it also marks the beginning of teaching about famous African Americans since February is Black History Month. 

Do you have trouble finding resources about famous African Americans in Spanish?  I know I always did when I was a classroom teacher.  

Ruby Bridges
One of my very favorite famous African Americans is Ruby Bridges.  Her life story is incredible and students can relate to her since she faced some of her greatest challenges while only in elementary school. 

I made this little freebie to share with you this month.  It includes supplemental pages that will fit in nicely with your Ruby Bridges unit.  Not only are they free, they are in Spanish! 

I hope you like them. Click on the image below to download. 

 

Are you looking for some easy games that are engaging for your kids and require low preparation time?
These games are perfect for you! Your students roll 1,2 or 3 dice, add the numbers, and cover up the sum. First to cover all their numbers, wins!

Each game board has the number of dice to roll.
Click here to download your free copy!

 

If you like my product you can visit my blog or Facebook  page for more ideas and activities.

Have a great weekend!

Literacy centers Freebies

Here are two free resources for your young readers:

How to make independent reading meaningful?

How often do your students say: “I’m done reading” while reading independently? You really want to ask them comprehension questions, tell them to read it one more time before taking a test on the computer, but how do you really know they have consciously read the book? This story map is a great way to get students thinking about what they read.

Click here or on the picture to download

How to integrate reading and writing?

What activities do you use to practice the letter and/or color of the week? How about the high frequency words and/or vocabulary words? Integrate reading and writing by using this activity where students have to find all this information while reading a book. Download to read how you can differentiate this activity for your students.

Click here or on the picture to download

TWO FREEBIES: MLK and The Mitten

Are you looking for some FREE teacher resources for your January units? I have a couple of spanish packets that you might be able to use this month.

Martin Luther King Jr.

I have been creating some writing printables with an illustrated word bank to help beginning writers. I had not seen anything similar to this before and wanted a way to help ALL our students feel like successful writers. I have also been adding several versions of the writing activities to help teachers with differentiation in the classroom.

This MLK writing packet in Spanish follows that same format. I have added an illustrated word bank for beginning or struggling writers and also added other versions. I hope that you find this packet useful.
Click on the picture to find it on my Kinder Alphabet blog. It's available in English and Spanish.

The Mitten

I also have an emergent reader for the story of THE MITTEN/ El mitón. Click on the picture below to find it on my Bilingual blog.

See you there!