Using Spelling City for Multiple Meaning Words

Denise from Sunny Days in Second Grade did a wonderful guest post on my blog!  It's all about using Spelling City to practice Multiple Meaning Words.  She makes it very easy with her picture tutorial, bringing you through some of the free content on Spelling City.  I know the children love the activities on this site, and the activities are quite valuable in their learning. Come on over to Elementary Matters to check it out!

Mystery Mansions

Hey Friends!

With Halloween fast approaching, keeping the buzz in the room to a minimum can get a little challenging. How about a cute art project that will keep them learning?

Come check out the details and download a free copy of the haunted house mystery mansion pattern  along with the bulletin board title at the blog by clicking {HERE}.

See ya on the sunny side!

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!

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!

Facebook Linky Party!

Happy Sunday!

I didn't have plans to blog today, BUT my fab friend Jenaya aka The Lesson Plan Diva is having a Facebook linky party, so I thought I'd join in! I can not pass up a good linky. If you are not currently following me on Facebook, I'd love if you'd join me there. I do share some things there that I don't necessarily write a whole blog post for here.

*Here are a few examples of things that I've shared in just the past few days*

This little genius idea I found on Pinerest {addicted!! Feel free to follow me there too!}
Great way to keep dice from "accidentally" around the room during math games:

I also shared a free Smarboard attendance file perfect for International Day of Peace coming up this Wednesday. Click on the pic to download your copy :)

And one of my most favorite things to do on Facebook is share other fantastic resources that I find while blogstalking my blog buds and favorite TpT sellers like the ones below.

FREE place value from my blog bud Ashleigh. Click on the image to download and check out her blog here too!

And the ever amazing Mrs. Lemons who shares the most crazy incredible stuff like this free bunch of noun printables - click on the pic to go right to the post with this awesomeness:

Ok, pulling myself away from my trusty Mac to enjoy some real-life life before my friends start planning an intervention for me...

Estimation Station

Using a benchmark to make an estimate is an important skill for our second graders to develop and it's one they continue to revisit through the years. Estimation Station is a really fun way to bring that skill to life in the classroom. A teammate introduced this to me a few years ago and I loved it. For some reason it didn't make it into my routine last year, but his year it's back baby!

Come on over to the blog to see the activity in action and snag some freebies to use in your own classroom!

See ya on the Sunny Side!

AR Points Tracker

Hi all,
Denise here from SunnyDays!

Our school has a big focus on Accelerated Reader. Each grade level has a specific goal and teachers are absolutely expected to whatever it takes to make sure the students reach their goal {I know!}. We are even required to turn in periodic print-outs of our progress.

So...whether I love it or not, AR is a part of our life. Although my kids are usually serious readers, there are some that will read like crazy but "forget" to take their tests. Then I have the kids who are constantly asking how many points they have. Well, I'm hoping to kill two birds with one stone here <--I actually hate that expression...


I have created this AR Points tracker to motivate and keep the kids informed of their points totals.
Here's a pic:

I just posted the set in my TpT shop and a cute jungle theme is on the way too! Click on the picture below to take a peek. Be sure to download the preview for information on customization.

See ya on the Sunny Side!

Sticky Situation

Hey Friends,
Denise here from Sunny Days! I am a glue stick girl. On occasion I've dabbled in glue dots and double stick tape, but in the end, I always come back to deodorant's little cousin, the twist-up glue stick. Even though the actual stick factor of liquid glue is superior, the mess that comes with it is the stuff of nightmares. (Although who among us hasn't made a peel off Elmer's glue glove?) However, I came across some amazing resources this summer that may just change my mind. Welcome guest blogger Carolyn Wilhelm of The Wise Owl Factory.

Click on the glue bottle above to stop by the blog to read her guest post and download some free signs for your classroom and another adorable printable resource as well!

See ya on the sunny side!

Tasty Tuesday Giveaway!

Hey Friends! Denise here from Sunny Days in Second Grade.

A couple of years ago I stumbled upon a great idea on ProTeacher.net about cooking in the classroom. I decided to develop this idea a bit further to share with my team mates and then took it even further and turned it into a product I sell in my TpT store. 

Basically, we copy a recipe (no cooktop or oven necessary), we follow it, we eat it and we write about it. It's seriously yummy fun and a fantastic way to incorporate bunches of math, science and literacy skills. 

Stop by my blog to enter the easiest contest EVER {for real} for your chance to win a copy of the yearlong writing program to use with your class or entire grade level! (just click on the little baker bear!)

Click me!

O.R.E.O Project

Registration for the 2011 O.R.E.O project is now open! This project is a fantastic way to incorporate many math and science skills into a fun, hands-on activity that revolves around America's favorite cookie! Sound good to you? I have a blog post from a while back that will give you a little more information, check it out and then be sure to click on over to Projects by Jen to sign up!

Click on the picture to see the project in action!

Do you lapbook?

I discovered the fantastic world of lapbooking last year and it has really added a new level of interest and creativity to my class projects. They are great little notebooks with things that unfold and pull out and pop up and the best part is that they create a great little resource for your students to keep when you are finished with a unit of study.

Stop by my blog today for an introduction to lapbooking and a guest post by expert lapbooker Tabitha Caro. Click on the button below learn about lapbooks!

Spelling Contract

Hi Gang!

School started this week for us in South Florida and man am I exhausted! I always forget how much training takes place during the first few days of the year. Must be like what they say about childbirth. God makes you forget the pain so you'll be willing to do it again!

One of the things I'll be training my new kidlets on is the way we'll do spelling homework this year. A few years ago I turned to the spelling contract and it has been a serious timesaver for me and a great learning opportunity for the kids.

Come on over to my blog to read all about it and to get a free copy of my spelling star contract!

Five Favorite Books

Hi Friends!

I love a good picture book. One of my greatest joys of being an elementary school teacher is sharing a  book wtih my kids. I love when I am the first person to share a certain book with them, so I'm always on the hunt for new or unusual books to add to my collection.

Come on over to my blog to read about five of my favorites. These all have a bit of a unique slant that I think you might enjoy.

See you on the Sunny Side!

Great Crates!

I have been drooling over the famous crate seats since last summer and yesterday I finally made them (well, I supervised while hubby did the work). Stop by my blog to get the whole scoop and to meet my new bloggy friend Debi. <insert Small World theme song here> It really is quite a cool story!

I get to hang with The Gang!

I'm part of the gang! (Sounds better than "I'm a gang member!" right?) I'm beyond thrilled to be part of this amazing collaboration and I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone here. I've been a teacher in sunny Florida since 1994 and boy have I seen a lot of change in these past few years! Not all of those changes have been positive, especially recently. I've seen things that I never thought I'd see and I've heard things I never thought I'd hear people say about teachers. I found myself getting very drained, very pulled down and I decided I either needed to find a way to cope or find a way out. Thankfully, I decided on the former and my blog, Sunny Days In Second Grade was born! My little corner of the blogosphere is devoted to spreading a little sunshine and focusing on the good things that are happening in our classrooms  despite the wave of negativity that threatens to knock us over sometimes.

Our pre-planning week starts on Monday. I kind of wish I could fast forward through next week. Meetings, meetings, more meetings all capped off with Meet & Greet. Oy! Since next week is pretty much a wash,  I took advantage of the three days I was allowed to go in early and set up my room.
Come by for a visit and see what I was able to accomplish. I'm pretty proud of myself!

See ya soon, friends!