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Category: bilingual

Spring Poetry Writing

Posted in bilingual, and displays and deco

April is National Poetry Month! Third through fifth grades had fun in the Jackson Library writing Spring poems! Some wrote diamante poems about the atmosphere layers, some wrote acrostics in English, and some wrote Spanish acrostics. We used kite templates (see TPT links below) so we could post them on the library windows. The kids had fun writing the poems! 

stu acrostic poems

#nationalpoetrymonth

poetry kites

acrostic poem on kite

 

link to Spa acrostic template
link to Spa template

 

Spring bulletin board kit- acrostic kites
English acrostic kite template and SPRING banner

 

Bunny Fun

Posted in bilingual, and picture book lesson

Last week in the Jackson Library, first graders had fun reading a silly story.  During the video of the read aloud It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny (No es facil ser un conejito), the kids actively listen for why the bunny did not like being a bear, pig, etc. and drew a picture about what was bad about being that animal. There is no snake in the story, so they had to imagine what would be bad about being a snake and draw the bunny doing that in the last box. 

 

Eng bunny
click for video- English

English

Bunny E – student  sheet

Spanish

Bunny S – stu sheet

Spa bunny
click for video- Spanish

bunny lesson

APRIL

 

 

Pre-K Black History Month Sing Along

Posted in bilingual, holiday, and Social Studies

Pre-K created an African American musician “quilt” in the Jackson Library! As they worked, we talked about Nina Simone and played her “I’m Feeling Good” song. Then we used Liz Buchanan‘s primary version of the song as a chant for the kids to sing the “I’m Feeling Good” lyric at the end of each line while they worked. Fun! Thanks to Liz for adapting the song (linked below) to make it choral for Pre-K! They sang ‘I’m feeling good’ for the second part of each verse. The kids loved it. I found a Spanish version of the original song for the bilingual Pre-K class to sing.  I have a note to purchase the Nina Simone: Jazz Legend and Civil-Rights Activist book for next year!

nina simone pk lesson

nina simone lesson

Nina Simone redeaux

Nina Simone lesson pk
Nina Simone – Wikimedia Commons

Nina Simone Lesson PK

Spanish -Y me siento bien

I'm Feeling Good in Spa
Spanish version

Quilt Square Pattern for Musicians Quilt 

quilt sq pattern

 1

Afr Amer Entertainers PK quilt

Nina Simone book
Click for review

Using Active Voice: A Jeff Anderson Lesson

Posted in bilingual, and picture book lesson

Today in the Jackson Library, fifth graders practiced using active voice during writing. First, we read Chall’s Up North at the Cabin. During the story, I pointed out the author’s use of active voice, personification, and imagery. I used Jeff Anderson’s Patterns of Power book, lesson 6.5. Then the kids used a Seesaw template I created to sort sentences from the story by active or passive voice. After that, I gave them dry erase boards and they wrote an active voice sentence about the school camping trip. As you can see, it rained during most of camp this year! 

active voice

up north at the cabin book

Jeff Anderson – Patterns of Power- 6.5 What Do Verbs Do? Finding Your Active Voice 

“The sunshine sits in my lap…”

“The river spills over rocks and whispers to me…”

“The [boat’s] motor sputters softly, waiting…”

“The boat roars forward…”

“blood thumps through my head…”

“when frosted windows cloud the sun”

 

seesaw

 

 

active voice

Puddles of ink stained the blank paper.

Little dots of paint sketch a beautiful dog.

I just ordered the bilingual edition of the book but it hasn’t shipped yet, so I talked to our bilingual team leader and we guessed at how to translate this lesson for the bilingual kids: 

El libro fue liedo por Juan.

Juan lee el libro.

Patterns of Power

5th shearman

5th kuw

Burkhead's class

The Wonky Donkey and Seesaw

Posted in bilingual, picture book lesson, technology, and TTESS 1819

Last week, I created my first Seesaw activity! (link below) After reading The Wonky Donkey and singing the song, the first graders had to think of a NEW flaw for the donkey. They used Seesaw in pairs to draw their wonkier donkey and they used the microphone to tell about its new flaw. They had a blast!

wonky donkey lessoh

seesaw

 

 

 

 

 

 

wonky donkey alina celester

Lucia la Luchadora

Posted in bilingual, picture book lesson, reading skills, and social-emotional learning

One book we are reading to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month in the Jackson Library is Lucia la Luchadora by Cynthia Leonor Garza. Last week, the second graders identified causes and effects in the story. Since the boys teased Lucia, she asked her abuela for help. When she wore the luchadora costume and mask, she had the courage to rescue Coco from the top of the slide. We discussed stereotypes and assumptions people make about appearances and how to overcome those with inner confidence and strength. After the story, the kids wrote a sentence about what some people perceive as a limitation, and then wrote what they CAN do despite that perception. This great idea is from Ms. Rodrigo’s Twitter feed! Finally, they colored their own Nino (from Yuyi Morales’ Nino Wrestles the World book) or Lucia la Luchadora (mask drawn by me) to take home to finish. 

review

Curriculum Guide

Hou Chronicle Author Interview

Lucia luchadora mask – drawing attempt by AK

Niño mask

Nino Activities

Lucia la Luchadora sentence strip I can activity

 

bil Lucia La Luchadora sentences

Lesson idea from Ms. Rodrigo’s Twitter Feed

sent strip 1

Check out Cynthia Leonor Garza’s new book about Lucia!

 

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