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Bilingual thoughts on life, language, and all things latina. Ideas on education, teaching, and writing. Poetry con sabor latino.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'kids'
His Running Shoes
This’ll be tedious –I knowyou have a hard timemaking up your mindI drag myself to the sports storeFor the eighth year in a rowI used to pick and chooseWhat you’d wear on your feetTo school“These are cool” I sayNoting the reasonable price-ta...
Speaking of Super Heroes...
While catching up with Literanista - the first blog I ever followed, and one of my constant favorites - I found out that the actress who played Wonder Woman is a Latina!Linda Jean Córdova Carter is the beautiful brunette who played Wonder Woman. I ...
Hunger and Hope - Bloggers Unite
I teach elementary school in an urban setting where each of my students receives free breakfast and lunch. When lunchtime comes around and I take my kids to the cafeteria, they all of a sudden become more talkative and almost giddy. In a line they i...
The Good Boys
My two nephews were watching TV when I stopped in to my mom's yesterday. I was impressed at how well they were behaving. While I had lunch with my mom, the boys joined us at the table for some milk and homemade cookies. One of the boys told me abo...
Langston Hughes in the 4th Grade
My students have experienced several different types of poetic forms since September. I use specific poems and certain poem forms (haiku, list poems, auto-biographical) to encourage English language development with my ELLs. Since the beginning of ...
How to Stay Sane...
During the course of the school year, we teach four types of writing - expository, narrative, persuasive, and descriptive.The "How-To" piece is one we practice often; this type of expository writing forces the students to think of steps in a process,...
Mami and the Dancing Tiger
El baile del tigre caught my eye as books with cats on the covers always do. The cover shows a tiger dancing with a little girl. I once tried to “commission” my sister to paint a portrait of me sitting in a cat’s lap, the cat reading me a story...
Riding the train
My students and I had a great week of technology-infused learning.First, I had the pleasure of wheeling the wireless lab (a cart containing laptops) into my classroom. Until now, other teachers had been monopolizing the cart; I would see it being m...
The Golden Rule
The Book Fair is being held at school this week."Who has money?" asks the librarian, and like a kid, I raise my hand. Books do that to me. I have a twenty dollar bill in my pocket, and a plan to buy a book for my son, one for my classroom, and one fo...
Gung Hei Fat Choy!
It's Chinese New Year!!! and the Year of the Ox! I've prepared a week of exciting lessons that incorporate China. We'll be reading Yeh-Shen - A Cinderella Story from China, retold by Ai-Ling Louie, and The Greatest Treasure, retold by Demi. I'll be...
Waiting by the window
The snow day was not meant to be. When I gathered the students in the morning, I asked "So, which one of you forgot to wear their pajamas inside out?"Someone forgot to, I'm sure.The storm didn't start until around 10 or so, when we were in the middl...
Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!
I'm wearing my pajamas inside out tonight.By the end of the school day, my colleagues and I had checked the weather reports often enough, that we had to discuss snow closings with the children "just in case". We explained three different scenarios: t...
A Boy Finds Algebra
I've reached you kid!you've been all over the placeyour paragraphs long, breathless strings of disconnectedyour homework wrinkled, empty pages of incompleteyour desk a black hole from which books and pencils never returnbut I knewone of my tricks wou...
That thing that moms do
Can I make you French toast this morning?My son’s eager eyes convey pleasure at the thought ofa real mom-made breakfast,not frozen, not shaken out from a box,nor spread between two pieces of wheat bread.Do I have the ingredients? Let’s see…here...
A funny topping to write about
My fourth graders, who are English Language Learners (ELLs), are accustomed to writing daily in every subject. On most mornings, I post a few journal prompts at the board, from which they may select one to get them started. Every now and then thoug...
Looking forward to the first day of school
My summer vacation is over. But, in a few days, I will celebrate the first day of school. It’s an exciting time for me. The beginning of the school year is filled with hope and possibility. I’m psyched and ready to put my all in this work tha...
Esperando el primer día de clases
Se me acabaron las vacaciones de verano. Pero, dentro de unos días, celebraré el primer día de clases. Es una época bastante emocionante para mí. El comienzo del año escolar está lleno de esperanza y posibilidad. Tengo ganas de poner mi to...
Una semana en el paraíso
After a long, lovely week in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, I'm back home. Crossing the state line back in to Jersey felt good, as it always does after a trip. Home is, after all, home. This was the yearly big family vacation, spent with my mo...
