The Adventure Begins!

Hey everyone! I hope you are all having a fabulous weekend! What a beautiful, warm fall weekend! :) I just LOVE fall! But what I love even more is to brag about my amazing students! I mean, obviously I'm blogging on a Sunday morning because I'm just that amazed by how awesome last week went!  We had SO MUCH fun in 2nd grade, so....

"Hocus Pocus, Everybody Focus!"

Here we go! :)

Who enjoys change? Who enjoys starting something new even though you have no idea what you are doing? Who enjoys sometimes flying by the seat of their pants because their mind changes and they want to do something else?  Guess who...teachers! Teachers love change, they love new and fresh ideas, they are PERFECTIONISTS.  It was hilarious the other day, I was talking to a coworker in the printing room and I said, "You know, I always think I'm ready for the week, but then I go and change an activity because I found a better one that I think my kids will love! How do I stop this?!"  She replied, "You never will, because in our profession we are perfectionists, and we are constantly looking for the best material for our students or the most engaging activity to truly help the students understand the concept!" Wow, I couldn't believe what I was hearing...and to know the next however many years I am going to be a perfectionist when it comes to teaching...Ahhh :)  But let's move onto the kids...however you will understand the whole "NEW" thing when you continue reading! :)

This week, we started a NEW math curriculum called Engage NY Math, and holy cow, it has got the kids active and learning! We have done so many great things with this curriculum and even though our heads are spinning while we are teaching it, it's fun to see the kids totally soaking it up!  Engage NY Math stresses many counting games, as well as forming number bonds to figure out an addition number sentence.  This week, we were practicing number bonds to 10 (aka: How can you make 10?) and the students definitely picked up the fast facts quickly! :)  Look below to see some different things this curriculum has us doing! :)

Number Bonds to 10! Then they got to make them into people! :)

This number bond person had me in awe! :)

Playing "Happy Counting", thumbs up you count up, thumbs down you count down!
Works with fluently counting up and down!

This year, we also have started a NEW Science Curriculum! Talk about overload right!? Haha, no actually it's great to have updated curriculum because we were definitely in need of it! :)  In Science, we have been talking about habitats and what it takes for a plant or animal to survive in its habitat...which led us to FOOD CHAINS! :) To be honest, I was dreading teaching food chains because I really had no idea where to start, but then, of course...PINTEREST helped me out with that one :)  I found a great book that talked about food chains and had a food chain inside it, so together, the students and I read Jump, Frog, Jump and then created a frog with its food chain on the tongue! So cute but this little activity helped these little learners truly understand what a food chain was!

Food Chain Frog! :)

This year, I have also started a NEW phonics curriculum called Making Reading Heavenly.  Making Reading Heavenly is a curriculum that was put together by one teacher, Cathy Angel, and she now teaches classes to other teachers in order for them to implement this curriculum.  Check out her website here: http://www.makingreadingheavenly.com/.  Mrs. Halverson, the other 2nd grade teacher, has done this for years so she inspired me to take the class this summer to see what it was all about! Holy cow, BEST THREE DAYS of my life! :) I LOVED the class and I love the curriculum, so what did I do?! I bought it and am now using it for the Phonics part of my classroom.

Have you heard your students say....

"If you're gonna have a q, then you gotta have a u, because q and u, they stick together like glue!"

or....

"K goes with i, y, and e....c goes with the other three (a, o, u)!"

or....

Every syllable has to have a vowel!

or....

"Scaredy cat v, always brings an e!" (like in have, love...etc.)

These sayings help our students learn how to spell tricky works like...why does cat start with a c and not a k?! Because c goes with a, o, and u!  Or why does have not say haaave with a long a? Because that v always brings an e! :)  It's so much fun to teach these spelling rules to the kids and they LOVE it because they all have fun chants to go along with them!  Sometimes I catch them saying it and I just laugh inside because little do they know, it's helping them to become a better speller! :) So awesome!!! :)

This year has truly started off to be the best year yet.  I can say that I have done everything brand new this year and I wouldn't want it any other way.  Yes, I could be that teacher that uses the same stuff over and over again, but how much fun would that be to me as a teacher? I can honestly say I have not reused one single bulletin board yet. I can honestly say that I have not used one same math worksheet as last year.  It's funny how some teachers stray away from the new stuff...because they want the change as well as their kids.  Keeping things new and fresh is only bettering myself as a teacher and bettering the education for my students because what worked last year, may not work this year, and that's why teachers are professionals.  We are professionals, perfectionists, but most of all, we are caring and nurturing people who are truly just trying to give your children the best education while they are with us.  (Sorry if this sounds like a bragging post, but sometimes it's important to sit down and realize the importance of your career, because it makes you appreciate it that much more.)

Thank you all for listening...and until next time, stay safe <3! Enjoy your blessed Sunday! :)