Seating Charts for Spanish Class {Facebook Corner}

by | Jul 28, 2014 | Classroom management, Facebook Corner, Seating Charts

Conversaciones de maestros en nuestra página de Facebook 
Jodi says:
“Do you have any good ideas for seating plans? I have 22 classes and can hardly remember the students names!
Think it would work if I assigned a number to each student?”

Joe: How many students? Maybe they could wear name tags until you memorize most of their names.

Simone: I observed a teacher with a white board who had made a spread seat seating chart for each class. It was the first slide she displayed at the start of each class period, so children could check where to sit and she could check their names.

Lisa: I tried numbers but most kids would forget. It got crazy at the beginning if class sometimes. I just made a seating chart for each class and kept it the same all year. It worked well.

Melissa: I’m in a similar situation – I make seating charts which helps (including assigned spots to sit on the floor for the littlest guys) but I’m open to others’ suggestions!

Melissa  S: I have 19 classes and totally get this issue. When I started, I made seating charts (my kids sit in rows, on a rug). Because I see them 2x a week, I photocopied the charts and then made a Monday group, a Tues. group, etc. I slid the papers into plastic protectors, back to back (2 per protector) and stapled them together in the groups. After a couple of months of using them, I had the names down and didn’t need to continue being so dependent on the chart. Later I would leave it on my table, next to smart board, for a quick glance, in the case I forgot a name.

Dana: I teach 46 classes a week, so I understand. As part of my warm up for the first few weeks, I throw a ball around and ask everyone their name. Then, once we’ve covered greetings, the kids throw the ball around and can ask their name or how they are. (As we cover more units, they have more choices of questions…what’s the weather, how old you are, etc.) I’ve been at the same schools several years, so it’s really just reminding myself of the returning students and learning the transfers and kindergartners. I let my students chose their seats until they show they can’t handle it, but if I were to move to a new school where I didn’t know the majority of the students, I would have seating charts for everyone.

Fun for Early and Elementary Spanish Teachers: I also make seating charts for my students. The homeroom teachers are helpful too. Every teacher gives me a chart of their classes with the pictures of each child in their group.

Debbie:  I do that every year. I do it by number in alphabetical order.

Neen: Sometimes hrteachers assign numbers so you can use the same numbers too.

Ana:For me, it is easier to use sticks with numbers for every group. I have numbered lists for every class that I can quickly check when they do not remember. It is good for them to learn the numbers in Spanish, too!

Ana :For the older ones, I use seating charts. I have chair pockets, which have a space to put their name and group, as well as their cuaderno y carpeta.

Lori : Hi Jodi, I have 16 classes and I do use seating charts. I keep the charts all year, but mix the students up during activities for pair work, group work, etc. so that they aren’t always working with the same people. I feel it saves time as far as them sitting down quickly and especially for me to pass back work. I have taught in the same school for 15 years and I made an investment years ago in this product:

Virginia : assign seats for older kids. The younger kids are usually on he floor and I ask them to pick a classmate that is quiet and seated (& I specify girl/boy for listening comprehension) and the kids all know each others names. 

Lori: https://pacon.com/product/educational-aids/classroom-seating-pocket-chart/ I reuse the labels every year and just update the classes as they move through the years. So after the first year I only had to add my new first graders and then reshuffle the names of the students in grades 2-8. I keep them in a 3 ring binder and they are there for a sub to reference as well.

Visit Fun for Spanish Teachers on Facebook for more exciting conversations like this one!

    Fun For Spanish Teachers

    Project: Winter Olympic Athletes {Spanish}

    by | Feb 5, 2014 | Juegos olímpicos, Winter Olympics

    Bringing the Winter Olympics to your Spanish class is a fun way to engage your students. This time the Winter Olympics will be in Sochi, Russia. What a great opportunity to pull out a map or visit Google Earth to locate the country and your current locations. Visiting an online gallery of Russia sounds very exciting and could be also used an a opportunity to invite your students to talk about what they see. You could ask you students to tell you about colors, clothes, weather and so on depending on their level.

    The games will host athletes from 88 countries representing 7 sports divided in 15 disciplines:

    Taken from Wikipedia
    For the purpose of the class I recommend you to use just the names of the sports: el esquí, el patinaje, el biatlón, el curling, el bobsleigh, el hockey sobre el hielo y el snowboard.

    For this project you will need to have access to the internet to visit the website for the Winter Olympics. You will also need to download the printable for this activity HERE.
    Your students will need to visit the link where the athletes are listed. They will need to find the information presented in the sample below:

    Download HERE

    After completing their own cards, each student will need to get ready to be interviewed by other classmates. Each of them will need to use the information in the picture below to respond to questions that the other students will ask:

    Download HERE
    Students can also print pictures of the athletes to make masks to use during their interviews.
    Have fun!
    Carolina

    Snacks That Teach Spanish {Review and Giveaway}

    by | Nov 18, 2013 | Dick & Jane Educational Snacks, Giveaways, REVIEW

    Have you ever thought of a snack that brings some excitement to your Spanish class? I just found a great one! Dick and Jane Educational Snacks are the perfect snack to share with your students. They are not only educational, but made of wholesome ingredients and are nut free, which means they’re safe to have in your classroom if you have any students with allergies to nuts.


    I also have to say that the cookies are deliciosas. I ate a whole box while writing this review! This product will add a lot of fun to your classes and students get good brain food while learning new vocabulary in Spanish. Each cookie has a clear and simple picture with bilingual writing to accompany it, which helps everyone understand the vocabulary.

    Each box contains some of the most common vocabulary words explored in Spanish classes. Cookies are produced in categories such us family members, greetings, weather and seasons, animals, fruits, numbers from 1 to 10, and more! So far you can find 50 words and 10 numbers, and Dick and Jane aim to expand the range of vocabulary to 360 words. The  more the merrier for us, the Spanish teachers 🙂


    How to eat these yummy cookies while learning?

    These yummy cookies can be used to introduce, review, or reinforce vocabulary in your classes.


    Mini-Lotería

    To play this game you will need to download the free call-out cards here for you to announce one vocabulary word at a time. Once you have the cards ready, distribute two or three cookies to each child in the class. They can eat a cookie only when you call that item from your call-out card. A student can win once she devours all her cookies. To make it harder, you can also tell students that they have to wait to eat until you call the names of all the vocabulary on their cookies. They can say “lotería“, and then enjoy the cookies in one yummy moment of indulgence!

    Download cards HERE

    Sentences

    Post different sentences on the board. Distribute the cookies among the children and invite them to complete the sentences according to the vocabulary represented on their cookies. Again, they can only eat them after they complete the sentence.

    Guess the word!

    Cover a cookie with a napkin and have your students guess the word. You may use the call-out cards from the Lotería for this game. Students can earn a chance to eat a cookie when they guess the word.

    Spell the words

    What a great opportunity to review the alphabet in Spanish. Ask your students to spell each word in the cookie before eating it.




    If you would like to learn more about Dick & Jane Educational Snacks, visit their website. Stay up to date with them and tuned in for more fun on their Facebook page.

    The Giveway!
    If you would like to have 10 boxes of these fun, yummy, and educational snacks (yes, 10 boxes!), here is an opportunity for you to win them and bring more learning to your class. Just enter below to participate. The winner will be announced on Saturday, November 23rd, 2013. United States only.

    ¡Buena suerte!
    Carolina

    AN IDEA FOR THE FIRST DAYS OF SCHOOL

    by | Aug 3, 2013 | Classroom Tips

    I like approaching the first days of school in a very low key manner. We are all getting ready and adjusting to the new routine, and as some suggest, it may take up to 6 weeks for children to finally feel ready for your class. This is especially true as I am an specialist, and I see my students two times during the week. I am not a lucky homeroom teacher who gets to see them everyday! I like to use my first classes to show my students how my class works and what I expect from them, but before I dive into rules and procedures, I introduce myself.

     

    Every year I make a book  or presentation where I share with my students a bit about myself, my family, my country of origin, and something fun I did during the summer. I create a short story book and use pictures to illustrate it. I call this book “Todo Sobre Mí.” Students really want to know who their teachers are, and they really appreciate the information you can give them, even telling them my first name, but letting them know that I prefer to be called “Señora Gómez” (however, note that this is not true anymore; this year I am going to make the shift to allowing them to use my first name, just like my students always did in Colombia.)

    This is how mine looks!


    Would you like to make your own? Grab materials to create yours HERE!

    After sharing information about myself, I inform them about what I expect from each of them in my class. I predominantly use the target language for this purpose, but I also speak about 10% of the time in my students’ common language, as suggested by ACTFL. To convey my expectations clearly, I rely heavily on visuals, simplifying my class guidelines as much as possible. In fact, the expectations I use are as follows:1.Respeto 2. Bondad 4. Español

    And of course, I don’t want to end my first class without knowing students’ names and introducing or reviewing “Yo me llamo…”

    Depending on the grade level, I use a puppet or a circle game passing a ball. You can learn more about these two activities following this link: First Week of School: Two Songs for Teaching Greetings and Introductions.

    ¡Buena suerte!

    You might like this resource on Teachers Pay Teachers: