2nd Grade is Merry & Bright!

2nd Grade is Merry & Bright!
(door decoration)

Christmas and Winter has officially hit in 2nd grade and oh my have we been busy! :)  I'll tell you one thing....three weeks in between Thanksgiving break and Christmas break is just simply not enough to do all of the fun Christmas activities that I want to do! :)

Now, once you read this post....you are going to ask yourself, "Do they only do arts and crafts in 2nd grade?"  And I promise and can reassure you that each of these crafts we have done DO have a purpose...and are educational! :) I promise! :)

Read ahead to check out what we've been up to in 2nd grade since after Thanksgiving break!

We started off with "Warming Up To A Good Book" because when we got back from Thanksgiving...it was frigid and cold!  Each student had to pick their favorite book and write two or three reasons why they thought it was their favorite book!  The students did a great job with the writing, so I decided to let them make it into a mug of hot chocolate :)  Check out the pictures below to see the students' awesome work!

Hanging in the library so the kids can read which books are good books to warm up to!

One student's favorite book just happens to be a Christmas book! :)

Next off, our curriculum wanted us to focus on instructional writing which means having the students focus on writing instructions and using those words like First, Next, Then, and Finally.  So, of course, I'm not going to just let them write...I have to let them do a craft with it! :)  The students had to write the steps it took to build a snowman....and THEN....Miss N gave their writing to someone else and that person had to build their snowman based on the student's instructions!  Now...you may be asking yourself, "What's the purpose of exchanging writings to have someone else build their snowman?"  Well....some students learned that their instructions weren't specific enough...and some students didn't know where to put the eyes on the snowman, or didn't know which way to stack the three snowballs, etc.  This was an amazing activity to make the students see exactly how specific their instructions needed to be in order for someone to follow them to make something!  The students loved it and they all definitely learned from it...as well as had fun with it! :)

Must have been good decorations...but no mouth or buttons?! Shux! :)

Uh oh...someone didn't tell them where the eyes were supposed to go! :)

In our curriculum, it was also time to focus on contractions.  Contractions I like to describe as shortened words that come together with an apostrophe.  And let me tell you, the word "apostrophe" is a tongue twister for the little ones...it's so funny to try and hear them say it :)  So, of course, I'm still in the Christmas spirit so we made a "Christmas Contraction Tree" where each student got to decorate a contraction ornament for the tree, and then had the chance to make their OWN contraction tree by matching up the contraction with the two words that make it up! :)  Super cute wall decoration and the students love it when they are working at word work and it's reminding them of what a contraction is!  Check out our "Christmas Contraction Tree" below! :)

Student's contraction tree!

Classroom Contraction Tree!

Last but not least.....we have a classroom full of ELVES!  The elves are back and are entertaining us every day! Now, since they do Elf on the Shelf in Kindergarten, I switch it up and the students get a chance to be the elves.  Each student made an elf, and since they've made the elves, one of the elves has been moving each day!  So far our elf has wished us a Happy Friday, has wanted us to color with them, read a book with us, and today...he had us look in a mirror!  Oh my gosh, the students LOVED looking in the mirror.  Who knew!? I would catch them waving in the mirror and I just laughed and laughed! :)

Morning Greeting from Elf John! :)

These elves are just WAITING to move! :)

The students are definitely starting to open up to me and I'm encouraging it because I just love when my students and I can feel like a family and feel like we can laugh with one another and have a good time.  I want them to see me as a teacher who loves to have fun and get off task once in a while and they are finally getting to that stage! It's so fun teaching kids who get excited about school, but can laugh and have fun with everyone at the same time! :)

And of course, I have to include a picture of the class Christmas tree! :)

Thank you all for listening...and stay tuned to hear about our new club in 2nd grade! Stay safe and have a great rest of the week! <3