Wishing for Sunny Weather!

The cold front has hit, and it's brutal. I know my friends in the northern states might find it funny that 38 degrees (wind chill of 30) is hard to handle. Yikes! It's not usually this cold in November, here in Tennessee.

How cold is it where you are? If you're near a sunny beach, I'm jealous! I'll just have to go back to my beach photos for some warmth. This one is from Belize.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Turkey Glyph Giveaway!

Let's have a giveaway!  I am certainly thankful for my followers, so I want to give back.

Visit my Facebook page. 

Like my page, leave your email address, and share the post about this giveaway.

 I'll choose a winner tomorrow night. 

***If I exceed 100 likes before the giveaway, I'll send the Turkey Glyph and Thanksgiving Sampler to EVERYONE who shares!***

Get clicking! 

Thank a Soldier - Flash Freebie

In honor of Veterans Day, I'm giving away my Thank a Soldier kit! It's a tiny gesture for the grand gestures of all of our armed forces personnel. I'm thankful for all the freedoms that I enjoy in the United States. I hope you find this freebie useful as you celebrate veterans in your classroom this week.

Let's Talk Numbers with Number Talks

Several weeks ago, my principal asked if anyone was interested in attending a math training. Loving math the way that I do, I jumped at the chance. I was not disappointed! Sherry Parrish was the presenter, and she was fantastic. 

Her book, Number Talks: Helping Children Build Mental Math and Computation Strategies was the foundation of her presentation. She made several points that really had an impression on me. The most impressive one was that children don't have a problem-solving strategy in their tool box unless they ACTIVELY USE AND UNDERSTAND IT, even if we have taught it until we're blue in the face. So, all those times we've taught 'make ten to add nine' or use a near double to help solve a tricky problem, or even breaking a number into clean, friendly or landmark numbers, not to mention decomposing, could be said to be hopeful teaching, but in no way do they definitely make it into a student's tool box. A 5-15 minute number talk, each day, DOES really help students to put those suggested strategies into practice. 

Parrish's book has correlation charts for grade levels, skills, and even Common Core State Standards. It also has classroom videos of actual number talks with real teachers and kiddos. The book is easy to use, as it is tabbed with information for each grade level (K-5). Tomorrow, I'll have colleagues coming to observe the number talk in my classroom. I'm excited to share this simple, powerful activity with them. The best part? My students love them and they're applying many of the strategies I've mentioned! Win-win!

Ducks!

We have hatched two ducklings! Here's a shot of our first one, which hatched sometime Monday night or Tuesday morning. His name is Popcorn. The second one hatched today about noon, and he (she?) is spending the night in the incubator to fluff up. It will be great to put these two together, because Popcorn has become quite spoiled. He doesn't like to be left alone for one moment!

Comparing Tennessee Cultures

We are wrapping up our first quarter in about a week. Some of our social studies standards have us comparing Tennessee's cultures to those in other regions of the United States. We have been taking the U. S., region by region, to compare cultural characteristics such as music, celebrations, foods, and traditions. 

I created these five regional organizers for my students to practice note taking as we read informational texts or watch video clips about each region. You can grab a free copy here. 

In other news... 

You know you're an elementary teacher when you come home splattered, from head to toe, with paper mache goo! We're making balloon globes. We took the mess outside this afternoon. We sat on plastic table cloths and dunked strips of paper into the gooey paste. One of my friends let her balloon touch the grass, and POP! Goo-coated paper exploded and landed all over me. The kiddos got a great laugh out of that. 

Tomorrow, we'll add continents, hemispheres, oceans, and the equator. Last year, we painted pumpkins blue. I thought that was a major headache,although the result was very cute. Paper mache is much messier! I'm sure the results will be worth the mess. Most importantly, the children had fun and had to do some problem solving to get the balloon covered with as few lumps as possible.

On a fun note...

We had a fabulous time on our field trip last week! The weather was great. One of the more amusing comparisons of the 19th Century versus modern day is in the photo above. THAT was a fun conversation to have with my kiddos! While I have illusions that it must have been great fun living in 'back in the day', I'm thankful for modern conveniences.

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Happy Fall! 

I keep seeing fall decorations popping up everywhere -- scarecrows, wreaths with rusty, fall colors. I find myself clinging to summer and its warm, sunny weather. I really do dread the cold weather! Do you? A quaint, little beach town is looking better and better! 

If you're in need of some curriculum ideas for fall math (my favorite subject to teach, along with science!), check out these ideas from my TPT store:

Here's a free sample!

This one is so much fun!

And, if you're REALLY into fall... Check out this one:

Have a Terrific Tuesday!

Food Chain FLASH FREEBIE

I hope this finds you doing well! How is your school year going? We completed day 30 of school on Friday! Thirty days of twenty-two second graders who are energetic, hilarious, and just about as sweet as possible. My student teacher is winding her days; she has four remaining. So, this week, she'll be taking full days of teaching. I'm nervous and excited for her. I've already starting making a mental list of things I'm going to do while I'm in the back of the room supervising from afar. 

Have I mentioned that I love teaching math and science? I do! I love teaching math, because it always intimidated me in high school and college. (Speaking of college, How 'bout those Mississippi State Bulldogs defeating LSU last night?!?) Anyway... My love for science originated in my childhood. We had cows, cats, dogs, and even goats on our small farm in Alabama. I loved all things critter. 

Things haven't changed. I've been so excited to begin teaching life cycles. The children have been bringing in insects, spiders (sadly, one squished spider and one 6-legged one) to observe and discuss. We've had snails and "rollie-pollie" bugs (isopods), and even a grasshopper and cricket. It's been great fun letting the children become experts on the assorted critters that visited our classroom for the day. 

There's a green caterpillar in there!

We have caterpillars that are now tucked into their chrysalids. Before the caterpillars began their next step to becoming Painted Ladies, the children sanitized (before and after) and brought out their caterpillars to be measured and observed with hand lenses.

Students wrote observations in their learning logs.

I expect to see butterflies tomorrow. What a surge of excitement that will bring! We'll have a butterfly release day later in the week, most likely. We invite parents to join us for a picnic lunch on the school grounds. Generous parents bring bags of orange slices to entice butterflies to sit a spell while kiddos hold the slices. Talk about a photo op!

In addition to studying life cycles, heredity, and habitats, the children have been engrossed with the concept of food chains. So, I put together a food chain mini-research project, with the culminating 'craftivity' being a visual food chain. If you're interested in this mini-research project, you may download it FREE until Monday night, September 22!

But, wait... There's more!

We also have pekin duck eggs in the incubator. Pekin ducks, AKA the AFLAC duck, are so adorably cute and filled with personality. We had success in hatching them, last year, and we're optimistic that we'll have luck this year. We have eight pekin eggs, which were placed in the incubator on 9/15. They should hatch in about 28 days. In about a week, we'll also get Buff Orpington chicken eggs to place in the incubator. 

Source
NOTE: The ducklings that we hatch will NOT be consumed. They will go to a farm to live out their ducky lives.


Source

NOTE: The chicks will go to my brother's farm, where they will be kept as egg layers.

I'll keep you updated on how our menagerie does in the coming weeks!

Happy Sunday Night!

What If You Had Animal Teeth or Hair?

Happy Long Weekend!

Here's a freebie to go with your animal studies. It is designed to be a literacy and science response activity. If you are familiar with Sandra Markle's books, I hope you find this little freebie useful.

I've been pointing out to my students and my student teacher when I integrate subjects. I've totally dated myself by referencing the Reese's commercials from the 80's. I'll say, "Hey, I got art in your math!" Or, "We got writing in our reading!" Notice that it is called a vintage commercial. Ha!

Anyway... Things in room 203 have been busy with Star reading and math assessments, completion of round one of DRA, beginning DSA spelling groups, outside recess time cut in half due to temperatures and heat indices, and lots of practice with routines. 

A critical part of our routine process is learning or reviewing expectations for responsible choices. Our main rule is to live above the line.  I have several of the "bucket" books, and they're great, but I want to tell you about another one that I discovered. It's called The Invisible Boy. Oh, my goodness! Trudy Ludwig and Patrice Barton have brought examples of social interaction between children to life on the pages of this book. 

Preview it first. It's very moving. I thought I might cry when I read it the first time. My children were SILENT and STILL as I read it. 

I'll close with a few portraits, which are compliments of my students.

This "How Well Do You Know Your Teacher?" activity is from my First Day of School Kit.

And We're Off!

I know. I know. I've been slacking! Well, in terms of posting to my blog, I have been a total slacker. But... I'm back!

I went back to school, for inservice, on August 1. I met my sweet second graders on August 8. So, I've been a little busy getting back into the swing of all things school. Below are some before shots of my classroom. I'll post current shots soon. 

Piles and stacks!  

Bless the cleaning crew's heart! They put down my desks.

I didn't keep them this way. :)

I can say that our school opening has been hectic, but after eleven school days, my class is building stamina for rules and routines. I also have a student teacher, so an extra pair of hands and eyes has been a great help!

As you know, the first days of school are spent building routines while trying to administer assessments. I've completed 18 of 21 DRA's!  DSA (Developmental Spelling Assessment) is completed, my groups are all set, so spelling groups will begin next week. 

We have been using Developmental Spelling (Word Journeys, Words Their Way) since our school opened. Each year, the children are better and better with spelling and word study. What do you use for spelling and word study? Inquiring minds want to know.

It's time to wrap up lesson plans. I promise I'll do a better job of keeping things updated.

The Final Countdown

2.5...

The students have 2.5 days left. I have five. Five more get-ups, as I call it. I can do this... I can do this... I only have to pack up my room, finish report cards, get all of my checkout materials ready... I can do this!

This is kind of old news, but I never posted pictures of our fraction art. It's from Ed Emberley's Picture Pie book. It's terrific! My students loved doing these, and it was a great way to integrate art and math.

We've been busy working on our Tennessee Culture and History vests. We're almost done! I'll post pictures when they're finished. 

How is your countdown going? I hope it's going well! Have a great week!

Bears, Dirt, and Museum Displays

As Junie B. Jones would say, "Wowie-wow-wow!" School is hopping these days!

Here are some things that have kept me procrastinating from writing a post:

Field Trip #1 -- Disney Nature's Bears Movie

It's very cute! Our kiddos loved it! Amber, Scout, and Sky were cute, funny and educational. If you get a chance to see it, do! We're not playing Amber and Scout Quiet Bear at dismissal. It's just one of those gimmicks that gets the children interested in being quiet. 

Field Trip #2 -- Tennessee State Museum

We're wrapping up the year with a study of Tennessee's History and Culture. So, off to the Tennessee State Museum we go for field trip number 2. The children had four different docents who introduced them to the early cultures of Tennessee, outstanding Tennesseans who shaped our state's history, and all about how cultures survived. 

After learning new details about our state, we began working in our Tennessee Culture and History Books. This is from my Tennessee Culture and History Booklet and Vest Kit. The booklet will be our daily record of learning. We'll brainstorm, research and record our findings in our booklets. The vest will serve as a performance task to wrap up the unit. The kiddos are eager to make their vests, and I am, too!

There were a couple of murals, while historically accurate, were a bit racy for second graders.  There were giggles and pointing. One of of my sweet angels pointed it out as inappropriate. I did my best to explain that it was the artist's rendering, and that it reflects the way the Native Americans lived at that time. (There were a few adults giggling, too!) If you're a Tennessee teacher, consider yourself forewarned. :) Do go if you have a chance. Admission is free, and the docents are great. The content was a bit challenging for some of our students, but it was an enjoyable and educational trip. 

Tennessee State Museum

Great American Soil Project

We're wrapping up our soils study. The children have been excited to receive snail mail, and some of them are packages with maps and other information about the location of the soil. The children have been recording the soil properties and location in their soil booklets. I'll post a picture later. It seems I don't have one on my phone. 

Earth Day

We also took some time to celebrate Earth Day with my FREEBIE Earth Day Craftivity kit. Grab a copy for next year!

We have 12 and 1/2 days of school remaining. I'm eager to have some time off, but I really love my class. I will definitely miss them. I suggested to them that I hold them all back, but they balked at that idea. They did promise that they'd come visit me every morning. 

Wherever you are, I hope you're enjoying a peaceful weekend!

Rocks, Mud and Soils

Our study of soils and rocks continues. The children wrote their friendly letters to request a soil sample from a friend or family member. Addressing envelopes with second graders is a test of patience, but my kiddos did pretty well. I shared with them that I had been dreading the task. They couldn't understand why I would be dreading helping students to write addresses on a tiny space with their large handwriting! Nevertheless, they were complete and mailed away. Next on the list is to make our Great American Soil Project booklets, so that we can record our observations between our local soil and the soil we receive. 

Soil Booklets from The Great American Soil Project

While we wait for our soil samples to arrive, we've moved on to a study of rocks. What is it about rocks that kids love? In all honesty, I have a thing for rocks, too. I'm sure I inherited it from my father. Before he retired, he'd bring home interesting rocks to give to me. I suppose I come by it honestly. But, I digress...

We had some great rocks and minerals to examine, sort and classify! Next week, we'll learn a little about Mohs Scale of Hardness by doing a scratch test on some rocks and mineral samples. We'll round out the four-day week (Hooray for Good Friday!) with a study of fossils. I'm sure fossils will yield even more excitement than rocks!