First Days of School

Classroom is almost ready. 

The class Cognate and Synonym Word Wall is ready to be filled.

We will be preparing our interactive notebooks this week. These foldables will hold the class expectations my students decide will help us have a safe and respectful learning environment in our classroom community.

Update 8/20/18

* The post above is from a couple of years ago. After reflecting on how I used these notebooks I feel I would do things differently. Yes, the cut outs were cute and the kids liked them, and it kept them busy the whole class period, BUT what was the objective? What were the kids really learning? Sure, it provided an opportunity for  following directions, but did we ever go back to reread the rules, goals, or expectations? No. We did not. 

If I decide to use interactive notebooks in the future, I plan to read about the proper way to use them and attend professional development training that will help me better understand how to use them in the classroom efficiently. I found the following book at Heinemann.Com and plan  read it in order to be better informed of the proper way to support students through the use of interactive notebooks:

Interactive Notebooks and English Language Learners

How to Scaffold Content for Academic Success

By Marcia J Carter, Anita C Hernandez, NMSU, Jeannine D Richison, California Polytechnic State University 

https://www.heinemann.com/products/e02611.aspx

Here is a link to a research review by Ofelia Garcia, Jo Anne, Kleifgen, and Lorraine Falchi on changing the term used to refer to students who are learning to be proficient multilingual students from ESL/ELL/LEP to Emergent Bilinguals or Multilinguals. The terms ESL, ELL, and LEP put a negative emphasize on students' limitations and fail to point out the  the funds of knowledge and multiple literacies these students are bringing to our classrooms.

http://www.equitycampaign.org/i/a/document/6532_Ofelia_ELL__Final.pdf

Tomorrow is the first day of school. In this year's course I plan to focus my instruction on basic structures and vocabulary of the English language through reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Students will work on developing strategies to help them advance their English language acquisition and in becoming partners in their education.
Have a great year!

Here is a great link to a video from Polaris Charter Academy in New York on using an interactive word wall. I love that the teacher, 8th-grade teacher Rich Richardson, is not only checking that the students can define the words, but he is taking it a bit further and encouraging students to think critically by asking them to explain how the terms are connected.

http://eleducation.org/resources/interactive-word-wall#.V7Gtb4sNhHA.mailto