We all bee-long in 2nd grade!

Getting ready for week 2 of the new year! I can't believe how exhausting last week was. Here is our first day of school community building activity. How do you build community in your classroom?? I'd love for you to share :)

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Apostrophe Showers Bring May Flowers

I absolutely can't take full credit for this super cute and creative idea. I got the idea and tweaked it a little from a talented teacher on the Second Grade Teacher's Club website. I don't think this teacher has a blog or website so I can't give her direct credit. Cute, right?? Oh, and yes I have a clock intruding on my bulletin board (ugh, don't ask!) ;)

P.S. There is a space in my garden because I'm waiting for an absent student to complete theirs. I'm very obsessive compulsive about things like that :x

The leaves have the 2 words before the contraction. Ex: would not and the flower has the contraction. Ex: wouldn't

Water Cycle!

So here it is!! I don't have much wall space in my room, so it's an interactive trifold bulletin board! My students absolutely love it :)

The right hand side has a description of evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and collection. The terms in green are on velcro and the students have to stick it onto the correct location. 

Students will be able to explain the water cycle by using their bracelets! 

You can get the bulletin board printouts (not the scenery. that is card stock),  3 labs, an assessment, and the water cycle bracelet, on sale for $2.00 here!

P.S. Didn't I work hard on this??? <3

Disclosure: Fiancé not included!

P.S.S When I started blogging a few months ago I didn't think 198 people would ever follow me!! 2 more followers and I'll host a giftcard giveaway :)

The Antonyms Go Marching

I got my idea for this from Ms. M. I made up an antonym song that goes to the tune of "The Ants Go Marching" (at least I think I made it up. I didn't find it online.. I just started singing it in the shower one morning and went with it!). It went a little like this: 

The antonyms go marching one by one hurrah, hurrah. 

The antonyms go marching one by one hurrah, hurrah. 

::insert 4 sets of antonyms. The kids came up with them:: 

clean and dirty

high and low

good and bad

yes and no

And they all go marching down to the ground 

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Then repeat with two by two, etc. with 4 different antonyms. 
My kids totally ATE this up. 

Then they traced their feet, cut it out, and wrote their antonyms and drew a picture. 

St. Patrick's Giveaway and then some..

If you haven't been inspired by Ms. Schroeder yet, I suggest checking out her blog. She's having a giveaway right now on a fun St. Patrick's Day unit. Plus, her blog is full of great ideas :) 


On a different note, we put together our door for March today. The kids put together marching ants and I glued their faces onto the heads. The cute insect cut outs are from the Dollar Tree. The students wrote why they can't wait for Spring on them. I think it turned out cute :)

Valentines/100th Day Duo!

You might think I'm crazy, but I was so thrilled that the 100th Day AND Valentine's Day both landed on the same day. It was one crazy day instead of 2! I assigned my students a t-shirt project. They were supposed to create a t-shirt with 100 items on it. So cute! You can download the family letter here.

I love blogging, however, it's hard to keep track of where I get some of my great ideas. This next project was not my original idea. I tweaked it from a great blog that I follow. If it's you, let me know and I'll give you credit :) First, I read The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza. Now I don't have a large class so I just sponge painted 1 large circle cut from poster board. If you have a large class I would suggest making a couple of pizzas. (You can have the kids sponge paint, but just don't do it on the same day since it needs to dry!) Each pizza pie should have a total of 100 toppings, so I had my 6 students color 16 toppings each and then I colored 4. This is the topping template I made. Just a classroom management tip: I had my students glue the toppings on THEN we counted how many of each topping. We had to count several times before our fractions equaled 100. I would recommend laying them out first, counting the toppings and creating the fractions, THEN glue the toppings on the pizza. After we created the fraction for each topping I had the students add all the numerators together to show that it equals 100. 

I took one of my follower's ideas on creating a Valentine carrier. The kids decorate the back of 2 paper plates then I staple them together in a heart shape and added string. They were super easy and came out super cute! 

Our door display this month was candies and lollipops! The kids decorated small paper plates with paint and glitter and when the paint dried I wrapped them in cellophane and added ribbon. We received many compliments on it's cuteness! 

Any great ideas for President's Day? I'm going to have the kids write to President Obama (last year we got a letter and photos back!) and we'll read a little bit about Lincoln and Washington and fill in a Venn diagram. I cannot upload the template, but if you comment with your email, I'd be happy to direct you to where it came from. Then I enlarged it onto poster board with my amazing tracer!

Sun Graphic Organizer

I'm always trying to come up with fun ways to display information. We just finished our "sun and earth" unit. I had the students sponge paint a circle (the sun) and as we learned facts about the sun they wrote them on paper strips (rays). It really brightened up the room and is more creative than just writing it on the white board! 

Word Family Sundae

Like a word wall, the word family sundae board is a reference tool for students to use while they are writing. After we talk about a word family, I add a scoop to our cone. Click here for the document. Enjoy!

How to Blow a Bubble!

I first must say this was not my original idea; it was floating around Proteacher and I thought I'd give it a try. Prior to this assignment, I modeled "how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich" emphasizing "how to" words like first, next, then, finally. While I was modeling this, I was actually making the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, so when the kids told me to put the bread together, I put it together facing the wrong way at first and they learned that they need to give specific directions :) The next day I gave all my kiddos a piece of Double Bubble bubble gum. Then I had them draft a "how to blow a bubble" step by step guide. After I checked it over, I gave them fancy final draft paper. The kids made their heads using small paper plates and construction paper for hair. I then let them choose a balloon and I blew them up a little bit (too hard for the kids to do and exhausting for me!) then taped them onto their paper plates (a lot of tape). I'm hoping when I go back to school on Monday the taped held up :D 

P.S. I just realized that I have 2 white balloon near each other and I'm so OCD about things like that, so I'll have to move one of them on Monday. LOL

Good Citizens Rule!

Well something good did happen to me in 2010! In November I submitted 5 of my ideas to Mailbox Magazine and I received a letter and gift certificates informing me that they are publishing all 5. This was one of the ideas. I just realized I've been bad about taking pictures this year. I did this activity with my kindergarten kiddos last year and again with my second graders this year. I love watching how their ideas develop. I did this in November when we were learning about Election Day and citizenship. I suppose you can use it anytime of the year and President's Day is coming up. If you have a tough class this year, you can even make him your "classroom citizen" and write all the different ways you can be a good friend and person within the classroom. I have one of these tracers that I got at Michaels. I always go to the Michaels website and print a 40% off coupon to take with me. Because I can't draw anything by hand, I printed a small version of this person outline and stuck it under my tracer to enlarge it. The tracer isn't the best thing in the world, but it gets the job done when I can't. You can use banner or bulletin board paper, but I used the back of wrapping paper :D I then added a construction paper hat. We brainstormed characteristics of a "good citizen" then I gave each student a piece of white scrap paper (this year I used sticky notes) then they clothed our new friend. Next year I want to use blue sticky notes for pants and green sticky notes to make a shirt. My students gave me that idea this year and it's a good one!

A Toast to a New Year!

New Year's Resolutions 

Last year when I taught kindergarten I read Whistle for Willie By Ezra Jack Keats and we talked about setting goals and accomplishing anything you put your mind to if you practice and try hard. We then talked about what a New Year's Resolution is and why people make them. The students then wrote their resolutions on a slab of butter and pasted it on a piece of bread. I think this is a great activity for any elementary grade level so I plan on doing it again with my second graders. As you know, I have no skill, so I printed, cut, and traced this toast clipart onto brown construction paper. I also printed a page full of lines onto yellow paper and then my fiancé cut out butter slabs for me since he thought my original square ones looked nothing like butter :D It's a team effort. What other cute activities or books do you read? I'd love to try something new. Happy New Year! Enjoy your last few days of vacation. 

Merry Christmas!

We compared and contrasted three versions of the Gingerbread man 

The Gingerbread Man By Jim Aylesworth, Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett, and Gingerbread Friends By Jan Brett then the students created their own Gingerbread person or animal and wrote a refrain to go along with it. This is where their creativity really came into play!

This student made a Gingerbread Reindeer and it says: 

"Dash, Dash

I'm a flying reindeer!

Try to catch me

And I'll give you a loud cheer!" 

The kids made their parents cookie mix jars as a Christmas present. It tied in perfectly with our math unit on measurement and fractions. Here is the  

ingredient tag. When you print make sure you select 3x5 index card. 

I bought a 2 pack of white gift bags for a 1.00 at the Dollar Tree. On one side the students decorated with markers/crayons and on the other they sponge painted. The bags were so unique and creative looking!

The bow has the lyrics to "Up on the Housetop" and the chimney says "Down through the chimney with good Saint Nick." 

Using cardstock and bows, the students made Christmas presents and wrote what they wanted for Christmas on them. They then put "to/from" labels on it.


My kiddos were super excited to get Christmas homework passes in their goodie bags. Free things that make them happy make me happy too :)

Welcome to Second Grade!

Clip chart

I use the clip chart management system in my class. I like that it is a positive reinforcer and encourages and rewards my students that are always on task, which then motivates the students who are not quite always on task. Instead of writing the student's name on the clothespin I assigned them each a number. I do this so there is some confidentiality. The students will memorize each other's numbers but outside visitors (parents, teachers, other students) won't necessarily know who's clothespin belongs to whom.The students keep the clip chart daily report sheet in their BEE binder.There is a spot for them to write homework, teacher to make comments, and parents to respond or write comments. 

Job chart

Since community helpers is a big 2nd grade social studies unit, I decided to model my job chart after that. I only made 7 community helpers but use them if you would like. I'll be creating more next year with a larger class. The heads are attached with velcro as we change jobs each week.

Organization

This is how I organize most of my math manipulatives. It is 4 shoe organizers stacked on top of each other. I think I originally got them at Walmart. The bins with the blue lids are word work bins labeled 1, 2, and 3. They all contain the same items and are used during Daily 5's word work choice. They contain: colored pencils, markers, alphabet stamps ($1.00 at Target in the back to school bins), magnetic letters, clothespin letters, and dry erase crayons. 

Author of the month

Each month I focus on a specific author. I write the author of the month on this laminated file. As we learn about more authors, we compare/contrast writing styles. The students LOVE finding out who the author is each month. By the end of the month the students are talking about the author like they're best friends. It's great! 

  CAFE board

I implemented Daily 5 and CAFE this year which is off to a great start!

Choices
To begin reading, the students sit on the carpet and we spend the first 5 minutes making our reading block choices. This sheet is laminated (you might have to edit/play with the text since the font I used is a downloaded font). I, of course, have guidelines regarding their choices. 

 Habitats

While learning about habitats, we created a fresh water habitat facts bulletin board. The students colored and created pond plants and animals and wrote facts on lily pads. 

  BEE binders

Here is a look inside the BEE binder. This is my first year using this organization system and I think next year I want to use a smaller binder (1inch) and only keep their reading journals in it. 

 My library area

Each bin has a designated number and the back of each book is numbered. Let me tell you, this has made my life so much easier. I rarely have books out of place now. You can't really see it, but on top of my mailboxes I have a "book doctor." This avoids the emergency interruptions during small group instruction to tell me a book has a rip. The students put a sticky note on the page that is ripped then they drop it into the "book doctor" bin. Ahhh love it!
The book shelves are plastic storage shelves but instead of doing them 4 tall, I made them 2 tall and got two sets out of them. Perfect and affordable! 

 Organization

My students' mailboxes are on the left (very small class this year). The middle section stores birthday pencils and certificates, birthday certificates, absentee forms, and CAFE materials. The section on the right houses a lot of my writing supplies: construction paper, white paper, lined paper, stationery, fancy paper, envelopes, and writing prompts and topics that I change out monthly. 

Calendar 

I made pattern calendar pieces for each month of the year with a variety of difficulties. My students love trying to guess what the pattern will be.

Math/calendar area

 The bags are for the hundred day count. Each day the students put a base ten block into the "ones" when they reach ten they transfer a base ten tens stick into the "tens" bag. When the "tens" bag reaches 100 then the students will transfer a base ten hundreds block into the "hundreds" bag. 

Money

I had several questions about my magnetic pig, so let me explain it in detail. First of all, this was a trial and error project and it's finally working out :) I bought a three piece cookie sheet set. I used the largest of the 3. The other 2 sheets along with a couple other sets are used in my word work station for magnetic letters. I'm not very artistic so normally my fiancé does anything requiring skill for me. He's in law school, so sometimes I'm just stuck doing things on my own... like the pig. That's when I rely on google. I printed this pig template, cut it out, and traced it in pencil on the cookie sheet. I painted the pig using pink acrylic paint. It will take 2-3 coats and you must let each coat dry completely before applying a new one. After the last coat dries you MUST spray it with acrylic spray (can be purchased at any craft store) or the magnets will peel the paint. I have 4 quarters, 10 dimes, 10 nickels, and 10 pennies on the magnet board. The first trial I used the magnetic strips with the sticky back, but the magnets were not heavy enough and the kids would constantly knock them off. I replaced those magnets with disc magnets which are in the school supply section of Walmart and are about 6.00 for a pack of 50, I think.. I couldn't find them online. I used hot glue to attach them to the magnet. I've had no problems since I changed magnets. To attach the heavy cookie sheet to the wall, or in my case the door, I used picture frame velcro grips. They're fantastic! And supposedly, they're supposed to remove easily from the wall, but there hasn't been a need for me to remove them. Lastly, I cut, laminated, and hot glued this tag  onto the magnet board. My school uses Saxon math, so I write the money problem of the day on it and my math leader puts the correct number of coins on the pink pig.  

Writing celebration

We created t-shirts to celebrate our first published writing piece. The kids decorated the front with their name and year. For the back, I scanned each student's published writing piece and printed onto iron transfers. This was A LOT of work.. I'm not going to lie, but worth it ;)