Inside Bell's Brain

I'm really excited to accept the TpT Seller Challenge hosted by the fabulous ladies at Third in Hollywood , Teach Create Motivate , Peppy Zesty Teacherista , and Sparkling in Second .  Sometimes being a seller can be difficult to balance with our other life roles, so we're taking on one task at a time ...together.  The "pre-task" was collecting our social media stats .  This week was so busy that I noted mine on Tuesday morning, but I got distracted and didn't post them to Instagram until today!  So here's where I'm beginning ... This week is the official first week of the challenge , and this week's task was a Makeover Madness challenge.  We were supposed to take an existing product in our stores and give it a little "face lift."  We were free to design and re-design however we wanted, as long as we shared/blogged about our "before and after" and shared it with the other challengers. I took on my product " How to...

I've made a new friend through my new Instagram account !  (Follow me @insidebellsbrain !)  So today I'm linking up with Mrs. Stanford's class to bring you a little Hump Day Highlight .  This week I thought I would tell you about my latest creation and how we're using it in our classroom.  Last year, our district had its first International Fair .  It was so exciting to see so much love and support for all the diversity in our schools and communities.  My fourth graders contributed a project called "International Heroes."  They did an AMAZING job!  I was so proud of their hard work, and I realized that their research and final products were so meaningful to them...academically and personally.  We did a very in-depth study of biographies and informational text , followed by their own independent and collaborative research .  Finally, they published their work in a typed report and displayed it for the Fair. This year, I wanted to "be...

Good.  It's such a simple word...one that we probably use 100 times in a single day.  "Be a good girl."  "You're a good boy."  "Do a good job."  "Did you have a good day?"  "This food is good."  When there are seemingly an infinite number of adjectives we could choose, we stick with the word "good."  It's a word I've been trying to eliminate from my vocabulary for quite some time, but probably not for the reason that you think.   I see so many signs, products, and instructional tools that talk about "good" readers and writers.  I think so many of them are wonderful products and great resources for our classes, so I don't want my message to be misconstrued.  But if we tell students that there are "good" readers and writers, what is the implication?  That there are also BAD readers and writers.  That's what concerns me the most.   Some students, and some teachers alike, struggle w...

  Getting started is often the most difficult part of writing.  That's true for native English speakers and English learners alike.  But as is often true, what is effective instructional practice for ELs makes for effective practice for our native English speakers also.  With that in mind, one solution to the writing dilemma is using sentence frames.  Sentence frames allow writers to concentrate on the most important part of writing (the sharing and communication of ideas) rather than worrying about the syntax (structure) and grammar of the sentence.  For example, if you're writing a compare and contrast paper, an appropriate sentence frame might be, "(This) and (that) are alike because _________________."  This allows ELs and other students to really concentrate on what they're trying to express about the comparison rather than stressing about the structure they need to express this idea.  Sentence frames can be as complex or as simple as yo...