Thank You TPT

This weekend I have been absent on the “blogosphere”.  I have not written a Top 10 post, and I have not blogged here on Raki’s Rad Resources, on Simply Learning Centers or on Classroom Freebies Too.  The reason for my absence is a very pleasant one and I have Teachers Pay Teachers to thank.  I began selling teacher resources on Teachers Pay Teachers three years ago this weekend I was able to use the money to spend some serious family time with my husband and three sons in Seville, Spain.  We had such an amazing trip, that I just had to share some pictures!  Here’s what I was doing when I should’ve been blogging.   




    

               

  


P.S.  If you want to find out more about selling your teacher resources to make some extra money for your family – here’s a link for you.

3 for Thursday

Today’s assignment from Blog Hoppin is our top 3 favorites: font, blog and online resources – so here goes!

My favorite fonts are:

 

Both are from Kevin and Amanda.

My favorite blog is:

Her teaching philosophy is no muss, no fuss, just like mine

My favorite teaching resource is:

Virtual Manipulatives

They are my best resource when teaching math.

 

Reading Journal

I am very excited about moving to First Grade, but have realized that some of my Third Grade materials are not going to be appropriate.  I had this grand plan to take my intermediate materials and make them appropriate for primary, but I kept putting it off to work on these Word Family materials that I have so fallen in love with! 

However, the calendar has informed me that the school year is starting sooner, rather than later, so I decided I had to stop my massive Word Family frenzy (or at least pause it for a second) and remember what I need to start the year.  So, I started with my Read Aloud Journal, created with 3rd and 4th graders in mind.  I have tweaked it and made it what I want for my 1st graders.  I think it will work so much better, and I am getting so excited about teaching my little ones about reading!!  Click on the pictures to find a link to the Primary Version of my Reading Journal  If you are the 1st person to buy and rate it – I’ll give you $20 of my products FREE!

Finished!!!!

Watching everyone on the “blogosphere” set up their classrooms has made me so jealous.  My school doesn’t start until September, and due to construction, I can’t even get in to look at or set up my classroom.  So, I decided I was going to finish my Word Family Kit instead, so that I would have something all set and ready to go before I walk into my classroom.  Of course, I bit off more than I could chew – as usual – and picked 41 word families to work with!  I don’t know if I am going to get to them all with my students, but I’m sure going to try.  I also decided that since I know that my population this year is 95% EFL (this will be my first year teaching at an American School in Morocco, where most of my students will speak Arabic and French, but not English), that the Word Family Kit needed to be heavy in visuals. 

So, I have officially finished the first piece – the File Folder Games.  Although this doesn’t sound like much, these games hold the graphics that go with each Word Family.  I am going to use these same visuals in the Word Wall cards, the student created books, and the power point presentations, in an effort to build consistency for my students and help them build an understanding of what these words mean.  I am so glad to have these games finished and be ready to move on to the next step.  Tomorrow I will post the remaining Word Family File Folder Games on my TPT store, as well as posting the entire group at a reduced price!  They are $0.99 each, or $10 for all 41!  Right now, it is very LATE here in Casablanca, and I am headed to bed!

Word Wall

Teaching first grade for the 1st time, I have been asking for advice from first grade teachers – and the key word I got was “Word Wall”:  build it, use it, teach from it.  So, I have been hard at work creating stuff for a beautiful word wall (since I can’t get into my room to build it yet).  I have made Word Wall Labels with graphics that coordinate with my Alphabet Cards.  I have made sight word cards.  I have made color word cards with beautiful color (FREE on TPT).  I have made number word cards with the numeral on them (FREE on TPT).  Now I am finishing up word cards for each word in each word family I will be using, with a graphic that helps my EFL students learn the meanings of the words.  I have even created a template that I am going to use on the first day of school to add student names to the word wall (with pictures of students taken on my webcam).  I am a little word wall crazy!!  I just hope that I will have a big enough wall to create this word wall.  How do you get creative with your word wall?

Calling for Backup

I am so addicted to the Word Family files I am creating right now, but I wish the ideas would slow down.  I come up with ideas faster than I can create them, so I have called for backup – mainly my husband.  I happen to have an amazing, computer savy husband.  ( He does some designing for TPT as well, mainly language specialty stuff in French and Spanish.  I think he has some Arabic planned to come out soon.)  He has been able to take my idea and the documents I have already created for Word Family File Folder Games and create Word Family Word Wall Cards.  We have coordinated to have them in coordination with the Alphabet Cards and Sight Word Cards that I have already posted.  Between the two of us, we hope to have these pieces up before the end of the month, as individual files and then as a combination (for a discount of course).  Once we are done with these two pieces, I have power points, student books, center activities and bulletin board posters to work on!  I might be working on Word Family activities until Christmas.  (I have to be done by January, because that is when I am due to start teaching Word Families!)  In the mean time, I will add a little up each day until we get it done, so stop by and take a look.  The ACK family will be FREE for each and every Word Family product.

Also, don’t forget that tomorrow starts the Back To School Sale.  TPT is offering 10% off with the coupon code B1T1S  and then an additional 20% off on TONS of stores from the 1st – 4th, including Raki’s Rad Resources of course!!  Come by and get your 30% off!

Cultural Differences Influence Background Knowledge

How much do you take into consideration how a child’s culture can influence their background knowledge?  I always thought I tried to be aware, but since arriving in Morocco, I find myself more and more acutely aware of how life experience can change the way we look at the world, and thereby affect how we learn.  I am sure as I move through the year I will find more examples of this and will post again about it.  However, right now it is as simple as looking through clipart pictures and deciding which ones would be recognizable to students in Morocco vs. which ones would be recognizable to the students I taught in Georgia.  For example, when looking for a picture of the word meat for a student in GA, I always tried to find a steak or a hamburger already cooked.  I would never show a picture of raw meat or a butcher, because so few students have background knowledge to connect that to the meat they eat.  However, I am realizing students in Morocco almost always see meat as a part of a meal, like a tagine, or cous cous.  Students in Morocco WOULD recognize raw meat, at least as seen in (or outside) a butcher, as you regularly see butchers here and often there is half a cow hanging outside. 

The country you live in is not the only thing that affects your background knowledge, social status, family income, travel, and media influence (t.v., music, video games) can all have impacts too.  What examples do you have of where background knowledge has been different or unique for a student due to their cultural difference?  How much should we be taking this into consideration on a day to day basis with our students?  Food for thought – but I’d love to hear what you think.

Back at Designing!!

For those of you who don’t already know, I am just recovering from an oversees move ( from GA to Casablanca, Morocco).  There have been many discomforts along the way, but the worst has been EXTREMELY spotty internet access.  Lack of internet access also means lack of clipart, so very little designing has been happening around here, even though I need all new stuff for this year – since I am going to be teaching 1st grade for the first time, and I have an almost 100% ESL population to cater to.  Yikes!  At least school starts in September here, and not August, so I have a little time to catch up now that the internet is stable again.

Now that I have the internet back, I kicked it into gear and completed and posted my Basic Phonics Kit (the pieces and the whole kit), which includes the Alphabet posters, Word Wall labels, Sight Word Cards and an Alphabet Student book that I will be using in the beginning of this school year.  You can find the link to the full kit by clicking on the picture to the left.

Now it’s time to work on those Word Family packets!!!

Christmas in July Sale!!!

Can you hear it? There is a faint, "Ho, ho, ho..." off in the distance. That's because Christmas is coming! Christmas in July! Have I got a sale going on for you in my TPT store...

I am offering 20% off of my ENTIRE store!

And its not just me! Check out my sale first, and then check out the other over 30 sales happening on one day only -July 18th - you're sure to find something you'll love. Click any button below to visit a participating sale!

I told you it was going to be big and worthy of the title, "Christmas In July!" Happy shopping and Merry Christmas (in July)!