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

Monkey diary in English and Spanish FREEBIE

Hello friends!

   I am excited to share with you something that my kinder kids love, and that could work with older grades too. This is all you need:

 Yes, I’ve had the “monkey theme” for the past four years (and I plan to have it for a few more). Magically, my students started to bring me a lot of “monkey stuff”, including stuffed animals, so I decided to use them during and after class.

        I use them during class when it’s reading time and they don’t have a reading buddy. They simply go to the library, take a “friend” and read to them. It also works when I am busy talking to another student. I tell them to say it to the monkey first (and they really do!). That gives me time to finish the conversation. There is also another way I have used them. I had a student at the beginning of the year that would cry constantly because she didn't want to come to school. I told the student that our monkey was also nervous about coming to class, and that she was responsible for making sure he was okay, because I wanted him to know that he was safe in school. 

She started taking the monkey everywhere and I mean everywhere (bathroom, lunch, recess, etc). Our monkey even had a special place in P.E. I decided it worked but I didn’t want her to carry the monkey the whole day, every day. I decided I had to take it away, so I started a journaling activity.

This is how I started it:

1. The students picked five monkey friends from the classroom.

2. They named all the monkeys. A whole group activity.

3. I created the diary (duck tape on the spiral for durability):

4.  Created a few guidelines:

5. I send home every Friday, but only those who have not been on yellow the whole week can take them home. I love how it helps as a motivator for good behavior! 

6. Students share on Monday what they did with the monkeys.

Did I mention I also send a small snack(left over from the week)? I tell them that it is for the monkeys and one of my students actually brought the snack on Monday. He said the monkey was not really hungry. How cute! 

Would you like to use it in your classroom? Click here. 

My favorite things!

My favorite Restaurant:

It is not often that I get to eat out, but when I do, I usually go to the same restaurant: Carraba's. We live in a an area where there are plenty of restaurants to choose from, but this one always wins. 

It was founded by two Sicilian boys from Texas who love to cook and eat! Meet their family here. 

My favorite dish is the Tilapia Nocciola!

My favorite thing to do:

This is the busiest time of the year, but also the most exciting one for me because I love to travel. 
Nothing gets me more excited than being on a waiting room about to board a plane. 
This year, I am going to Colombia with my husband, did you know that Laura Graham is also from Colombia? 
 I am busy packing, writing lesson plans and also teaching! I can tell my students are as excited as I am, and although I love their pretty little faces laughing and jumping from joy, I decided to write an Elf on the Shelf unit in Spanish #bilingual teacher  that will keep them in check while they also write, check it out:

I have also discounted my featured products 50% off, so take advantage while you can, you can also write #myfavoritething2014  on the TPT search bar and find all of the amazing products from the 70 bloggers participating. 

My gift to you:

I have to say that once school starts, it gets a little harder to follow, but I try hard to set a time for me on Sundays (at least an hour).  It is not only nice to focus on me, it also helps me reflect on the past week and think (calmly) about the following week. 

Whether you have one hour or less, I want to do the same for you. If you win this giveaway, I will send you a gift box with some of my favorite things from Mary Kay. 

Because we value our followers and wanted to treat you to our favorite things Oprah style, we have put together the best giveaway of the season! My bloggy friends and I welcome you to the best, biggest, most cheerful event of the season:

7 winners for 7 prize packs!

Come and enter the giveaway and check out my bloggy friends' favorite things:





a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up