Let's Play Catch Up!

Hello blog world!

First quarter report cards... CHECK :) Mental breakdown... CHECK... 3 day weekend... ALMOST THERE.

Here is a little peek at what we've been doing in second grade.

In reading we have been working on literary elements and sequencing.

We did a mini unit on the 3 little pigs and different versions of the story to learn about literary elements and compare and contrast. The kids LOVED the different versions. An extension could be to have them write their own version, but in November I'm pressed for time and they are already working on a pretty darn cool writing assignment (look forward to a future post about it!)

Today we did a sequence wheel using Fancy Nancy's Late, Late Night. The kiddos adore Fancy Nancy (which is a fancy word for LOVE). I'm going to have them make their own tomorrow using a brad so the wheel moves. Here are directions for making a story wheel.

Next up.... Social Studies!

We have been learning about Election Day. To understand things a little further the kids worked on a Candy Campaign. I randomly paired the students and they drew a type of candy out of a hat. Their assignment was to convince the school to vote for their candy by creating a campaign ad. Oh My Sugar they were adorable. I received so many compliments from other teachers and parents because they REALLY got a lot out of this project.

In case you can't read the ad..."We love skittles because there a bargan at Price Chopper. We love Skittles because there chewy and they make your stumick rumble for more. The s on it means really sweet and super. Never eat any other candy then Skittles. Trust us there the best. You people better not eat any other candy then Skittles."

Is that not hysterically awesome?? I don't know about you, but I'm convinced that I want some Skittles right now!

Grah, and I forgot to take a picture of our Veterans Day poster. We made a big poster to thank the Veterans since my school is hosting a breakfast tomorrow. Basically it is the hand print turkey seen below but huge with lots of hands and their red, white, and blue and the center says "Mrs. Leander's class is thankful for Veterans." I'll try to remember to take a picture. It came out great!

I struggle with the second grade science curriculum because it's not very hands-on, so I am constantly trying to find ways to make it interesting. Anyways, we are studying habitats so we started the unit off with the Woodland Forest. We learned the different parts to the forest and where certain animals can be found. The art work is all me, not my husband! I've become very independent this year.

And lastly, I got these from Oriental Trading. They make the room POP!

Have a great week and don't forget you can find Second Grade is Splendid on Facebook.

A Busy Week of Learning and Fun!

I was thrilled to hear that my students' favorite part of the day was the St. Patrick's Day Unit that I created and they absolutely love the math centers from that unit, so I'm keeping them for another week until my Easter Unit is ready to go!

Here is the latest phonics graphic organizer. My kids went crazy over this guy!

The clouds add a nice touch to the classroom. We're studying weather right now. 

A few weeks ago the students learned about symmetry in math. I had them create symmetrical paintings just by squeezing paint onto cardstock then folding it in half. Then for writing I had the students write a story about their painting. They were incredibly creative! I told them short stories, but I still got some 6 pagers which is fantastic ;) They were enthusiastic about this project!

Phonics Graphic Organizers

I've been meaning to get around to posting these, but wanted to wait to see if my students were indeed making progress ;) My students are VERY visual so I've been doing a lot of graphic organizers with them. Let me tell you, they refer to them while they're reading and writing and it seems to be clicking! So here are the photos. I try to come up with cutesy ways for remembering sounds since phonics can be really tricky!



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! 

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!

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 :)