Tales of a Crafty Mommy

Hi Fellow Teachers, Homeschoolers, and Language Learners! Below is a printable you can use for your classrooms, homework folder, or calendar wall at home or school. All you have to do is get the pdf file through my t eachers pay teachers store .  I made the days of the week earlier this year by hand for my kiddos, but my handwriting is a bit too small for them to see it from the table. So I just knew it was time to make an improved set that would be visible to them at all times.  How do I use it?  1. Sing the song 'Days of the Week' to the tune of the Addam's Family theme song in English . Here's a good video through YouTube.  Right after, we sing the song in Spanish .  2. This is when I introduce vocabulary such as "today - hoy ", "yesterday - ayer " and "tomorrow, mañana ". I use hand motions to teach the concepts. For example:  today - point fingers down  yesterday - use thumbs above shoulders w...

Snails - Caracol What do you know about snails?  Show pictures of snails: google 'snails' or 'caracol.'  Talk about their bodies -   tell them that caracoles or snails don't have feet.  My kids, wondering what that would be like,  threw themselves on the floor and pretending to move (arrastrarse) like a snail .  Hehehe. I am pretty sure that was their favorite part of the lesson!!!  caracoles have wet bodies - sprinkle water on their arms and legs and have them compare a wet arm with a dry one and which they prefer. Of course they said that having their arm wet made them want to go to the pool!  Craft time :  Make a snail: use a paper plate, cut up pieces of paper, and antennas. Have the child cut and paste the pieces.  brush on a glue and water mixture (more glue than water) to make it shiny which will make it look like it's...

I'm going to call this post, Day 1, although I have been raising my children bilingually since they were born. If I may say so, since they were in the womb. I simply started by just talking to them in my first language, Spanish.  While my husband and I were engaged we were in complete agreement that we needed to raise our future children bilingually for a variety of reasons. First off, because we wanted them to be able to communicate with my family in Chile, to have good job opportunities, and so that we can share our background culture with them.  I'd say this has been quite the journey. A journey I couldn't have told you how we were going to accomplish our goal exactly. But one in which our hearts and minds were set on it. To me, that was the first and foremost step. The conviction and the commitment for passing on a language and culture.  Initially, we used the  one language - one parent methodology. My husband spoke English to our only child (back then) and...

We start out our mornings with Reading Time right after breakfast on most mornings, except weekends when we have a more flexible schedule.  I use this time to build their reading comprehension skills in Spanish. As I read, my 2 year old likes to repeat short phrases that I read.  My 4 year old asks questions regarding meaning of certain words. For the past few weeks, we have been reading Stuart Little by E.B. White. Some mornings we do coloring sheets , other times we talk about the story, and other times we use objects to retell the story. This is the first chapter book I am reading to my children ages 4 and 2 (soon to be 5 and 3). If there are some complex words, I explain the meaning as we read. I do ask a lot of questions as we read to check for understanding. I also ask them a lot "What do you think is going to happen?" kind of questions. So far their favorite chapter has been Stuart Little's adventure searching for his Mom's ring. Today we read about Stu...

I went back and forth for several weeks whether to have a calendar wall in our dining room or not. In the end, I decided "why not!?" Sure thing, I went to Jo-Ann's, my go-to store for school supplies, and got several teaching posters at $1.99 each.   Why posters? It's a constant teaching aid. The kids are able to choose to count, review the colors, or shapes several times throughout the day. Sometimes my oldest (almost 5) helps my (almost) 3 year old with the shapes and colors. They also take breaks from playing to go look at their posters.  I placed them at their eye-level. Easy for them to read, touch, point at.   I do have a younger child, age 1, who is interested in the pictures and imitates his older siblings. So far, he is doing really well at not pulling them down. So I think it'll work out well.  We have also included a Fruits and Vegetables poster to help remind us of healthy things to eat.  During meals, the kids have asked if the food...

My two year old son is starting to learn his colors. He went from calling every color yellow and 'azul' (blue) to now starting recognizing colors.  His favorite colors are orange, red, and blue.  Mostly colors that have to do with Jake and The Neverland Pirates and Mickey Mouse. In fact, he has an orange t-shirt he wants to wear just about every day! Lately, I've been putting more emphasis on working with him on recognizing colors, sorting by color, and learning the names in English and Spanish.  Ask what colors he / she already knows Repeat the names of the colors together red - rojo yellow - amarillo orange - naranjo green - verde blue - azul  Further Activities: count and graph the total number of beads in each bowl. ask the students to find items of the colors used in the sorting activity around the classroom / living room talk about the names of the objects in English and Spanish ask the students to bring an object from home (or the...

I made this handy checklist / assessment sheet a while ago when I first starting teaching the letters to my daughter. I've made a couple of changes and made a second version to use with my son now. It's color coded in purple and blue so they know who's checklist it is.  Hope you find it useful as well.  Purple version Blue version   ~ Happy Teaching!  Fabi

I have two children and both of them are growing up bilingually. I speak to them in Spanish all day, while my husband speaks to them in English and Spanish. We have been checking the weather on a daily basis to know when's the best time to go outside to play with water or to take a family walk.  We also check the weather to see the temperature in other states where other family members currently live.  Here's a copy of the seasons of the year printable that I made. It's available in a pdf file for you to use at home with your children or in your classroom.  The images that I used to make the Seasons of the Year - Bilingual English Spanish poster come from this website  Seasons of the Year - Bilingual English / Spanish Free Printable Click here to download the .pdf file. ~Fabi

A few months ago, I guest-posted an article for MommyMaestra called 12 Ways to Promote Early Literacy in the home . The article is geared towards bilingual homes, but certainly each idea can be incorporated in a monolingual home. I invite you to head on over and read it. :-) What do you do at home to incorporate literacy? When do you start? What kind of things do you do most often? Do you do them with the intention of teaching or do they come naturally?  ~Fabi