Five for Friday {09.13.13}

This week started with a lot of craziness, but was a lot of fun. 

1. Monday was a rainy day, and by rainy I mean it was pouring BUCKETS. Here is Arizona, we don't get much rain, but when we do it POURS. The poor kids had no clue what was coming. Only a few had jackets and even fewer had umbrellas. Let's just say that by the end of lunch, they were soaked from head to toe. Luckily, they went home dry and the sun was shining by the time the bell rang. My kids were so amazing even through out the rain, I was extremely proud of them.

2. That brings me to number 2. My class finally filled up their compliment (gumball jar). 

We earned our last compliment on Monday and by Tuesday it was time to celebrate. I wasn't too sure how I wanted to celebrate. Eventually I would like to create different incentive charts and the reward will match the chart. (ex. gumball chart= bubblegum themed reward) That takes advanced planning and I obviously didn't plan for that. :-) Since I didn't have a reward planned, I "borrowed" an idea from my teaching BFF. I had recently purchased THIS file and wasn't sure when to bring it out. Her class also filled up their compliment jar and she used it as part of their celebration. The kids LOVED it!!! Definitely bringing this craft back next year.

3. We have been learning about American symbols this week. So far we have learned about the American flag, the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore and the bald eagle. The students find it all fascinating and have been so excited to learn all about their country.

4. I cannot believe I just completed my 6th week of teaching. I love my class so much this year and they make me laugh every day. If I could have a class like this every year, I would take them again in a heart beat. I couldn't ask for a better group of kids.

5. Even though I LOVE my job and I can't believe that I get paid to educate kids all day, it's still very exciting to know that fall break is in 4 weeks. That means conferences are coming up soon. It also means vacation time!!! My husband and I usually plan a little vacation during fall break and this year we are going to... DISNEYLAND!!!! I have always wanted to go to Disneyland in the fall to see all of the Halloween decorations. It has been one of my dreams ever since I was a little kid. It's also been my dream to stay in a Disneyland Resort and since it will be a shorter vacation than we usually take, it will be nice to stay in a beautiful hotel on the Disney property!!

I hope everyone else has been having a great school year. By now everyone has meet their class and I wish you and your students a great school year!!!

Me on the Map

We learned about the seven continents. Here is the video that we used to learn the names of the continents.



After we learned about the continents we read the book Me on the Map.

Afterwards, we created this activity...

 We started out by identifying the planet that we live on. Then we talked about our continent, country, state, and city. They enjoyed seeing how big our planet really is and where they live.

First Week

I successfully completed the first week of school. I have 28 second graders. This is the largest class I have ever had in my whole six years of teaching. It's definitely more management at the beginning then normal, but I know it will be worth it. I have a pretty good class and I am looking forward to a new exciting year. 

Week in Review

Nouns

This week we have been working on nouns. The class has been pretty successful with knowing what a noun is and being able to sort them into a person, place, or thing. The first activity that we did was a noun search. After teaching and reviewing nouns on Monday and Tuesday, by Wednesday we were then able to work with a partner and find different nouns around the room. The students had to then decide whether the noun they found was a person, place, or thing and then put it in the correct column. On Thursday they got to complete a noun sort. The students had a lot of fun. At first they we using the picture sides of the cards to sort and then got brave and started challenging themselves with the word side.

Chrysanthemum

Every month we will be reading books by different authors. This month we are reading books by Kevin Henkes. All week we have been reading Chrysanthemum. It's a perfect book for the first week of school because it teaches the students that everyone is different and that is what makes you special.After reading Chrysanthemum a few times the students were able to make their own Chrysanthemums to display in the classroom.

I am linking up over at...

Owl Craftivity

Here is the last craftivity from my Owl You Need is Love file.

If you would like the template for this craftivity as well as 3 more, you can click the picture below and it will take you to my file on TPT. This file also comes with four writing templates that you can use with these cute little owls.

Owl Treat Bag

There are so many cute Valentine holders that it was too hard to pick just one. I ended up making my own because this is a very quick and easy activity to do with your kids the morning of your Valentine's Day card exchange. All you need is a paper bag and some construction paper.

If you would like this template as well as 3 others, you can get it in my file over at TPT, just click the picture! :-)

Small Valentine's Mailbox

This week was a very short week, but I had no time to blog... once again! I need to make a time schedule for myself to be able to fit everything in. :-) Like I promised though, here is another one of my craftivities that you can find in my Owl You Need is Love file.

If you would like the template fort his craftivity and 3 more, you can find it in my file over at TPT just by clicking the picture. This file also includes letter templates and envelopes that are owl themed.

Large Valentine's Day Mailbox

Well, the 100th day is over and it turns out that 6 of my students were absent! I guess that's what happens when cold and flu season comes around. Good news for my sub!! Jury duty came and went. I was out by 11:00 because the trial was 3 weeks long and I definitely couldn't be out for that long. Luckily, the judge agreed. Yesterday I promised that I would be back with a how to video of one of the four craftivities that you can use in your own classroom. 

Today's project is a Valentine's Day Mailbox. I wrapped a cereal box in butcher paper and then I completed the craftivity around it.

You can find the template to this activity, as well as three others in my newest file on TPT. Click on the photo to go directly to the link.

Also, this file will be 20% off until the end of today!

Owl You Need is Love

It feels like Sunday, even though it is Monday. I love 3 day weekends. Tomorrow is the 100th day of school and where will I be? I won't be at school if that's what you were thinking. I have jury duty!! Seriously?! Why do they call teachers in during the school year? I know that many people have excuses, but I really wouldn't mind going during summer break. Just getting out of the house is a relief in the summer. Oh well. I left some fun 100th day activities for my students to do while I'm gone. I figured I would recap last week before I get too far into this week.

Last week started with duty. I had duty all week, morning and afternoon. It was the coldest week of the year. No I take that back, it was the coldest week in 30 years. It was in the mid 20's last week. This week it is in the high 40s in the morning. I wish this week was duty week. :-)

 This is cheating a little. I didn't do this last week, I did it the week before. I didn't get pictures until last week so does that count? I have two HUGE windows in my room and I love using it as an extra display. I'm in an outdoor school so it's like I have my own little display cases. This activity is from A Cupcake for the Teacher.

 We have been working on fractions for a while. I do Saxon Math so we are always spiraling. We have done a ton of fraction activities, but Amy Lemons' pizza was by far their favorite.

 I bought myself a new camera. It's the Canon Rebel T4i. I love it so much. I've seen a ton of people on YouTube using it as well as other bloggers.I've always heard great things about Rebels, but I never wanted to spend the money. After my friend got one though and I was able to use it myself, I knew I had to have one. Here is a picture of my adorable little wiener dog (Dachshund) Pippin!

 

You guys want to hear something crazy? My husband and I were getting food from our local Mexican restaurant (my favorite food ever!) My husband saw something and he thought it was a bat or something very strange looking. We pulled up closer and it was an owl! I was so excited. Owls are one of my favorite animals and I was freaking out! It looked at us and I scrambled to get my camera out. I was lucky to get this shot because some guy scared it away. I will never forget those sweet little eyes.

 Speaking of owls...I have been working on a new file for the past couple weeks. I am so excited to be finished with it and be able to share it with you.

 I love owls and I love Valentine's Day. It's probably one of my favorite holidays. There is so much pink, purple, candy, and love all around. I can't help but be happy on Valentine's Day. Also, The Beatles are my favorite band of all time. No joke! I can't express how much I love them, especially George Harrison. :-) They were a major inspiration for the name of this file.

Click HERE to purchase on TPT.

This file comes with so much. There are four crafts included as well as letter and writing templates. I will be showcasing a new craft each day this week including a how to video on each one. You will not want to miss out! For the early birds I am having a sale. You can pick this file up for 20% until the end of tomorrow.  I hope you enjoy!!!

I'm linking up over at...

James and the Giant Peach

Every month I like to read a chapter book to my students. Most of my students are reading below grade level and even though they can't read chapter books, I still want to expse them to great literature. Even though there are great picture books out there, I also like to incorporate chapter books. September is James and the Giant Peach and my students LOVE that story. I really wanted to make a unit to go along with the book, but I haven't gotten around to making it yet. I did make an art project or craftivity to go along with it. You can really use it any way you choose.

You can visit my TPT store and get this file for only $1.50. Click HERE.

Dear Deer

I love doing art projects with my class. It reminds me of what excited me when I was a young student. Last week we studied homophones and my ELL 2nd graders were a little confused. We're going to have to keep working on them, but they did enjoy making their little deer and writing them letters.

I got this idea from Cara over at The First Grade Parade. I purchased her TPT file on camping last year and I never got around to doing it. We read Henry and Mudge later on in the year and it would go perfectly with that theme, but I was too excited to get those precious little deer up already!!