1, 2, 3..Blast Off!

Hey everyone!

I hope you have all had a great start to your week!  We have had a chilly, but great start here in 2nd grade!  Let me tell you...we have been SUPER busy learning and having fun in 2nd grade!  I'm so excited to update you on our Space Unit that we just wrapped up on Friday last week!

So get ready to blast off into space...oh, and be ready to learn something because we have LOTS of facts for YOU! :)

Bulletin board to set the "space" mood in 2nd grade! :)

In the middle of January, we kicked off our Space Unit by first writing an application to be an astronaut, because if you are not an astronaut, then you aren't allowed in space!  Each child was required to fill out an application in order to become an astronaut!  I loved this activity because it shows them that jobs aren't just given to you, they are earned by knowledge and well written sentences! :)  Luckily, all of our students did great and all got to become astronauts for the next month! :)

Astronaut Application! :)

After creating our astronauts, we blasted off our into our space unit by first learning about the moon and stars in our galaxy.  We discussed and learned about the eight different moon phases as well as the stars/constellations in our sky!  We got to do lots of fun projects such as a "Moon Phase" book and we even got to create our OWN constellation! How cool is that! :)  The students learned a TON during this part of the unit and one of them even came to me one morning and said, "Miss N, I think it was a full moon last night!"  I wanted to say to them I already knew it was a full moon because whenever there is a full moon the kids always seem to be a bit more crazier than a normal day! :)

Moon Phases! :)

Constellation Project!

One of Mrs. Halverson's!  You HAVE to read this! :)

After finishing up the moon and stars part of the unit, we were able to fly into studying about the planets in our Solar System!  The students were SO excited for this part of the unit!  They continued to ask me about it over and over again and kept asking, "Miss N, when do we get to study the planets?!"  As always, I told them to be patient and we will get there when we get there! :)

Studying the planets was SO much fun.  Each pair of students got a chance to research a planet and they were able to use a handout (provided by myself), books, and even an online Solar System WebQuest  to research their planet!  They did so great with their research that I let them make a poster and they had the chance to share their report and poster with the whole class! :)

Planet Research using the handout provided by the teacher!

Planet Research using books from the library! :)

Planet Research using the Internet! :)

Planet Presentations!

Planet Research Final Project!

Along with their research, they each made a Solar System folder where they organized the planets in their correct order, and then were able to write down facts in their folder that they learned during the planet research presentations!  It's a great way to make learning fun for them and they have something to take home to share with their family! :)

Overall, our space unit went fantastic!  This is such a fun unit to teach and the students have ALOT of fun with it.  It's great to hear the things they already know but things they also still want to learn!  We had a great time studying our Solar System, and I hope they came home and shared all of this awesome information with you!

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

100 Days Smarter!

Hi everyone!

I hope your week has started off great!  Who loves all this snow we got?! I know the kids LOVE it! :)

Let's get down to business.....fun business that is! :)

We celebrated our 100th day of school last week on Tuesday, January 27! Woohoo! Our kiddos are officially 100 days smarter! :)  We had lots of fun activities planned and this is a day that the kids absolutely ALWAYS look forward to!

The kiddos were welcomed to the 100th day with a candy bar and a pencil (100 day themed of course!)

In the morning, Kindergarten through 2nd grade splits up and has a "100th Day Center" in each room, making six different activities for the kids to complete!

Each room had a different activity!  They were "100 Lego building," "100 Exercises," "Race to 100!," "100 Ties," "100 Red Cup Structure," and "Digging for 100 Pennies."

I had the luxury to host the "100 Lego building" activity where students were given 100 legos and had to make a structure with a partner using only 100 legos!  These were some of the cool structures that were built with 100 legos! :)

100 Lego Robot

100 Day Structure

We also made "100 Day" smarter flags for a fun activity and had a "100 Day" math activity! (I forgot to take pictures of the math activity!)  After some activities, it was finally time to PARTY! :) We listened to Fancy Nancy and the 100th Day on YouTube and enjoyed a 100th day cake made by myself and "Flavored Slush" from a student in the class!  The kids LOVED the slush! :)  It was a huge hit and fun to have something different as a drink!

100 Day Cake! Simple but cute! :)

100 Day Smarter flags!

Overall, the 100th Day was a blast and I think the kids had a great day.  It was a crazy day, but a fun day!

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

*New Year = New Memories*

Happy 2015! This is my first blog post of 2015...I know, 25 days late.  I have no excuse but I do have some fun things to share!

We have been quite busy at school with kicking the new year off!  The first week back to school I think we had a total of maybe 20 hours of school thanks to snow and cold weather!  So, by the second week of January, I think my kiddos were finally back in the swing of things!

The first couple weeks of school in 2015 we have been busy transitioning back into school as well as taking Iowa Assessments!  To make testing more fun, I sent out an email to parents asking if they would volunteer to provide treats for the kiddos during testing week!  I had quite a few parents respond so we were overwhelmed with snacks and the kids loved it!! Nothing like a little sugar to keep their brain thinking and active!  Check out below a few of the snacks with cute little tags to go with them!  (I apologize, I didn't get a picture of everything!)

We also have been studying idioms in 2nd grade since the beginning of January and oh.my.gosh. the kids LOVE them!  Every time I say one or I read one to them they are like, "Miss N, that's an IDIOM!"  You got it kiddos and I'm so happy I can say you actually understand what they are and what purpose they serve!  :)

My example! :)

The kids had the chance to draw the "Literal Meaning!" How fun! :)

Next to their picture is the actual meaning of the idiom! :)

At the beginning of January, we also had a chance to write our New Year's Resolution to be done at school, with the title "Ringing in the New Year!"  Each New Year's Resolution was written on a cell phone! How cute did they turn out?! :)

Door Decoration! :)

Hope you enjoyed the quick tour through our first month of the new year!  Stay tuned to hear about the 100th day of school, happening on January 27! AHH! :)

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

Merry Christmas!

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends!  It's been a wonderful Christmas break, but I'm secretly ready to go back!  Too much free time!  What's a teacher to do?! :)  Just wanted to share a few quick photos from Christmas in 2nd grade!  Enjoy and I will see all of my little kiddos on Monday, January 5th!  Can't wait!

Pre-K - 5th Grade Christmas Concert! :)

Santa Hat cupcakes made by Miss N for Class Christmas Party!

Merry Christmas from Miss N's 2nd Grade Class! :)

Have a great rest of your Christmas break and Happy New Year!

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

Kind Kids Club!

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all having a great week!  I can't believe we only have 2 days until Christmas Break!  This week at school has been so much fun, and the students and I have been SUPER busy preparing for Christmas, making gifts for others and parents, preparing for the Christmas concert, etc! :)

But, what this post is really about is the Kind Kids Club?! Are you in the Kind Kids Club?! Well, the entire 2nd grade at Clarksville Elementary is in the Kind Kids Club and has been participating in the 12 Days of Kindness!  Let me update you on what's been happening in this awesome club!

At the beginning of the 12 days, the students had to "apply" to get into the Kind Kids Club!  They had to fill out an application and talk about what it means to be kind and how they can be kind to others!  Now, they had to be on the right track in order to be in the club...and whew! They ALL made it!  Congrats 2nd graders, you are AWESOME!

Kind Kids Application! :)

I loved this application! :)

So, now that all the students are in the club, we have been doing a Random Act of Kindness each day in 2nd grade.  These random acts have included Thank You's to teachers, librarians, cooks, donors (from our grant), and many more!  We have also done easy Random Acts such as simply saying "Good Morning" or "Hello" to people you see in the classroom and in the hallway! (This was a HUGE one for me to have them work on because every morning I say good morning to them, and they just walk by..but NOW they always say it and I love it!)  I believe it's very important to acknowledge others because it shows you truly care about them and are thinking about them.  We have also done things like hand out candy canes to teachers as well as make a "Snowman Surprise" where students had the chance to make a snowman out of a Styrofoam cup and then write about why they decided to make it for that person!

I know I'm probably forgetting some others that we have done, but the kids have really enjoyed the last 10 days of this Kind Kids Club and the random acts they have been doing.  I think it's really important that young children see that you can give to others without receiving anything in return.  They have noticed that it's so easy to do a random act, even simply just sharpening another friend's pencil or putting their homework in their mailbox without them knowing.  It's so neat to see in the last couple weeks how many kind things each of my students is doing every day.  They are such gifted and nice children and I'm so lucky to have them in my class.

Now, even though the students haven't been receiving anything back for their Random Acts, we actually did receive something in the mail the other day at school which was a complete SURPRISE and could not have come at a better time.  I went to check my mailbox and in it I found an envelope addressed to myself with no return address.  I didn't think much of it and didn't open it for awhile until recess time.  Then, I opened it and in it found a blank card with a $50 gift card to Teachers Pay Teachers (website where I get many fun class lessons for my students) and no signature.  I have NO IDEA who it's from but tears came to my eyes.  It is literally UNBELIEVABLE how gracious and giving people are in this world.  I had tears and my students totally noticed....they asked me what was going on and I told them and it could not have been a better teaching moment.  So, whoever you are out there that provided myself and my students with this gift card to get more teaching materials, I cannot thank you ENOUGH!  I just have no words to express my feelings of appreciation.  It is simply just amazing.

Our gift from an anonymous person! THANK YOU!!!

The last three weeks of school have just been unbelievably great.  It is something about the Christmas season that just makes everyone smile and feel happy.  I am so grateful to have the rewarding job that I do and have the amazing students that I do.  They have opened up to me and we can be silly and laugh, but then can be serious and get work done.  I have an amazing group of students and the Kind Kids Club has made them even better than they were before.

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

Stay tuned for updates about our school Christmas program and Christmas Party! :)

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

Turkey Day Update!

Hi everyone!

I am sorry I have been MIA (missing in action) on my blog lately...I really have no excuse except I've been busy with family, baking, shopping, wrapping presents, decorating, and oh ya...teaching! :) Let me quickly update you on our Thanksgiving celebration in 2nd grade, and then my next post will be ALL about Christmas and Winter and how 2nd grade is gearing up for the holidays! :)

The day we let out for Thanksgiving break, my students and I enjoyed some nice Thanksgiving activities!  Our biggest focus for the day was on Native Americans, where each student was in a group of two or three kids and had the chance to research about a specific Native American tribe and present their poster and information to the class! :)  They LOVE using the internet for research and getting to make a poster was a HUGE excitement for them....and oh ya, they got to use Miss N's markers! WOAH! It's the little things with this class and that's why I love them so much! :)

Here is the link the students used to research their Native American tribe:

http://nativeamericans.mrdonn.org/tribes.html

And below are the students with their posters of the Native American tribe they researched! :)

Cherokee Tribe

Kutchin Tribe

Navajo Tribe

Wampanoag Tribe

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and got to enjoy all the many blessings of this holiday....including stuffing yourself FULL of turkey!

Fun fact for all of you...
I do not eat turkey and am still a HUGE fan of chicken nuggets on Thanksgiving :)

And here is one man I am so thankful I met this year....:)

Kyle & I on Thanksgiving Day!

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