Empowering bilingual teachers one lesson at a time.
Guided reading has been an important instructional approach to teach students how to read. Dual language and immersion teachers may wonder, how does Guided Reading/ Lectura Guiada look like in the bilingual classroom? In my experience, la Lectura Guiada is very similar in both English & Spanish. It is important to highlight the differences as well as the key components… Read More
It’s the beginning of a new school year, and it is time to set up literacy stations that will allow students to work independently. One of my favorite routines and procedures to teach in the first 20 days of school is my literacy stations. Expectations First, I introduce each station using the T charts to write the expectations for what… Read More
Using visual directions has been a game changer with transitions and completing activities in my classroom. Transitions are smooth. There are fewer interruptions during small groups. The classroom is peaceful & students are engaged. I set up my visual directions using the MVP strategy. I introduce each transition and activity following the same 3 steps every time. When planning for… Read More
Why is Calendar Math a big deal in my classroom? My Calendar Math is a short designated time that helps students: Review prior skills learned Reinforce newer skills that have recently been taught Preview upcoming skills that will be learned On average, I spend 2-3 hours teaching Language Arts but only 1 to 1.5 hours teaching math each day. I… Read More
How many days have you been in school? We have been in school for 92 days. We have been using this Interactive Calendar to count by tens, build the number of the day, and learn about place value using digital coins and cubes. Even though we are counting the days we are in school, we are not celebrating the 100th… Read More
As the roles of educators continue to expand, we are seeing that now more than ever, need to help our students develop character skills that will help them be successful in life. Research has pointed out to us that explicit instruction, modeling and encouragement, instead of praise, are key to developing long-lasting habits. The question is, how do we, teachers,… Read More