February Bilingual Blog Hop

Hello everyone!  Happy February!  I can't wait to show you what my kiddos are doing right now.  I can't believe all but 2 are reading!  I'm so excited!  And... we're in the beginning stages of writing as well!  Below are examples of how my kids are writing. I keep telling my kids, if you can segment, you can write!  Just write the sounds you know.  The two that are really struggling right now are my new kids that have just moved in, but they will catch on soon enough.  With a little extra practice, they will get there too!  I am just so proud of them.  

I also want to note, that everyday before I let my kids go off and do a free write, I model a lesson.  I choose a drawing lesson from my "DRAWING TUB" and show them how to do the step by step picture. After I have my drawing, I try to get ideas from the kids of what I can write.  Usually, they help me come up with what to say.  I model for them how to segment the word and write all of the letters together with spaces between the words.  Also... I remind them that everyone is going to write their own story and not going to write MY story.  I also allow them to draw without the drawing lessons if they choose to do so.  I tell them, no coloring until they have finished their stories.  

Anyhow... here is one of my kiddos!  She wrote this all on her own without help. It says:

"Mi mama toma el café y me dará."  She was really disappointed that she didn't have a chance to finish, but I told her she could finish it on another day. 

Yo tengo un sol y mi sol tiene palos.  Mi sol tiene palos.  She didn't get a chance to finish either, but this is just the start to a whole new world for these kiddos and their writing.  

Also... NOT all of my kids are writing this way.  These are my top two kids.  My lower performing kids are still stringing letters together and forgetting to put spaces.  They are getting their sounds though, so that is a start for them.  Then... I have those who are putting too many spaces between words, but are getting their sounds.  We have a huge range of kiddos and their writing.  

Below is a sampling of what I'm doing in reading!  Most of my kiddos are reading on their own and these students give them a great way to practice blending simple words that we have been practicing from our phonics centers - beginning level.  
While the kids are working independently, I can pull my kiddos who need extra help blending syllables to form words.  The kids really like these and they follow a great routine, so there is no need to explain how to do these.  There are 5 different activities to do with each level!   
1)  Read the word and write the word below the picture!  
2)  Word search, which helps the child where a word starts and finishes!
3)  Unscramble the word
4)  Read the word and write it in the appropriate boxes.  This helps the students write their letters small and at the correct height.  It was hard at first, but they really are getting the hang of it!
5)  Cut the pictures out and paste the picture with the picture with the correct word.   
Click on the pictures below is a sampling from the complete book.  You can get the complete book here!   

I hope you all have a great February!!!

Take care,

Leah

 

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