Hands-On Centers

One of the focal aspects of our daily routine include our learning centers, math centers and our literacy workshops. An important facet of these centers includes engaging students with exploratory hands-on games and activities that aim at teaching the standards/content area goals for each week! One of the most exciting ways to get students engaged is to #SetTheStageToEngage and provide students with exciting and engaging activities that will have them looking forward to doing that center.

One of the main things that I try to do is include centers related to our thematic units of study. Below are some examples of some centers I have done that are related to our units of study:

Pilgrim/Native American Unit:

• Students get to "fish" for sight words! I have sight words glued onto fish cut-outs and then attach a paper clip to each fish. Students utilize magnetic fishing rods to "fish" the sight word, read it and then write it on their paper.
• I put out Lincoln Logs and images of actual log cabins and homes that the pilgrims/Native Americans used to live in. Students had to utilize the logs to build/recreate those images.

Plant Unit: Students get to "dig" for sight words! I get a big black tub, fill it with beans (to simulate dirt/soil), and then print sight words on paper carrots and place them in the bucket. Students use plastic toy shovels to "dig" for the sight word, read it and write it on their paper.

Space Unit: I print yellow stars with sight words on them and tape them underneath a table. Students have to lay down under the table and write down 10 sight words on their papers, as if they're looking up at the night sky.

Community Helpers Unit: Each week I organized a mini-dramatic play/literacy center where students got to be construction workers, doctors, vets and bakery chefs. The main literacy focus of the center was to have students find the missing syllable/vowel that completed words that were printed on buildings (construction workers), animals (vets), and pastries (chefs). I set up the area to simulate that occupation and students got to dress up, use tools and record their answers on a corresponding response sheet.

Animal Unit: I bought the caterpillars from Insect Lore and gave each student a butterfly life cycle recording journal. Every few days the students would get an opportunity to record what they were observing through the use of illustrations and words!

Now, of course you won't be able to include these specialized centers every week (just not physically feasible!) but there is an opportunity to make your centers hands-on and engaging every week! With simple things such as including games (spinners, using dice, using manipulatives, using magnetic letters) and with activities that allow students to get up from their chairs and move around! Especially with our dual language learners, I find it so immensely important to create an environment where they are excited about going to centers and being in class that their "affective filter" (Krashen) is lowered and they are at ease and comfortable!

What kind of centers and activities do YOU use in your classroom? Can you think of ways to revamp your centers?

My One Word for 2016... "Experiment"

Recently my principal wrote a blog post about his "one word" for 2016 and this inspired our latest twitter chat (Thursday nights--> #sofledchat) about each of our own "one word" for 2016. After reflecting back on the first half of the school year (still cannot believe we are halfway through the year!) and on a word that could embody how I want my students to push themselves and try new things... I came up with the word "experiment." Experiment is just a fancy word for "TRY" and while "trying" is SO essential in every single classroom, I also see it as a key feature of my Kindergarten Dual Language (Spanish) classroom. 

I don't have to try too hard to put myself in my students shoes (especially my Native English speaking students) because when I first immigrated to the United States, all I spoke was Spanish and I was placed in an all English first grade classroom where I felt intimidated and nervous at first when all I heard was English being spoken to me all day. This is how many of my English speaking students must have felt at the beginning of the year (and even at some points still must feel) hearing me speak Spanish all day. Thus, TRYING or EXPERIMENTING is a key part in being a successful language learner (even when we are babies and learning our native tongue!). When I see my students jump in and EXPERIMENT or TRY it leaves me inspired, excited and motivated to try more and to push myself more, so it can help them as well. An example: one of my native English speaking students started saying full sentences to me in Spanish towards the end of December and she has continuously been jumping in and experimenting with her language and her learning! If a 5 year old can experiment so freely and free from judgment, can't we all?

So as I have been reflecting over what my amazing students have accomplished and how they are growing as learners and language learners, I wanted to think of a word that could embody how I want my students to experience learning (through experimentation... through trying, through failing & getting back up again!) and how I want to be as a teacher - always trying hard and pushing myself!

I have said this repeatedly to people who know me - I never want to be 'complacent' with anything in my life because I think complacency leads to stagnation, standing still and lack of progression... One way that I will not become complacent is by experimenting - trying new things everyday both personally and in my career! I am constantly amazed at how much I can learn from my 5 and 6 year olds - how much experimenting is required of them (mainly because so much of this "school" thing is so new to them!) that I find myself motivated and excited to try new things too!

So as we start off 2016 I will vow to "EXPERIMENT," to try new things, to jump into all experiences that are coming with excitement, motivation and inspiration and in turn, provide opportunities for my students to EXPERIMENT, to TRY new things and ways of learning so that they too are excited, motivated and inspired! What is your One Word for 2016?

Landforms (Accidentes Geograficos) Unit!

This past week we began working on our landforms unit, which aligns to our Kindergarten Geography standards. Our landforms unit ties in nicely with our Gingerbread man/maps/globes theme for the month of December. I was extra excited about this unit because while there aren't many (or actually almost NONE) Gingerbread man books/stories in Spanish, there are a good amount of informational texts about landforms/biomes in Spanish as well as fictional texts in Spanish that feature beautiful landscapes that can create conversations about landforms!

We launched the unit with a SQA (Lo que se, lo que quiero saber, lo que aprendi) chart about accidentes geograficos! We learned hand motions for several landforms including: mountain, island, ocean, river, desert, glacier, peninsula, waterfall, volcano and hills. The hand motions were simple and the kids really enjoyed showing them and "acting" them out! The English side teacher and I both made sure to have the same motions so that there was no confusion! We also did a T-Chart categorizing land formation and water formations. Students grabbed a card, showed it to the class and then categorized it where they thought it went on the chart. 

For the first week of this unit, I incorporated a "Social Studies" center during our Learning Center Rotations. The center involved having students use green & blue paint dabbers to fill in a circular world map and then write on a piece of paper and attach "Mi mundo es bello." I wanted to include a simple center that could further help students distinguish between 'tierra' and 'oceano' by using the colors on the globe. When students finished this center, they could work together on the bilingual map of the United States puzzle!

We also played a quick game using our small inflatable globe before heading to our Special on Tuesday. We sat in a circle on the rug and we threw the globe in boy/girl order and wherever your hand landed, you would either say tierra or oceano (land or ocean). This quick game was fun and helped practice these vocabulary words for the landform unit in Spanish!

On Thursday we reviewed our landform hand motions and then engaged in a fun project where students created a landform in a collaborative group of 3-4 students each. The students had to choose a landform from a box but had to make sure not to show it to any other group. Then, they went off, gathered the materials they needed from the materials table and then began creating their landform. I walked around asking students what they were cutting/making and why they were including that and also encouraged them to think about other things they could include in their creation. After students worked, they came back to the rug and each group presented their landform to the class. The class had to try and guess what the landform was. The students loved presenting and the rest of the class loved guessing! This was also great to get them talking and saying orally the landform names in Spanish. Here are some pictures of the students presenting their landforms to the class and of our finished bulletin board!

If you're interested in this unit and looking for materials in Spanish, check out my teacherspayteachers landforms unit product by clicking HERE!

Learning to Read & Write... in Spanish!

As I began the school year I reflected upon the ways in which I learned to read in Spanish as a young child. One of the many amazing things about the Spanish language is that it is a phonetic language and it is actually pretty easy to read! When I was younger I learned to read Spanish by learning about the syllables (ma, me, mi, mo, mu, pa, pe, pi, po, pu, and so on). Therefore, when imagining how to go about teaching Kindergarten children (of varying levels) how to start reading/recognizing words/sounds in Spanish, I came up with this plan:

1. Teach children the vowels (las vocales) and reinforce them throughout the year. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Begin teaching the more prominent syllable combinations and continuously move to other syllable combinations.

• Ma, me, mi, mo, mu
• pa, pe, pi, po, pu
• la, le, li, lo, lu
• sa, se, si, so, su
• ta, te, ti, to, tu
• na, ne, ni, no, nu
• ra, re, ri, ro, ru
• lla, lle, lli, llo, llu
• ba, be, bi, bo, bu
• ca, ce, ci, co, cu
• cha, che, chi, cho, chu
• da, de, di, do, du
• fa, fe, fi, fo, fu
• ha, he, hi, ho, hu
• ja, je, ji, jo, ju
• ka, ke, ki, ko, ku
• ña, ñe, ñi, ño, ñu
• que, qui
• rra, rre, rri, rro, rru
• va, ve, vi, vo, vu
• wa, we, wi, wo, wu
• xa, xe, xi, xo, xu
• ya, ye, yi, yo, yu
• za, ze, zi, zo, zu

3. As we learn our syllables, I also teach sight words in Spanish (palabras de uso frecuente) that can allow children to recognize/build short sentences. 

• "Yo veo un pajaro" (sight words: yo, veo, un + a "pa" syllable word we learned)

Our Kindergarteners also have a poetry book that we put poems/chants in weekly (in English with the English side teacher and/or in Spanish with me), and so I started creating sentences with repetition that aligned with our sight words and our syllables for the week. Here is the one I created for our "pa, pe, pi, po, pu" syllables:

The children put their poem in the notebook and accompanying pictures that match each part (pajaro, pelota, piña, pozo, puma/leche, lupa, lata, limon, loro). Since these sentences include sight words and syllable words, students can read these on their own and feel proud of what they know in Spanish! We also began our Sight Word folders this week, with 10 Spanish sight words:

Children take their folders home and practice the sight words. When they are ready to be tested, they bring the folder back, I test them, and if they know all of them, I will give them the next list and put it in their folders!

In addition, during our Center Rotations, I include at least one sight word practice center and for the Word Work center I include syllable work, which can include building/reading sentences from our poems/chants.

"Tira, Di, Traza/Escribe" (Roll, Say, Trace/Write) sight words

"Pescando" nuestras palabras de uso frecuente como pescaban los peregrinos/indigenas ("Fishing" for our sight words just like the pilgrims/Native Americans fished for their food)

Furthermore, in Kindergarten we have literacy workshops (Talleres de Alfabetizacion) where students get to choose their own learning! They have to pick something to do that will help them become better readers and writers. These are some of the activities my kids frequently choose:

• iPad learning games 
  
• Spanish alphabet puzzle
  
• QR code reader (with a binder I prepped filled with QR codes of Spanish books being read on a video)
   
• Reading Rods (from Learning Resources) where students build words using the Alfa-Libritos
   
• Building words/practicing syllables using magnet letters/cooking sheet 
  
• Using stamps for letters & words (and using picture stamps & labeling the pictures)
  
• Drawing pictures & labeling them 
  
• Reading to/with friends
  
• Reading in our classroom library
  
• Writing on the dry erase board
  

• Playing teacher (reading/writing on boards) 
  

I am so proud of all the progress my students have made and love seeing them so engaged in different activities! I strongly believe that children needs these opportunities in the classroom to not only progress academically, but also build their social skills!

STEM: Push/Pull Activities in Spanish

So our school has designated several days throughout the year (primarily early release days) as "STEM" days! This means that every classroom should be engaged in a STEM activity on those days. Each grade level team came up with certain topics for each STEM day. We have already done two! In Kindergarten, the first STEM activity had to do with building sandcastles while learning about the 5 senses and the second was on gravity in relation to Humpty Dumpty!

Today, we had our 3rd STEM day, where we explored the concepts of force and motion, more specifically, the push/pull motions! I set up 6 different exploratory centers all related to this topic. I put the students in groups and had them at each center for about 5 minutes. Once they heard the timer go off, they knew to go to the following center (they are already so used to centers that this flower super smoothy!).

The 6 centers were:

1. Yo-Yos
2. Dominoes
3. Elastic balls
4. Blowing air through a straw to move objects
5. T-Chart (Categorizing push/pull pictures)
6. Cars down a ramp at different angles

In each center the idea was for students to engage with the materials and explore the concepts of how force can cause objects to move. Through these centers, the students engaged with different types of forces, such as hand movement (yo-yos), pushing with a finger (dominoes), stretching out/pushing together (elastic balls), air (straws) and angular position (cars/ramp). We discussed why some objects were harder to move by blowing air (football shaped rubber ball), while others were easy (pompoms) and why the cars went down the 'ramp' more smoothly at certain angles.

Here are some pictures of the children at their centers:

If you're interested in check out or implementing these activities in your classroom, check out my product on TpT: STEM Push/Pull Activities Spanish.