Monday, September 24, 2012

Stationary Set and More American Symbols

One of my biggest struggles in teaching has always been writing.  This year I have changed many things around and I am taking on my biggest struggle head on.  So far it's been working out great!  My kids are loving writing time, especially writer's workshop.

In order to fit in all my standards and cover all the types of writing we need to do in second grade, we also have a separate writing time that is more guided.  When I do this type of writing we go through the whole writing process as a class.  At the end of the week we publish our writing piece.  Last year I began designing publishing paper that went with our themes.  It's worked wonders!  The class gets so excited to see their publishing paper and they make sure they use their VERY best handwriting when they publish their work.  I also use it in one of my centers for letter writing.  They love coloring the images for their friends.  

You can click HERE to pick up a copy :)

We have been learning about American Symbols this month.  We focused on the Bald Eagle and the students filled their fact books with their new knowledge!
We are studying the Liberty Bell this week. The kids are so curious about that crack! 

I am linking up with Teaching Maddeness Flashback Friday.
Now stop by and link up what you have been doing in your classroom!


Thanks for stopping by to visit!

Posted by at 9/24/2012 2 comments
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Tuesday, September 18, 2012

American Symbols and Bugs!

I am using Deanna Jump's America unit for the month of September.  I've always taught American Symbols in February but I always ran out of time.  I have also always run into the dilemma of how to teach about September 11th.  So this year I decided to focus on America in September and tie everything together.  So far it's been wonderful!  I taught about the flag the week of 911 and we are working out way through the symbols.

Here are some pictures of our activities.
I received Time for Kids, Weekly Reader, and Scholastic News last year and my class voted on saving the issues for my future classes! So I organized them and have them ready to go for my themes.  My kids this year are loving them!

I love how Time For Kids sometimes includes a large edition of their magazines!  I was so excited when I remembered that there was a specific issue on the bald eagle.

This tree map was directly from Deanna Jump's America unit.  Even the graphics are from there.

I also read a chapter book each month to my students.  This month we are reading James and the Giant Peach.  The students are always so curious about those insects that they hear about so I placed my insect unit  (Deanna Jump's unit to be exact) in September as well.  The kids have been loving every bit of it!

Here are some pictures of what we have been doing.
This graph was from Deanna Jump's Insect unit.  The kids were supposed to make a survey and graph of their own but in order to conserve paper, I took the chart route.
I found the idea for this anchor chart on Pinterest right here. 
Jump's unit also includes this really cute poem.  We glued them into our science journals and highlighted the rhyming pairs.  We then drew and labeled the parts of an insect.
I'm not sure how long we will spend on insects.  I have never taught a unit on insects but it has been fun and interesting so far.
Posted by at 9/18/2012 0 comments
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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Life Cycles and Giveaway

We are deep into life cycles right now.  We are currently learning about plant life cycles.  Today my students completed one of my favorite books about plants.  The illustrations are wonderfully detailed and it asks questions throughout the book for comprehension.

Here are some shots of this book in action.

Last week we did our caterpillar craftivity.  The kids loved it!!
They turned out so cute. 

I wanted to do a giveaway for reading 100 followers, but the time passed too quickly and now I'm looking into doing a 200th follower giveaway instead.  I wanted to do something though for surpassing 150 a few months ago.  So in honor of that, I am giving away any one item from my TPT store AND one of my favorite science books that you see pictured in the first photo.  I hope you will consider entering :)


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Posted by at 9/11/2012 13 comments
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Saturday, September 8, 2012

Synonym Rolls

Our second grade team decided to work on synonyms this past week.  I love working on synonyms because it can really help to expand children's vocabularies in a really easy way.

We made our synonym rolls in class and the kids got to make their own synonym chef hats!  

So cute!  Totally not our idea, this was all inspired by Cara Carol at the First Grade Parade. 

Each grade has a board display in the cafeteria so we got together and put up our second grade board after school.  The kids came in the next day and flipped out!  They loved seeing their synonym rolls on display.  The letters were cut out using a Cricut with the "Hello Kitty Font" cartridge.  The little chef was also created using a Cricut.  I cut him out from the "Everyday Paper Dolls" cartridge at about 10 inches.

Here is one of my cuties making her synonym rolls and wearing her chef hat!
This idea is also from Cara Carol! She is amazing:)

I also received my famous sharpener from Classroom Friendly Supplies! I have been using it for over a month now and I am currently working on a review.  If you've had any doubts in purchasing one, stop rethinking it and buy one! It's everything you've heard about and more!

I am linking up with Teaching Fourth for Kelly's second Fun Friday linky party.
Now it's your turn to link up your fun activities!



Posted by at 9/08/2012 6 comments
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