Sunday, January 31, 2016

Presidents' Day in Your Bilingual Classroom

I don't think it is possible to try and fit any more in the month of February:  Groundhog Day, Black History Month, Valentine's Day, AND Presidents' Day!

Well, I thought that I would share some resources that I use for my bilingual second grade classroom for Presidents' Day and ask if you had any resources that you would share with other bilingual teachers.


When planning out my Presidents' Day unit, I started with the books.  I have a lot of bilingual books that I share with my students, focusing on George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  You can click on any book or title to learn more about the books:


Primeras biografías - George Washington is one of my favorites to start off with.  Bellota books are so nice because they are easy to understand and that helps develop background knowledge before we move on in a topic.


I  like Personajes Estadounidenses - George Washington because it asks questions that a primary student would ask the president if given the chance.  Like, what would it be like to be George's friend?


I love that these books are out in Spanish now!  ¿Quién fue George Washington? is a chapter book all about George Washington.  These books were only available in English for the longest time and now they are making them in Spanish and that is awesome!  My advanced readers love these books - as soon as I put this one out, they all want it!


We usually move on to Abraham Lincoln after President Washington and I start it the same way:  Primeras biografías - Abraham Lincoln.  I love that both of these books follow the same format; it makes it super easy for the kids to use the texts to compare and contrast the two presidents.


This Scholastic Primeras biografías de Abraham Lincoln is perfect for my second graders. Sometimes you can find it through Club Leo (Scholastic's Spanish Book Club) or through Amazon.  I know that the first grade bilingual team liked it so much they purchased enough copies for partner reading in their classrooms.


There is a ¿Quién fue..?  book about Abraham Lincoln as well!  Like I said, I have loved these books in English for years, I am so thrilled to show my students the Spanish version this year!  They are great for finding information or just for enjoyment!

I also try to incorporate some Brain Pop Español in my classroom right about now. There is a great video that ties George Washington and the War of Independence together:


I will be tying all of our readings and movies together with some graphic organizers and a writing project at the end of the unit.  I am going to let my students choose who they write about.

I love how these turn out!  They are a part of these packs in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store:



I would love to know if you have any other book or movie ideas that you use in your bilingual classroom!  I am always looking for new ideas!


Friday, August 7, 2015

iTeach Giveaway

Hey everyone!  In addition to Bitty Bilinguals, I am also a part of two collaborative blogs: iTeach Bilinguals and iTeach Second.  I love these blogs because they are full of people who do the things that I love the most:  teaching bilingual students and teaching second grade! Well, this week we are hosting a giveaway for an iPad Air 2, a {super cute} case, stylus, and an iTunes gift card!  How awesome would that be to win for either personal use or for your classroom?!?


I have one iPad in my classroom and my students love using it! We use it quite a bit for math, but it is also a fun center for the week (one they can choose after they do their 'must do' center).  Over the years I have found quite a few apps that we love in our classroom.

We are lucky enough that our school buys Brain Pop for every classroom; that includes Brain Pop, Brain Pop Jr., Brain Pop ESL, and our favorite, Brain Pop Español!  The kids love having the power of choosing their own videos based on their interests.  They also enjoy the quizzes and activities that go along with the videos.


If you don't have a subscription to Brain Pop, you could use your iTunes gift card if you win or there are a lot of free resources in all of the Brian Pop versions.


Another favorite app in our classroom is Futaba!  The main reason I love this game is that it can be played with up to four players!  Each student gets their own side of the iPad.  I love watching the kids sprawled out on the classroom carpet, playing this game!


We started off with the free version of Futaba, which was just words and two players.  The kids loved it so much, I had to upgrade to four players!  I love games like this that help me stretch the use of one iPad in my classroom!  I like this because it is perfect for quick reading of English words, which helps my bitty bilinguals in their second language fluency.


To play this game, each student gets a side of the iPad.  A picture appears and the student who chooses the right word gets a point. It is timed, so at the end of 60 or 90 seconds, the player with the most points wins.  You can set it up to do multiple rounds, too.


Another in app purchase (hello, free iTunes card!) is an upgrade to the math version.  I finally upgraded last year and the kids loved playing the math version as well.  No, my second graders aren't doing division yet, but once you get the math pack you get addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  I love it!  It gets the kids thinking quickly and I am all about the math fluency!


Make sure to click over to iTeach Bilinguals or iTeach Second TODAY (it ends August 8th) to enter and let me know of any of your favorite apps below.  I am always looking for some great apps for my students!  




Monday, July 20, 2015

Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 3rd Graders

Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 3rd Graders
Are you ready?!  Today is the final installment for my Back-to-School Read Aloud series.  Today we are going to talk about books for third graders!  At the beginning of the year these third graders are just big second graders, excited to be part of the 'big kid' crowd.  The following books are ones that are going to add your new third graders' excitement about being back to school!

Remember you can click on any of the pictures or links to learn more about the books.

Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 3rd Graders
Ramona empieza el curso by Beverly Clearly is one of my favorites from being a third grader. The book title in English is Ramona Quimby, Age 8.  Sometimes I read this to my second graders at the end of the school year to get them excited about third grade, but this is the perfect book for the beginning of third!  Your third graders will definitely relate to Ramona and all the situations that she gets into!

Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 3rd Graders
Judy Moody está de mal humor, de muy mal humor by Megan McDonald is another great chapter book about the beginning of third grade.  This book is funny and has the kids laughing throughout.  Judy Moody's little brother, Stink, also adds to the comic relief and you will find that many kids want to read other Judy Moody and Stink books after you finish this book!

Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 3rd Graders
La maestra del pantano negro by Mike Thaler is a favorite from my second grade list, but it is great for third also.  Many of your students are ready for chapter books, but not all will be.  You want to introduce your strugglers to books that they can handle, but are not baby-ish.    Other titles in this series that are in Spanish are La directora del pantano negro and La bibliotecaria del pantano negro.  When the kids are ready there are even Black Lagoon chapter books (in English)!

Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 3rd Graders
¡La señorita Nelson ha desaparecido! by Harry Allard is a great picture book that kids don't seem to 'get' until they are older.  Señorita Nelson has had enough with the kids' behavior she decides to leave... in her place is Viola Swamp.  The kids hate her and promise to be good if only Señorita Nelson comes back!  The book is great for talking about good behaviors and good choices for third grade!

Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 3rd Graders
Un caso grave de rayas by David Shannon is another one I had on my second grade list, but it is perfect for third grade.  The students have made the big jump to third grade and they are worried about where they fit in.  This book is great for talking about being your true self (#beyou) and not worrying about what others think about your decision.  As a teacher, you can use Camilla as an example and see what the students would do in her position (and in her classmates' positions).


Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 3rd Graders
La mariposa by Francisco Jiménez is another great book about being yourself, accepting others, and helping friends.  Francisco is a son of an immigrant campesino and La mariposa goes through his first year at school, not knowing how to speak English, and all that he goes through.  The situation that he goes through on the playground with the bully is such a great discussion points with the students.  I am amazed when I hear some of my students who take the bully's side!  I let them be heard though and it leads to a really good conversation in the classroom.

Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 3rd Graders
Gracias, Sr. Falker by Patricia Polacco is another great book for talking about bullying and how we are all different.  It is a tear jerker (in fact, I just reread it for this post and I was bawling my eyes out), but it is great to open this dialogue with the students.  Maybe you will have students who talk about their struggles or maybe you will have the opportunity to talk about equal doesn't always mean the same.  The main idea with these last three books is allowing students a safe place to talk.

Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 3rd Graders
¡Oh, cuán lejos llegarás! by Dr. Seuss is a great book to talk about goals in third grade.  People usually think of Dr. Seuss for beginning readers, but this book is given to people at their college graduations!  This book is perfect to talk about all that is going to happen in third grade and how it is going to help them reach their goals in school and in life!

I hope you have enjoyed this three part series.  If you missed the past posts, you can click below to go back to them.  I have loved all of the suggestions that you have left here on the blog and on Facebook.  I would love to know if I left any of your favorites out!



Friday, July 17, 2015

Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 2nd Graders

Hey guys!  I am back with part two of my back-to-school read aloud series!  Yesterday, I wrote about back-to-school read alouds for bilingual first graders and you can read about them here.  Today I get to talk about my read alouds for my favorite grade level:  2nd Grade!  I might be partial, seeing that I am a second grade teacher!  

Remember you can click on any of the picture or the links to explore these books some more!

Bitty Bilinguals - Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 2nd Graders
 Lista para segundo grado Ámbar Dorado and Segundo grado es increíble Ámbar Dorado by Paula Danziger are my favorite books to read the first weeks of second grade!  How awesome is it to find a character, just like them (she has a best friend Justo for the boys), that is in second grade!  These books also serve as a starting point for Pupitrina (The Desk Fairy) in my classroom.  There are a whole bunch of easy readers staring Ámbar and Justo and the kids love them!

Bitty Bilinguals - Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 2nd Graders
I have read La maestra del pantano negro by Mike Thaler the first day of school all eight years in the classroom!  Why?  It is funny and the kids love it!  They laugh and get their nerves out!  I also love the other books in the series, La directora del pantano negro and La bibliotecaria del pantano negro, too!  This is the day that my students fall in love with these books and so I always make sure I have a basket full for them to check out from our classroom library.

I had a teacher friend who would use these books in her classroom (in English) as an introduction to all of the specialist teachers.  She would invite them in the classroom throughout the week and they would read the book that went along with the special that they taught.  So the librarian would read The Librarian from the Black Lagoon, etc.  I thought that was such an awesome idea!

Bitty Bilinguals - Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 2nd Graders
For the last couple of years ¡Qué nervios!  El primer día de escuela by Julie Danneberg has been my go-to read aloud for our first afternoon of second grade.  After we read this book together, the second grade team (bilingual and monolingual) get together to do activities from Abby Mullins' Super Second Graders Pack.  We love reading the Jitter Juice poem and drinking our concoctions by the same name!

Bitty Bilinguals - Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 2nd Graders
¡No te comas a la maestra! by Nick Ward is a funny little story about Sammy the Shark on his first day of school.  It is perfect for talking about first week emotions such as being excited, nervous, etc. This book is a favorite of my students long into the middle of the school year!

Bitty Bilinguals - Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 2nd Graders
I love books that lead the discussion about being you and Un caso grave de rayos by David Shannon is a perfect example of that!  Camilla doesn't want to admit how much she loves lima beans so she starts changing different colors and no one can figure out why!  #beyou.

Bitty Bilinguals - Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 2nd Graders
Froggy va a la escuela by Jonathan London was on my first grade list, but I had to put on my second grade list, too.  I love introducing my students to characters that they can read about in other books.  It gets the reluctant readers something to grasp onto and they get really invested in these characters.  We do the t-chart and compare/contrast Froggy's school life to our school life: the kids love it!

Bitty Bilinguals - Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 2nd Graders
Speaking of books that get kids excited about reading, I think that ¡Yo puedo leer con los ojos cerrados! by Dr. Seuss is a great book to do so.  The kids love this book and laugh the whole way though -- who am I to deny them of this funny book?

Bitty Bilinguals - Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 2nd Graders
My last book is another one from my first grade list:  Así vamos a la escuela by Edith Baer.  I do a lot more with this book in second grade than I would if I was teaching first grade.  We do another t-chart, but then the kids get to write about our school and another school around the world.  It isn't a major writing activity, but it gets the kiddos thinking about school and education and how it is a global concept.  We aren't the only kids and teachers that go to school in the whole world!

So there you have it!  My list of back-to-school read alouds for bilingual second graders!  I would love to know if you read any of these to your students or if you would add anything to this list!  Comment below with your ideas!

Be sure to come back Monday for my final installment of Back-to-School read alouds when I share my top picks for third grade!


Thursday, July 16, 2015

Back-to-School Read Alouds for Bilingual 1st Graders

Bitty Bilinguals - Back to School Read Alouds for Bilingual 1st Grade

Hey everyone!  We are getting to that time:  where we don't want to let go of those last moments of summer, but that Target Dollar Spot has us thinking about back-to-school.

I have some tried and true back-to-school read alouds that I read to my students every year and I thought that I would share a few of my favorites for our primary bilingual students.  To start with this three-part series, I wanted to share some of my top read alouds for first grade bilinguals (click on any picture or link to purchase the book).

Bitty Bilinguals - Back to School Read Alouds for Bilingual 1st Grade
Un beso en mi mano by Audrey Penn is a favorite (and a tear-jerker) of one of my good friends who teaches in a first grade bilingual classroom.  It talks about going to school and missing your family, but knowing that they are always in your heart.

Bitty Bilinguals - Back to School Read Alouds for Bilingual 1st Grade
Cristantemo by Kevin Henkes is another first week favorite!  Cristantemo is in love with her name until she goes to school and the kids make fun of her name.  This story is great about being proud of who you are!

Bitty Bilinguals - Back to School Read Alouds for Bilingual 1st Grade
David va al colegio by David Shannon is a great book for teaching the rules for the first week of school!  It is great to talk about what we do and don't do at school.  There are so many extension activities that lead to a natural discussion of school expectations from this book.

Bitty Bilinguals - Back to School Read Alouds for Bilingual 1st Grade
¿Cómo van a escuela los dinosaurios? by Jane Yolen is another book that is great for discussing the rules and expectations of school.  I like how it starts with non-examples of school behaviors and then goes into how we should behave at school.  It sets up perfectly for a t-chart of school expectations.

Bitty Bilinguals - Back to School Read Alouds for Bilingual 1st Grade
Clifford va a la escuela by Norman Bridwell is a great book for the first week of school because it gets the kids excited about a book series.  The students will probably read a lot of Clifford books in first grade and how great is it to introduce this beloved character the first week of school?

Bitty Bilinguals - Back to School Read Alouds for Bilingual 1st Grade
Froggy va a la escuela by Jonathan London introduces another beloved character that your first graders will read about all year.  It is fun to compare Froggy's school life and the students' school life (do we eat flies at lunch?)

Bitty Bilinguals - Back to School Read Alouds for Bilingual 1st Grade
Así vamos a la escuela by Edith Baer is a great book for discussing school and education as a global concept.  This book is perfect for comparing and contrasting different cultures while still staying on level for first grade.

Bitty Bilinguals - Back to School Read Alouds for Bilingual 1st Grade
Finally, Junie B. en primer grado (¡por fin!) by Barbara Park is a great first month of school read aloud.  First graders are excited about chapter books and they immediately relate with Junie B.  

As bilingual and dual language teachers we know how hard it is to find great books in Spanish; I would love to know what books you read to your kiddos for back-to-school!  Comment below if you read any of these books with your firsties or if you have any other favorites that you would add to this list!

Come back tomorrow for more selections for back-to-school read alouds in a bilingual 2nd grade classroom!