Another amazing giveaway!!

It's that time of the year again!!  Time to be thankful, joyous, and get a much needed break :)  I'm teaming up with Kristen over at Easy Teaching Tools to throw a spectacular Giveaway!  There are TWENTY FIVE amazing teachers participating!  Including some amazing Ten Sellers and products for all ages!  Be sure to enter the giveaway below or at Easy Teaching Tools!  :)

Giveaway ends on December 1st

Here's what all 26 of us teachers came up with!  You can click on the photo to see more.  All you have to do is enter the Rafflecopter below!  Ready, set, go!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Five for Friday!

Hey y'all!  I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday {just a tad late!}!!  It's almost Turkey Day y'all! Wohoo!  I hope you're looking forward to a much overdue break :)  {Spain obviously doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving!  Shucks!}

But this has been one of those weeks that just flies right by you.  Without any warning.  Like, you blink!  And it's gone...

I feel as if FOOD should be my theme for the week!  We have eaten SO MUCH FOOD this week.  Such as this:

tapas, tapas, tapas!

Or this:

Saturday brunch with friends :)

It's time to lace up those gym shoes and go for a run!  This time of year is always so hard!  

Luckily!  My hubby and I become official residents of Mallorca this week- so we are able to take the city bikes out for rides!  Last night we took them to dinner!  So much fun and SUCH a timesaver!  Love it!

Hubby riding around!
I was dying to take a selfie but decided this was probably dangerous enough for one ride.

I've been teaching all about Thanksgiving this week!!  I am so excited- even if it's not the same in Spain.  I am having a hard time explaining to my students just how we celebrate Thanksgiving.  I've shown pictures, taught vocabulary, and tried explaining it as best I can- but I still don't think they get it.  And I'm okay with that.  I mean, how can you possibly explain a holiday when you stuff your face with all sorts of food, thank those around you for everything you have, and watch football  :) #America

Speaking of cultural differences, I have been reading a professional development book about how different cultures learn to read and write.  SO COOL!  Click on the picture below to learn more about this book.  I am still at the beginning so I do not have much to report yet- but I will write about the book when I finish.  Has anyone else read this?  If so- what did you think?

Amazon

And I don't really have much to say for #5- but this seems to fit pretty appropriately!  Enjoy the break, don't work too hard or too much, {or better yet- at all!} because before you know it- it's gone!!

Source

Brrrr- it's cold in here!

Yikes, y'all!  I said, Brrr!  It's cold in here!  There must be some teachers in the atmosphere.  Yikes... some horrible/cheesy "Bring it On" throwback for ya.

But really, winter has officially hit the Balearic Islands.  Fall completely skipped us and the weather has become this rainy mess of a winter.  The humidity, rain, and chill in the air come together nicely to make your bones feel completely frozen.  I cracked and went out and bought a coat this weekend {who brings a coat to an island!!?} and THANK GOODNESS that I did!!

The rainy, gray, day that was my Monday

Turns out my classroom has ZERO heat!!  None, nada, NOTHING!!  And it was COLD today.

Me freezing my tushee off!

 Some of the teachers grabbed this small space heater for me to use.  After three hours it had heated the three feet all around it.  And nothing more.

And it was raining so my kiddos were of course going up the wall with zero recess time.  Love that.

BUT, in all seriousness, it's rainy and gross but all else is great here.  When all I seriously have to report is that it's COLD, I guess that means things are going pretty well :)  It is winter after all...

ESL is lots of fun and I am loving pulling together activities for my kiddos to do.

Today we played a game with the alphabet.  I was so into it that I completely spaced on taking pictures.  The kids were pretty into it too...

Hope your Monday was a great one and it's off to a great start!!

Healthy Holiday Tips...

The holidays are coming up upon us and it's a stressful time with so much food, sweets, and drinks readily available.  I seem to always add several extra pounds this time of year just because I have a hard time saying "no".  When I saw this awesome advice on Chef G and Rachel's Facebook Page, I knew I had to share it!  I love how simple and easy their tips are, especially number 5!  I can do lots of veggies!  What do you think?

Spontaneous Twenty Frames!

Happy Monday everyone!!  Just wanted to pop in and share a quick activity I came up with today for my super adorable first grade Spaniards!  We are working on saying numbers in English.  As first graders, they have a decent grasp on numbers but I still wanted to make sure I wasn't confusing them by giving them new names for these numbers.  So I quickly drew up some 1-20 flashcards, ripped up some paper, and went to work.

I reviewed the numbers with the kiddos using the flashcards and then separated them into two groups.  I had one person from each group be "it" and in front of them was a small pile of the ripped up paper.  I called out a number (1-20) and had them build that number from the little pieces of paper.  The first person to build that number out of the paper got a point for their team.  {The points had no purpose but they made these little competitive kiddos focus.}

Side note- the flashcards were there to support them if necessary but I tried to focus on listening
for the numerical name .  They already know the written form of the number!

This went really well and helped build their fluency with numbers in English AND math :)  Win-win.

To make it even better, I ran home and created some counters, a twenty frame, and some number flashcards that are printed up all nice-like.  I plan on using this next week to play our game again.  You can pick it up for free in my TpT store here.  This would be a great game to send home with kiddos who need a little extra practice working with numbers 1-20.

Hope you're enjoying the start of your week!