Waiting for Fall Weather....

   Even though the temperatures here in the Northern Bay area feel more like summer than autumn, we have been learning about the Fall Season in Spanish class!
   I am discovering that the munchkins are really enjoying learning new words in Spanish (despite the one comment about not singing enough, made by one of the older kids as she compared me to the previous teacher) Yea, someone said that... I wasn't offended though because there is so much more to learning Spanish than just being able to sing words in Spanish! While we do sing, I try to keep a focus on learning words and phrases in Spanish and have the children practice how to speak those words and phrases...hence "Learning Spanish"!
  Anyhow, sorry for the rant and enough on that. Back to learning about Fall...

Here are some of the words that are on our word wall:

We tied in colors when learning these words and my K group worked on color word sentences:

 

 

   (I am tweaking these printables, along with my Spanish Color Pack and they will be uploaded on TPT later this week!)

    I again took a look at my work shelves and thought about what activities were meaningless and basically unpopular with the kids. I went ahead and replaced those activities with other fall related activities to spark their learning interest and put some focus on some fun math activities.

So, as we wait for Fall to arrive, enjoy my Fall Literacy & Math Packs available on TPT:

Baking Fun...Fall Leaf Tortilla Chips!

   On Monday through Thursday I teach Spanish to my munchkins and then on Fridays, I take off my Spanish Teacher hat and put on my Chef hat!
   Every Friday, we engage the kids in some sort of cooking/baking project. Seeing that the summer-like temps (in autumn), in the North Bay area don't seem to be cooling off anytime soon, we needed something that was either a no bake snack or something that required little baking time.
   And so we made some Leaf Shaped Tortilla Chips!

 Our school has these cute baking mats for the kids to each have their own spot. 

All we needed was corn tortillas and leaf shaped cookie cutters:

Each child was given one corn tortilla and was able to cut out two different leaf shapes.

(We later found out that two tortillas chips were definitely not enough.

Most of the kids wanted more!)

After they had their two tortilla shapes cut out, we brushed on olive oil onto both sides of each one.

Then I sprinkled some salt onto them and popped them in the oven. I let them bake for 4 minutes and then turned them over and let them bake for another 4-5 minutes. 

They came out perfect!

(This batch was a little crispy and brown on the edges, but still yummy!)

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Cute, simple and delicious!

Try making your own Tortilla Chips with kiddos! 

Below is the recipe:

Fall Leaf Tortilla Chips:

Ingredients:

Corn Tortillas

Olive Oil

Salt

Cookie Cutters (any shape)

Pre-heat oven to 350. After chips are cutout, brush on small amounts of olive oil on each side. Bake 4-5 minutes on each side, for no more than a total of 9 minutes. Allow them to cool and enjoy!!

Happy Planner Life!

    Okay, I admit it, I catch on to creative trends very easily once I discover them! It all started four years ago when I came across the hobby of scrapbooking. I was all into it and then life got busy and there was just never enough time to indulge into that creative side of myself. So then about a year later, I discovered SMASH Books and tried to get going with that, thinking it was just like scrapbooking, without all the time and effort to put into it. Yea, that didn't last long at all!

   It was hard to find time to just sit and let the creative juices come through, so I spent time reading or just browsing Pinterest and creating boards about things that I wish I had time to do. I have missed the papercrafting and all the creativeness that comes with it. 

   So, it comes as no surprise that when I stumbled across pictures on Instagram of decorated planners (usually by teachers, Mrs. Harris to be exact) and then the name Erin Condren kept popping up, and  I was onboard quick! Decorating planners... why not, right?

   I had nowhere to really start so I began with the planner I was already using. So I got started with whatever scrapbooking supplies I had on hand.  THEN I started seeing more pictures and discovered the Planner Life... and "oohed and ahhed" over all the pretty and cute planners that others were creating. So I took myself to Michaels (not ready to indulge in an expensive Erin Condren planner quite yet) and sought out something similar, but more affordable. I also picked up a few starter things to get going.

And here is what I have created for this week: 

(It is simple and cute...but I have bigger ideas for the coming weeks!)

And here is where I am linking up...a few days late, but I jumped on the boat a little late!

Click on it to get to Kreative in Kindergarten's blog post and check out others who are linking up and showing off their Fall/October Themed planners!

    There is SO much papercraft stuff out there for this fun, new hobby of mine! I need to make a Spending Jar just to be able to buy all the cute stuff on my Etsy Wish List!

   Will I keep up with it? Maybe. I really think I will though, even when life gets too busy. I do lesson plans and meal plans every weekend, so all I have to do is squeeze in some extra time to make my weekly spread in my planner look pretty!! And by linking up with Plan With Me Sundays, I can try to keep myself on track!

Nos Gustan Manzanas! / We Like Apples!

    Fall Fun means Apple Fun! 

   We started off the school year with an apple tasting every morning during circle time, in the bigger primary classroom. Throughout the past few weeks, the kids have tasted a multitude of different apples, including my new personal favorite: Pink Pearl Apple!

   In Spanish class, we learned all about Manzanas!

    I couldn't stop seeing this cute Apple Craft from Kinder Craze all over Pinterest and Facebook, so I knew I wanted to get my munchkins to do it as well; so we did it with some Spanish learning mixed in. We learned the three main colors of apples (rojo, amarillo y verde) in Spanish and learned the phrase "Me Gusta", which means "I Like."

   I set out the materials at each of the two tables:

       -Contact Paper

       -Pre-cut Apple Templates in each color (Template available for free at Kinder Craze)

       -Pre-cut Tissue Squares in Red, Yellow and Green

       -Pre-cut Leaves

       -Brown Squares (for cutting a stem)

  (I am not a huge fan of pattern art, but since my Spanish class time is usually an hour, time was an issue. And anyhow, the main purpose of the project was not the art, but rather learning the Spanish Phrase that accompanied the art project.)

The munchkins chose their favorite apple and practiced saying, 

"Me gusta la manzana (their color choice.)"

    When they were all done filling in their apple template, I placed another sheet of contact paper on top and cut each one out and attached their Spanish sentence. Some were able to write the color word on their own, and I wrote the sentence for those who were not able to do so.

    They really came out beautiful and all the windows in our whole school house are decorated with these lovely Stained Glass Apples!

   As I have been gathering some bilingual materials that are appropriate and useful for the children that I am teaching, I have come across a couple of good resources, from Open Wide the World and Nicole & Eliceo.

This awesome Parts of An Apple (in both English and Spanish) came from an awesome 

Apples Pack by Nicole & Eliceo.

In addition to the daily whole group activities, I also switched out a few things on my 

work shelves to suit our study of Apples.

Apple Count & Cover:

(created by me and available for FREE here)

Pattern Block Apple Trees:

Shape Tracing:

(from Open Wide the World's Apple Packet)

So, lots of learning on apples has been happening! 

And now I think the kiddos are ready to move on to something else!