Soooooo Happy

I'm off for one whole week, YAHOOOOO

Oh, I have been looking so forward to some time off.

Technology has not been kind to me lately, at home or school.

I love technology and have been trying to effectively use it more in my class, but I tell ya, when Techy is not cooperative, ugh!

And, to let us know who is in control, the power at school was out Thursday.

Something about lightning striking a transformer I think.

no power

20+ kids

rainy weather

equals migraine

I think mostly because I'm still fighting this cough, cold, head congestion.

Any....ways....

I have to say, I am just so thankful for my class this year.  They are the sweetest, hard-working, little sponges of knowledge!  We have been working on comparing and contrasting all week with our stories, animals, and finally each other.  

This is seriously a great activity for communicating, collaborating, and asking questions.

My hubby Jeff and I both love to watch movies, sushi, coffee, walking on the beach, and we love our family.

I've shared this activity before, and it never fails to amaze me at some of the things they come up with.  I didn't include it, but one pair shared their birthdays, how awesome is that?

And in case you didn't catch it,

look at this:

both boys had same kindergarten and 1st grade teachers, they are the best teachers!

tear, quivering lip...

So THANKFUL for my kiddos :)

The Dreaded Words...

The end of the trimester...

Friday was the end of the 1st trimester, already! I know!

Like most teachers in my district, we'll be busy this 3 day weekend grading assessments and completing report cards.
Friday our janitor  came in to clean and said wow you're here late!  Teachers never stop working, huh?  

But I love teaching and I love my class!
 Seriously, I have thee best class this year!

(My husband would tell you I say this every year :)

Anyways, I'm thankful for the 3 days.

Saturday was all bout scrapbooking.

Sunday will be all about Thor, eh hem, I mean, familia.
Then grading, eating, assessments, and our latest TV love:

Monday, after another visit to the dentist will be all about report cards and lesson plans.  Which I don't usually mind, but now we have to add the 4 C's to our plans, and include Blooms/Websters matrix to our plans...

Adios amigos...

I leave you with my favorite Arrested Development scenes, it sums up how I feel, but makes me smile every time :)

Monday Moments

i woke up early this morning, going over my to do list in my head,

thinking frantically of all that I had to do,

the trimester ends in 2 weeks, which not only means I have only 2 weeks to review skills, but throw in there Halloween for my little one, nope, no costume yet.

a halloween carnival

professional day friday, sigh...one less day with kids

did i mention i'm taking a technology course?

assessments

report cards (well, at least i have 2 1/2 weeks before they're due)

and yeah....i've been fighting off a cold all weekend 

(guess who's winning)

and then a small still voice, 

one i've been too busy to hear:

breathe, appreciate the moments

kids love this time of year, don't let assessments overtake my classroom.

why can't i use the fun poems, chants, and read alouds to review those skills?

but mostly, i need to think about and cherish moments like this one:

my cutie pie had her first piano recital this weekend. 

did she talk to her pal next to her during the recital? yup :/

did i get uptight thinking, oh no, is this how she is in her kindergarten class? yup :/

did she play her music an extra 4 times because she was so nervous? ha, ha yup :)

do i swell up with tears and joy when i think of this moment? absolutely :)

well, thanks for hearing me out, 

i haven't blogged in such a long time but just felt this need to share.

hope to be a little less of a stranger here in my little part of bloggyland.

Breakin'Bad Sushi Sunday!

Hola amigos,

I can't believe October is just around the corner!

The countdown is on, not a lot of time until....

The series of finale of

aaaaaaaaaahhhh!

Can't wait!

And to think I almost gave up half way through the first season!

To celebrate, (yes, we celebrate, this season is that good!)

I put together some snacks.

Yahoo for Party City, they have so many yummy candies in different colors, its a rainbow heaven I tell ya :)

I wrapped them and gave a baggy of the blue stuff to my pal at school,

we're sooo excited!!

My son is taking a baggie to his friend's house, 

wonder if they'll turn their teeth blue, ha, ha, ha!

Well, 3 hours til showtime, gotta finish cooking my chicken for the week, and pick up some SUSHI!

Heisenburg! 

Author's Purpose

I don't know where the time goes!

We're getting ready to start our unit testing and I am so proud of my kiddos!
I have to say this now, because they've really learned a lot of vocabulary, reading strategies, and sometimes, testing doesn't always reflect their knowledge.

We've been working on author's purpose.

I don't really care for the way our program teaches author's purpose, so I thought I'd use the Pinterest friendly PIE method.

But instead of yummy smelling pies, we used the stinky, smelling feet. Feet?!

What do feet have to do with the reason author's write?

Well, of course, not much, but the acronym is the same: to persuade, to inform, and to entertain.

In Spanish, PIE is a foot.

My kiddos laugh, of course we don't really want to smell stinky feet, but let's see what it stands for:

And of course the first one is the hardest one to teach.

We spent a whole day just on persuasion.

We talked about the power of commercials and bring in my pumpkin spice latte, (finally a good reason to drink coffee ;)

And then work on a little project.

Ask my kiddos what is persuade/persuadir?

Persuadir: convencerte de cambiar tu opinión.

I uploaded a lil' unit in Spanish at my TPT if you're interested 

For now, let me know if you this freebie works for you :)

Adios amigos :)

Duck On A Bike Equals Stamina...

Whaaat?!

Who knew this book would help drive home the point of building stamina? 

I often refer to building stamina, or in Spanish leer con vigor, to riding a bike. We can't just jump on a bike  and expect to ride it like a pro right away. I ask kids to talk to their partners about how they first learned to ride a bike. Without fail, they all say how they had to practice and practice and practice.

Well, reading is just like riding a bike.
We can't read well just like that, we have to read and read and read. It's up to us if we want to be an eh-so-so reader or if they want to be a.... Super Reader! 

And they all want to be Super Readers of course ;) 

So what do we have to do to become a Super Reader?
Read, read, and read some more!
I cannot stress enough how important it is for kids to see themselves as readers!
This is why it's so important for kids to realize there are 3 ways to read a book.  Struggling readers can read the pictures or retell the story, which are both very important for comprehension.
Click below to grab your freebie.

To start building stamina, I use our Treasures reader.  Students are familiar with the stories, they're familiar with the 3 ways to read a book, and are set to go.

My kiddos found many places to read...

Ahhh, can anything else warm a teacher's heart like seeing her kiddos read?

Have a super weekend amigos :)

Daily 5 Freebies

Well, I didn't have my pumpkin spice latte yet, but so far so good, well, for today that is, you can read my breakdown here.

I had some freebies on Scribd, but recently realized that new members have to subscribe to download :(   I had no idea, so slowly but surely, I'll try to get my freebies moved over to my TPT store.

This is a popular pin, (Yay Pinterest!)  It's a great help for managing your Daily 5 activities.

Just clicky the pics, I would love to hear from you if you do ;)

This is another Daily 5 freebie I have.  I just love the clipart by Scrappindoodles and hope it's something you can use :)

Adios amigos

Slow Down??

I never get this sick.

A cold here, a sore throat there, sure, but the way I've felt these last couple of days, ugh, is this what the flu feels like?  I've had several kids out the last couple of weeks.  The bug that has been going around finally got me :(

Testing, assessments, report cards, parent conferences, trying to engage our kiddos, my defenses were low I suppose, no wonder I've been bit.

I'm home, sick, and while it's normally difficult for me to just do nothing, this bug is telling me to just slooooow down already, do nothing but relax and feel better.

So my lil' cutie pie is taking care of her mama today, and drew this beautiful picture of me.

Needless to say, I'm feeling better already :)

A Daily 5 Freebie

I cannot believe we'll be starting our 3rd week of school!

We've started our Daily 5 routines by modeling and practicing 3 Ways to Read.

I am going slooooow people...

I think it's so important to really allow our kiddos to understand the importance of reading the pictures and retelling the story.  In guided reading I'm always reminding my kiddos to first look at the picture, it's so important for reading comprehension to make sense of the pictures and to make predictions.

And for my kiddos who really need support, it's especially important that they see themselves as readers!

I know there are a lot of posters in Bloggyland, but since I need mine in Spanish, I thought I would make them bilingual.  I would really like to hear from you if you do enjoy these freebies :)

Also, I just uploaded my Super Hero Rules in my TPT :)

Have a Super week amigos!

Oh Happy Day!

My girl is back, safe and sound from studying abroad in Europe!

I am one Happy Mama!

My souvenir?

Chocolates from every place she visited!

Does my girl know me or what? :)

We're having a brunch for her today, but I'm still going to try to get some shopping done for TPT's annual sale!  You can save up to 28%, how awesome is that?!

I'm also participating, and would love it if you visited my lil' TPT store :)

Adios Amigos!

Classroom Digs

Hola amigos!

This is my first week of school and I... am... beat! (it' barely Tuesday you say?  I know!)
But I do love starting a new year :) 

New kiddos, new boards, and a new classroom set up.

This year, our school adapted the Super Hero theme.

Yay for me because I started this theme last year :)

I'll post student goals and Super Student of the Week here.

But I do love my DJ Inkers decor so I used some in my library area.

My library area is behind the shelves.  

I just pulled some of my math boxes, I had to store them during the summer, and they're actually pretty well organized in a cabinet.

My new library set up!  I still need to find some comfy padding for my bench area.

I'm loving my writing wall!  After I put writing samples, you'll still be able to see a border.

Ahhh... scrapbook paper.... how I love thee!

Each class has adopted a University.
Each grade level is responsible for teaching university vocabulary and every Wednesday we can wear our university t-shirts.  Can I just say how cool it is too see classes wearing their university T's :)
We are 'SC!

Our class rules:  they're the same rules I've used, similar to Whole Brain Teaching, but with a Super Hero coolness :)

Our pocket chart area and science/history wall.

And lastly, our math wall.  I do most of it on the Smart Board, but last year my kiddos weren't able to do calendar when I had a sub, so I thought I'd put a basic one for such "sick" days ;)

I looove to peek in other classrooms, so if you're anything like me, head on over to

Adios amigos :)

I Think I Picked The Wrong Week To...

Stop drinking coffee.

If you've read my blog for a bit then you might know I absolutely love, LOVE, coffee.
I swear it tastes better with just about anything!
Donuts and pastries of course, but with cold pizza leftovers from the night before,
a handful of almonds, my breakfast sammies... how I miss thee....
It's been almost a week, and my soothing replacement has been Good Earth Tea.
But it has really kept me moving at a snail's pace in my classroom.

School starts exactly one week from today, my normal comment would be:
ONE WEEK PEOPLE!! But amazingly enough, I'm pretty calm considering this is all I've done in my class so far...

I wonder if there's any chance of me being here just one more time before school starts...

                              

Good luck, hope we all get our classrooms ready for our new kiddos.

Adios amigos :)

Tryin To Get My B2S Mojo

Well, that's it, school starts exactly 2 weeks from today, 

2 weeks!!

I have 2 weeks to get my classroom ready, go to meetings, get my classroom ready, plan, and oh yeah... get my classroom ready!?!!

Can you feel my stress level slowly rising?

I think this is the longest it's ever taken me to get my B2S mojo back.

Normally I would have tackled so much on my To Do list,

but this summer, the only things I managed to put on my To Do list have been:

1.  Rest

2.  Relax

3. Recoup

My hubby saw me catching up on Joel Osteen yesterday and said,

"Oh, I see you're gearing up to go back, huh?"

Yes people, it was that kind of year last year.

But luckily, I managed to accomplish everything on my To Do list this summer ;)

One of the first things I always do is my room layout.

I liked my guided reading table near the entrance since it served as my desk area as well.  But it was turning into a catch all, not good for guided reading.

Wow, this is embarrassing,  can't believe I'm posting this picture, but it was the end of the year and I was trying to put stuff away :?

So I  was thinking about switching my library area with my guided reading/ teacher area.

Can I tell you what a pain moving that file cabinet was last year? 

I had to empty all 5 drawers just so that I can move it.  I have some awesome janitors that wouldn't have thought twice about helping me out, but it was the end of the year, and well, you know....

When I go back, I will definitely ask for their help :)

So here is my final plan.

My kids will ask why bother, because I like to move stuff around anyways, 

but everyone needs a good plan, right?

In case you're wondering, I'm using one of my favorite Apps, Good Notes, love it!

I was going to draw all this on paper, but using the markers on my mini iPad was so much fun :)

In Need Of Prayers

My daughter is studying abroad and I haven't really posted anything because I am so paranoid about things, but she's had an allergic reaction to something, she's allergic to penicillin and has a rash on her legs.  She's finally taking an antihistamine, after figuring out it might have been a Cordon Blue sammie, and now we're waiting.

Is there anything more helpless than waiting?

I'm trying to stay positive.  She'll be fine I know.  But still... feeling helpless.

And because I know there's power in prayer, please, please send your positive thoughts and prayers for my girl.

Do You Hear Crickets?

I sometimes feel like I do.

And then I get this 

 from a sweet follower, Carrie Dawley, and I think, ok Yay no crickets ;)

So if you wanna know a little more about me, read on ;)

Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging so that my parents would have peek into our classroom.

Now I blog to share with other teachers.  I've gotten so much from other fabulous teachers and thought I would give some insight into a Dual Language classroom.

Have you always wanted to be a teacher?

Never considered it until I went to USC (fight on!) as a business major.   We all had to volunteer hours, so I volunteered at a school.  I loved it so much and after going back and forth, I changed my major, received my bachelors degree,  teaching credential, and have loved being a teacher for the last 19 years, YAY!

What is your favorite non-teaching website?

Pioneer Woman

Kevin & Amanda

I love that they're so down to earth and so willing to share

Do you have pets, children, or both?  How many?

My five kids are 22, 19, 17, 16, and 5, whew!

and our doggy, Sauza.

What goals do you have for the summer?

Rest, relaxation, and time with my family.
Also on the top on my list... scrapbooking, finally got my mojo back :)

What was the year, make, and model of your first car?

I still have my first new car, a 2000 Dodge Durango.
The window doesn't work, the AC doesn't work, and right now the battery is dead, just needs a little jump, but I'm still not ready to give it up.

Have you always taught the grade that you teach now?

I've taught Kinder, 1st, and 2nd.  Love them all :)

What do you like to do when you aren't teaching/grading/lesson planning?

I love watching movies and scrapbooking.

Out of all the places that you might have lived, which is your favorite?

I would love to live closer to the beach.

What is your must-have accessory for your work outfits?

Comfy shoes :)

What has been your least favorite vacation destination?  Why?

Desert areas, sorry, heat and I don't do so well together.

Thanks for reading!

Anyone Keynote Out There?

Hola Amigos

Is there anything better than waking up when you're body is ready?

Late enough that you feel rested.

Early enough that you can enjoy a cup of coffee and listen to your music because everyone's sleeping still.  Maxwell station on Pandora, love me some good ole' R&B!

My brain has definitely enjoyed this summer.

Usually my To Do list is long, I love marking off what I've accomplished.

And yeah...so much that I'll even write stuff I've done just so I can check it off :)

But this summer I just really needed a break.

I've been spending a lot of time enjoying my familia.

I have about 3 full weeks left of summer before I need to start heading to my class.

My laptop has still been freezing.

I lost Microsoft Office because I had gotten a great reduced price through my district, but I think it was a download.

So I'm thinking about Pages and Keynote, I would some advice :)

I used Powerpoint to make my printables and centers, but I'm wondering if Keynote is just as easy.

Anyways I'm off to enjoy another lazy day of summer ;)
Adios Amigos

Five For Friday

Hola Amigos!

Have I mentioned how much I'm lovin' my summer?  Love it!!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching, to let you know some of the reasons why :)

uno:

1.  My lil' cutie pie is becoming quite the artist,

I love her drawings...

dos:

2.  So my cutie pie will start Kinder this fall and has already become quite the writer.

How can I say no after she left me this note?

tres

3.  Pluto was so sweet, he let her pet him before taking a picture.

cuatro:

  

4.  Finally tried the Mint Julep... maybe it's better with a lil' sumpin' sumpin'

but the Monte Cristo...YUM!

cinco:

5.  OMG have you tried Marie Callender's Cake Pie?

Cake on top of PIE people!!!

Have a Super Weekend!

Adios Amigos!