I just read a couple of blog posts about the impact of bushfires in Australia. Mel, from "Frog Spot: A Blog From the Pond," created a great koala clipart bundle and 100% of the purchase goes to  "Wildlife In Need of Care" that cares for injured Australian Wildlife in the Ports Stephens area. Please consider visiting the "Graphics from the Pond" TpT store and purchasing this amazing clipart bundle. Click here or click on the image, below, to visit the store. 

Blogs with more information:
http://frompond.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/we-need-your-help.html
http://cleverclassroomblog.blogspot.com.au

Spooky Spiders and Owls

I love creating digital clipart and to celebrate this time of the year, I created a Spooky Spiders and Owls package. Perfect for centers, bulletins, and creating Halloween themed worksheets, centers, and activities. Click here to see more.

Alphabet Book with Posters for ESOL Newcomers

This year, I have a large group of kindergarten ESOL newcomers. Newcomer ESOL are students who are new to the English language and, oftentimes, are new to the United States. English is a brand new language for them, so while many native English speaking students start their kindergarten year with some knowledge of the English alphabet, my ESOL newcomers are starting from scratch.

This year, I decided to create an alphabet book for my newcomer ESOL students, so that they could become familiar with English letters and letter sounds. The book contains a page for every letter of the alphabet, space for illustrating and labeling, and lines for writing. I thought it would be a great opportunity to introduce school related vocabulary, so I created colorful posters to go along with each letter of the alphabet. The kids have really been enjoying creating their books. Each day, I introduce a letter, students practice making the sound and discuss words that begin with that sound. My more advanced students can think of objects on their own, but some of my newcomers need more help thinking of items. The posters that I created have been really helpful for my students who struggle to think of an object on their own. My students have been using the posters to help them when illustrating their book. Each poster comes with a sentence helper, ex. A is for _________. This is getting them familiar with site words and constructing a sentence orally. My more advanced students have been writing sentences in their books, while my newcomer ESOL draw pictures and label. If you would like to take a look at the ABC book that I have created for kinder, click here.
Here is a pic of some of the items in the book:

If you are interested in learning more about ESOL Newcomers, click here.

Class Library

It is a lot easier to keep track of books in my classroom library when students use a sign-out sheet. I can see who is borrowing books and whether or not they are being returned. I can also use the information to see which books are popular and which topics and/or genres I may need to bulk up. Since everyone reads at a different pace, I don't have a time frame for when a book is due. I just ask that the student returns the book he borrows before taking out another one. The system seems to work well and students don't tend to spend too much time with a book because they are eager to read another one. If you would like to download the classroom library sign-out sheet for free, click here. 

College and Career Ready Bulletin Board

Setting up a class or hallway bulletin board can be intimidating, overwhelming, and costly. It's especially challenging in the beginning of the school year when you don't have student work to display. When setting up my hallway bulletin for the new school year, I had a few things in mind. I wanted to create something Common Core-themed, I wanted the content to be thought provoking, and I didn't want to spend a lot of money on materials. I like that the Common Core State Standards Initiative addresses college and career preparedness, so I decided to create something displaying different types of jobs. I used colorful photographs of various occupations and I posed the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up." I was so happy to see the kids reading the question on the bulletin, looking at the photographs, and having conversations with each other and their teachers about different types of jobs that they want to try when they are older. This is great information for teachers to know about their students. We can use our students' interests to tailor instruction, so that lessons are more personally motivating. I was so happy with how the bulletin turned out, I decided to create an electronic version to share the concept with other teachers. Here is an example: 

If you would like to purchase this bulletin kit and/or see more samples from the kit, click here to access my TpT store. 

Common Core is Here!

Maryland has adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and it is in full effect this year. I know it's a bit overwhelming, but I am actually really excited about it. I feel like I have more autonomy and room to be creative in my instruction. We are getting our students "College and Career Ready," so I decided to amp up the non-fiction section of my classroom library by organizing books by topics that one might study in college. I looked up academic departments at University of Maryland, College Park and I created sections in my classroom library that cater to various topics of study. I made sections for Mathematics and Economics, Cultural Studies, Physics, Earth Science, etc. Since some of these terms are unfamiliar to students, I created labels with visuals to go along with each term. I made labels for fiction genres as well. I printed the labels out in color, laminated them, and taped them to each book bin. Here are some examples of what the labels look like. If you would like to see more, click here to check out my TpT store.

 

A Language-Rich Classroom for a Brand New Year!

Hello! A new school year has begun and I am working on making my classroom language-rich for my ESOL students. One thing I like to do is label my classroom. This is a great way to help English language learners build vocabulary and become familiar with their classroom environment. I created colorful labels that include a visual to go with each vocabulary word. Instead of putting the labels up myself, I made an activity out of it and had my students put them up around the room. The students learned new words, found out where things were in the classroom, and had a chance to move around the room and interact with one another. In one simple activity, they worked on building vocabulary and reading, listening, and speaking skills. Here is an example of the labels. Click here to see more classroom labels at my TpT store.