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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Character with Henkes

Hello hello,
Just a quick share tonight. I've adapted this lesson I found on Read Works to continue discussing Characters as we explore the story elements next week. We will be referring to this poster, 

charting the personalities of Lilly and Mr. Singer, then writing about why we like or dislike a chosen character. It's definitely a simplified version, but I teach ESL and only have 80 minutes for Language Arts everyday. Feel free to grab the two pages in my TpT here.
- Amanda

Friday, February 22, 2013

Photo Friday

It was a crazy busy and exhausting week, so I'm keeping it light:
Now to enjoy a {much-deserved. So much-deserved} three-day holiday!
- Amanda

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Subtraction on a Number Line

Hello!
One of my buyers requested I make a subtraction file to match the Addition on a Number Line worksheet set. It was an immediate, "Why didn't I think of that?" So without further ado:


 On TpT here and TN here. This one includes answer keys for each sheet!
- Amanda

Monday, February 11, 2013

Some classroom photos

First up, congratulations Kayla - I'll be sending your fraction posters set right over! 
Finally got my "Genius Ladder" up to help students expand their ideas. I'm really looking forward to introducing this and using it together as I really have some awesome ESL writers in my room. So proud!

We finished our descriptive writing unit by writing all about the drippy monsters we made way back in October...

We have a brand new {unfinished} Math board complete with my fractions posters!

International Week is coming up... This year we're studying Mexico, so I made up a cute little cube net with facts all around. Next up: learning the Macarena. haha - brings me back.


Thursday, February 7, 2013

Fractions + giveaway

We've just started learning about fractions in grade two, and this year I decided to make some simple, super bright posters to add some flair to our Math board!
Find this pack in my TpT shop or in my TN here.

I'd love to give a set away - 
if you're interested, just comment below with your email and I'll randomly select a winner!
Off to enjoy the weekend {much-deserved this week}!
- Amanda

Sunday, February 3, 2013

International Job Fair

If anyone is interested in learning a little more about our International Job Fair experience with Search Associates, Jeff just wrote a great post that's a little more detailed:
It really was such a positive experience! I definitely feel we have a unique opportunity as educators to get out and see so much of our world - Jeff and I are really looking forward to seeing more countries and gaining a better understanding other cultures. Again, feeling so thankful and loving life!
- Amanda

Friday, February 1, 2013

Awesome Adjectives

We are working on descriptive writing in Grade Two right now. We've spent several lessons learning about adjectives. For ESL students with limited vocabulary, this is a ... difficult ... concept. Well, maybe not difficult as a concept, per se, but more difficult in the sense of I-just-don't-know-the-English-word-for {insert adjective in Arabic here}. At any rate, while I was in London I had my students complete a creative worksheet with my so-wonderful EA that I think really helped them.

Has anyone ever heard of Scholastic Grammar Tales?
I was lucky enough to find this set in our library so I nabbed it! It's a set of storybooks that teach grammar skills, including nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs... So the class read "The Bug Book (Adjectives)" to start thinking about what bugs might look like, feel like, be like, etc. I made a fancy sample {I'm clearly not an artist!} of the worksheet to be completed to help them out with some ideas.

Click below if you'd like the blank template for your own class!
Finally, I got a wonderful surprise from my wonderful husband yesterday:
Love him!
- Amanda