Blabberize

Dear students and followers,


I want to share with you a cool site. It's called Blabberize. In this site, you can upload a picture of a person or an animal and make it talk by adding your own audio file! This is great for spicing up listening exercises.



Happy teaching!

Códigos secretos / Secret codes

 

As you know there are some Spanish letters and characters that we don't have in our american keyboards. Here it's a chart to teach students how to use these Spanish letters and characters.

á = alt+160	é = alt+130	í = alt+161	ó = alt+162	ú = alt+163
ü = alt+129	ñ = alt+164	Ñ = alt+165	¿ = alt+168	¡ = alt+17

Vamos a hacer cómics / Let's make comics

My students are working on school vocabulary (school personnel, school locations, subjects and school activities) and some language patterns such as:

Me llamo, Soy el/la, Estoy and Me gusta.

Veamos un ejemplo:

Me llamo Cristina Castillo. Soy la maestra de Español. Estoy en la clase de Español. Me gusta cantar. 

We have gone to the computer lab. Students need to create a comic strip using the school vocabulary learned during the unit. Here you have an example of the assignment.

We have used this site to make the comics. 

Aprender la hora / Tell the time

My students and I were learning how to tell the time in Spanish.



Level 0: Great site to explain the time. It's a great starter!

Level 1: They have a digital clock to help them to figure it out what time is it.

Level 2:  Reading activity. It's a multiple choice game.























Level 3: Once students have been practising for a while, we use this game.

Level 4: Speaking or writing activities. It allows you to choose the level of difficulty.

Level 5:  Listening and writing activity.




Here you have some sites with worksheet to practice the time:

1. ¿Qué hora es? Fichas para trabajar las horas?

San Valentín / Saint Valentine's Day

Dora and the Lost Valentine

Dora and Boots travel across the "Be Mine" Vines and explore the heart of the jungle to retrieve a Valentine that got away. But they need plenty of help

First, swing from colored vine to colored vine by using your mouse to choose the next color in the pattern. Next, it's on to the Think Pink Stepping Stones, where kids match the number of frogs to the numbered stepping stones and help Dora and Boots step safely across. Finally, travel into the heart of the jungle to retrieve that lost Valentine! The game has three sections, and they're all about the same level of difficulty.

Ipads

Information about iPads:

First of all, I would like to suggest you to buy an interesting accessory for your ipad: 30-pin to VGA adapter (29$).

Put your slides, movies, photos, and everything else that fills your iPad or iPhone 4S screen on an even bigger screen — a VGA-equipped TV, monitor, or external projector for video mirroring. The Apple VGA Adapter mirrors exactly what you see on your screen so that everyone in the room can enjoy it.

The Apple VGA Adapter supports video mirroring on iPad 2 or later and iPhone 4S; and video out (only) on iPad (1st generation), iPhone 4, or iPod touch (4th generation).

Secondly, Let's get organized! I would suggest creating folders on your iPad. 

Educational apps for 1st graders

IPAD: Educational apps:

1. Classdojo: Behavior Management Software. 


Put your slides, movies, photos, and everything else that fills your iPad or iPhone 4S screen on an even bigger screen — a VGA-equipped TV, monitor, or external projector for video mirroring. The Apple VGA Adapter mirrors exactly what you see on your screen so that everyone in the room can enjoy it.





2. Quizlet: We make simple learning tools that let you study anything, for free.



3. Pinterest: A content sharing service that allows members to "pin" images, videos and other objects to 

their pinboard.




4. Educreations:  Educreations turns your iPad into a recordable whiteboard. Creating a great video tutorial is as simple as touching, tapping and talking. Explain a math formula... Create an animated lesson... Add commentary to your photos... Diagram a sports play... and so on. 



5. Audionote app: Take notes synced to audio with our bestselling note-taking software. AudioNote combines the functionality of note-taking and voice recording apps to create a powerful tool that will save you time while improving the quality of your notes. 




6. Futaba: If you're looking for a fantastic multiplayer game AND a fun way to help children learn new words, look no further....Futaba is a 4 player game designed for kids. This outrageously fun word quiz game can be used at home or in the classroom as a entertaining way to build language skills. 





7. Silly sentences 2: This app provides fun activities that introduce vowel sounds and their letter combinations. The activities will help kids identify long vowels. We have another application for the short vowels. Through the flash cards, matching, sound and signs, and silly sentences, the kids will receive lots of practice distinguishing between the different vowel sounds. 


The application builds reading skills and give your children opportunities to decode words, phrases, and sentences. These are all important stepping stones to becoming a proficient reader. 

Features: 
-Phonics 
-Pronunciation
-Flash Cards 
-Matching 
-Sounds and Signs 
-Silly Sentences 
-Touch and Hear 
-Capital vs. Lower-case 
-A lot of Animations 

8. Kids Picture dictionary: Download this A to Z Picture Dictionary with hundreds or words and sentences with a fun self-record tool for kids and parents to record their own voice and playback!



★ Kids tested - they love it! Parents tested - they love it!
★ Building vocabulary has never been so much fun
★ Large pictures
★ Professional voiceovers recorded in production studio
★ High quality images
★ Self-record tool - Kids love to hear their own voice as they make their sentences!
★ Great vocabulary building exercise
★ Over 650 words!
★ A great learning tool for ESL!
★ FREE!
★ Upgrade to Ad-free with instant In-App purchase. Ad-free version is also multi-tasking!

Building strong English vocabulary has never been so exciting for preschoolers and toddlers. eFlash Kids Picture Dictionary features over 650 high quality images with text and voiceovers. Parents or kids can repeat the sentences or make their own sentences by using the fun self-record tool! Complexity of words is perfect for ages 3 to 6 so two or more young siblings can play together and even teach each other! 

10. Phonics awareness 1st Grade: Phonics Awareness, 1st Grade Reading, is a fun way for your child to learn core phonics. Bugs are used to add whimsy and help in the teaching. This tutorial is highly interactive, giving your 1st grader a chance to relate to phonics on a personal level and get instant feedback on how they are doing.



This course was created by educational professionals, including reading specialists, with over 30 years of experience working with struggling readers.

Features:
***************************
* Learning through animation, sound and touch.
* Bugs do the teaching to add fun and whimsy.
* The “Check Yourself” section tests your child’s learning and shows you the scores.
* Tutorial format guides your child through the activities.
* Games add to the fun.
* Based on the Common Core Standards for 1st Graders.
*Give your child a head start on first grade literacy.
* Correct answers get immediate and consistent praise while wrong answers simply ask them to try again.
*Multi-sensory learning creates a high degree of interactivity through voice, written words and animations.
*Fun bug graphics holds your child’s attention.
* Personalized feedback every step of the way.

11. Phonics Tic-Tac-Toe Interactive Game: 


Children build language skills in a fast-paced game of tic-tac-toe! Fun, interactive game explores vowel sounds, syllables and more. For ages 6-8 years. 

Plus, check out the other Lakeshore Learning Materials apps: Letter of the Day Interactive Activities and Beginning Sounds Interactive Game.




Great websites for 1st grade teachers

Google translator: Great tool to translate everything that you want to Spanish.