My furry babies

I  grew up with dogs in the house and although I loved having them, they were dogs to me, I could not understand all those crazy dog people. 
  It wasn't until I had my first puppy as an adult that I truly understood the connection that some of us have with these pretty little beings. I am now considered a dog(and cat) lover!
Taking care of them, watching them grow and receiving unconditional love are just some of the reasons why I love about having them in my life. 

I always thought that I needed to do a better job at taking pics of my little ones. 
I did not realized how many pics I already had! I have so many it was hard to choose a few to place here, so I decided to do a collage.

I have two dogs (Lola and Mateo) and two cats (Ozzy and Floyd)

For cats: I noticed that before, my cats were not drinking water, I learned while searching online that cats don't like to have their water next to their food. 
So I started putting their water next to the kitchen sink and... It works! Plus, their water is always fresh since I change it when I do the dishes!

This is where they eat:

For dogs: I would love to say that after 4 years, my doggies are completely potty trained, but the truth is even after we take them outside at night, they love to pee on the floor while we sleep! So, we bought a baby gate and they sleep with us, one under the bed and the other one on the bathroom floor. In the morning, we take them outside.

The dogs have beds but the cats like them better:

 

My dogs and cats came from the same litter. Lola was first, and eight months later Mateo, her brother came to our house. 
Ozzy and Floyd were adopted from the shelter and were named Tom and Jerry (I know, cute but it doesn't make sense). They were found on the street and were only in the shelter for four days, we decided to take them both (ok, my husband was really the one who could not 'separate' them) and I'm glad we did.

I keep all the dog toys on a basket that I bought at a grocery store for about $5! Lola is the only one that likes to play with toys, she has a few favorite ones:

Enjoy this animal theme freebie, that is available in English and Spanish! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

5 Practical Tips for New Bilingual Teachers

Welcome to the bilingual teaching world! Whether you are teaching dual, bilingual or Spanish immersion, I hope you find these tips useful. 

My bilingual teacher friends and I have come up with a few tips to get you started.

Substitute Plans:

As a new teacher you will spend school days at new teacher trainings, meetings,not to mention you may get sick, and will need a day off. 
Start early and think about a substitute plan (binders, tubs, plans). This will save you hours, other teachers are also coming up with new ideas, so visit Pinterest often.

Know when to stop working: 

Even if you stayed up for days, chances are, you are not going to finish everything you have to do, so do your best everyday and know when to stop, it is not healthy to stay up working until 3 a.m. everyday. 

Have a cut-off time everyday and make sure you add family and personal time!

Create a diary of your first year of teaching:

School days are full of activities, events, and of course packed of lessons, having documentation on what you did, can help you to be more prepared the following year.

It is wishful thinking to pretend teachers have time to sit down and write in a journal every evening and reflect about your day, you will be too busy, so find creative ways to create a diary, I used my phone. A simple voice note stating things that worked well, lessons that did not go so well and activities that I need at that time of the year.

 During the summer, listen/read the diary and update, create or find the resources that you needed (conference packets, volunteer planning, certificates, posters, anchor charts, etc).

 Stay connected:

As a bilingual teacher, you will find very quickly that Spanish resources are hard to find. Many bilingual teachers are trying to change that, on this website, you will find teachers from all over the world that share ideas, lessons, and activities. 

Ask for help:

Many new teachers think that asking for help means they are not doing something right. Please don't ever feel/think like that, there are systems in place, that you can't just already know. 

You need to ask in order to learn, if you find that some people are not as helpful, ask on forums, Facebook groups, etc. 

Remember we are here to help too, so send us a message on our Facebook page or e-mail me! 

Are you still preparing to land a job in the bilingual field? Need help preparing? Visit The Ladders and find great tips on how to advance your career. 

un carnaval de recursos

What a better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than to have a "carnaval of free resources" for your class? Many bilingual teachers have joined this blog hop to bring you educational material especially designed for your bilingual/dual classroom. 

I can't wait for Spring to get here, our friends up north will probably agree. While some of us are enjoying the nice weather, we have to remember it is still winter, and what better way to celebrate, than with poems.

I have to confess this is the first year I use weekly poems in my kinder classroom, and I have to say that I can't believe how much they have helped with fluency and comprehension, the best part is, my students still remember the past poems and can recite them from memory.

I am learning more and more about how to use them in class, and I also want to share the love with you. I compiled 15 winter poems that you can enlarge o print in different ways(even make little books), and have also added 6 ideas on how to use in class, all in one packet. 

This item will be free only during the hop, so don't wait! Click on the picture to download. 

I hope you continue to find the resources that you need, don't forget that we love to hear what you think so leave a comment in our blog and/or store. 

Go to the next stop by clicking on the button:

Read it, find it, write it! FREEBIE

I am excited to share with you the 100^th activity that I upload on my Teachers Pay Teacher store! I hope you find it useful in your class.

It has been two years since I started my little store and it has been growing steadily thanks to you. As a thank you, this is a forever freebie. If there are things you need in your classroom but you don’t have the time to create, please e-mail me and let me know. I would love to know what you need/want in your classroom, and will try my best to create or direct you to the right resource. 

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