Book Recommendation Bookmark Freebie

Well I was hoping I wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel, but I did some Googling and just couldn't find what I was looking for! I got one of those nifty book turning gadgets (don't know what to call it!) from a Borders closeout sale (best 20.00 ever spent!). Anyways, each Friday we do book recommendations which both encourages oral presentation and book discussion. We're now midyear and I wanted to add a written piece to this so I made book recommendation bookmarks. So now the students must fill out a bookmark prior to Friday. I require at least one share a month and I keep track via a checklist. Hope this is helpful to someone! 

P.S. Don't forget I'm announcing my "What's the Matter?" giveaway tomorrow morning after spin class ;) Check out my previous post to get the details. 

100th Day and then some!

Today was the 100th Day of school!! It's funny because last year it fell on Valentine's Day with all of our snow days. Not this year. 

 This is the 3rd year I had my students make 100th Day t-shirts. They love it. It's so much fun seeing what they come up with too!

 This is the second year I did pizza fractions. It's basically an all morning activity and the kids love it. This is how I manage it: 

1. I broke my class into 3 groups of 4. 

2. They sponge painted a large pizza pie cut from poster board. 

3. They put the pie aside to dry. 

4. The students had to figure out how many toppings each student in the group needed to color to equal 100. 

5. Each student colored 25 pizza toppings which can be downloaded here.

6. They cut out the toppings and then combined them in a bowl. 

7. They sorted the pizza toppings and created fractions on scrap paper.

8. They then had to add up the numerators to make sure they did indeed equal 100. This was a great exercise. 

9. After they checked their work they got sentence strips to write the fractions onto. 

10. After lunch the pies were dry and they glued their toppings on. 

11. We finished up the day by having a pizza party! SO much fun :)

Thick and thin questions!

January's Snazzy Snack! Yummm. So fun and easy. 

Non-fiction text features anchor chart. Each day we added something to the chart then they tried it out in their journal with a topic they chose. We're building up to our big planet research project in March.

Thank you to everyone who has purchased my Solar System Unit and left awesome feedback. My students are having a BLAST with it. I hope yours are too. 

This month we have been doing a lot with inferencing and this is my way of assessing them. If they make an inference while they are reading then they write it on a sticky note and stick it on our inferencing chart. This has helped me SO much with lesson planning because I'm really getting a feeling for who understands it and who doesn't and what I need to focus on. 

Whoooo that was a long post :) Happy Friday everyone. 

Earth and Sun printable

I love teaching about the solar system, but before we get into that, we always spend a few weeks learning about the Earth and Sun. I put together this little supplemental book for the students to keep track of what we are learning about. Feel free to download it for free. Happy new year!! Next month we head into the solar system. Any fun activities or websites out there??

Procedural Writing and A Toast to the New Year!

I hope everybody had a great holiday! Today is my designated workday which will consist of drinking diet coke, and eating cheeseburgers, pizza, and wings while I lesson plan! Mmm!

Anyways, my first order of business was preparing a couple of writing activities for the month of January (I'm curriculum mapping today!). In January we work on procedural writing. The first thing I do is bring in bread, peanut butter, and jelly and we do a "how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich" tutorial. The kids really see how important it is to be accurate with their explanations. I put together a packet of 4 writing assignments here and you can get them for 75 cents. Bargain! I end the month by doing a "how to blow a bubble" project which you can read about here. This is a super fun way to end the unit. 

If you missed my post last year, you can see it here and read about what I do with my kiddos after the holidays. They write "toasts to a New Year." Adorable.

Oh, and how do you like our Grinch Day celebration?? It was SO fun. 

 Shirt made by my husband!

Look at all that green food!! Pickles, yum!

Subject and Predicate Printable

My second grade kiddos have been working on subject and predicate which can be pretttty tricky! To make it a little more understandable, my students made subject/predicate puzzles. Then they took their subjects and walked around to each desk and made silly sentences with the other students' predicates. The kids LOVED it. You can download the freebie here. 

Literature Circles

I decided that I wanted to try literature circles with my 2 high reading groups. It will be pretty basic because I think traditional literature circles are a little too advanced for even the brightest second graders. I put together 4 different role sheets that I think my friends can handle. It's copier friendly... no over-the-top clip art and fancy fonts! 

Does anyone else do literature circles? What are your thoughts? 

Have a great week :)

Place Value Math Center

Oh this will be a weekend full of laminating, lesson planning, cutting, and pasting. I so need to get back into the swing of things. I thought I'd share a math center mat that I just created. You can download it here. It's nothing fancy, but effective!

There are a few variations. I'm going to use a Halloween version this month. The students will roll a die and place that many pieces of candy corn in the ones place. Once they get 10 pieces in the ones place they can trade it in for 1 candy corn pumpkin to put in the tens place. When the students reach 10 candy corn pumpkins they can trade it in for 1 peep ghost. To differentiate, you can use the mat that just has ones and tens.
During the non-halloween season you can use pennies, dime, and dollars OR traditional base ten cubes.

Hope you can find a use for this math center mat :)

Talk to you all soon, I promise!!

P.S. If you have an easy way to embed a google document into blogspot, please email me or comment. I just wasted an hour trying to get it to work :X

P.S.S. I'm addicted to Pinterest!
 

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Columbus Day Mini Unit

I am taking the Friday before Columbus Day off because my husband is coming home from DC that weekend :D Anyways, it's always difficult having a sub because I feel like I just throw busy work together. So I decided to make a few Columbus Day activities which then turned into a mini unit. It includes math, science, social studies, and ELA activities. I figure I will use these throughout the next couple of weeks in math centers and for homework then have the sub finish the unit up on Friday. You can download this unit here. It includes:

Sailboat tangram template

Tangram template

Tangram answer key

Bump- 2 dice edition

Bump- 3 dice edition

Capture Ye Gold math game

Need VS Want work mat

Need VS Want picture cards

Need VS Want magazine collage

Fill in the blank difficult version

Fill in the blank average version

Fill in the blank easier version

Fill in the blank answer key

Christopher Columbus word find

Sink or float experiment

Sink or float experiment blank

3 writing prompts

I hope this makes teaching about Columbus Day easier for you :)

Talk to you all soon! I have the most amazing class this year (brag moment)!!

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?

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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?!

**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!! 

Daily 5-- Part 8- Listening

Okay, well this is it... The last installment of my Daily 5 guide. For listening to reading I only use the computer. I don't purchase books with CD's because there are so many free resources on the Internet. Currently I only have one computer so that means one student per round can do listening. 

I use Tumblebooks and only Tumblebooks because there are so many books. It is a subscription site though. What I do is I pick out 2 books for the week (usually a 10 minute and 4 minute) and put them in my Tumblebook favorites and the kids are able to just open and click. It's super simple and only takes about 1 minute of prep time to change out the books each Monday. There are many free sites listed here I just wouldn't be able to tell you how they work since I've never used them!  

After my students listen to reading they are then required to complete a listening reflection. My students just write in their Daily 5 notebooks. I model this in the beginning of the year. They may write about their favorite part, a connection they made, etc. When I taught kindergarten last year I used these two files. I have two different versions to differentiate. One with lines and one without. 

Well, I hope my Daily 5 blabbing helped some of you out. I am super passionate about literacy and the Daily 5. You are always welcome to email me and ask questions. 

Great.... now what am I going to blog about?? ;)

Daily 5-- Part 7- Writing

I want to start by saying I have a separate writer's workshop block, so my students can do anything writing related during Daily 5. If they're writing, I'm happy. The most popular activity is writing letters to each other. I have lots of fancy paper from the dollar store and envelopes. The rule is only 1 piece of fancy paper and envelope per day though. My students are also not allowed to give their letters to their friends during Daily 5. They put it in their mailboxes to avoid distraction. I store all my paper in this mailbox to keep it organized and easily accessible. 

My students also have writing journals that they keep in their book bin if they just want to free write. I also offer many different prompts to assist them. I keep a ring of laminated picture prompts. The kids can just grab the ring and choose a picture to write about. I love reading stories that go along with the pictures. They can get so creative. 

Each month I offer different writing task cards. The majority of mine came from Ms Winston's website. I print, laminate, and put them on a binder ring. 

I post monthly journal prompts in clear sleeves from the Busy Teacher Cafe. 

I own a long arm stapler so another popular choice is making books. My students will grab a piece of construction paper and a few sheets of white paper and I staple it into a book. My students know when it's appropriate to ask me to staple their book and when it's not (ex: when I'm working with a group or conferencing) 

Lately my kids have been making joke books. They're so silly!

There are SO many different writing options in my classroom that there is something for everyone. Writing is actually a popular choice. 

Around the holidays I make donated stationery available (Valentine cards, Christmas cards, etc.) This is a big hit too and the same rules apply; only 1 per day. 

It's very easy to switch out my writing options each month. Last summer I printed, laminated, and prepared the options for each month. Now all I do is swap it out :)

Any questions? 

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Daily 5-- Part 3 Accountability

So I'm not going to lie... accountability is tough for me. I'm all into it at the beginning of the year but by November I'm tired of recording information. I know my kids inside and out. BUT next year I'm going to have 18 students so I know I'm going to need to get better with recording data.

Here is my lovely reading bag. I got it for $5 last summer at Michaels!! (40% off coupon). This is where I keep my pensieve, guided reading books, white board, sentence strips, etc.

Here is my pensieve from Zazzle. 

Inside I keep my weekly lesson overview. This is where I fill in my mini lessons for the week, the guided reading groups I'm working with, and when I'm meeting with individual students. My example is very bare, but I'm making an effort to be more detailed next year. 

Then after my weekly overview I have a tab for guided reading groups where I keep my small group lesson plans. This is pretty straight forwards.. I write down the book title, my plans for the week, who is in the group, and what I observe. 

Next in my pensieve are tabs for each student. Inside the tab I keep track of our one on one conferences using this form. I write down the book they're reading, check what strategy they're working on, record my observations, then record what I would like them to work on. 

And this is my Daily 5 assessment that I fill out each quarter and include with report cards. 

Hopefully this post was helpful. I'm not going to lie... I went through about 4 different conference templates this year until I created the one that worked best and was easiest to use.. now all I need to do is use it ;)

Daily 5 Part 2- mini lessons

Yesterday I posted an overview about how I run Daily 5 in my classroom. I also forgot to say yesterday that Daily 5 is the most amazing thing ever. I've never seen students so engaged and quiet. It's my favorite part of the day and theirs too! Today I will talk more about what I do during my mini lesson portion. 

After the students check in we immediately do our Daily Language Review. I keep a checklist of who has read and who has responded that way I can ensure everyone is getting the practice. 

After the DLR we talk about our word of the week. On Mondays I introduce the word of the week and talk about the definition then Tuesday-Friday the students share how they've used the word. For example, this week our word of the week is "etiquette." Today a student shared how he used the word at the dinner table last night. This usually only takes about 3 minutes or so. 

The second mini lesson (after round 1) is almost always a comprehension lesson. Sometimes I model the strategy with our author of the month and other times a chapter book series we're reading. I use the CAFE book, NYS standards, and Mrs. Maiolo's website to gather my ideas for my mini lessons. I also base what I'm teaching off of what I'm observing and notice my students need the most reinforcement with. 

The last mini lesson (after round 2) is either an accuracy, fluency, or vocabulary lesson. Every Friday this mini lesson is "Fancy Nancy Friday" which my students LOVE. This is when I introduce a boring word and we come up with fancy words or synonyms to add to our Fancy Nancy Word Wall. 

I don't focus too much on whole group accuracy lessons. I save that for my differentiated guided reading groups. I do go over basic word families at the beginning of the year and some of the more difficult middle sounds mid year. 

Here is a picture of my CAFE menu. After we learn a new strategy I choose an "expert" to write the strategy on a sentence strip. If someone has a question about a specific strategy, I send them to the expert (who HOPEFULLY remembers how to use the strategy!) ;)

***Please note: The first month of school and introducing the Daily 5 is very critical. I created this launch plan (using many different resources) which guided me smoothly through this year. I didn't follow it to a T but I relied on it heavily. If you have not read the Daily 5 or CAFE the launch plans will be confusing. I used both books and smushed the 2 launches together. Eventually The Sisters are supposed to release a book on combining the two, until then, my launch plans worked out well for me this year.