Freckle Juice & Freebies Too

Hi, friends! How are you? Starting in a new grade level this year AND having my son start football at the same time has to say the least…..been EXHAUSTING! While the blog has had a cobweb or two form, I want to take a quick sec to say THANK YOU for following on social media! You all rock! Hopefully, this little post will be the rekindling of a lovely relationship between myself and this little blog again!

I think I’m getting the hang of teaching second grade! It really has been fun! The kid part and the teaching part have been fun. We can talk about the testing part another day…that part is not so fun. Being able to leap forward from first with a few of my friends from last year’s crew has been ooper schmooper helpful! Here’s just a tiny peek into some of what we’ve been up to!

Teaching reading has taken on new meaning this year. The focus is no longer on teaching how to read so much as it is…teaching how to understand what we read. Because of that, our basals are collecting dust while we dive into authentic literature. At first, I was a little nervous about moving away from the structured focus of the basal….but NOW, I’m enjoying the freedom of teaching skills from real books….complete books, not just a part of a book that may be included in a textbook.

You know, I LOVE a great foldable! During the week we shared Freckle Juice, we completed a little blend of literacy and math to make some fun cross curricular connections!

Just computation…in second grade…not a chance. It’s all about the story problems now….all.the.time. Reading in reading and MORE reading in math….computation and application and thinking….lots and lots of thinking…and showing processes!  Here, we applied what we’d learned about identifying coins and counting collections of coins…

…and using number lines to subtract.

During our literacy block, we practiced writing and reading contractions with simple, index card mini-foldables. After working to create contractions, we housed them in the pocket of the foldable created using a mailing envelope.

The original two words were written on one side. Once folded, on the other were the remaining letters needed to create the contraction. Write, fold, flip…two words to one word. =)

Students also chose their favorite character from the story to analyze traits. After illustrating the character, students used sticky notes to record something the character said and something the character did. Lots of fun discussions were had as we took a closer look at each of the kiddo’s favorite characters.

Analyzing character traits was fun!

Sneaking in a little fine motor practice to cut and glue was fun too! Like it…want to use it? Click HERE to grab it!

We’ve also enjoyed WRITING class books. As our introduction to adjectives, we created this little book inspired by our cranky friend. This book easily became a class favorite because they each got to add their own "catch phrase"! 

It’s a little late to get cranky now, but if you’d like to add this little goodie to your files for your next year, click HERE to grab it! Did you know there are other Crankenstein books too? We’ll definitely be seeing more of him this year!

Our walls are no longer empty; there’s lots of learning splashed everywhere! Thanks for stopping by and catching up! Now that football season is winding down, I should be back in business and have time to share more of the journey into SECOND GRADE!

I’m excited about getting this transition year under my belt….about having the opportunity to get to know new friends…and of course, sharing with YOU! See ya again soon!

What kind of pet would YOU like to have? {Research FREEbie}

Hi Friends! How are ya? Today started out a little wonky with a dead car battery and will end with a visit to the torture chamber a.k.a the dentist….so in between all the randomness of the day, I thought I’d stop in to share a little research fun.

Conducting simple research is an on-going topic for us and my little class of curious firsties is LOVIN’ it! After completing research using biographies, we tackled pets/animals next. The little chart above was created to document partner discussions at the carpet. Kiddos shared 1 target question about an animal they would like to have as a pet. After lively discussions with partners, we listed the questions to share and give each other ideas before recording the pet/animal on one sticky note and the 1 question on another.

We visit the computer lab once each week. During our computer lab time, students worked with helping partners to take notes. Each student was responsible for finding 3 facts that were connected to answer their guiding question.

What’s a helping partner? Glad you asked! I allow students to choose who they will work with when its time for partner activities. There’s only 1 rule. You must choose a partner that is NOT in your reading group. Reading groups contain friends with like abilities right now. Whole group and partner activities involve mixed ability groupings, sooooo when we work with a partner, it’s part of our classroom culture for stronger readers to be paired with a friend that may need a little more help.

I alternate, how they choose…sometimes the friends who need a little more help get to choose a partner. Sometimes, the strong readers choose. It’s created an environment of empathy and compassion that I’m very proud of. BFFs make for great pals at recess or during free time, but they can be very distracting when it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty.

Over the course of the week, students worked together during writer’s workshop to complete their writing and illustrations. This little research project was also an extension of our story for the week, Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats. It made for a lot of connections between reading and writing and even science! In order to take care of a pet, you have to know what a living thing needs to survive.

As we enjoyed stories by Ezra Jack Keats and about real animals online, students were also exposed to elements of media literacy. It was a wonderful week of all the little pieces we’ve been learning over the past few weeks coming together in lots of teachable moments.

When I complimented the class on doing such an amazing job with their second research project, the “Teacher Jrs” came up with a great idea! The trouble with giving a class of kiddos creative control is that once they’re used to it, they’ll exercise that right…lol! So, next….they put me to work!

I was asked to create a cover, so we could compile our writings into a class book! Here’s a look at how it turned out…

…and now we have a brand new book full of facts about pets…and a class of firsties excited about research!

Just like little Peter enjoyed learning how to do something new, it’s been a joy to watch my kiddos grow as readers and writers and now…..researchers.

With research complete and open house done, smart art was on the agenda for Friday. Researchers can be artists too! Willie jumped right out of the pages of the book onto the streets of our little city! When Peter’s mom sent him to the store, it looks like he whistled all the way to HEB and back! Just in case you don’t live in TX, HEB is our local grocery store. It’s the ONLY grocery store in a lot of areas! =)

Click the pic above to grab this little FREEBIE to get your research on too! Either I really like having choices or I’m indecisive….either way {lol} there are two choices of note taking pages and two choices of writing paper for your student’s final drafts, including a “back of the page” sheet and a cover if you’d like to make a class book too.

Enjoy and happy researching!

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week!

Hi, Friends! How are ya? I’m linking up with blogging pals to share about the upcoming TPT Teacher Appreciation Sale!

Because we had such a fun time working through our Peter H. Reynolds’ author study, I thought I’d give you a closer look at our creativity inspired week!  The Dot, Ish, and Sky Color are my ABSOLUTE favorite books on the planet! Want to get to know me a little better? Read Ish….thinking –Ishly allows my ideas to flow freely. Life is meant to be lived creatively!

Before diving into the trilogy, we kicked off the week with a little Mouse Painting. After reading the book and retelling the story, we titled it Mouse Feet in order to connect to our phonics skill for the week: long e.

We also made connections to math and grammar by using comparative adjectives to describe growing dot artwork. Of course, it wasn’t complete until it was framed in a little swirly gold!

Creating our own gallery-ish was a LOT of fun! Students connected to the story by drawing their own –ish pictures. The best part? Crumpling it up at the end and throwing it across the room!  The best part for me was watching my students' eyes light up as we completed each story. They got it! They really got the message and were able to make connections from one story to the next as each new character was introduced and continued the storyline through the series.

After the last friend tossed their story in, we moved to the carpet to share. Usually, we’ll share a few at a time. With such excitement in the room, we ended up sharing each and every one! They also liked the excitement of having each drawing revealed as it was opened up to reveal things like a….

sun-ish,

a ninja-ish,

a robot-ish,

and a car-ish!

We even found our unique sky color by creating a mural. Next year, if I do this activity again, we’ll use white paper.

Seeing my kiddos so happy learning and enjoying my favorite stories on the planet was a total joy….extending the learning into literacy stations, EVEN moreso! After introducing stations and explaining what skills we would be reviewing by using them, students were eager to check in and ready to get their hands on them! And you wanna know what?! You could’ve heard a pin drop! They were working and I mean…REALLY working, involved and engaged in doing their individual best. Once the newness wore off just a bit, they also began engaging in conversations, discussing the stories and actively working together. I kept hearing all over the room….. “I get it!”...Lightbulbs were coming on all around the room and I love that they were loving what they were learning.

In work on writing, students practiced using punctuation, writing on topics of personal interest and comparing and contrasting using a venn diagram.

In word work, students chose from activities to practice using idioms, building words with long spelling patterns, sorting by suffix and adding to their poetry journals. One thing I try to do, as often as possible, is incorporate books in station activities. When I taught PreK, it was drilled into us to incorporate books into centers as often as possible.  It’s been a habit that has stuck with me. If I do not have a book that connects well with the activity, students can read from their personal book boxes at each station. They carry them to every station rotation.

The little eyes on top….are there because we generally use the pocket chart to “see and sort”. =)

You can grab this little packet of goodies during the BIG Teacher Appreciation Sale at TPT! It starts tomorrow! Don’t miss it! I know I’ll be doing a little shopping to help us reach the finish line….only 23 days left!

I’ll also have May morning work wrapped up and posted before the sale ends! Thanks for stopping by, friends. I appreciate you and will be sharing s few FREEBIES throughout the week as my little gift to YOU!

Stay tuned…..

Five for Friday~Pen pals, Pets and PLANTS

Hey, ya’ll! How are ya? It’s time for another Five for Friday with Kacey at Doodlebugs Teaching! It’s been a looooong week. Life happened; we’ve been busy with a capital B! I think this might actually be the very first night since last Friday we’ve had nothing to do, so this weekend is welcomed with open arms!

I came home ready to tackle a post and got tackled instead, by my old computer that got stuck on stupid and my new one that I’m having trouble downloading new programs to. Tag teamed by technology! I’ve gotten some of the bits and pieces up and running, but need to get Microsoft Office installed to get cracka lackin’ on some ideas floating around in my head. I’m sure after I walk away from it for awhile, I’ll get it going and get busy creating. Wish me luck…cause ya girl is feeling just a bit uh-nnoyed!

Anywho…..here’s a peek at this past week!


April ushers in testing season for our upper grade friends. When you’re not the grade level testing, it can be pretty darn tough to work as quiet as a church mouse. To help our 3rd grade buddies out, we welcomed them to join us for some “get up and wiggle” time.

I’m not sure who had more fun, the kids or Mrs. Patterson and I, but it was a hoot having them visit! We used to work together. Having her back on the 1st grade hallway brought back lots of happy memories. The 3rd graders were grateful to be able to move about and my firsties couldn’t believe the “big kids” were stickin’ around to play and work with them! We had just gotten letters from our pen pals and were preparing to write them back, so having some extra hands on deck for ideas and editing was a total score!!! Win-win!!


From writing letters to pen pals and hosting fun friends….we wrapped up our week with smart art to finish off our author study of Ezra Jack Keats. We read several different stories by him online at his official website and from our library. If you click the link, it’ll take you to 4 animated stories read aloud and other resources.  The kiddos were SUPER attentive and did a really good job of making comparisons between each of the stories to Whistle for Willie. Can you see him shaping up?



After reading a different story each day, students became very familiar with Keats’ style and created collages of their favorite part of the story. There’s Willie running to Peter! Do you see him hiding under the carton?


It’s beginning to look a LOT like spring! Pets, plants, pen pals….oh my! This little chart took us 3 daysish to create. We read the book Grow Flower, Grow! After reading it, we discussed the 3 things that plants need to grow and added them to the chart. The next day, I shared the pen with friends to have them label the parts of the plant. On the 3rd day, we created a booklet from Mailbox magazine and then…..


….our plant POPPED right off the page! I LOVE prepping surprises for my kiddos to find when they enter the room! Their oohs and ahhhhs spike the level of excitement and interest in what we’re going to do next. When they came back from specials today, I thought I was gonna have to throw my body over the table to keep them from attacking our real life examples of parts of a plant! Can you say best teacher ever? LOL! *Wink*….well, at least that’s what they thought once they knew they’d get to eat them! =)

Have a great weekend! Now that I’ve got one of these two crazy computers functioning for a few…I’m working on finishing morning work for April. Sorry for the delay….it may just end up working out in your favor though! Stay tuned…

Fantastical Seusstastical March CURRENTLY

Hi, Friends! How are ya? I’m linking up with Farley at Oh Boy it’s 4th grade for this month’s CURRENTLY.  My wheel’s tend to turn best after dark, so I’m stopping in to share the SUPER silliness that took over our classroom last week.

Monday is Read Across America in celebration of Dr. Seuss’ birthday. We also have a spring Open House next week. In preparation for it, we celebrated with a fun Seuss author study a little early.



I love my little Barbaloots; we’ve been working hard and it’s time for some rest and relaxation. We’ve got 5 days ‘til spring break….BRING.IT.ON!!!

THINKING….YIKES, time flies! March morning work will be wrapped and ready for tomorrow. No worries.

WANTING…a day in between Saturday and Sunday, to actually REST! Saturday=housework. Sunday=worship and prepping for the week. Can we get a fun day in between, lol?!

NEEDING….{back to March morning work….}

?????……Seuss, shapes and fractions is the answer. Can you guess the question?



There’s no way to read Dr. Seuss without playing with rhyme. We began the week with a little book titled Come Rhyme with Me, THEN went all in to every Dr. Seuss book we could get our hands on. I think I’ve finally got all of the knots out of my tongue…dedicating a week to alliteration and rhyme was FUN!



Each of our sections of 1st grade, chose one book as the main focus for the week. Our class’ selection was The Lorax. This is our story map that we created after reading it. We also had fun comparing and contrasting the book to the movie.



We created a quick reading response that crossed over into our math time too. {Cross curricular connections….yep, we’re all about that!} Students wrote to complete the sentence….If The Once-ler gave me the last truffula seed, I would…..

…then, traced and cut their handprints to use as the Lorax’s mustache. After creating the Lorax topper, we left the craft on our desks to dry and headed to lunch.

When we came back, students drew their open hand inside the illustration square at the top of the page. Their hand was drawn open in order to “catch” the truffula seed tossed down by The Once-ler.

With our math focus being shapes, student groups were assigned a plane shape or solid figure to trace, cut/assemble, and glue into the open hand drawn on their paper. The shape assigned was determined by the level of difficulty or extension students’ could handle in order to deepen learning of geometric shapes because they would have to then discuss attributes and sort by 2D or 3D. Here’s a closer look….



After we caught and planted truffula seeds in math, the next day….guess what?! They sprouted in our library corner! Those seeds grow fast!



Lots of oooooohs and ahhhhhs were heard and interest in the reading corner is renewed at a time in the year when lots of ants are in 1st graders pants, lol!



Students continued making connections during literacy stations throughout the week. Have I mentioned how much I love my kids yet?! I DO! I sooo DO! When one of them started waving his paper at me from across the room, I knew there were sparks flying in that head of his. Sure enough, I walk over and he’s illustrating more shapes at the writing station….discussing attributes with his stations buddy and REACHING WAY beyond the truffula seed to real world examples. ***LOVE the way they think!!!***

 

By Friday, we were ready for Show, NOT tell….students brought in real world examples and kept them hidden inside of a brown paper bag. After giving their classmates clues to reinforce the learning of attributes and get in more of that math language, guesses were made and the shape or figure was revealed. This smart cookie made sure to write his clues on his bag so he wouldn’t forget! =)

 

Friday was such a frenzy of a fun, exciting kind of day….annnnd they did such an amazing job sharing, we completely ran out of time, so we’ll continue to Show, NOT tell on Monday.



And the Lorax will be there to welcome them back!



Big ole hairy mustache and all….we’ll start Monday out having a ball!

 

Getting ready to have a rhyme time kinda week of your own? Click the pic above to grab a freebie to add to your fun!