SHOUT OUT!

Quick shout out to one of my ALL-STAR students...

This talented little man raised the MOST money in the ENTIRE elementary during our Jump Rope for Heart Fundraiser!!! :)  What an active but also caring little guy!  :)  He got a gold medal because of this awesome achievement!  Proud teacher!!! :)

-The PAST is IMPORTANT-

As a teacher, it is not only my job to teach my students to succeed in their future lives, but also to be aware of what helped them get to the point where they are today and how life became so.  February was a GREAT month to do this because February is National Black History Month.

In this month, I took it upon myself to teach my students about Black History and how life was much different in the past and not everyone had the same opportunities and privileges.  As an educator, I often see our kids in today's generation taking what they have and where they live completely forgranted and I am just as guilty at doing this.  So, not only was February a great learning opportunity for my students, but it was also a great reminder to myself that I am so blessed to be where I am today and am blessed to have the privilege to teach young lives and to prepare them for the future.

Many believe that teaching is like an instruction manual...word for word, all laid out for us perfectly and we know exactly what to teach and when to teach it.  Yes, it can be like this if you are the "stereotype" teacher and I have to tell you....I haven't met one teacher that is that way.  So, in this case, Black History Month was NOT in my curriculum to teach and was not laid out word for word, page by page.  I researched, I created, and I explored every opportunity that I could possibly teach my students....and unfortunately, there is not enough time EVER to teach EVERYTHING I want to...so I had to pick and choose for Black History Month, and this is what we did! :) ENJOY! :)

Teaching Black History Month lasted about 2 weeks....

I started my unit on Black History Month with a very important, African American little girl because I thought this was the BEST way to get my students engaged.  I thought it was great because they got to hear and see how someone YOUNGER than THEM changed the world.....this famous little girl is named...

RUBY BRIDGES

We researched Ruby Bridges by reading books, researching, and then ending our research with watching the  Disney version of Ruby Bridges. After all was said and done, the students got to "make" Ruby and write about what they learned!  Their writings were AWESOME and I was so happy they learned so many things about such a famous little girl!

I then moved onto the story of Rosa Parks...and this African American woman they were fairly familiar with!  They did well with her story as well by reading books and researching, and then making cute little buses with facts about her :)   Again, the information their little "sponge brains" soak up is JUST amazing! :)

And then, to end it off, I had to give the boys someone to talk about...and that African American person was of course....

JACKIE ROBINSON

The boys and girls were SO excited when I told them we were going to be talking about Jackie Robinson, and one of them even went home and watched the movie about Jackie (42: The Movie) with his grandpa!! How sweet :)  And of course he filled me in on what he learned!  We did a fact sort about Jackie and also read one book and then the students got to make a baseball "trading card" for Jackie Robinson!

Needless to say, the unit on Black History Month was a HIT!  The students LOVED It and I couldn't have been more happy with the results on their learning.  It was so great to see them learning and appreciating what they have and realizing that not everyone has the opportunities they do.

I know it's been awhile since I've blogged, but thank you for being patient as it has been a few very crazy months!!!

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

Valentine's Day!

Happy belated Valentine's Day everyone! 

I hope you all had a fabulous day with your significant other or spouse, but I can tell you that I got to spend my Valentine's Day with my 15 second graders...ALL DAY! :) What an awesome day it was, but oh boy, was I exhausted after?!  

This is going to be more of a "picture walk" through our Valentine's Day in 2nd grade, because on a holiday like this one....pictures are the best way to describe the day! :)

Let's get started!

We started our day with some journal writing, and then moved into a "Scoot" game, where the kids walk around the room and record answers to different questions asked at each card.  This "Scoot" was Valentine's Day-themed and covered different 2nd grade concepts that focused on reading, writing, and math! :)  It was a perfect formative assessment to give the kids on a holiday, but yet they could be up and active while doing it! :)

Valentine's Day "Hoot Scoot!"

We then did our Daily 5 routines, where the students got to play different Valentine's Day-themed games at each rotation!  After Daily 5, we headed to lunch and then the students returned back for math.  After math....it was PARTY TIME!!! And oh boy, they just could not wait! :)  They were asking and asking and FINALLY, it was time!

On Thursday (day before Valentine's Day), we decorated file folders for the student's "mailboxes" to put each other's valentines in.  These file folders were decorated with yarn, marker, and most importantly...GLITTER! :)  (I'm such a cool teacher for letting them use glitter!)  The file folders worked great because they could hang on the back of the student's chairs and were out of the way and weren't taking up any counter space!  Can you say I'm a bit "OCD?"  Haha :)  Needless to say, the students loved the "folder" idea because it was something they had never done before! (Teacher points :)!)

Decorated file folders on the back of their chairs for their valentines!

Once the students passed out the valentines, I gave them about 10-15 minutes to go through their valentines and check them all out!  This wasn't really my plan, but they were so excited to look at all of them...and hey, if a teacher's plans ever go the way they plan them...then there is something wrong!  Teaching every day is not a "perfect plan" as our day is always changing! :)  

And here is my valentine to them...... HOMEMADE chalkboards! :)  We have a chalkboard in our room, and the students LOVE it.  It's so funny because you think they would love the whiteboard, but they actually like the chalkboard more...so that is why I decided to make them a chalkboard for each one of them!  It was a super cheap and easy project to make and they turned out great! (Thanks to my wonderful boyfriend for helping me!)

Homemade chalkboards! :)

After opening valentines, we enjoyed Valentine's Day treats...which included sugar wafers dipped in almond bark and sprinkles (Miss N), sugar cookies with frosting (Joseph), puppy chow (Alexa), and cupcakes (Julian)!  Can you say SUGAR OVERLOAD?!?! :)

Sugar wafers dipped in almond bark & sprinkles made by Miss N! 

Overall, we had a wonderful Valentine's Day in 2nd grade and the students had a blast!  Luckily, the kiddos had P.E. at the end of the day to wear off all the sugar before sending them home to their parents!  And, they even had a gift for their parents!!! :)  Something very simple, but so "toad"ally cute! :)

Parent gift!

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day with the people you love!  I know I enjoyed a wonderful weekend with my new but amazing boyfriend, Kyle! :) Props to him for being the sweetest and most understanding guy during this crazy 2nd grade holiday! :)

My Valentine :)

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

Second Grade is WARMIN UP...

I don't know about you, but as for myself and my 2nd grade kiddos we are ready to WARM UP!  We are tired of this cold weather....2 hour delays, cancelled schools, but most importantly, NO outside recess!!! It's needs to be spring PRONTO!!!

We are supporting warm weather in our classroom by "Warming Up to a Good Book!"
Check out our writings accompanied by some hot chocolate...with REAL marshmellows! :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Monday!
Cheers to a new week of warming up temperatures (we hope!!!)

TEACH the way they LEARN.

Some teachers believe that teaching can only be reading, math, social studies, science, etc. but I am a teacher who has a different teaching philosophy.  I believe in teaching students about current events going on in the outside world and making them aware of their outside surroundings as well as making learning related to what they are interested in and that's exactly what this blog post is about!

So, as many of you know, a couple weeks ago a HUGE America event took place.....the

SUPERBOWL!!! 

Since I'm a cool second grade teacher ;), we had Football Friday on the Friday before the Superbowl, where all day...we did football-themed activities!!! 

We did a football Boggle game, where the students had to see how many words they could make with the word "football," we did a football-themed Math Addition Scoot...where the students had to "scoot" around the room and solve the problems...

Football Scoot

And then...of course, we had to VOTE to see who would win the Superbowl 

and tell why that team would win the Superbowl! 

Broncos Helmet with writing! :)

Seahawks Helmet with writing! :)

Final Votes!!! Broncos were favored in our classroom!

 

This was our big project for the day, followed by some amazing Rice Krispie Peanut Butter Balls made by me! :)  Check out the recipe at this link!  http://partiesandholidays.blogspot.com/2009/12/few-of-my-favorite-christmas-treats.html  They were amazing! 

Sadly, our 2nd grade didn't vote the right way...because the Seahawks won...but it was a fun-filled football Friday and the students LOVED it and still got to learn at the same time :)   Learning is so much more enjoyable when it is related to the students' interests..and that's exactly what this day was all about!

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

Happy 100th Day!

100th Day door decoration!

On January 29th, Clarksville Schools celebrated the 100th day of school!!!

That means that all my 2nd graders are....

100 Days smarter!!! Woohooo!

The cupcakes I made for the kiddos! :)

We enjoyed a morning of "100 day" activities, that included going to each room (Kindergarten-2nd) and completing a 100 day activity challenge.  In Kindergarten, there was a 100 cup structure challenge and a 100 piece puzzle challenge.  In 1st grade, there was the 100 exercises challenge and roll to 100 math activity.  In 2nd grade, there was the 100 book challenge (read 100 books) and 100 drops of water challenge.  Needless to say, it was a fun-filled morning of hands-on activities for the kids and they got to interact with other kids in the elementary instead of the kids in their class which they really enjoyed! :)

The afternoon wasn't quite as exciting...as this was the week for Iowa Assessments...(aka: Let's see how dumb we can make our kids look with standardized tests!)  If you can't sense my anger towards them, then ask me in person! :)  They are okay tests....but just very frustrating to classroom teachers as they are given in the middle of the year and there are 11 tests for a 7 or 8 year old!!! It's overwhelming to me, let alone my lil kids!!! Poor kids :( Luckily, I spoiled them all week :)

After Iowa Assessments, we had a 100th day party, where we enjoyed cupcakes and flavored water and worked on a "When I'm 100" project!  Keep reading in order to find out how stinkin' adorable these little old men and women turned out!!! Too cute! :)  We ended up getting out early for the day because of weather so we didn't get a chance to watch a movie or do my 100 Hershey Kiss Scavenger Hunt which I was bummed about...but that's Iowa weather for you! :)

"When I'm 100" Art/Writing Project

Well, I know it's been awhile since I've blogged, but thanks for listening and until next time...stay safe! <3

Whoooo's Even? Whoooooo's Odd?

A couple weeks ago, we talked about even and odd numbers in Math...and if you know me, you know I love owls!  So, of course, since I love owls...I was creative and found a project I could FINALLY do with owls!  I've been waiting so long and finally....just finally I came up with the CUTEST idea and it turned out PERFECT!  Ahh, so cute!

We made Even and Odd owls!

Obviously, the even owls were all made the same, following a certain template and all the colors were the same.

Then, the odd owls is where the students' creativity got to come in and they used their imagination to make their ODDEST owl!  They LOVED this activity :)

And who wouldn't put them on a bulletin board?! I mean c'mon, look at those cute things!  And yes, they are still up in my classroom and I really don't want to take them down :(!

Hope you enjoyed our even and odd owls!  Definitely one of my most favorite moments in 2nd grade YET!

Thank you all for checking in and until next time, stay safe! <3