Jamboard templates for articles, authentic resources and novels

I have been wanting to take some time to play around with Jamboard- one of the apps on Google. I have made a few this or that activities on winter traditions and the Super Bowl. One of my favorite features is how easy they are to edit! My students (especially my fifth and sixth graders)

Flippity for a mini-novel project online

We have one more week until break! WHEW! Between virtual teaching and a few long long months of my third trimester, I am exhausted! Good news: I am finishing up the book that I am writing with Florencia Henshaw! It won’t be ready for awhile since it will have to be edited etc, but I

A round-up of online resources and final novel project

Final project for middle schoolers This week, I designed a final project for my 8th graders. (The link has the instructions and a rubric as well.)They just finished reading Bianca Nieves and we had embedded a few cultural topics throughout. I wanted to try to have my students revisit the activities that they had done

Teaching novels online

Teaching online has been more difficult for me than I thought. I had done this before, and I knew what I wanted to do- but then I started questioning everything. I saw what others were doing, and I started doubting what I was doing. I typically know that everyone has strengths and weaknesses, people highlight

Reviewing novels after a break

Many times, I try to wrap up a novel before a longer break; however, other times, it doesn’t happen. I have found a few fun activities to review a novel that ease students back after break. When you are reviewing, keep in mind some of the ideas of retrieval practice. If it is harder for

Novels

This page is a mix of general novel ideas with lesson plans that I have used for specific novels in a variety of levels. How to choose a novel A list of 21 ideas for novels Interpretive reading assessments for novels Conceptual Maps for novels Google Tours and Slides with novels Santana resources (level 3)

How I decide on novels for my classes

Whew!  My school year is over, my room is packed and now- I just have to pack up my house, have an edcamp, move, vacation and make it through June!  At least those are all- relatively- fun things!  In my head, I wasn’t going to blog much in June, but then I started to feel

Quick tip: A variation on an old game for novels!

It is interesting that students love certain games certain years.  One of my Spanish V classes loves the game that we play with weekend chat.  I love that I can alter this game easily to work with what we are doing.  We had just finished reading the novel Calaca Alegre.  I decided to play the

Interpretive Reading Assessments for Novels

As I continue to balance how I assess novels and how I implement IPAs, I have played around with how I assess how students interpret the vocabulary that students are acquiring as well as the novel itself.  For my upper levels, I typically could find an article that included a lot of the culture that

Conceptual maps in units and novels

This year, we planned a PLC to allow us more time to collaborate with both Middle and Upper School teachers.  We have some really excellent language teachers in the Middle School, but it is hard to find time to discuss what we are doing in our classes.  Marcela Velikovsky shared a wonderful idea on how