Pinterest Inspired!

I am super Pinterest obsessed. It's bad. Well, bad and good at the same time. It really is changing the way I teach. After being in the classroom for 17 years, I kind of thought I'd seen it all - but oh no my friends, that is so not the case!

Stop by Sunny Days in Second Grade to see how this little apple turned in to this awesome math project - all inspired by Pinterest!

Severe Weather Alert!

This week, we have been researching away to identify types of severe weather! The students have had a blast compiling their research and creating presentations for the class. Stop by Second Grade Shenanigans to see what we have been up to in the land of Chewandswallow! :)

 Happy Almost Friday Gang!

Science & Investigation Notebook

We got a new science adoption and I am so excited to teach science! I want to help my little investigators organize their science investigations in a science notebook/journal. Come on over to Rockin' Teacher Materials to see how I plan to make this work for my 2nd grade scientists...

Thanks!

Great Websites for the Kids

Looking for some websites for the kids to use? There's a website linky party going on at Ms Kerri and her Krazy Kindergarten Blog. Go on along and get linked up with some great ideas on websites for the little ones!

I've posted a few of my favorites over at Elementary Matters!  Come by and take a look!

Sally

FREEBIES and Picture Books for Teaching Science

Looking for some FREE Autumn/Fall themed Making Words and Synonym activities? Head on over to my blog to grab them! (sorry I can't list them here, they use Scrappin Doodle graphics).

Also, I'm lovin' that it's Science Week at TBA! I've written about two of my favorite science books

 

~Kylie

Community Workers

I just posted a center based upon community workers on my blog.  You can find the post here.  Come on over to check it out!

Freebie and Feedback Please!

Hi all!!! I have been busy planning away today...Okay, here is my first attempt at creating something other than classroom decor and games! This week our basal story is Henry & Mudge...so I created a reading response packet. My kids have SAT's this week...so I am hoping this will be kind of different and fun for them! I am teaching a 1/2 split so this will hit both of their skills for the week...

Come on over and let me know what you think! I am giving this mini-unit, I guess you could call it, away for free until Monday at 8pm...so download away!
Please leave me some love with feedback and let me know if you find an errors!
Click on my button to visit my blog...

Easi Speak USB Recorder Giveaway

Hi Gang!  I've completed a product review for Learning Resources Easi Speak USB Recorder.  This amazing technology is valued at $70.  In my review, you'll find two MP3 files.  One recording was captured while students worked on a collaborative assignment, and the second recording was captured during independent reading.  If you are interested in winning your own Easi Speak USB Recorder, link over here!

Synonym Shaker Freebie!

I am so excited to share my latest obsession with you...The Synonym Search Shaker!


This is an old juice container filled with rice that I dyed (directions courtesy of Pinterest, of course) and nestled inside are 20 word cards. Students then shake up the jar to find synonyms to words on their answer sheets. The rice moves around in the jar and the kids try to get the words to peek through, much like these Find-it games that the kids love. Cool right?


Head over to the blog for more info and to download the freebies for everything you'll need to make 2 of your own, besides the juice and rice - but I bet if you search Pintrest long enough you'll find some great recipes to use those up in no time!

Let me know what you think and get ready to shake things up a bit!

Dollar Tree Giveaway!

Do you love Dollar Tree as much as I do? Well then, stop by the blog to read about my newest contest!

Just click on the picture below to get to Sunny Days in Second Grade to enter.

Win the awesomeness pictured below which includes a primary lined composition book, 3 file folder games, a set of 20 wipe-off clocks, a package of jewelry links (perfect for a compliment chain!), a pack of fun erasers, a pack of color word magnets, 2 packs of sight word magnets, a set of compound word magnets, 2 sets of long and short vowel magnets, a package of 24 skeleton worksheets and a package of 24 label the states worksheets!

I'm also including a set of six handmade owl themed notecards made by yours truly - 

just because it it's fall & all.

Good luck friends!

Great Things are Happening!

Yesterday in class, we were working on "writing for an audience" during Writer's Workshop.  I told my students about my blog, and  decided to ask my students what they thought my "audience" would be interested in.  Since they knew my audience consists of other teachers, they thought other teachers would like to learn what my students are learning about! I think my students are brilliant!

Come on over to Elementary Matters to see what my students are learning!
Sally

Making Words Makes Better Readers and Writers

If you know me very well, or have looked at many of my items in my shops, you know that I am a big advocate of making words.

Working with word families is an effective way to get kids reading and help them learn to decode longer words. Learning to read should be a hands-on experience.

Come on over to Rockin' Teacher Materials to see how my kids make words, words, words GALORE!  I'd like to know how your kids make words too!

Have a fabulous Friday!



Handling Students' Finished Work

Hi all! Denise here from Sunny Days In Second Grade!
When I first started teaching many moons ago, I learned pretty quickly that if your organizational skills were subpar, you were in for a world of trouble. One of the things I struggled with the most was managing students' finished work. I tinkered with various methods, like mailboxes and file crates and just handing  it back to them when I was done grading with a wish and a prayer that it would actually get home to the parents somehow.

After many years and many methods, what I'm doing now seems to work better than anything else I've tried. Just thought I would share in case any of you struggle with this like I did. Man, where were teacher blogs and Pinterest when I started teaching? Oh, that's right! They didn't exist yet! Seriously, I did not even have a phone in my classroom when I started teaching, let alone internet access. We didn't have to chisel our lessons in stone, but I did have an actual chalkboard. I am making myself sound oooooold, but it's not like we had to hide from dinosaurs at recess or anything. {I'm 41 for the record. How did that happen so fast??}

Anyway, I digress. Back to organization. I've listed six easy tips and some freebie downloads that might help you if you're struggling with the task of getting student work home in an organized way. Stop by the blog and have a look!

BeBe sure to stop by my blog this weekend. 

I'm having a contest that you won't want to miss!

Enchanting Words---A FREEBIE

Come on over to my blog PRECIOUS PERKS to find out about a FREE printable to go along with a FAIRY TALE UNIT!

A peek at my week so far :)

Ohmiword y'all, I am exhausted already, and it's only Tuesday?!!

This week we have been comparing traditional and contemporary folk/fairy tales.  On Monday, we read the traditional story, The Ugly Duckling.  After reading it, my kiddos completed a problem/solution graphic organizer.  I just made some puzzle piece tracers for them to use.  Most of puzzles didn't fit back together so well haha

This cracks me right up!  "Oh, by the way, He was a SWAN THE WHOLE STINKIN TIME!"  That's seriously cute haha!

The next day (which would be today), we read this contemporary version of "The Ugly Duckling."  It is a CUTE story, written from the perspective/language of a moose.

After reading both stories, we made a venn diagram to compare/contrast

We will continue working on other fairy tales for the rest of this week and next!

In Math, we've been working with number lines, number patterns, and number order.  Usually, I have the kids make a number line using copies that I have run off.  But, let me tell you what... we are trying to save paper in any way that we can!  With all these budget cuts, I have been making close to NO copies each week.  But, hey, I'd rather save paper than a teacher lose their job!

So, I gave each set of partners a sentence strip, and they made a number line for numbers 1-30.  Then, we marked even/odds and skip counting patterns.  I laminated them so that we can play the "Guess My Number" game as shown below.

We've been playing this fun game all week, "Guess My Number."  I think of a number in my head, and the kiddos ask me questions.  I mark off numbers as they ask questions (it's laminated so I can just use an Expo!).  The kids LOVE this game!  I pretty much made their day when I put it in the math station so they could play with a partner {It's the small things, right!}

Here is a number line activity that we are doing tomorrow (adapted from an "I Spy" time game at What the Teacher Wants).  I'm going to place these number line cards around the room, and they are going to visit each card to find out the missing number.  As they view the cards, they will record the missing numbers.  I tried to be tricky by using numbers lines that have skip counting patterns.  

Download Template and Recording Sheet 

Here's to looking ahead to next week's plans... we are introducing adding coins.  Since, it's so early in the year, we are going to start with the basics.  We will be revisiting coins in a few 6 weeks, so I'm not too worried about mastering it right away.

I bought Cara Carroll's "The Great Coin Collection" unit, and pretty much made my plans around that!  I made my bubble maps to use throughout the week (I see 2 classes a day, so I laminated mine- I plan to use a dry erase marker so I don't have to make double the charts!  Just a quick erase and we can start fresh!)  There are so many great and easy-to-prepare money games in her unit.  You should definitely check it out!

That's it for me!  I'm off to Zumba (which is quite a sight to see... I'm probably the most uncoordinated person in the world!)

Finding the Carrot

Every wonder what sort of a "carrot" you might "dangle" to motivate your students?  I've pondered that many, many times. 

Hop on over to Elementary Matters to see what I've come up with that works with my students!

Sally

Math Workshop

Hey gang...this year I am teaching the gifted math group and I figured since I was teaching a new curriculum (third grade) I would go ahead and revamp my whole math class. I am finally going to give math workshop a try, head on over to my blog to read more.