First Full Week of Learning Fun!

Well, I have officially finished my first FULL week of teaching 2nd grade.  Although it was tiring, it went by so fast and it was so fun.  My 2nd graders are finally starting to open up, challenging me a bit but hey, if my career wasn't a challenge I wouldn't be able to call it my career, right?  It's part of the learning process when being a first year teacher.  As for myself, I don't want to sound confident or cocky, but I believe I am doing the best job I can and as the days go on, I feel more and more confident and comfortable in what I am doing when teaching 2nd grade.  After all, it's only been 8 days!  Well, now that I'm done with my 'soap box,' let me show you what we are learned in 2nd grade this week!

In Reading, we have been studying how to put events in order...aka: Sequence of Events.  To make this opening activity fun, I had the students complete a Peanut Butter & Jelly Sequence Activity...because everyone likes a PB&J right?!   Now you're  probably asking...what did you teach them?  How did you teach them?  Well, with Sequence of Events, it's important to look for key words such as First, Next, Then, & Finally.  I taught them to use those key words in order to put the events in order.  Because sequencing is a large word, I taught them that sequence means "order" and that helped them understand this concept much better.  The activity went over fairly well, and then we followed up with a Sequencing Test on Friday.  Overall, the students scored over 80%  so I was extremely happy with them and their progress on this skill!

Writing Poster that helps them organize Sequence of Events

In Spelling, we studied short a and i words such as cat or mit.  Our spelling lists every week will consist of 10 words.  Eight of those words will cover the phonics part of our curriculum, and then two of those words will be challenge words.  Our challenge words this week were sandwich and picnic.  We took our pre-test on Monday, because you should always give a pre-test to the students to see what spelling experience they have and see if there is a general mistake they are all making.  After grading the pretest, most of my students scored around a 60-70% getting 6 or 7 of the words right out of 10.  Because of this, I then decided it was important to review our spelling words and complete a spelling activity with them.  On Wednesday, we reviewed spelling and I taught them a few different skills.  Everyone knows there are syllables in words correct?  Right!  Well, on Wednesday I taught them that if the word is one syllable (aka...one clap), we spell by sound.  For example, one of our words was "sad."  Because "sad" is one syllable, when you are spelling you need to spell it by sound such as, "c - a - t."  You split the word up by sound.  I also taught them that if their word is two or more syllables, you spell by syllable.  For example, one of our two-syllable words was "sandwich."  Now, you split this word up by syllable rather than sound...."s-a-n-d"  , "w-i-c-h."  Everyone get it??? And that is how you teach spelling, my friends!  Haha, if only it would always stay that easy to teach!  It will get more difficult as the year goes on, but this is a perfect starting point for 2nd graders.

 
And....because Miss Nederhoff is a cool teacher, I told them that if they ALL got 100% on their spelling tests, we could have popcorn as a snack on Friday.   And........they all got about 90%!! We had 13 perfect tests and 2 tests that scored 90%!!! Woohoo!  I guess I did my job...and they did theirs!  It was a perfect way to celebrate hard work and a Friday! :)

In Math, we are learning about Addition.  Addition, addition, and MORE addition.  I'm kind of sick of addition, but it's great, in depth review for 2nd grade and gives them a great platform before beginning a difficult skill they have never been exposed to.  We have been playing many different math games such as Bingo Math and I Have-Who Has?  and we have also done a few math projects such as an Addition Strategies book and a Doubles Number flip book thanks to my co-worker Mrs. Halverson who shared this idea with me!  This is why I LOVE my co-workers!!! :)

Left: Addition Strategies book that the students may now use to help them solve addition problems.

Below:  "I Have, Who Has" card game.  I had the students stand in a circle around the room and we played this game altogether!  They loved it! :)

I am going to stop there for this week, and report on Social Studies and Science next week...because Social Studies and Science often run in two-three week units rather than one week at a time.  Right now, we are studying communities in Social Studies and Habitats in Science!

Oh....and great news to end this week.........we get to go on a FIELD TRIP!!! WOOHOO!  On September 12, Clarksville 2nd grade will be going to the National Cattle Congress Fair in Waterloo, IA!  Yay!  My first field trip as a real teacher!   I absolutely CANNOT wait!!! :)

And my final thoughts about this past week.......yes it was tiring, yes it was hot, but it was so much fun and went so fast I hardly noticed any tiredness....but maybe a little humidness!  As many of you know, our school does not have air; therefore, our week was a little warm but I'm not complaining yet...because next week may be even more hot!!! Overall, it was a great first full week in 2nd grade and I'm looking forward to the many more weeks to come!!!

Thank you all for listening...and until next time, stay safe! <3

My Very FIRST WEEK in 2nd grade...as a teacher! :)

Hey everyone!  I hope your week/weekend went as awesome as mine did!  My week was a complete whirlwind of events, but it was so much fun and the time flew by!  Holy cow, I cannot believe I have already finished my very first week of 2nd grade as a teacher!  :)  It went absolutely amazing!  I have no words to explain, but needless to say, I feel blessed, overly thankful, and truly appreciated after just the first week of teaching 2nd grade!  I'll give you a quick run down of the events that took place in my very first week of 2nd grade (with kiddos).

Wednesday, August 14 was the first day of school for all the kids at Clarksville Schools, including elementary, middle school, and high school.  The kids came to school with huge smiles on their faces and you could just tell they were excited to be at school again!  I started the morning off in my classroom with the students working on "All About Me" flags to help me learn more about them each individually as well as their peers getting to know each other.  These flags were then posted on the "BRAVO!" board in my classroom (which is meant for displaying student work!)  Check out the picture below :)  They turned out cute!

Bravo! All About Me First Day Flags!

At 9:00 AM, the entire elementary gathered on the front lawn for a flag ceremony.  After the flag ceremony, we returned back to the classroom to learn about rules, sort/organize supplies, and also had a classroom tour.  All of that took us up to lunchtime, and then we came back and did some more "get to know you" activities and what not!  Pretty much the first day was a lot of talking for me and a lot of listening for the students ;)!  However, they did fantastic with it and I was excited for the second day to come!

On Thursday, we started the morning off with introducing Daily Language Review, which the students will be doing every morning in order to get ready for the school day.  Doing this helps them recognize that once they are in the classroom it is time to get to work, rather than sitting there chit-chatting with their friends :)!   We then completed a "How Do You Like To Learn" activity, which helped me understand how the students like to learn whether it be hands-on, listening only, or both!  This is a teacher thing ;)!  We did a lot more on Thursday, but most of it was rules, getting to know you activities, and journal time.

On Friday, I decided to begin instruction for Reading because I could tell the kiddos were sick of rules/routines so I decided to dive into the Read to Self part of Daily 5.  Daily 5 is a program that is based around reading.  It hones in on five or six different areas and is promoted in the elementary classrooms because it is much more interactive and hands-on for the students...This is the reason I LOVE IT and I will use it in my classroom!  The base of Daily 5 starts with Read to Self and the students learn how to build "Reading Stamina" aka...become better readers for longer amounts of time!  It's a challenge to see how long the kids can build up their stamina....we started at 2 minutes and got up to 5 minutes!  Woohoo!  The students did amazing with this activity!  Also with building stamina, we cover the student/teacher rules for the Read to Self workshop...so that when the Daily 5 routine begins, the students will know exactly how to act in this workshop!  Check out the pictures below to understand more of what I am talking about!

Workshop 1 of Daily 5: Read to Self

Read to Self I-Chart (includes student & teacher rules)

BUILD THAT STAMINA! :)

Also on Friday, we covered how to choose a "Good Fit" book.  We talked about the "I PICK" strategy (see picture below) and we talked about how a book that one students chooses may not be the best choice for their best friend or another student in the classroom.  Needless to say, this is a strategy to show the kids that it's important they find a "Good Fit" book, or their reading will not improve because they may be reading something too easy or too hard!  See the picture below to understand a little bit better :)!  P.S...that is a homemade poster!  Yep, I'm all about saving money during my first year! :)

"I PICK" Good Fit Books!

Friday concluded and I was worn out!!!  Thank goodness the weekend was finally here!  I was ready to relax and enjoy a couple days off, but I am now anxious to get back and see my kiddos again!  I miss them :).  Well, that was a very brief post about my first week of school, but if I told you everything that we did...I guarantee you wouldn't probably read it all! :)

Keep checking back for the latest updates happening in my 2nd grade classroom!  Thank you so much for listening, and until next time, stay safe <3!

Open House Night!

On Tuesday, August 13...I finally got to meet my 2nd grade kiddos!!! Woohoo!!!

The day at school on Tuesday consisted of a few meetings, followed by a lot of work in our classroom, followed by Open House from 3:30 to 5:30!  Needless to say, I was at school from 7:00 in the morning until 6:00 in the evening!!! It was a long day, but soooo much fun!!! :)

I started off my day by receiving "Good Luck" flowers from my entire family!!! (Dad, Mom, Paul, Brooke, Emma, Kevin, & Brie) :)  I am so thankful I have such a loving and supporting family...they have truly been there for me each step of my teaching journey and without them, I would not be this successful in my career.

"Good Luck" flowers from my family :)

Throughout the day, I continued working in my classroom...completing my first lesson plan (which the other teachers make fun of me for and I tell them I need to have a lesson plan in order to keep my mind going in the right direction!! :) )  I also finished getting open house things ready...nothing like waiting until the last minute :)

Also, on Tuesday came my first teacher-teacher memorable moment I will never forget.  It happened with the Kindergarten teacher, and it's a funny story that truly made me feel part of the 'school family' that I've always wanted to be a part of.  The story goes like this:  On Monday night, I placed a table I had in my classroom outside in the hallway, putting a note on it that said "Don't need."  The janitors told me if I put anything in the hallway I didn't want, they would move it to the basement, so that's what I did :)!  Well being a first year teacher, I was like, "Hey, I don't need this so I'm going to get rid of it..."  Wrong choice!!! Tuesday came and I wanted that table back...after rearranging of course...and my table was gone!!! No where to be found.  I was freaking out, because I really wanted that table back.  Well, turns out the Kindergarten teacher had taken it, which was perfectly okay because it was "up for grabs."  After I talked to her, she was like, "Well let's go look in the dungeon (aka..basement) to find you a table!"  Well, we found a table, but it was way too big for my kiddos...so what do we do...just take a guess!  Yep, you'll never guess.  We took a field trip to the Industrial Tech room, where I met for the first time the Industrial Tech teacher who proceeded to cut 5 inches off of each leg of the table so it would fit my kids perfectly :)  What a nice guy..and what a memory we made!  We walked back down to my room and everyone questioned us on our way back...saying..."You two look like you are up to NO GOOD!"  It was so funny, but such a memory and I will never forget it.  Needless to say, I learned my lesson and I will never get rid of something I don't want, until I really know whether I want or don't want it for sure! :)

That memory took about the last hour of my day, so by the time I got the table set up, it was Open House time!!! I met 12 of my 2nd graders, 3 students did not show.  They were very shy and I was worried because I am so used to loud kids and craziness from teaching preschool...I was worried that they didn't like me or didn't like the classroom, but my sister/mom reassured me that they were probably just really nervous! Followed in this post are pictures from Open House...including the Open House folder I used to introduce the students to the classroom and the treat for the students I provided!

You're of'fish'ally in 2nd grade! :)

The students completed a scavenger hunt in their new classroom, so I could get a chance to visit with parents and get to know them since I am new to the community.  Once they completed their scavenger hunt, the received the bag of goldfish as you see up above! :)

Overall, Open House night was a successful experience but I was very tired after the long day!  I then joined some teachers at Doc's (restaurant I live right behind) for some supper, came home and crashed!!! I was so tired but yet so anxious for the first day of school!  :)

That's all for now!  Thank you all for listening...and until next time, stay safe <3!

Simply Starting 2nd Grade...Classroom Tour! :)

 After about three weeks of hard work in my classroom, I think it is finally ready for the red carpet reveal!  Eeeek, I'm so excited to share these pictures and of course, it does not do my classroom justice as I think it is absolutely adorable and just love being in it.  Have fun exploring and let me know what you think! :) 

~Miss Nederhoff's 2nd Grade Classroom Reveal! ~

Front right corner (includes class library, calendar, teacher table for computer, docucamera, and Mimeo tools!)

Front left corner (includes Word Work center with book tubs easy accessible for small
group reading and will be the Daily 5?CAFE Corner)

Back left corner of the classroom (includes mailboxes, recycling bin, writing center, computers (3:)!!!), word wall, birthday door, Clip Up chart, Turn In area, BRAVO board, and a small group writing table!!)

Back right corner (includes Miss Nederhoff's desk area and math work center!)

"I CAN" Board (This board will be where I post "I CAN" statements related to the Iowa Common Core aka...standards that the students must meet in 2nd grade!)

Birthday Door/Clip Up Chart Door (Birthday Board...I'm going to take pictures of each of the students with their birthday number and put them underneath their birthday month.  Clip Up Chart...This is the behavior management strategy our school uses in order to encourage positive behavior!  It works amazing!)

Well, that is all for now!  I hope you enjoyed my classroom reveal! I know I really love it, but I could be a little bias as well! :) 

Until next time, stay safe and thanks for listening! <3

I am so sorry.  I can't believe it's been over a month since I have blogged. Wow!  Does time fly when you're having fun or what?!

Well, I have been having a blast the last month and a half of my life...between finishing out my time in preschool at Cedar Falls....to taking a couple weeks off in between jobs to get moved, get my classroom ready, and officially become a teacher in the Clarksville Community School District.  All I can say is this past six or seven weeks has been a complete whirlwind, but over time I am getting settled and am so excited to begin this new journey in my life.

Please stay tuned in to read stories, updates, but most of all incredible moments that will be happening in my life as well as my 2nd grade classroom!

Here's to a new experience with new friends, a new small town, and most of all new memories!

Thank you all for listening.  Until next time, stay safe and thanks for listening. <3