Je vous présente... Lily

A new member joins the Open Wide the World team. It is an honor and my pleasure to introduce: Lily, my new proofreader! Lily will be proofreading the Spanish language products for my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Lily is a longtime friend, a sister of sorts, from the beautiful city of Oaxaca, México. Lily and I met in high school in our senior year, when I had just returned Stateside after a foreign exchange year in New Zealand, and Lily herself had just arrived as an exchange student in my family's home in the U.S. It was a magical time in both of our lives, a time that passed all too quickly, and has seemed almost a dream when looking back from the years that followed.

In those many long years since our high school foreign exchange adventures, Lily has amassed experience in Clinical Psychology and psycho-pedagogical studies (still trying to wrap my head around that one!), and most recently, my favorite: Bilingual Research Associate at an American university's Early Childhood Education Institute. A gal who loves travel, languages, and children? A perfect match for Open Wide the World!

I hope in coming months, beyond just proofreading tasks, I hope Lily will feel inspired to share pictures and stories of her beloved Oaxaca, as well as maybe a few of her mother's wonderful, traditional Mexican recipes.

In the meantime, I extend to Lily a heartfelt

¡Bienvenida!

the BTS sale on TpT: 28% off my store (and most others, too!)

Yay, my favorite event of the year is here: the Back-to-School sale on Teachers Pay Teachers!

My entire store is discounted 20% today. Plus, use code BTS14 to receive an additional 10% off sale prices!

Many stores on TpT are offering this same deal. Happy shopping!

Spanish & French Back-to-School FREEBIE!

It's my favorite time again: FREEBIE time!
Somehow, I love offering freebies as much as I love finding freebies. Here's my latest:

Click  image to find this freebie in my TpT store.

You guessed it: this freebie features graphics from two of my fave clip artists: Educlips and Creative Clips. Thanks, Sarah & Krista!

Our World Cup Pinnacle

Yesterday was "the" big day for soccer at our house!

The France vs. Germany rival goes back many generations in our family. I am a third generation American of Alsatian descent, which means that my family and ancestors have, at various times, been:

• politically & geographically French, but culturally German, 
• politically & geographically German, and culturally German, 
• politically & geographically French, and culturally French
• and even politically Swedish for a short duration, just to keep things interesting.

My mother still remembers the older uncles and great uncles heatedly debating the degree to which our family is French vs. German. But with yesterday's match, we were all German... most likely because we're awaiting the birth of my German nephew in a matter of days, so we're a little more sentimental toward our German side right now. (You may remember my sister's wedding to a German last spring. Brrr!)

While the adults were absorbed in the game, I was so happy to have our World Soccer Cup Activity Pack for Kids to keep Mag engrossed in the action. She loved the idea of being our score keeper, and in the loooong stretch of scoreless time, the activity pages were equally engaging.

To preview the activity pack, or to purchase, click here.

It will be so nice to relax and not worry too much about the outcome of today' games... but come Tuesday: Go Deutschland!

"Read Around the World" with Multicultural Kid Blogs

This summer, the bloggers of Multicultural Kid Blogs invite you to "Read Around the World!" Throughout the summer, member bloggers (and friends) are sharing favorite multicultural books, covering age ranges for the entire family.

Here's my pick for a new favorite: a bilingual book entitled My Diary from Here to There/Mi diario de aquí hasta allá, by Amanda Irma Pérez.

You can see the author read her book aloud (albeit to a less than attentive audience -- probably the age group) here.


To browse through all the MKB bloggers' book choices, check out our newest Pinterst board, dedicated to this great summer series. Happy Reading!

Canada Day, 2014 - FREEBIE!

In honor of the 147th birthday of our neighbor to the North tomorrow, please enjoy this FREE coloring sheet!

Click image to download.

Happy Canada Day!

Graphics by Educlips & Creative Clips

Campamento Widjiwagan, Week Four - Marshmallow Shooters!

Our last week of the month-long Campamento Widjiwagan experience... I have to admit, I'm feeling a little bit sad that it's almost over. It has been so much fun, reliving old summer camp memories, and creating some new ones, all while reviewing Spanish kindergarten skills.

So far this week, Mag has reviewed the math, literacy, and science skills of:

• tens & ones awareness
• telling time to the hour
• adding coins
• 3-d shapes
• initial sounds
• syllable awareness
• word endings by number and gender
• composing short sentences
• buoyancy 

As always, a highlight at Campamento Widji has been our summer camp extra-curriculars!

Today's fun included... what else, but: marshmallows! We pulled this fun one right from the Campamento Widjiwagan Pinterest board: Marshmallow Shooters! We followed Laura's directions from Come Together Kids, summarized below:

Instructions for Marshmallow Shooters

1. Gather plastic party cups and balloons, one of each per person.
2. Cut off the bottoms of the cups.
3. Tie off the ends of the uninflated balloons, then cut off the top end.
4. Stretch a Tied-off & cut balloon over the mouth of a cut-off cup.
5. Then drop a mini-marshmallow into the cup and point the cup upward and away.
6. Pull the knot of the balloon toward you, then release, and watch the fun unfurl!

Just two more days of our Campamento Widjiwagan fun, then a week off for a 4th of July holiday, and on to our next adventure. Always more fun ahead!

And you? How are you keeping summer review fun?