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.

2012 Election

Happy Election Day!!

I love voting day. Ever since I was a little girl and they did kids vote in our area. Do they still do that anywhere else? Allow kids to vote for president at a voting location. They get their own little ballot and everything. I loved doing that. I started talking about the election on Monday and I started with Cara Carrol's unit.

We started off by reading Grace for President. Yes, I am aware that I spelled Gracie on my anchor chart... ooops! :-) I modified one of the graphic organizers in the unit and turned it into an anchor chart. I teach an ELD class so we color coded our nouns and verbs.

Then we read Duck for President and made a similar anchor chart. After reading both stories we had an election to see who would win. Grace: 10 votes, Duck: 11 votes DUCK WINS!!!

Then we read the book My Teacher for President. We made a chart explaining why our teacher (me) would make a good president. Then we took another vote. Grace: 1 vote, Duck: 5 votes, Mrs. Ruiz: 15 votes. MRS. RUIZ WINS!!!

Today we started to talk about the candidates that are running for office. First, we made a chart. Then we talked about why we vote. Next, my students were able to make their own voter registration cards (found in Cara Carrol's unit). Finally, they cast their votes. I even made little voting stickers for my students to wear after they voted. They had a blast! After the votes were tallied, we turned the data into a bar graph and answered questions that went with our standards. All-in-all it was a great election day in our second grade classroom!!!