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!

Biographical Research…So Proud!!!

Hi Friends! How are ya? I’m tired, but still floating somewhere around cloud nine…too excited to sleep…soooooo I thought I’d shoo the crickets away from the blog by sharing with YOU! This evening we held our spring open house. While it made for a long day, it was definitely a great one! Watching most of my students bounce in the door ready to tell their parents all about what we’ve been learning made for a filled teacher heart!

There are times when you wonder if your students actually hear anything you’re saying….(like over the course of 2 straight weeks of bad weather and NO RECESS). Tonight proved they’re listening. They’re always listening! The kids did an amazing job of walking their parents through the classroom and explaining how and why we use the things we do. The ONE thing they all had in common was being excited about the research we recently completed.

When the first parent walked in the door asking about Pocahontas, I just smiled. Then the next one walked in wanting to know about Sacagawea and the next one and the next one…..came in asking about the person their kiddo had been researching. I quickly realized my kids had been going home sharing what they’d learned at school. My heart was filled with pride! The smiles on each kid’s face proved they were too!



We have a required list of biographies that we must cover over the course of the year. I address those in whole group. When it comes to “kid work”…I’m a firm believer that choice equals engagement…..so for their small group {biographical} research projects, each student got to explore our online database to choose a person they were interested in.



We worked on this over the course of the last 4 weeks. I guess you really do grow to love something that takes you a whole month to complete! I precut the foldable. We completed 1 section each week during visits to the computer lab and during writer’s workshop. Students were split into 9 small groups of no more than 3. Each group was guided by a student leader.



Students took notes on a plain sheet of printer paper. From their notes, they recorded 3 facts they learned….



…then recorded life span dates and created a timeline of 4 important life events in sequential order.



After illustrating the 4 important life events, students wrote a short booklet [using the events on the timeline] to write about the person’s life.



Cite our sources? Yep! 1st graders can do that! Luckily, our research database has an option for students to click and the correct format for the citation pops right up on the screen! Students click it and its immediately available for them to copy neatly. We use www.pebblego.com for online research.



Have you ever seen kiddos so engaged in the computer lab…..away from the computers?!!! They absolutely loved learning about real people! This afternoon bottoms were bouncing into the share chair ready teach friends. Those that came to open house had a second opportunity by sharing with their parents!

Seeing parents just as excited as the kids about what we’d been learning was an added plus!!! My littles amaze me a little more every day! Have I mentioned how much I love my class?



Click the pic above to get a closer look at our little project! After having some giveaway fun on Facebook, a sweet friend suggested creating a second version for older kiddos without primary lines, so this product has grown and now includes two versions. One with primary lines for firsties and one with wide-ruled lines for older kiddos. Check it out and happy researching!

I think I can head to bed now. There’s more fun to be had tomorrow and THEN…….we’re off for spring break!

Sweet Fold & Learn Fun

Hey, Friends! How are ya? I’m stopping in to share a little peek at our weeks that led up to Christmas. While we ended up having a great time spreading Christmas cheer, it didn’t come without a struggle. One friend shared a cough and achoooo and our whole class was through! Even me! It’s no fun being sick at Christmas time!

When we’re all well, we like using fold and learn activities to make the rigor of math a little more fun! With Christmas just around the corner, we baked up a little gingerbread fun to explore number foundations. Can I share a secret with you? We’re friends, right? Wellllll, I tried my hand at interactive notebooking at the beginning of the year and guess what?! I didn’t like it! {Gasp!} I know……shhhhhhhhh….don’t tell anybody! Those notebooks have collected nothing but dust since Septemberish…

I love all of the awesome products I’ve seen for interactive notebooking…..and I tried! We tried! We REALLY tried! BUT….glueing, cutting and pasting with firsties…in a notebook...nearly drove me bananas! It just didn’t work for me. Now….what did work for my little class of mathematicians is foldables…crafts, 3D graphic organizers….so, we’re getting our interactive learning on this way!

Check out our latest interactive adventure!

I always prep the basics, the bones. Doing this, allows for us to focus on the content of what we’re learning and on following directions to prep the inserts. Here, students reflected on counting forward and backwards by increments of 1. I thought this would be a snap because the numbers are the same, but as students completed this little task…you could almost see steam coming from their ears as they really followed directions to start from the right and move backwards. Counting backwards isn’t as easy as you think…especially, when you’re 6! They absolutely LOVED the novelty of the accordian fold. Did it make ‘em a little wonky? Just a few….my crew of Dwyer Jr’s (the little teachers to-be) stepped right up to help friends that needed a little assistance.

Do you have dice in dice? If not, go get some! They’re a lot of fun and students don’t need two dice to play games…just one. To make numbers, students rolled their dice and used the number of pips on the outside for the digit in the tens place and the number of pips on top of the inside dice for the ones place. Students worked in pairs to roll a number, record it, then used comparative language to describe it as greater than, less than or equal to.

Color coding ALWAYS comes in handy when you’re working with firsties! The first thing we did as we prepared to do a little mental math, was to color code the place for each digit. The tens place was outlined in red and the ones place was outlined in yellow. By doing this, when students were given a specific number, we could check to see if it was put in the correct place according to its value. After recording our numbers, we then practiced naming numbers that were 1 less and 1 more. Easy peasy, right?

We cut the graphic organizer down the middle and placed glue under the ten less strip to glue it down. Then, we placed glue under the ten more strip and glued it down. With one quick snip, we cut each of the horizontal “tens” or red lines….followed by one quick snip to cut the horizontal “ones” or yellow lines. Under the tens digit, students recorded the number that was ten less. Under the ones digit students recorded the number that was ten more than the number named on the outside.

We did the first two numbers together and then they were off and running to practice independently to complete the rest.

We try to focus on solving story problems every Thursday. Here, each student had a single story problem to read and draw a picture to solve. If you look verrrry closely, you’ll notice that because we used a mailing envelope, under the area for the story problem is also a storage pocket. This comes in handy for friends that work at a slower pace that may need to store extra pieces or materials if we have to stop working or have to move on to something else before they’re completely ready.

On the back, we prepared for working with greater numbers. We’ll be working on these same skills when we return in the new year….to 120. Here, students cut and glued to compare numbers to 100 using the math symbols for < and >. This is a picture of the cover…front and back!

Last summer, 2 of my creative co-workers led a training on using mailing envelopes to create graphic organizers. I left so inspired and excited to try them, but knew I’d have to wait until my firsties were ready to handle them. Well, folks…..they handled creating this little gem like champs! Second semester is gonna be so much MORE fun as we bring lots of concepts to life using these interactive, fold and learn activities!

Sadly, the flu bug took a huge chunk out of my sanity during the hustle and bustle leading up to the break. Bad for me….GOOD for you! I’ve listed this little activity in my TPT store for F-R-E-E, BUT just until Friday! Sooooooo, grab it while you can to add to your files for next year. On Friday, it will be priced for sale. Check it out….there will definitely be more to come!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a sweet Christmas!