Five for Friday -- My First!

Hello! 

This is my first Five for Friday post! It deserves to be number one. I am excited to be doing this!

Chores

I have had a busy week. I returned from a vacation in Playa del Carmen last night. I've been doing laundry and trying to get things put away. It's no fun doing the end-of-vacation chores. However, the memories keep me smiling. Of course, when I have this fellow demanding all the attention that he missed while I was gone, it's difficult to work!

Vacation Speed Bumps

The vacation with my cousin was lots of fun! However, it rained the first two days we were there. I'm not talking a rainshower, and then sunshine, as it typically does when one is at the beach. I'm talking blowing rain and thunder. We were more than a little disappointed with the rainy speed bumps, but we managed to find things to entertain us and make us giggle. When the sun finally came out, we were thrilled. I spent two great days at the beach soaking up sun and sea air and another day on an amazing excursion. There is nothing better for me than beach time and learning time! 

I think this is a touching photo of the ladies who were selling souvenirs on the beach. Of course, Cuz and I made a purchase of bracelets and other items on our first trip to the beach. I hope that our purchases helped them more than buying in souveinr stores. We bought from the girl in the red top. She was lovely. Also, pregnant. I tried out my pitiful Spanish and asked her if her baby was a boy or girl. She understood me! It's a boy. 

Am I Vacationing, Teaching, or Learning?

I love to travel. About five years ago, I decided that if I waited for someone to travel with me, I'd be waiting a long time. My parents are elderly, and my dad hates the beach. My brothers are married with teenage and older children, so it's tough to coordinate trips with them. So, I took a trip to Turks and Caicos by myself. I was a little intimidated to travel alone, but I made it just fine. That was the beginning of travels for me. I have taken trips to Great Exuma, Bahamas, Belize (with my neice), Jamaica, the Florida Gulf Coast and Mexico. I love it!  

My cousin, who also loves beach trips, asked me to teach her to travel. I was flattered and amused when she said, "I want you to teach me how to travel." We went to Jamaica, last summer, and we had a blast. So, on this trip, I gave her some performance tasks. It may sound mean, but I purposely separated from her and let her go through immigration alone in Atlanta. She did it beautifully! I have been giving her advice about being guarded even with the friendliest of people. She is one of those people who never meets a stranger and has a bubbly, inviting personality. After lots of advice on traveling, I think she is ready for her first solo trip! 

When I put on my learner hat, I had an excellent treat! I took an excursion to Chichen Itza with a company called Mayan's Explorers. It was fantastic! They picked me up at 6:45 AM and I returned at 7:30 PM. There were eight of us on this excursion. There was a family from Canada and a brother and sister from London. We were an international group!

It was a day filled with exploring Maya ruins up-close and personal. Our guide, Murux (pronounced Maroush), a professor of archeology, was so wonderful. He was animated and passionate about his ancestors and heritage. He called us Mayas when he wanted our attention. "Okay, Mayas, walk with me." He asked probing questions about what we thought. He challenged us to put ourselves THERE in the time of the Mayas. I loved everything about this excursion. It was hot and humid, filled with walking and climbing, and absolutely exhausting. I was filthy when we finished, and I had the... um... good sense... to wear white! Yet, I learned so much! I think I have a new interest -- archeology! There's this city called Palenque that I think I'm going to have to visit next summer. :-)

This temple is not open for climbing. It was straight up with very narrow steps!

After learning and sweating at Chichen Itza, we headed to Ik Il, which is a popular cenote [suh-noh-tee] . My definition of it is that it is a vertical cave, formed in limestone, and filled with fresh water. And little fish that nibble on you. I was nervous about walking all the way down -- 100 feet underground! I don't particularly care for cave-like areas, but it was not so bad and, oh, so worth the walk down 90 wet and slippery stone steps! This picture is from the view at the top. This is one of several meaningful experiences that I had during this trip. 

Those are roots hanging down! Talk about adaptations!

Post Vacation Energy

When I got home, I threw in some laundry, spent time with my needy cat, and sat down to drink a Diet Dr. Pepper. My other cat is sort of reclusive, and she didn't come out from under the bed for a couple of hours. It's a good thing Raleigh is low maintenance, because SkippyJack is the opposite!

I had quite a bit of energy, so I started revising one of my back-to-school activities. It has taken me all day to get it finished. If you'd like to check it out, here it is:

Whew!

I've done it! My final thoughts go out to all the fathers out there. Happy Father's Day! I'll be going to see my pop this weekend, and I hope you have someone special to spend it with, too. Maybe I'll see you around the linky party! 

Adios!

"Plane" Fun with Polygons

Hi--

For the past couple of weeks, we have been knee-deep in geometry, and what fun we have had! Geometry is so well-suited to hands-on activities for second graders. I remember geometry in high school being quite tougher. I have a greater appreciation for it now.

We began our explorations with geometric solids. Of course, my kiddos came to me from great kinder and first grade teachers who had given them a great foundation in geometry. We had the most fun with Shape Shadows and Shapes on the Move, both activities from Aims Edu (aimsedu.org). Shape Shadows is a load of fun with flashlights with all of the lights turned off. Students are to put a geometric solid on a pedestal (vocabulary connection time there!) so that one partner can trace the shadows of each geo solid while the other holds the flashlight straight above the figure. It's a fun way to connect plane shapes to geometric solids' faces. The touching, turning and twisting that goes on to trace, get the flashlight in place, and hold it still are all challenging, but so much fun for me to watch as I roam the room to check for understanding.

Shapes on the Move is another Aims Edu activity that delivers as much fun as Shape Shadows! I try to give as few directions as possible, so that the children will do some creative and critical thinking to answer the driving question:

How does the shape of an object affect the way it moves? 

I tell them that I would like for them to explore the geo solids to find answers to this question. They may use materials in the room as their tools. I have privacy screens that make great ramps. I also have big, foam geo solids that I ordered from Aims Edu several years ago. Aims Edu no longer sells them, but I found the same thing here. They have held up well and been a great investment. 

My Favorite Geo Solids

As soon as directions are finished, the children are off to explore with their partners. This one requires lots of time for the children to experiment with all of the geo solids, so we used our math block and our writing block to do it. There is a cute, printable booklet that comes with the directions. We complete it together as a shared writing activity, so the writing integration is authentic. 

I projected the booklet using my Elmo document camera, and the children and I discuss their discoveries. Once we agree on statements about the way each figure moved, I model how to record the observations. Even though it is nearing the end of the school year (29 days left!), I think it's really important to continue to model how to do different kinds of writing. I believe that it gives my hesitant writers extra support to hear what others contribute, and witness how the information should be recorded.It also gives me an opportunity to reinforce mechanics of grammar and spelling patterns. The children love it! They don't even realize that they're working. They think it's play. 

Once the children have a good grasp of faces, vertices and edges, along with the plane shapes related to the geometric solids, we transition to plane shapes. One fun MathArt activity that we completed this week was to work to trace plane shapes to determine the number of angles and sides. We also did some vocabulary work with polygons, dimensions (2 and 3) and recognizing both in the world around us. Here is a preview of our MathArt in progress. We used wikki stix and colorful scrap booking papers to trace or form a variety of plane shapes. We'll add the number of angles and sides during our next math lesson. Here are a few works in progress:

That's it for this post. Look for an upcoming post on cut paper American history time lines! My students went nuts over these!

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!

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!

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

The Beginning of a Heartfelt Valentine's Week

Every year, at the time of Valentine's Day, I always run out of time to involve my students in all of the activities I have in my files. So... this year, we started early! Our math lesson included a review of data analysis and graphing with a heart glyph. Look at these beautiful glyphs that my sweet second graders created!

The action leading up to the final product had the children illustrating, labeling, and then tallying and graphing one of the four features on the glyph. 

If you like what you see, you can preview this file on TPT. There are two versions; one for grades K-1 and one for grade 2.

We also wrote letters and valentines to a classmate who moved to England! How exciting for his family! We are communicating by email and snail mail. It's always fun to get his letters; the children love to look at the stamps and postage markings. Our letters will be arriving just in time for Valentine's Day (hopefully)! 

Continuing with our valentine-infused day (complete with CCSS correlations!), we made valentines for the son of a coworker. Hunter (#hunterstrong on Twitter) suffered a spinal cord injury during a high school wrestling match back in December. He's making progress while in a rehab clinic, and we wanted to cheer him up with a pile of valentine letters. These cute frog valentine graphics are the freebie of the week from Scrappin Doodles if you're on the mailing list. If you aren't, sign up, here!

I hope your Valentine's Week is filled with love and laughter!

Susan

P. S. You can now find me on Facebook! I'm planning a freebie winner a day, beginning TODAY (8th) until February 14th! Just like, share and leave your email address in the comments along with your choice of one product title from my store. 

Solve It, Santa! Story Problems

Ohhhh, math is going to be filled with fun this next week! I just finished a math center for solving story problems. I'll be using Solve It, Santa! to work with a small group of children who need to practice problem solving. I put it on TPT for a $1 try me price. Here's a peak at it.

I have a feeling that the Elf on the Shelf might be making his first appearance this week. I'm braced for his tricks. Do you have one of these in your room? What are some of your elf's actions catastrophes? It's a cute idea (wish I'd thought of it!), and the children are eager to find out what Dodger's latest shenanigans are. He is named after Jordan Sonnenblick's character, Dodger, from the book Dodger and Me. It's a great read aloud for second graders. 

Have a great Saturday!