New Math Websites

I have, thankfully, stumbled upon two new and amazing (yes...FRENCH) math websites. I have added them to my "Math" page, but here they are as well. 

Math Frog - Grade 4-6. Complete units, games, and lessons to go along with all strands of Ontario curriculum. 

JeuxMaths -  Great website with a ton of games, worksheets, crossword puzzles and more - in French!!!

If you have any French Math websites, please share!

Liebster Award

Something made my day today - Leah from Teacher Talk nominated me for the Liebster Award. I have no idea what it means or what it is, nevertheless, it was exciting! Especially since it is meant for bloggers with 200 followers or less - that is definitely me! :) 

The idea, I guess, is that I post a bunch of random facts about myself, answer the questions that Leah has posted and then nominate 11 other blogs and post a list of my own questions to them. I agree with the others that it sounds like a lot of work, but if it means that more people will be able to connect and share ideas because of it, I am all in! (See the bottom of this post for the "real" meaning behind the Liebster Blog Award)

So here are 11 facts about myself:

1. I was born in The Netherlands

2. I have a younger brother

3. I bite my nails way too often!

4. I love playing squash.

5. I speak 4 languages. 

6. I like making funny voices. 

7. I played the violin for 15 years. 

8. I lived in Chile, El Salvador, and Mexico

9. I am obsessed with Glee and everything about it. 

10. I had coffee with President Uribe of Colombia

11. In the past 4 years I have had over 10 Xrays done (needles to say I'm clumsy).

Leah's Questions:

1. Favorite country you have visited?
Chile.
2.  Healthy baking or tasty baking?Tasty Baking - is there any other kind?
3.  Who is your hero?
My mother.
4.  Are you introverted or extroverted?
Extroverted
5.  Biggest splurge purchase you have ever made?
Buying my first car.  
6.  Something you are proud of?
Being a teacher. 
7.  Christmas break or summer holidays?
Summer holidays. 
8. Worst part about teaching?
There is none. 
9. Best job perk?
Being able to use my funny voices at work and not get stared at like I have 3 heads (AKA being able to be a kid at work).
10. coffee or tea?
Coffee.
11. Best gift from a student?
 An appreciative letter including a bracelet.  

Blog nominations:

1. http://ordinaryfslteacher.blogspot.ca/2011/11/smart-response-systems-aim-success.html

2. http://sylviaduckworth.blogspot.ca/

3. http://madamebellefeuille.blogspot.ca/

4. http://teachingfsl.blogspot.ca/

5. http://amisiano.edu.glogster.com/languagelearninglinkswelove/

6. http://cristinaskybox.blogspot.ca/2012/05/summer-delights.html

7. http://laclassedemmerobinson.wordpress.com/

8. http://www.freetech4teachers.com/

9. http://firstgradefactory.blogspot.ca/2011/03/lima-bean-experiment.html

10. http://chasemarch.blogspot.ca/

11. http://theteacherwife.blogspot.ca/

***The real "gist" of the Liebster Award is that there is no real award. There are no judges, no special rules. No website with an official team to congratulate you and hold your hand. It's mostly what you want it to be. If you receive the award, you can 1) accept it and 2) pass it along. It's that easy.

Show and Tell en Français

Well... my new year's resolution of posting a blog once a week was clearly wishful thinking. Nevertheless, happy new year to everyone! I hope you were as excited as I was to get back into the classroom! I felt so recharged, refreshed, and full of new ideas!

The first thing I wanted to do with the students was a show and tell en Français. We spent the first couple of months reviewing grammar, getting comfortable speaking in French around each other, and learning a ton of new French words. Now it is time to put all of that together. Here are the links (to Google Docs) to the rubric and outline I used. The rubric is for a 3/4 French Immersion class in Ontario, Canada. Let me know if you find it useful. 

If you are also teaching a French class, what are some ways you are getting back into the swing of things? What sorts of projects do you do to get the students to speak more in French? 

Click here for the outline.
Click here for the rubric. 

Class Dojo - points for speaking French

I have recently discovered one of THE most amazing motivators for students: Class Dojo! With a simple "PING!" students will do ANYTHING for a point on Class Dojo - and that includes, yes, speaking en Français! You assign a cute little furry avatar to each student, and as long as you have wireless and a data projector in your room, you can keep Class Dojo on all day. You can even assign points straight from your Iphone/Ipod - simply download the Class Dojo app! 

You can create specific "badges", such as "Spoke in French", or negative badges that take away points, such as "Spoke English". I also created a badge for "Mlle. spoke in English" - with that one, the entire class gets a point. They love getting that one! There are also generic badges that say "Hard Work" or "Teamwork", etc. 

Tally up points as a class, or individually. We usually pick a goal at the beginning of every week, for example, 500 points. If we gather up all the points, they can chose a "free time" activity to do at some point the following week (can be accounted for through QDPA). 

It honestly works like magic - the first day I introduced it, I just had it up on the data projector, and as students walked in and got to their seats I gave them the "Gets to work right away" point - you should have seen how fast the others followed! On top of it all, I could have heard a pin drop! Give it a try and let me know what you think! 

Another post by Madame Wiebe also talks about ways to get students to speak French - great read! 

If you know of any other games/techniques, please post bellow! 

Teachers Pay Teachers

I have recently joined the fabulous network of TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers). You wouldn't believe how much time I've saved either buying or downloading FREE information, worksheets, presentations, and more for my class. Anything from full lesson plans on how to teach persuasive writing, to a "You are going on vacation" package for a student who is about to take off for 2 weeks. Trust me, you won't be disappointed!! You will need to create an account in order to buy or download the material - but for free lesson plans, I wouldn't hesitate!

Since I have created a lot of my own worksheets in French (we all know how many French resources there are out there), I've decided to put some of my worksheets up for sale as well. I have a couple of Math worksheets and French Grammar. Mainly they are for grades 5 and under, but as always, are easily adaptable. To view my "store" look on the right side of my blog, under my contact information. 

To browse the TPT general website, click here. Enjoy!!

Global Read Aloud

I am thrilled to say I am back to blogging! As a new teacher, the first couple of weeks... OK, months, of school were quite busy! I had high hopes of blogging on a weekly basis, but clearly that was some serious wishful thinking! I have been loving my job more and more every day, and am so thankful to be at such a supportive school! Moreover, my class, which is a grade 3/4 French Immersion class (meaning that the first half of the day I teach them in French and the other half in English), has been so incredibly hard-working, kind, and fun to be in every single day! It has been great watching them learn and grow already!

So, during the month of October, we participated in the 2012 Global Read Aloud. Along with 30 000 students from 6 continents we read the book "The One and Only Ivan" by Katherine Applegate. I read aloud to them every day, knowing we had to read a specific batch of pages every week. We then connected with another class in the United States over Edmodo, where students from both classes were able to talk to each other and discuss the book. We did a wide variety of activities in class based on the book, such as creating a Wordle and Vokis. Here are two separate links from two students' Vokis: 

Click here to see Voki

Click here to see Voki

I highly recommend participating in the Global Read Aloud next year! It was a phenomenal experience to see students get so involved in their learning! It was great for them to feel part of something so big and international. To learn more about the GLR click here. You can already sign up for next year! If you have any questions about it, please don't hesitate to ask!

Organizing!

I found out this past week that I will be starting my teaching career in a Grade 3/4 French Immersion class, and I couldn't be more excited! One of the first things I thought of was: How am I going to organize everything? So I started pulling from all my resources and found some phenomenal blogs and websites on classroom organization and I had to share. Below are my two favourite websites so far with really great ideas, both of which I found on Pinterest! I hope you find it as useful as I do! And if you have any other great websites to share, please do!
"Getting Organized":

"Teaching Takes Heart":