August Currently

Hello Teachers pay Teachers Friends,

I am linking to Oh' Boy 4th Grade for the August Currently:http://ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/august-currently.html

I am listening to the sound of our chocolate brown ten year old poodle snoring contentedly beside me.  And celebrating every cha-ching I am loucky enought to hear in my best sales day second only to Dec 3, 2013 during a TpT sale.  I am amazed and grateful for every sale that proves my products are useful to my fellow teachers and making a small different in our family budget (as I am now on maternity leave expecting our first child in October :-)

I am loving the weather as it slowly warms up.  We are still having chilly August mornings - with lots of fog.  But there are more moments each day of lovely sunshine marking the end of our winter.

I am thinking of how many more things I want to have ready in our home ready to welcome our new baby bundle of joy.  We are ready because we have bought most necessities and made a bedroom into the nursery.  Hubby even pulled out our linen press to build in a "office nook" to make a charging station for our laptops and cupboard to hide away the printer.  It is a luxury that technology lets us minimise some of the stuff in our home nowadays.  Friends and family have been very generous with thoughtful gifts for our little one - so we are in the final stages of sorting through what baby will need first and storing away what baby will grow into later :-)

I am wanting to get a little more rest when I can.  I know I love my sleep and will find the next few months a big challenge as we welcome our baby and settle in as a little family.  I have been pacing my energy as the weeks and months tick by.  But am also excited as October nears.

I need to stay on top of running our household now I am home more.  I love making our home nice for my hubby and 2 dogs to welcome  him when he returns home after school.  I want to keep this up so our transition from newlyweds (2 years married last July) and from being just a couple (6 years last Friday) to becoming a family unit when Baby is ready to arrive.

My husband is a year 3/4 teacher in a Catholic school.  We met at work and even team taught/ shared a classroom together last year.  He is year 3/4s this year/  Last year, we shared a year 4/5 class.  Some days the kids even confused us: Mr. & Mrs. B. and we worked on different days.  It was funny to be called Mr. B sometimes :-)  Hubby is now halfway through the third 10 week block of teaching this term.  Baby is due in October around the school 2 week holidays.  This could make for an interetsing end of Term 3 beginning and Term 4 with student-parents-teacher interviews too.

Hope my TpT friends in USA are enjoying the end of summer weather.  Hope my Aussie TpT freinds are celebrating the warmer sunshine (particularly as the world is swept up in the ICE BUCKET challenge to raise awareness and fundraise for AIS).  My hubby completed his video on Sunday just before the sun was setting :-)

Happy teaching and learning,

Australian Winter 2014 Bucket List

This is a blog post linking up with Deanna Jump: http://mrsjumpsclass.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/top-ten-things-i-want-to-do-this-summer.html

Top Ten Things I Want to Do This Winter

Hello from Australia,

Ten Things I Want to do THIS winter {in no particular order}

1.  I want to read a few books that have nothing to do with teaching.  I love reading Jodi Picoult, but I am also interested in parenting books with our baby due in October.  At 19 weeks, we are almost halfway :-)        

2.   I want to spend some time just hanging with our fur babies:  Charlie (toy poodle) and Jody (Malmute X Husky).  They are loyal companions, but I am not sure how they will feel when Baby arrives.

3.  I want to spend time with my niece as the arrival of her new cousin approaches.  At ten years old, she is so excited to be included in making a fuss of the new baby.

4.  Spend time in our July trip to Adelaide (4 hours by car) to see my parents and sister's family.

5.  I need to keep on top of the baby stuff we have already bought, and what we still need.  We have just been amazed at the generosity of friends and family already.  And I haven't even thought about having a baby shower yet!

6.  I want and {need} to spend ome quality time with my Mum in Adelaide.  It is great to share your pregnancy with your Mum after years of hearing about her two premature babies back in the 1980s.

7.  I really want to spend time with my hubby shopping in Adelaide for baby stuff (he loves shopping, the opposite of me), looking forward to the June long weekend together and maybe evening going to the Drive In for a date before 2 become 3 :-)

8.  I m enjoying episodes of The Voice.  I never saw it in Season One.  Better late than never to start watching in Season Three (Australian).

9.  My husband and I are both teachers and are both keen fans of The Big Bang Theory.  

Between watching this and now Derren Brown's performances on TV and recordings live in the theatre, we will have a serious amount of TV watching to do :-)

10.  Next month, we have our 20 week scan to meet Baby again.  Husband has been prioritising the music to introduce to baby: from Blink 182 to John Mayer to Jack Black and many more.

  We are both enjoying every little milestone, counting down until we can meet Baby soon.

21 writing prompts in Italian

 

There are many different topics for  student to write about. You can use the calendar as inspiration, student interests or tie it to the topics you are teaching in their lessons.  Beginners might write only in English as a cultural component. Then, move into simple assignments in simple Italian as their Italian grows with more vocabulary and grammar.  Advanced students can extend their writing in Italian with more detail and a wider vocabulary.

1.     Writing in future tense on New Year’s Resolutions.  I will write in my journal, learn to cook, walk the dog.  Timely phrases: every day, all day, every week, every month, sometimes, always, every Tuesday etc.

2.     Descriptive writing about Carnevale,  This is usually in April and is a grand parade of colorful costumes, masks and celebration.  Ask students to describe the clothes, colours and foods of the festival.  Is there music playing live? Is the setting in Venice or another  Italian city? Are there gondolas?

3.     Describe an Italian summer.  Include weather, setting, summer holidays away from home at the sea or mountains, foods including gelato.  What is their favourite flavor?

4.     Describe an Italian autumn as the warm summer turns to reds and oranges of autumn before wintry white. What activities are popular in autumn? Are people playing soccer? Playing in a pile of autumn leaves?

5.     Describe an Italian winter.  The climate, the food, the setting and the activities.  Touch of the role of winter in an Italian Christmas.  Is there a snowplough to help people have streets clear of snow.  Have people salted their driveway to make it less slippery?

6.     Describe an Italian spring as nature wales from winter.  What plants are in bloom>? Which colours are starting to appear?   Can you hear young birds or see butterflies perhaps?  Is there a river starting to flow after being frozen over winter?

7.     June 2^nd is the national day of Italy.  What festivities are planned in terms of food, music and costumes? Is there a parade? What does the three colour flag of Italian represent?  How was Italy before this important date in history?  What had changed?

8.     Christmas in Italy is different for Australians, particularly because it is a European winter holiday.  There are no barbeques and sun and sand.  There is sometimes snow, and warm chestnuts and panettone to celebrate.  Many meet up with extended family of the aunts, uncles and cousins to catch up on family news.  Often the housewife makes a meal for all which may be homemade pasta and or seafood dishes.  Many Italians are Catholic and attend Midnight Mass on Christmas Day.

9.     Easter is also a religious holiday.  Many Italians are Catholics and attend Church over Easter of Pasqua to recognise the resurrection of Christ. Young people often spend Christmas with family and Easter with their friends.  They may travel for the long weekend to the seas or mountains. Chocolate is a part of Easter in Italy, but the focus is on the symbol of the egg.  The Easter bunny does not feature in the Italian Easter.

10.   When is your birthday? What day of the week were your born?  What is your star sign?  Does your family have special traditions on birthdays?  What do you like to do to celebrate?  Maybe you have a party or a sleepover? Some families like to wrap presents in strange shapes to disguise the present.  Then, the game is to guess the present before you open it.

11.   What is your school like?  How is it different from a typical Italian school?  Which type of high school would you choose?  Maybe science, classic or a trade school.  What subjects do you like?  What subjects are you good at?

12.   Who is in your family? Do you have a sister or a brother? Are you the youngest or the oldest? Do you live in a house or an apartment? Many Italians live in apartments close to town.  Australians are luckier to have room for a backyard to play soccer or have a dog.

13.   Do you have a pet?  What would your dream pet be? Many Italians cannot have pets in their apartment. Describe what it is like to live in an apartment with an elevator and no yard.

14.   Do you play sport?  Many Australians like football or cricket. Many Italians like soccer. How often do you play sport?  Do you play with friends or in a team?  What are your team colours?

15.   When you finish school, what would you like to be?  Describe a few jobs and what would be great about working in that job.

Research based topics:

16.  Introduce an Italian person. Write a profile or an interview about that person.  Include name, date or birth, job, where they lived and any interesting facts you learn about them.

17.   Introduce an Italian place. Write a profile or a poster about that place.  Include name, region of Italy, date founded if known and any interesting facts you learn about them. Perhaps some famous people lived there, or it was the place of an important event in history.

18.   Introduce an Italian event in history. Write a profile or a poster about that event.  Include place and region of Italy, date or dates of the event, who was involved, and any interesting facts you learn about them. Perhaps a famous person was there at the same time.

19.   Introduce an Italian food. Write a recipe or make a poster about that food.  Include name, where in Italy is from and any interesting facts you learn about them. Perhaps you can make it to share with your friends and family.  You might choose a pizza, pasta or gelato recipe.

20.   Introduce an Italian musician. Write a profile or an interview about that musician.  Include name, date or birth, job, where they lived and any interesting facts you learn about them. You might choose an opera singer, an orchestral musician or a pop singer  you history or modern day.

21.   Introduce a famous Italian building. Write a profile or make a poster about that building.  Include its name in Italian and English, date built (if known), who designed &/or built it, which Italian region it is in, is it still standing today and any interesting facts you learn about it.

Please comment to share any topic ideas you have tried with your class :-)