Job Chart!

So I've been easing myself back into school mode by getting things done here and there. I created my new job chart for the year. On the first day I'll take my students photos, laminate, and add velcro.

Jobs include (from left to right): gardener, attendance & greeter, mailbox organizer, caboose & electrician, water bottle helper, deliverer (basically messenger but there wasn't messenger-like clipart!), teacher's assistant, line leader, janitor, pencil sharpener, prayer helper, and paper passer.

I did this last year too and the kids LOVED it!

This year's clipart is from Lettering Delights. I just cut the heads off.. HA!

Star Student

I've been so busy getting ready for the BIG DAY!! 3 more weeks and I'm married and on my honeymoon. I'm all kinds of excited :) In between appointments and *drama* I've been working on changing how I do Star Student. Next year I'm going to have a class full of BOYS... boys who are competitive... so I've been thinking about how I can really establish community in my classroom and have them at least be competitive in a *good* way. Each week my school does Star Student on Fridays and the Star Student in chosen based on our value of the month (respect, trust, caring, responsibility, love, faith, etc.). Normally the teacher chooses the Star Student but this year I want to involve the students. I made this cute little star box. I got the box at Hobby Lobby for $2.99 and painted it and added some *not too girly pizazz*.

I cut a slit in the middle  because I'm going to have my kiddos fill these out when they catch a classmate showing the value of the month. At the end of the week I'll read and share some of the nice things that were said and use these as a factor when choosing a Star Student. The Star Student gets a certificate (Target dollar spot) and takes home the class "activity bag" for the week. The activity bag has things like books, games, play-doh, etc. So it would be like "Johnny showed trust when he let me play with his favorite toy at recess." Thoughts? What do you do for Star Student?

Don't forget you can find me on Facebook!

Thank you to Debra!

I want to make a shout out to Debra from The Paisley Apple for donating a book off my Amazon Wish List! That was so kind and generous. My kiddos are going to LOVE it! Got it in the mail today :)

Daily 5 Handbook

Well, I'll share my actual Daily 5 handbook since that's my own work. I have to think about the appendix. I don't want to get in any Internet trouble ;) I can probably just pull out the documents that are photocopied from Debbie Diller and The Sisters' books. I don't feel comfortable selling this document, but if it is useful please comment and consider donating an item off of my Amazon wishlist. I work in a private school so can't participate in Donor's Choose! Have a wonderful Monday! Doesn't it feel good to be on vacation?!

Whoa Daily 5, my head is spinnnning!

Ohhh my word! I just spent 13 hours creating a 100 page Daily 5/CAFE handbook for my school. Isn't that longer than the book?? Well, in my defense the font is big and I used pictures. Plus half of it is the appendix. I think I'm going to have Daily 5 nightmares tonight!!

It's basically a more thorough document for everything I shared here. It's been very quiet on my blog.. I take it everybody is enjoying their summer??

**Homework** and a 4th of July freebie ;)

I've been asked several times how I do homework in second grade. For starters my school requires homework to be sent home each night (except Friday) in math and ELA. Math is easy because we use Saxon so the homework is already done. If I want to extend math I have many great resources by Scholastic and Mailbox that I can photocopy. I try to stick to a schedule because it's easy on me, the students, and parents. It looks like this: 

Monday- comprehension. I make quarterly packets which include both fiction and non-fiction passages. I do differentiate. Most of my resources came from Scholastic's e-book dollar days. 

Tuesday- writing. Here is a freebie. My students have a BEE binder which goes to and from school.Inside the BEE binder are plastic sleeves. One of the sleeves contains the monthly journal prompts. On Tuesdays my students take home their journal notebook and complete a prompt for homework. I leave the number of sentences blank on the document so I can write in individual goals for each student. Easy way to differentiate! LOVE how easy this is to manage too. 

Wednesday- I'm still debating on Wednesday. Last year I did grammar on Wednesday. I probably still will.. Unless I come up with something easier to manage, right now I just make photocopies from a Scholastic grammar workbook that I have. Any thoughts? 

Thursday- On Thursday the students practice their spelling words by using their speller's choice activities for the month. Again, easiest thing ever to manage. I just change out the activities each month in their BEE binder and they take home their spelling notebook to complete the assignment. 

Friday- The students don't have homework on Friday, however, each Monday they have to turn in their reading journal. I require that they write 2 entries a week.. don't care which days. This is another easy way to differentiate. Most of my students have to write at least a 5 sentence summary on 20 minutes worth of reading. My advanced readers have to make connections. This journal stays in their BEE binders at all times because when they choose to work in their journal is up to the student. 

Hope this helped!! Happy 4th of July :) Feel free to share how you do homework. I love seeing how things are done in other classrooms!! 

Today was a good day :)

It's been a while! I still don't have a computer but luckily my fiance was able to share his with me tonight! 

Lots of great news today :)

1. My best friend who was diagnosed with cancer in April had a PET scan today and the chemo is shrinking the tumors! It's working :)

2. I bought a wedding dress today!

3. Voting begins today on Really Good Stuff and I've been nominated!

If you enjoy my blog please vote! I should have a computer next week so I can get back to sharing ideas, posting, and READING all your wonderful blogs. 

Click here to cast your vote :)