So Cal Bloggers Winter Freebie Blog Hop -All Summer in A Day

Can you tell I LOVE San Diego?

My Dutch View

For those that don't know, I spent the vast majority of my twenties living abroad. I adored hopping from place to place.

I LOVED actually living new cultures and really getting to know different cities and the cultures that make them unique.  I got to live in The Netherlands, Spain, Korea, Turkey, Mexico and visit so many more wonderful places!

For a long time it was really hard for anyone to think of me as coming home for more than a summer. I lived in such GORGEOUS places with such wonderful people and got to visit other countries at the drop of a hat! What's not to love?

 Nonetheless, a special part of my heart was always in San Diego. This blog hop is filled with other teachers who share my love! For those of you who have been hopping, you know the drill! Each blogger will share why they LOVE Souther California, and then link to a freebie. Once you've snagged it, you can keep hopping to the next teacher! There are SIXTEEN for teachers from third through eighth grade, so that's plenty of freebies for you.

Plus, there's a contest, so be sure to read until the bottom!

Yummm!

Two years ago I moved back home and I couldn't be happier. While my all time favorite part of living here is my family, I'll be honest and say the thing that I missed the most when abroad was the food! It isn't just the quality of food in Southern California, but the variety.

I LOVE that I can have Vietnamese pho for breakfast, then hit a Mexican (as in Mexico City) place for Micheladas, and have Ethiopian food for dinner (not pictured). What an AWESOME place to live, right?

Of course it isn't just the food, I also adore the diversity my classroom brings. I love when I ask students who are studying Martin Luther King if anyone has been to a Baptist church and hands spring up!

When we study the rhetoric used in poems about immigration, many of my students can tell their own stories of coming to America!

But the best part is that San Diego has COMPLETELY spoiled me with awesome weather! I am a big wimp for anything under 80 degrees! Sadly so it my cat. When the weather gets cooler he is the first to curl up by the fireplace or heater despite his fur.

This was me in November!

As a result, I figured I'd offer a freebie that most teachers can use whether they be teaching third grade or tenth! All Summer In a Day is a great short story to read especially if there's a blizzard or rain pouring! Students can really get into the characters' brains as they long for sunshine.

I use ink pinks with my fast finishers. I create a bunch before each unit that use the vocabulary words in our unit.

For example here's an All Summer in a Day packet that includes an Ink Pink worksheet. I have taught All Summer in a Day to fifth grades through high school! It is a simple short story, but filled with figurative language, topic starters and a great lesson for any ages.

As for the Ink Pinks, you can do these as a class, or use them for fast finishers. Despite their juvenile appearance, they are GREAT at helping students use their critical thinking skills and, depending n the level, reinforce or introduce new vocabulary.  Download your free page here and have fun!

 

Well I hope you had fun! Hopefully you've enjoyed the freebies you have found so far. The next blog is with Teacher Ms. H has one too. Check out her blog to see what she loves about San Diego and find her freebie.

Don't forget to enter for your chance to win!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

End of Semester Gifts for students

I posted before about presents I suggest students bring for their teachers. In all fairness this blog talks about gifts I can give my students. I've seen this done a lot of different ways and I'll go over five of my favorites.

To start, why do I try to give students presents? Usually after a semester I really feel that I have bonded with my students. They've grown, I've grown. We've all grown. I feel like together we helped make each other better. It may also make them like English a little better, which is helpful for the next teacher they have.

1. Have an auction. Some teachers use a points system for participation. Other teachers give out these points (stickers or play money) but they don't use them for a grade. At the end of the semester, they hold an auction and auction off goodies to the students. It is a great chance to practice English for the EFL classes, but all classes get competitive as they bid on silly items. Go to your local dollar store and pick up frames, glasses, silly straws etc. I also know teachers that simply take this time to clean out their office / house and gift old puzzles, toys and other items. Students love this!

A local cafe I can take small classes

2. Take them out. Due to costs I can only do this with small classes, but I like to take them off campus. We grab a coffee (my treat) and just talk. In the end I thank them all for their time and effort in class and give them each a thank you letter from me detailing what I enjoyed most about having them in my class and including my e-mail to keep in touch should they need me in the future. I know other teachers who have dinners at their house. If your district allows this and your students are of the age where it is appropriate, then great! If you can have a small pizza party and invite parents even better.

3. Give a punny note. Sometimes I have too many students to take out, or I don't have the time to write them each heartfelt letters. In that case, I embrace the inner cheeseball that I am and give each student a small note attached to a pencil, eraser, or candy. They all groan at my corniness, but I usually get a few chuckles out of them. This works well for me even though I teach older students, but that's because I often use these puns for teaching pronunciation. If you are interested in doing something like this using your favorite search engine (or pimterest) should turn up lots of fun ideas! Even easier, to get a free pdf sheet of owls (like above) simply share this page with a tweet and you'll be taken to the file.             

Sample pages

The cover
(names covered)

4. Make it personal! I don't mean that you make them something (though that is an option!). Take something they have made. For example, before my students work on The Walrus and the Carpenter I give them each a stanza and have them illustrate it. Then we go through and discuss words they didn't know and what they think the poem will be about. We read the poem together and discussed the differences and made note of what the new vocabulary meant in context. Then I collected their drawings and never mentioned them again. At the end of the year I give them each a little photocopied book of the Walrus and the Carpenter illustrated by them! If your students have written a book, or a poem and did it well framing it and giving it back to them at the end of the year is a nice gift.

5. Make it yummy! These days of dietary restrictions (gluten free, peanut allergy, etc.) can be hard, but if you cook something that is permitted on campus go ahead and bring in some brownies or cookies. Even better! Keep it related to English by giving them the recipe. Then they will remember you every time they start to make a batch of your famous treacle. If you can combine this with number three, it makes it an affordable goodbye they'll always remember.

What did I miss? What do you do for your students at the end of your time together?

Oh No! Poor Snow!

Don't hate me! Maybe it is because we don't celebrate Thanksgiving down here, or the start of the red cups at Starbucks, but I am in the winter spirit! As an early gift to everyone here's a PowerPoint of a winter adaptation of one of my favorite activities for little ones!
The activity is usually called, "Poor Joe" but in this case I changed it to "Poor Snow!" we use the exact same chant except we practice on a snowman.

I encourage you to make your own snowman using body parts and clothing you want to review with your students, but this gives you an idea.

If you are planning on practicing winter clothing here's another activity you may like to try.
Happy Holidays!

Send Snowflakes to Sandy Hook

I recently saw a post on FaceBook inviting people to send snowflakes to Sandy Hook. I did my research and this is legit.

Basically, when January rolls around and school resumes the students will be in a new building. Parent-volunteers are working hard to make sure that the students are welcomed back into a winter wonderland. Part of that means they are decorating the school with as many unique snowflakes as possible. 

Teachers, students, and everyone else are encouraged to send snowflakes, the request encouraged creativity,  to the school (remembering that snowflakes are just like us, and should be as unique possible).

If you have the time and desire please make and send snowflakes by January 12, 2013 to the Connecticut PTSA:

Connecticut PTSA
60 Connolly Parkway
Building 12, Suite 103
Hamden, CT 06514
 

If you aren't artistically inclined, but feel the need to help donations will be accepted indefinitely to the Connecticut PTSA “Sandy Hook Fund” to provide ongoing support to the community at the same address above.

I don't know about everyone else, but I can barely stop crying. I avoid the news and news pages because the stories about Sandy Hook just cause me to cry. The story of the teacher's reactions from locking their students in bathrooms and repeating that they loved them so they would hear that and not the bullets, to literally shielding them from bullets with their own bodies bring tears to my eyes every time. The stories of marriage proposals teachers will never hear, or movies they will never see bring tears to my eyes. And the children...the little girl who begged her mom to wear her pink Christmas dress that day, and now it will be the last thing she ever wore... it is all just so horrible.

This is the chance to do something small, just sending a snowflake, and hope that it will somehow help. Regardless of the size of the act, it just seems to make things a tiny bit better.

Maybe it will help you too?

If you have any ideas of how to make this a lesson plan for different levels, or just want to share your finished product feel free to comment here.

Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes...with Clothes!

My students always LOVED head, shoulders, knees and toes, and I always loved it since it was really heavy in the TPR area. Sadly, there are only so many times a student can learn the parts of the body. So, I changed the song a little for studying clothes. They still got a kick out of it and it is a great wintery activity (that doesn't touch on the religous aspects of winter) that keeps them moving (and is still a great Total Physcial Response. song)



I prefer teaching trousers since pants has a different meaning in England, but to each their own. Feel free to teach pants, jeans, or whatever else. If you choose a one syllable word I reccommend adding an "and" to keep the beat.

This could also be adapting to Summer (Cap, sunscreen, shorts, sandals... glasses, hair tie, chapstick, ... ideas for nose?)

Happy Holidays! You can download the directions for class and a quick worksheet for your students for free just check my store on