Our Teaching Tribe August Challenge

Hello Friends! I'm very excited to be joining a group of very amazing authors for this Blog Hop! The challenge this month was to trade a product with a blogger and share about the greatness of the product...

Are you ready to see the product I got??? 

The Self Portrait and Bio Poem by Longwing-Montessori. 

Before I tell you a lil about this awesome product... let me tell you about this super TPT author! She has a variety of products in her store that you will absolutely love! Im telling ya... you must check them out during this BTS season... (she has a bunch of FREEBIES too!!). 

So... the Self Portrait and Bio Poem is an excellent way to get to know your students. Im going to be using this activity with my third graders during the first week of school. This product includes a 1 page anchor that explains what a Bio Poem is (I will have them glue that into their notebook). It also has a sheet where your students can plan and brainstorm ideas before writing, templates for the cutouts, a rubric, and paper for students to publish their writing piece! 

I especially love that she included that planning sheet. It is so hard for some kiddos so come up with ideas and this template allows them to follow a specific format to talk about themselves! 

But wait... that's not all!! I really appreciate the way she created the cut outs... You know those craftivities we all have used in the classroom that require you to use a million small pieces, so many copies, kids lose them, and they take away your instructional time? Don't get me wrong, I LOVE those activities because it keeps students engaged but sometimes the kids seem a lil too crazy for them. I love how the cut-out templates in this product are not super small and they are simple to put together. I'm pretty sure my third graders won't take long on putting them together.

So there you have it friends! Isn't it awesome to be able to read a full description of a product before purchasing it?! 

You can learn more about this incredible author on her blog and TPT store. Head over to Longwing Montessori and check it out!! 

But don't forget to continue hopping through the blogs with us... next you will find Lil Country Librarian...go check her out!! Just click on the image below! 

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Writing Time!!

My second graders are becoming more independent during writing time each day! I have also been enjoying it more and more.  

To be honest... I used to hate my writing block.  I would find myself frustrated and overwhelmed after our writing time. I felt like students were not making the progress that I was expecting. I spent HOURS on Pinterest and TPT looking for resources and tips to help me. I did find the MOST AMAZING and WONDERFUL resources that would make my writing time soo much better and easier ... but then I would remember those resources wouldn't fit my classroom. Half the students in my class are ELLs. Most of those students do all their work in Spanish. So all of those perfect resources I had JUST found would not work for most of my students. Heartbreak! 

I decided to create my own bilingual writing center and I am soo excited to share it with you! 

It is the best thing that I no longer have to worry about finding two different resources for my English and my Spanish group. HUGE time saver!! 
Each month, I simply display each set of cards and VIOLA! 
Plus students feel so much more confident knowing that the words are displayed right there for them to use the whole month!! 

Tomorrow we will be working on procedural writing and we will use the How to Make a Snowman from this packet!

My favorite part? Students will be working on the SAME topic using the SAME worksheet. 

How about you? What resources have you found to help your ELL students? 

Have a wonderful rest of the week! 

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