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Showing posts from April, 2015

get ready to write...

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When I was in first grade I usually got involved with one big problem: Children don´t know how to grab a pencil!!! To deal with this problem I had tried different strategies (a compile of them is often recommended) and I used one that brought me lot of satisfaction.  This "booklet" prepared for the students try to make an effort on focusing in aspects like grabbing the pencil, direction of letters (pre-writing), pressure needed when writing... I didn’t want to do just a worksheet for the students to do by themselves. I want them to know how to grab a pencil, how hard they have to press when writing and how they have to complete each line. When I use these activities I always use a tambourine but you can also clap to show them when they have to do a line. Why? You must ask yourselves… Because as I told you this product has been made to teach them how to write. I have seen a lot of first graders grabbing a pen in a wrong way and I think it is essential to show an

WORLD BOOK DAY... APRIL 23rd. TOP 10 BOOKS FOR CHILDREN!

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On April 23rd we celebrate The World Book Day . The connection between 23 April and books was first made in 1923 by booksellers in Spain as a way to honor the author Miguel de Cervantes , who died on this date. In 1995 UNESCO decided that the World Book and Copyright Day would be celebrated on 23 April, as the date is also the anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega , as well as that of the birth or death of several other prominent authors. In case you want to buy some books in Spanish these are the 10 (I had to do 12!) top series and books for children between 7 and 12 years old in Spain: 1. "Aventuras en..." Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer whose books have been among the world's best-sellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Blyton's books are still enormously popular, and have been translated into almost 90 languages. She is also the a

Graphic organizers

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I have been reading a great article about graphic organizers, thinking maps, semantic maps, webs... They have different names and we find them extremely useful and a great help not only when you have to study but when you have to provide a framework for the topic concept to be learned or to organize newly acquired information. I want to share one book: "The Power of Retelling: Developmental Steps for Building Comprehension" where Carrice Cummins and Vicki Benson emphasize how the students learn to use organizers as a way to prioritize and organize their thinking. The process facilitates the activation of existing schema and helps students chart new knowledge. Another very helpful information, if you want to deepen in them, are the applications and tools that we can find in internet. The most widely known programs are: 1. Inspiration 2. Popplet 3. Idea Flip 4. iBrainstorm 5. Creately You can find tens of examples and choose the one you like most in 6. Cooltoolsfor