Team 2nd Grade

The Friday before Spring Break my principal asked me if I was still interested in teaching 2nd grade... and the answer was YES! I taught 2nd grade for 7 years before transferring to my current school to teach 3rd grade. After 7 years, I'm ready to go back to my first love. I cannot explain how excited I am. I've been busy unpacking my new standards and purchasing resources. My new team even ordered me a shirt so it's official!

One thing that I love about teaching 2nd grade in Virginia is the curriculum! I've already started purchasing books to support my science standards. Have you heard of Picture Window Books? I love their Informational Picture Books, I've ordered all the ones that connect to my standards and they've already started arriving. 

When I taught 3rd grade, I created a learning handbook full of study guides from Adrienne Wiggins. Now that I'm going to 2nd, I knew I wanted to do the same thing. I spent my ENTIRE Spring Break creating study guides to go with every Standard of Learning in every subject in 2nd grade.

Language Arts

Math

Science

Social Studies

 

Check back throughout the summer, I can't wait to share ideas and resources for 2nd grade with you!

Pick a Partner Resource

Wow... it's been a long time since I've been able to blog! I don't know about you, but I could certainly use a vacation, Spring Break is just around the corner for me and I'm hanging in there.
My district is moving toward the Kagan Cooperative Learning Model, however I have not been trained yet. In the meantime, I created a resource that will hopefully save me some time in the classroom. I spend entirely too much time, choosing my students partners. I try to control who partners with who but at this point in the year I need to step back and allow my students to make their own choices. 
I came up with a partner resource pack. There are 3 different versions to choose from. Print and color for your convenience. I even included a slideshow to use with the Partner Sheets. 

• Partner Sheet- have students choose 6 different partners, they should each write their name for the same food match. 
  
• Partner Cards- give each student a card, have them pair up with someone who has the same card as them. 
  
• Individual Cards- give each student a card, have them find the “food match.”
  

This document can be found at the Teaching Oasis. 

Content Vocabulary Talks

Whew... the first nine weeks is over, 27 parent conferences have been had and report cards are finished! This was by far the most overwhelming busiest first quarter of school I've ever experienced! If this is any indication of the rest of the school year, my goal is to squeeze out a blog post monthly because who know's if I'll have time to do more than that!

I wanted to share an idea I've been doing with my third graders in math. I saw the idea while in a teammate's room. She had a Science Anchor with (animal) vocabulary words on it. At the top of the chart it said "If the answer is _____, what is the question?" So if the answer is "instinct," what is the question? Students had brainstormed possible questions and she had listed the final question next to the vocabulary word on the chart. 

I immediately thought about the math vocabulary bulletin board in my classroom. I had been wanting to do something with the words after I remove them. I've decided to only keep them up for the quarter and then take them down for the next quarter's words. So, everyday I've chosen a "review" word from last quarter and posed this question...

• The answer is angle, what is the question?
• The answer is difference, what is the question?

I then give them a couple minutes to talk with their face partner or shoulder partner about possible questions. Then students share out their questions and I record them on the chart paper. I reread all the questions and students again talk with their face or shoulder partner about what they feel the "best" question is for the vocabulary word. We then decide the best one and I put a bubble around it. 

 This is a strategy that can be used in any subject. It really taps into the higher level thinking as they can't use the answer in their question. Some questions are more on the mark than others but with discussion those students are realizing how their thinking may have been too specific or not specific enough.

Can you see yourself using this strategy in your classroom?

The Math Vocabulary Cards were purchased from Amy Lemons and created any word cards that she didn't have that I needed. 

Can't believe it's October!

I can't believe it's already October! Tomorrow I host my 2nd annual Parent Math Information Night and next week I start Parent Teacher Conferences. It's going to be a busy month. 

Here are my Parent Math Night Goodies

I created a PowerPoint Presentation for the information session and I also put together an informational packet for parents. I also included an SOL Math Review Sheet as well as Card Games activities for students to play at home. 

My students have been hard at work. I took a few pictures to showcase some of the things we've been doing. 

Students Wrote about what makes them "CRANKY"

We read Crankenstein and students wrote about what makes them cranky. We then created out own "Crankenstein" from Krista Wallden's Frankenstein Craft Printable.

Students Wrote about the Pumpkin Life Cycle

Last week we read several books about the Pumpkin Life Cycle and students wrote a short report. Then then used Amy Lemon's Pumpkin Craftivity to complete their covers. 

Reading Groups

My teammate snuck in while I was doing reading groups last week and tweeted this picture of my students working on writing the main idea and supporting details of our guided reading book. 

Guided Reading Rotation PowerPoint

Speaking of guided reading... I absolutely love the PowerPoint Slide I created for rotations. I use the acronym READS and we go through 2 rotations a day. Then for the 3rd rotation I pull a flexible reading skills group or conduct writing conferences while students work on word study. I love the fact that's this is projected the entire time and that students can track how much time they have left to complete their task. 
Well that's all for today, I've been at a vendor event helping my friend at her LuLaRoe booth and I'm utterly exhausted, I'll be sleep soon!

Survived BTSN

Well, I've survived the first two weeks of school and our annual Back to School Night! I've been doing great with the goals I set for myself... except for goal #3, which is to leave school after the buses pull out. But I guess late nights are to be expected the first couple of weeks of school. But now that BTSN is over, I'll definitely be leaving by 4:15pm each day!

Me... rocking Back to School Night!

Speaking of BTSN, here's a photo of what I had waiting for parents on their child's desk. 

• Food Permission Slip
• Movie Permission Slip
• Learning Handbook (a copy of all study guides for the year spiral bound into a book)
• Parent Handbook (policies and procedures of our classroom)
• Student Log In Card for access at home
• "Pineapple of my Eye" paper for parents to write a note to their child on (Ford's Board)

student desk

I thought I share a couple more photos from our classroom so far.

We read The Potato Chip Champ by Maria Dismondy and completed a writing activity from Stories by Storie. 

We talked about mathematicians and completed an activity from Amy Lemons. 

My students have been earning Smart Tags and stickers on their Super Improver Cards

Here are some of our Anchor Charts that we've created.

Our "Stuck? Try 2 Before Me" Poster. Christina Bainbridge had this as a handout but I made it into an anchor chart for our classroom.

So that's what we've been up to in room 303, hope to share more photos next week!

Classroom Tour 17-18

This is me before Open House on Friday. I wore the same skirt last year, I just switched up the shirt.

This year's Welcome Bunting.

View from the Door

Wall

SMART (Brag) Tags and the Super Improver Wall

Classroom Library- my chapter books are organized by series and my picture books are in the buckets. 

Leadership Teams (Classroom Helpers)

My Hydration Station will be in the corner. We have the Wellness Station next to the paper towels. 

Anchor Chart Wall. Back Counter.

Computers. Bookshelf.

Guided Reading Area, my Smart Cookie Station during Open House.

Smart Cookie Treat Bags- Bookmark, Smart Tag, Smart Cookie Notepad, Smart Cookie Sticker, Scentos Mini Pen, "Nerdy" Cookie

Guided Reading Area, my Smart Cookie Station during Open House.

Reading Bulletin Board

Math Bulletin Board

Door- I'll post photos printed on my Polaroid Zip. 

Desks- SMART Folder, Agenda, Information Packet and Flipbook

That's my classroom this year. I actually moved down the hallway but it's basically the exact same room. I'm looking forward to year 14!