Happy Birthday to Me!

Hi everyone!

Today is my birthday, and what a great day it was! I am not oblivious to the fact that I am fortunate to work in a school in which parents are generous with their time and money. I was blessed with lunch, a yummy cupcake from Ivey Cake, a local bakery, and a slew of cards, two paintings by students (LOVE!), hugs, beautiful sunflowers and roses, and a big haul of Diet Dr. Pepper!

Now, if you've gotten distracted by the Ivey Cake link, I understand. My cupcake was called Cheat Day, and it was worth every calorie. These cupcakes are out-of-this-world! If you're ever in this neck of the woods, you must visit there!

I'm not the only one who gets a present on my birthday. You do, too! I just uploaded a new product to TPT. It's called November Story Problems. There are 20 story problems all centered on CCSS 2.OA.1. If you'd like a copy, leave a comment with your email address, and I'll send it to you! It's my way of paying it forward on my birthday!

Have a great Wednesday!

BOLO Link Up - Intro to Economics

 

Hi all,

I'm linking up with Stephanie from Principal Principles, Ashley Reed from Just Reed and Brooke Brown from Teaching Outside the Box for this BOLO (Be on the Lookout) link up. It is all about showcasing a new product that is nearing completion. I'd love any feedback you have! That's the purpose of this link up -- to allow you to see what's in the works and provide feedback or make requests related to it. There most definitely will be a FREEBIE on my Facebook page, also!

My Introduction to Economics is geared toward second graders. First of all, can you believe second graders in Tennessee (where I teach) have to know about supply and demand, goods and services, and human, capital and natural resources? Admittedly, some of those have been on our list of state standards for a while, but not as in-depth as the revised social studies standards.

One thing I have noticed, as I create resources, FIRST, for myself and TPT, is that state standards usually have similarities in them. When I go searching for what I need, on TPT, I already have a standard in mind, so I don't have to check to see if it is referenced to my particular standard. So, if you're in the market for some economics activities that also touch on reading and math skills, check this out!

This product is going to be about 50 pages. I have included the following:

• Vocabulary Task Cards (24 cards) -- vignettes in which students must use context clues or recall information to identify one of the 24 (and growing) vocabulary words 

• Supply and Demand Task Cards (24 cards) -- vignettes requiring students to identify a correct aspect of supply and demand

• Informational Text Reading Passages Related to Supply and Demand, Resource Types and Goods and Services -- These are great for close reading!

• Games for Goods and Services, Producers and Consumers and Other Concepts

• A Fun Import/Export Game that your 2nd Graders will Love!

Here are a few Sneak Peeks!

I expect to have this finished in about a week! So, follow me on TPT, to be the first to know!

Thanks to Principal Principles, Thinking Outside the Box and Just Reed for hosting this link up!

Five for Friday - September 25

Hello and Happy Friday!

First of all, I want to share a cute book with you. It's called Dog vs. Cat. The author is Chris Gall. This book was a hit with my kiddos today. Our guest reader, a parent, read the book, and my kiddos were giggling all over themselves. Dog and Cat have to learn to compromise in order to live together. I think you'll like it. Give it a look!

Last night, as I was about to shut down my computer for the night, I caught a glimpse of Amy Lemon's blog post about reviewing addition and subtraction strategies. Her Doubles Dude's picture was so cute that I had to take a closer look. 

And... this morning, we made them! The photo, below, is one that I snapped as the kiddos were putting them on our table to dry. It looks like a pile of arms and legs with some D's thrown in, but I promise they are cute! It's basically an uppercase D with eyes, arms, and legs with the doubles facts written on them. They're hanging on our clothesline now, but I didn't think to take a better picture. I'll do it Monday. 

Our duck and chicken eggs are still chugging along in the incubator. We should have ducklings next weekend. Cross your fingers! Our chicks should hatch a few days after the ducklings. We're going to be one excited bunch of kiddos (myself included) if we have success with hatching. 

I have a new Facebook page! Be sure to like it, because I have three new or updated products almost finished. You don't want to miss a freebie! 

Finally, I want to share some thoughts about nurturing children. 

I don't remember where I was when I heard a comment about nurturing children, but it stuck in the back of my mind. We are six weeks into the school year. The majority of children have a pretty good grasp of the classroom routines. Wouldn't you agree?

I had two experiences, this week, when students didn't know something, and had the courage to admit it to their classmates and me. That 'nurturing children' idea, that had been floating around in the back of my mind, rose to the top at the right moment, because I had to do some full-on nurturing.

I use the word courage to describe my students' choices, because I think children know that, "I don't know," is probably the worst answer a child can give in class. Not knowing something is scandalous. It is embarrassing and disappoints the teacher. 

It wasn't a coincidence that the idea of nurturing it stuck in my head. It was put there to be used when I needed it and when my children needed it. I have been teaching for more than twenty years, and I have had many opportunities to nurture children, but these two instances resonate with me. Why? I think it's because I've been charged with some students who really need to be nurtured. I also believe that I needed what they gave me. They gave me a reason to express extra kindness and patience, to take on a more human face with them, to be seen as a person who cares and who also happens to be their teacher. Whatever the reason, these two sweet kiddos needed a little extra love from their teacher and their teacher got a little extra love in return.

So, if you're ever feeling like I feel at times -- that I must push, push, push to cover material and make every second count -- just pause, take a breath, exhale, and think about my experience. Nurture your children. Not because you don't already do it, but because doing it is vital in a healthy classroom. I'm thinking of this piece of advice as paying it forward. I hope you see it that way, too.

Comparing Numbers with GO Math

Hi--

I love teaching math. Love it! I think it's because I enjoy helping children pull apart problems and think through solving them. That's what I had to do as a math student in high school and college. I had to know the why's and how's of solving a problem. 

So, when my district adopted GO Math!, I thought my days of teaching creatively were over. You see, our district leader loves fidelity. Fidelity is great in relationships. I might have a little bit of a problem with fidelity in following a prescribed set of lessons. Shhh... 

Mind you, I am a rule follower. Aren't most of us in the teaching profession? We're rule followers, pleasers, and nurturers. However, there comes a time when we (teachers) have to gently push back with respectful questions about policies in relation to what is best for our students. After all, who knows the students best? Yes! We do. Have I pushed back? No way! I want to keep my job. 

However, what I have learned is to work around certain prescribed lesson outlines to find a happier medium between faithfulness to a textbook, and commitment to my students to give them what they need. Today's lesson was so much fun! I didn't feel tethered to a book that sets out a 'do together' activity, some guided practice, and then independent work. Pages, pages, pages. I am not a pages kind of teacher.

Before I describe our fun activity, I need to give a shout-out to the GO Math! series. It is really well done. There are more resources than a teacher could ever use! There is a website with many tools and gadgety things. It is rigorous (another of our district leader's favorite words)! The GO Math! website takes a while to learn where everything is, but I'm getting there. One of the things I do like are the short videos called Math on the Spot. There are two kooky puppets that interact with humans to demonstrate how to solve problems. The kids really like these! And, they're quite good. 

So, back to the lesson... 

It was on comparing three-digit numbers. I began with a review of place values from ones to hundreds. We pulled out the base ten blocks and built numbers. Then, I introduced a little gadget called a comparison strip (a TA in the room suggest this name, since I really didn't have a name for it). I modeled how to use it, and the kiddos were off to work in groups of three or four. I gave them one three-digit number, and they used our base ten block grab bags to pull out a handful of blocks and build a number to compare to the one I gave them. I overheard one TA say, "These things are great!" They are great! Check out the pictures. 

What is this wonderful, engaging tool, you ask? It's a laminated section of sentence strip. There are two black pieces that are also laminated. Brads hold the black pieces in place, so that they can pivot to make the <, >, or = symbols. The children use dry erase markers to record the numbers on them. 

Who knew that they would be such a hit with this year's group. I made them last year, but my students weren't all that excited about them. This year, they're the cat's pajamas!

I cannot take credit for this terrific idea. I searched Pinterest and found this link to Mrs. T's First Grade Class blog. Hers look a little different from mine, but it's the same principle. I don't know if she originated it, but I'm giving her credit. 

You might be wondering if I went back to the GO Math! lesson. I did! Once the children had several opportunities to compare different three-digit numbers, we went back to the book to do just the two pages that were good for formative assessment. I'm sure you won't be surprised to know that the children did an excellent job on the written work after having lots of opportunities to compare with base ten blocks!

Butterflies, Living Flag and Egg Update

Thanks to Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting this linky!

 Hi!

Another week of learning fun is in the books, and it was jam-packed! It started off normally enough, but ended with a bit of a patriotic bang!

Imagine our surprise when we (my teammates and I) returned to school on Monday to have butterflies! We weren't expecting them for several more days. Clearly, these beautiful Painted Ladies were ready to make their appearance to the world. When the kiddos arrived, they were thrilled! We had planned to release them when we returned from our field trip, next week, but Mother Nature decided these fluttering beauties were going to get their own special day. We released them on Wednesday a few minutes before recess began, and the kiddos had fun chasing them with orange slices the remainder of recess! 

No butterfly release is complete without a butterfly life cycle headband!

For Constitution Day, I had an idea to do something different this year. Over the summer, I did some research and found a link to a story about a school that made a living flag. Yes! I loved the idea. I shared my idea with my teammates who also loved it. I passed it along to administration who also loved it! So, on Thursday morning, dressed in our red, white, or blue shirts, our 700+ students lined up in the bus parking lot to create our great United States flag! We recited the Pledge of Allegiance and the Preamble to the Constitution. I had goosebumps! One of our fearless, and I do mean fearless, PE teachers hopped into a cherry picker bucket and was lifted high into the air to snap a picture. 

Photo Credit: Nancy Monroe

Of course, no Constitution Day is ever complete without a reading of We the Kids by David Catrow, along with the drafting and signing of it by the entire class. Here's our final product. We signed with a turkey feather and used an ink well created by local potter, Roy Overcast.

As mentioned in my last post, we are incubating duck eggs. This week, we candled the duck eggs. The children are so excited. They keep asking me who is going to get the "chicks" when they hatch. On Monday, I added a dozen chicken eggs to the incubator. The interesting bit of trivia, related to the eggs we put in the incubator, is that they came from the original chicks we hatched! We'll candle them tomorrow to find the fertile ones and to remove the infertile ones. Here's a picture of one of the ducks being candled.
Can you see the blood vessels that indicate a duckling is growing inside?

Speaking of growth and development, I created a resource all about the basics of cells to use at the beginning of our living things unit. It features cell parts, cells to label, and 4 one-page informational passages about cells. Check it out!

Click Here to See Introduction to Cells

Oh, I have saved the best for last! It has nothing to do with school, but for all of you Ed Sheeran fans, you'll appreciate this! My nieces and I went to see him in concert last Sunday. He is AWESOME! If I were a few decades younger, I'd have his posters all over my bedroom wall. THAT statement should give you an idea of how old I am. I don't think young girls have any posters on their walls these days, but I could be wrong. Seriously, if you're a fan, and he visits your area, make plans to see him. He does not disappoint! 

Spotlight Saturday - Incubating Eggs!

It's one of my favorite times of the year! Egg hatchin' time! This is my third year of incubating duck and chicken eggs with my second graders, and I am just as excited and nervous as the first time. This fun project complements our science unit for this marking period -- life cycles, habitats, and animal adaptations and interdependence. It provides opportunities for children to record observations, read and research the needs of ducklings and chicks, track their development over time, and learn about the care of animals. As I said, it's one of my favorite times of the year! 

We have 13 assorted breed duck eggs in the incubator right now. It takes about 35 days for ducklings to hatch, although, it depends on the breed. We have Pekin, Black Swede, Cayuga, and  They've been in for 8 days. My brother, who has the original chickens that we hatched in the first round, is sending me chicken eggs. These eggs will go in the incubator on Monday. 

If you look closely, you'll see letters on each egg. The letters represent the breed of the duckling-to-be. 

These eggs require a constant temperature of 99.5 degrees, Fahrenheit and a humidity level of 55%. 

Yesterday, we candled the duck eggs. Candling is the process of shining a light on the egg to see if there is an air pocket (critical for the duckling to breathe from until it pecks a hole in the shell come hatching time), and blood vessels. With the lights turned off, and the children seated on the carpet, I began candling. The "candle" is a special, low-wattage light that is shaped so it fits snugly to the end of the egg. 

It was so exciting for the children, but equally so for me, because it's often difficult to introduce a concept that children in this affluent neighborhood haven't already experienced. They may live in an area that has a rich history of farming, and our school may sit on land that was once farmland, but the children don't have exposure to the intricacies of egg development and hatching. Their ooohhs and aahhhs were so much fun to hear!

As I shone the light on each egg, we would see the blood vessels and air pockets in them. There were a couple that I penciled a question mark on, because we couldn't see anything except an opaque blob. We will invite our neighboring second grade classes to come see the candling process on Monday or Tuesday, and if there are no signs of blood vessels, we'll discard those eggs. No blood vessels means the egg is infertile. 

In celebration of egg-hatchin' time, I am discounting my Great Chirping Chicken! Expanded Notation & Comparing Numbers to 1000 until Tuesday, September 15. Go grab your copy!

Great Chirping Chickens! Great Chirping Chicken! Expanded Notation & Comparing Numbers to 1000