Field Trips and A Nest for Celeste

Hi!

Here's the quick list:

1. Spring Break -- Quiet, relaxing, over
2. Days Left -- 39 student days, 41 teacher days
3. Things Left to Do -- Innumerable!
4. Field Trips Next Month -- Two, and they're five days apart!
5. Our Current Read Aloud -- A Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole

My friends in Alabama are enjoying their spring break this week. Mine was last week. Luckily, the weather was tolerable on some days and beautiful on others. I remember last year's weather was cold and rainy. No complaints about the weather. I didn't do much, but that was my plan. I needed peace and quiet and no time constraints. Nailed it!

I cannot believe that we have 39 days left. When I mentioned this to my students, they actually said, "Awww," with a tone of sadness. That made me sigh, and it warmed my heart. I adore this class, as I have said before, but the idea of a seemingly endless summer is beginning to tease me. 

About those innumerable things that remain to be done...

Report cards went home today. The next time I'll do report cards will be the final time for this class. Yikes! There are class lists for our team to set up, a volunteer breakfast, talent show, yearbook signing day, field day, a classroom visit by our area math coaches, and those two field trips. No matter how prepared I think I am, I just can't shake that panicky feeling that creeps up at some point in the last weeks of school. You'd think that after 21 school endings, I'd have the jitters under control. Not true. 

I'm excited about our field trips. The first is to see Bears by Disneynature. I think the children will soak up every detail. As field trips go, it's an easy one. We'll get on a bus, get off at the theater, get back on the bus, and be back at school around lunchtime. We'll wrap up our morning with lunch in the classroom, which is always a hit with the children. 

Photo Credit: Bears by Disneynature

The second trip is to the Tennessee State Museum. This trip correlates with our social studies standards for the fourth quarter. We'll be learning about the cultures and history of Tennessee and how our state has changed over time. I've been working on study materials and activities for this unit. It's growing on a daily basis! I hope to get it finished this weekend. 

A student gifted A Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole to our classroom library. I've been reading it aloud to the class. Celeste is sweet, but lonely, timid mouse who encounters several different frights and makes some interesting friends. One friend is Joseph, the assistant to John James Audubon. Audubon has come to Oakley Plantation to research and paint birds and foliage in the area. 

Cole has included many pencil drawings in the text, which adds to the charm of the book. My kiddos really like it. I'm not crazy about it, but I can't put my finger on why, yet. We're halfway through it, so maybe I'll be swayed in a more definite direction when we finish it. 

What are YOU doing? How was your spring break? Have you started your countdown?

Trapped in a Jar!

As we wind down our week before spring break (WooHoo!), we've been working on several projects. The children are writing summaries of their on-level books and using Educreations (iPad app) to take photos and record their written summaries. They're doing a great job! Sadly, I can't post them here because of my district's confidentiality requirements.

I CAN post these cute illustrations of the leprechauns that a couple of students trapped in a jar. Their written narratives are so funny. This activity is from my St. Patrick's Day Math and Literacy kit on TPT. The children are taking a photo of their leprechaun artwork, and then they're recording their story on Educreations. 

It's so easy for them to use; I can send them off with a partner, and they can record and save all on their own. Talk about purposeful practice with technology and literacy! In addition to the writing activity, there are several math and multi-meaning word review activities in this set. 

This time, tomorrow night, I'll be dancing and shouting. I'll be enjoying my first evening of SPRING BREAK! If you're anticipating yours, I hope you have a restful and rejuvenating one. I'm having a staycation to recharge my batteries, visit my parents, and be a slug!

Are you traveling to some exotic place or staying at home? Leave a comment, especially if you're going somewhere exotic. I'll live vicariously through you! :-)

Scientists' Day

I'm not sure I can explain just how much fun we had today. Scientists' Day was a hit with the children! Most of them came dressed in their lab coats (dad's shirt or mom's white sweater). A few had the stereotypical pockets filled with pens and pencils, and a few had safety glasses. Too cute! 

We started our day with brainstorming about what scientists' do in science notebooks. My favorite was, "Scientists find ways to help the earth because it is a mess." After taking time out for a tornado drill (yes, a tornado drill!), we got on track with STC kit activities with beam balances and Unifix cubes. Since we had already made mobiles in our study of simple machines, the kids were eager to point out the fulcrum, load and lever. I gave them open ended tasks, such as, "Show how you can make this balance." Some had the fulcrum sideways, standing on its end, and upside down. Still, they balanced! We wrapped up the activity with a response chart with the main points of the activity. 

We HAD to take time out to finish The Anybodies, by N. E. Bode. It's a wonderful read aloud with many subtle references to other children's literature. My most avid readers picked up on the references right away. All of the children were riveted to this book, and begged for more each time I finished a chapter. I think we all fell in love with Fern, the Bone, and the Miser! Okay, the Miser, not so much. Nevertheless, it's a fantastical escape that my students loved!

Next up, was moon phases in Oreos. The children used craft sticks to shape the filling into the moon phases. They had their moon phases posters, that we made last week, as a reference tool. They named the phases, in order, before tucking the cookies into zippies to save for snack in the afternoon. What SWEET fun this was!

The afternoon held even more science fun. Literacy block focused on reading the biography of Alexander Calder and discussing his love for creating mobiles and other art pieces. In addition to connecting their experiences with creating mobiles to the the work of Alexander Calder, the children read other books about balancing and weighing. 

Following literacy block, we jumped back into the hands-on activities. The children used equal arm balances to compare the mass of a spoon, ping pong ball, plastic cup, and other objects to a standard unit -- a Unifix cube. This activity had the kids collaborating, thinking and hypothesizing! We wrapped up our balance activities with a challenging activity that involved the children determining which of five film canisters had six marbles in it. 

Our day ended with and exploration of magnets and show and tell of the simple machines items the children brought from home. We had Barbie convertibles, Hot Wheels, clip-on earrings, trucks, and much more!

It was a fabulous day!

Have a great weekend!

Susan

Gearing Up for St. Patrick's Day (Week)

Hi!

Next week is our final week of school before spring break. It's also the week of our book fair, spirit week, and our spring parties are on Friday. Omigosh!  (Deep breath!)

The excitement level is soaring as these days approach. I started thinking about what I could do to prepare for this crazy week. I went back to our planning map and looked for some skills that I could include in a St. Patrick's Day set of review activities. If it's going to be a crazy week, I'm going to try to balance it with a regular routine and lots of skills to review and polish! 

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We're going to be working on explaining our thinking in math. We've worked on this all year, but we just took constructed response assessments, and I have a better idea of how I can help some of my students be more detailed in responding. I created five pages of story problems with assorted review skills tossed into the mix. These pages are challenging. I'm eager to see how my students do with them. 

In addition to math, we'll be working on multi-meaning words. These can be tricky for some children, so I am armed with five pages of sentences to review multi-meaning words. I plan to connect this review to context clues and dictionary skills. 

We'll be writing about trapping a leprechaun in a jar! This is one of my favorite St. Patrick's Day activities. The children really get into telling how they capture a leprechaun, in addition to the adventures that take place as a result. We'll focus on a strong beginning, really detailed middle, and a solid conclusion. I can't wait to see their illustrations.

What do YOU have going on next week? 

TGTF (Thank goodness tomorrow's Friday!)

Susan

Regrouping Round-Up! Giveaway!

Hot Off the Press!

I just finished and posted a 50+ page kit, Regrouping Round-UP! on regrouping two and three-digit numbers. I have found that lots and lots of practice with manipulatives and ten frames, coupled with discussions about the process, is an effective way to help children master this big skill in second grade. The children and I have had lots of discussions about names for numbers and how '4 tens and 2 ones' can be regrouped into '3 tens and 12 ones'. I want to make sure that the children understand the process, and they are not just doing it because that's what they're supposed to do. After many experiences using manipulatives, making anchor charts, and discussing the process, they are ready to polish this skill. Regrouping Round-Up! is designed to give that experience.

I'm having a giveaway on my Grade 2 Hullabaloo Facebook page. To win, like, share and leave your email address in the comments section. I'll choose a random winner tomorrow night at 8 PM (CST). Good luck, and I hope you win Regrouping Round-Up!

Blessings,

Susan

AWOL, Apps, Wanderlust and Moon Phases

I have been AWOL. It seems like things have been speeding along, and I've pretended that I didn't have anything to share. I do! Here goes...

My Class --

I have a fabulous class. They're conscientious, focused and absolutely precious! I catch myself watching them in awe while they're coming into the room in the morning. I dubbed last year's class, "BCE", because they were the Best Class Ever, and I meant it. 

This year's class is another BCE, but in a completely different way. We are truly a little school family. I love that we can talk about scandalous topics (such as, why turd isn't a word we use at school or why it's not appropriate to say that someone has a jelly booty [not sure HOW that topic came up at lunch]), and we can be silly while singing and dancing to Rebecca Black's Friday as our Friday morning ritual. I have such affection for these kiddos, and yet, I feel like I'm barely holding it together with my responsibilities most days. My guess is that you know exactly what that's like. The wonderful, heartwarming experiences clearly outweigh the frustrations that have very little (if anything) to do with the children.

RTI --

Our district is gung-ho with response to intervention. I suppose most districts are these days. It's all about the data. Don't get me wrong, I love poring over data to look for trends, successes and red flags.   I have a couple of students who need some shoring up in math and literacy, so I've been working with these students during the thirty-minute RTI period. It's such a challenge to juggle keeping everyone focused on their particular work, while helping my RTI friends polish skills. Yet, it's so important to provide these students with this focused instruction. I can see it making a difference.

One resource that I have found to be really useful is Turbo Math: Sea Buddies. It starts a child on a kindergarten level (identifying groups of fish or other images, more more than the group shown, etc.) and moves a child up as progress is made. This is exactly what my two friends need! They need that mental practice to move toward subitizing sets larger than three or four. I can see their confidence growing, and that is exciting for all of us!

Speaking of iPads and apps... my friend, over at The Wanderlust Teacher, is teaching her second graders amazing skills with iMovie and book trailers. Her energy rejuvenates me! Her fearlessness in the classroom is so much fun to watch!  I'm honored to call her my colleague and my friend. You'll be wowed by their trailers!

What's New in Our Room --

We've been studying the phases of the moon. Below is an example of the poster that the children made.They really have become quite fascinated with all things space! I took advantage of this enthusiasm by having them take notes and sketch the phases while they watched a video about the moon. I love that they view note taking so seriously! We'll wrap up our moon studies this week, but we can't do it without a special activity. I bought Oreo Cookies today. You guessed it! We're making edible moon phases later in the week. 

Our next scientific encounter involves forces, simple machines and magnets. Later in the week, we'll be having Scientists' Day, during which the children will dazzle the class with a mini presentation about one of the topics we've studied this quarter. I can't wait to see their presentations.

Until we meet again... hopefully sooner, rather than later... 

Have a great week!

Susan