100th Day and A New Classroom Makeover (Sort of)!

This year is truly flying by!  The 100th day of school has come and gone.  Sad, I know.  It's my last time to celebrate the hundredth day at this school.  I decide to get dressed up like a 100 year old just like my students.  I wish I could post pics of what they looked like because they went ALL out!  One student had bushy eyebrows, mustache, hat and a big brown wooden cane.  He was adorable!  Check out these pics.  Not too shabby for a 100 year old!

For the past 2 weeks my life has been in complete chaos, but I would have it no other way.  My class had to move out of our class because our classroom was being painted.  Shudder!  Can you imagine being uprooted from your home away from home and transported to another classroom that was just plain BLAH.  No pretty decorations, no technology, chairs and desks of all different sizes, and just no resources whatsoever.  I had to tote my little rolling cart full of rings to keep my kids learning while our room was beautified for 2 days.  Look at the chaos!

I'm still in the process of putting it back together, but I'm not sure if I am going to put anything back up.  Since I'll be leaving in June I may just put up posters and anchor charts about what we are studying.  Of course, my bulletin boards will still be kid-created.  Notice the moving boxes below.  Time to begin the packing.  :(

Lastly, I leave you with a pic of my sweet Sydnee.  We were out of school Tuesday-Friday for the snowstorm/ice storm that just hit NC.  Oh, we had a blast.  We are not looking forward to having to make up the days though.  Good-bye Spring Break!

The good news is that warmer weather is on the way!  Bring on the heat!  Have an amazing week.

Regrouping

Hope you are or are not enjoying this years Superbowl.  I tuned out after the 1st quarter, but I did watch half-time.  I do love me some Bruno Mars!  It's funny because my kids and I danced on Monday to "Just the Way You Are!"  Perfect Song!

I'm just getting back into the groove of things since we had 4 snow days last week.  I guess you could say "Happy Spring Break".  We aren't sure when the makeup days will be, but I can almost bet they will fall right when we need the break the most.  So in keeping with what we have been working on in Room 22, I have revised my freebie "Crazy About Addition".  I made this activity 2 years ago, but like all things it was time for a makeover.  You can pick up this freebie by clicking on any of the pics below.  It is a wonderful activity for those active kids that just need to get moving.

Happy Monday to all of you!

The Packing Begins

I apologize for my absence in recent months.  I've had a ton of things thrown at me all at once and well, I just haven't been able to bring myself to post about it all.  That is until now.

My huge announcement is that I will be mooing back to Texas this summer.  Smiles and tears all rolled into this announcement.  Most of you know my husband is in the Air Force.  Well, we received word at the beginning of December that we had orders.  He will serve a one year tour in Korea (without us).  first thought were that this isn't fair.  My husband is currently deployed and we will only get to be with him for 3-4 months before he is god again.  How do I explain this to a 4 year old when I can't even wrap my brain around it?  Trust me.  So many questions have been running through my mind.

Why Texas?  Well, my that is my home state.  While I miss all my friends and co-workers, I feel that I must go home.  We will not be coming back to NC.  As of now we are waiting for a follow-on assignment which could be Texas anyway or Germany.  It is a waiting game for the next few months. But, in the meantime, I need to be with my family.  I need my daughter to grow up knowing them and for them to cherish all of the time they can with her.

Will I teach in Texas?  This one I am not quite sure about yet.  Possibly, yes.  But, it all depends on where our follow-on assignment is to and when we need to report there.  I may just sub for a while and be a parent volunteer.  This will be her first year of school, Kindergarten.  I just want to lap up all of her innocence while I can.

There you have it!  The craziness of my life the past month or so.  But, I am going to make the best of my teaching for the next few months.  I've got lots of great units in store and hope to share them with you soon.  Here is a sneak peak I am working on for Common Core RL 2.1 and RL 3.2 for you 2nd and 3rd grade teachers.  This will be helpful for those in NC that must complete writing portfolios for your students.

Turkey Fun & Interventions

Brrrr!  It is cold outside.  I am loving very second of this cold front and I hope that it is here to stay.  Don't get me wrong, I L-O-V-E the summer.  What teacher doesn't?  But, I also love to wear leggings and sweaters because let's face it....they are just plain comfortable.  I still pull out my flip-flop during the winter.  They should be a year-round staple, in my opinion.

Okay, enough of my winter fashion sense.  Time to get down to some school business.

one of the most important things I like to teach is "thankfulness".  If we teach kids early about things they should be grateful for, I believe they will carry this with them throughout their lives.  Every year I use a turkey to create a list of things we are thankful for.  This year the 2nd grade team at our school was asked to create centerpieces that would sit in the middle of each table at an Air Force Thanksgiving luncheon.  I got an idea from Pinterest, and made it my own.  My students used their handprints to write things they are thankful for on each finger.  Then, we hot glued (or I hot glued) the hands to brown paper cups.  We also glued on googly eyes, an orange beak, and a red turkey "snood" or as I like to call it "gobbler".  I know that is absolutely not the correct term, but it just makes more sense to me and is a fun word to say.  They turned out adorable!!!!

All the students did an amazing job!

Here is our class "thankful feather" turkey!  I love bringing this back each year!

I also had a little time to do some intervention with sight words, reading fluency, and comprehension.  The kids read these passages with me and found each word every time we read the passage, which ended up being 4 times.  They made flashcards for school and home.  We reviewed these words and will continue to build their cards throughout the year.  this has been one of the most quick and worthwhile interventions I have found for struggling/emergent readers in 2nd grade.  I found this packet {HERE} and I love it!  I wish I could give it 10 stars, it is that wonderful!

Well, that's a wrap.  Do you know of any intervetion packets that you have found on TeachersPayTeachers or any other site that is quick and easy?  Please share!



  

Wild Weather Writing and Fair Fun

My, oh, my!  I have been blessed with many days to keep me busy.  My students have learned so much in such a small amount of time.  I can't believe we have been in school for 5 weeks.  Our days have been jam packed with rigorous activities.

Our Science unit is about everything weather.  From weather, tools, to cloud types, to the water cycle, we are busy little meteorologist.  On of my favorite things about teaching is INTEGRATION!   I can cover so many topics in fewer lessons.  We are required to have our students write informative essays.  For my lesson plans last week, we studied different types of Wild, wacky Weather...hurricanes, thunderstorms, tornadoes, floods, etc.  My students read about all of these and then chose one to give us the low down on what to expect with this weather.  Hurricanes and Tornadoes were of cours ethe favorites!  My students made bubble maps to brainstorm and then created their writings.  They turned out to be wonderful with lots of factual information.  If you have never visited http://www.weatherwizkids.com/, you must check it out!  The kids explored this site and found lots of valuable resources to complete their writings.  Oooooh, there you have technology integration too!

My students enjoyed creating the bottom half of their bodies with rain boots which are a necessity for bad weather days!

Just a little pic on a monster truck ride at the county fair. This was taken after the tantrums and tears.  I'm not sure we will be going back to the fair again until she is 16.  This mom was worn out! 

Can you tell that my daughter is my husband in full, personality and all?

This past week we have been busy studying rhythm and rhymes in poetry.  Pics to follow soon.  Have a relaxing weekend.  Monday will be here before we know it!

It's Fall Friends!

I am loving every second of this cool, gloomy weather.  I actually accomplished quite bit by staying inside.  I have been going back and forth on what to do about National Boards.  I am not questioning whether or not to pursue it, THAT IS A GIVEN!  I want to be a NBCT!  I just can't decide what certification I want, Early Generalist or Middle Generalist.  All I know is early elementary which I absolutely love, butIi wouldn't mind changing to the upper elementary grades in the future.  Having taught Kindergarten, 1st, & 2nd, I have been able to see how the curriculum adapts to each grade.  Hmmm, I'm just don't have a clue on what I should do???

Let me just warn you that I am about to jump all over the place on this post.  I have some of my pics from the past two weeks back logged and wanted to share some happenings in my life.

On Thursday,I received a letter from my local Congressman George Holding in my teacher box at school.  I looked at this huge envelope in my box and thought, "Oh my goodness! What is that?"  It almost felt like Christmas morning.  Then I saw it was from the House of Representatives and couldn't wait to tear it open to find this inside.

The envelope also contained an framed certificate, but I left it at school.  So, no pics right now.  let's just say I was in teacher heaven.  I still can't believe this is happening to me!  I also had a television interview with our school news channel.  I felt like I babbled on and on.  I am one of those people that doesn't like hearing myself on any type of video or recording.  Gosh, I am too critical of myself, but I really think I have a type of OCD .  I just want it all to be perfect. :)

The week before last, my students and my coworkers students created this pretty piece of art for our assistant Ms. K.  The students wrote tiny messages on the sprinkles and we hung it between our two classes to surprise her on her special day.  she loved it!  Our kids did an amazing job of keeping it a secret.

Also last week, my students began the writing process.  Narratives!  Such a big component of 2nd grade!  One of my sweet students wrote this about her best friend.  Too cute!  This activity really gives me an insight about each child.  Thus, I enjoy having my students complete this writing every year.  It was created by the talented Amy lemons and can be found for free {HERE}!

My plans for next week include seasons, weather, and Johnny Appleseed!  

It is that time of year my friends!

  

Author's Purpose, Exploring with PIE

One of my favorite things to teach is Author's Purpose.  I use the PIE acronym.  Persuade-Inform-Entertain!  Each year I find more and more great resources to use with this.  This year my students have Interactive Reading Notebooks.  You can find the one I am using HERE.  It covers all Reading Standards for Common Core 2nd Grade.  Nicole Shelby is fabulous!  My students and I love all of her packs.   I also use her Language Interactive Notebook which I will discuss at a later time.

I modeled how to complete each activity and away they went!!!

A flapbook to write the way to figure out the author's purpose by asking questions about a book.

Common Core Standard with the different type's of author's purposes.

This little piece of work was one of those last minute {AHA} moments.  I found this PREZI and I loved how there was a podcast of the story The Apple Pie Tree at the end.  I had students listen to the story and draw what they understood about the story.  Of course some students only drew one thing, but this little friend drew and wrote about everything she remembered.  I love how she analyzed the story and put her own spin on it.  Amazing!

We will continue discussing author's purpose for the next 3 weeks just to make sure they have it down.  I am having the students keep this in their journal so we can organize books we read into the 3 different categories. I want them to reflect on the stories we read so they are easily able to identify author's purpose when reading a story.  You can grab this freebie by clicking on the pic!

Have a restful weekend my friends!