Decorating and organizing the room is what I look forward to every July. August is when the vision officially starts to come to life! Although there were a few step back in the vision this year due to fire codes (no hanging from the ceiling and no lamps) and a new classroom, it was all worth it in the end and I think it came together nicely! Here is a series of before and (almost) after pics. Still missing the name tags and book/book box labels. BEFORE AFTER: Side 1-- This side has the morning routine in order with words and pictures. The blue chart will be the daily schedule. The bin is where they turn in any notes for the teacher, homework, or classroom work. A reminder to: Be Responsible Be Respectful Be Safe Be Patient Be ready to do your best AFTER: Side 2: Have You Filled a Bucket Today? If you have not read this book I really encourage you to do so. It makes itself for a great behavior management plan in an elementary classroom! http://www.amazon.com/Filled-Bucket-Today-Guide-Happiness/dp/0978507517/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376006446&sr=8-1&keywords=have+you+filled+a+bucket+today It can be found right there on amazon! Each student has their own "bucket". The idea is that we need to be bucket fillers by doing kind acts and saying nice words. When we do these things we make someone else feel good and we feel good too! But when we are mean, we become bucket dippers and we take from someone's imaginary bucket (their heart in a sense) and we make them feel bad inside. The children can fill buckets and get rewarded when they do so! Students fill out a slip when they want to fill a bucket. Slips are read at the end of each day. The student's can take home their slip and fill their bucket with a pom pom. BEFORE AFTER Close up: Proud Wall- this is a spot where the students can choose work from the week that they are proud of and put it here in the classroom. I will have to rotate each week with one half of the class, then the other half (no I do not have 12 students! HA!) Close up: Synonym Word Wall- This word wall is different than the traditional word walls (which I also have in the room). This is a wall students can come to during writing. If they want to use the word "cool" in their writing but feel like they have used cool too much already, they can come to this word wall and pick from the "cool" envelope a synonym. This goes along with the idea of putting certain words in jail that are used too much. However, with this word wall, you are aiding the students in various choices to use instead. It is empty in the photo because we will study a word (maybe two) a week to help add words to our wall. Close up: This is the spot I will put the word work choices for the week. I tried to keep all the writing topics on this wall. Close up: Computer --> that way. ;) BEFORE AFTER BEFORE AFTER: book/ book box labels still to come. Caddies and baskets will be on the table groups not on the shelf. BEFORE: What a mess.... it's a good thing I have great friends who helped me move all this! Partial AFTER More of the mess BEFORE AFTER: Reading corner (Those lamps had to go....) BEFORE- Storage AFTER Whole view from door. Sorry if the pictures became redundant. It is hard to get the full picture without every view. I hope you enjoyed it! Just a few more little touches to go! I can't wait for the learning to take place in here!
As our first unit of math back at school, I have started to teach telling time. It's harder then one may think, especially in today's day in age when you can instantly get the time digitally with no need of knowledge on how to tell time on an analog clock. However, it is an important life skill, and of course it is a common core state standard! So on top of my telling time products in my TPT store... (Which can be found HERE) I have created a reminder poster of the different parts of the clock! This will be added to the store SOON! However, I thought I would share it now! It breaks down the hour hand and the minute hand and what they do. As well as AM and PM! Poster FREEEEEEEBIE!! I also have this wonderful FREEEEEEEEEEEBIE! This is a make your own clock! There are two different versions! My favorite way to do this so far, is I have the students color the hour hand 1 color, and the big clock numbers the same color! The students then color the minute hand another color, and they color the outer ring the same color! This helps students make the connection of which numbers are told by which hands! Happy Monday All! Hope you have a fantastic week! =)
In an effort to fill up those first days with meaningful activities, I came across the idea of celebrating the 2nd day of 2nd grade. I loved it so much I continued to do it every year. Come read how we do it and download a FREE getting to know you activity for the first week of school.
Birthdays in the classroom can be tricky due to cost and food restrictions. Here are bonafide tips for how to celebrate student birthdays in a special way.
150 pages of worksheets!!! 1 worksheet for each book in the 2nd grade Fountas and Pinnell Classroom IRA text set. Ways to use these worksheets: Center activity Following the read aloud as a whole group Early finisher work Substitute work Thank you for your purchase! I look forward to see how you are using these worksheets in your classroom. Other top selling products in my store: Third Grade IRA WAR Bundle Set Third Grade IRA WAR Virtual Bundle Set See Think Wonder Sheets Voice Level Numbers and Heading @msrobitaille
Click through to find great ideas you can use to improve student behavior half-way through the school year in your 2nd-8th grade classroom.
This summer I read the book Guided Math by Laney Sammons. Chapter 3 was all about using Math Warm-Ups. A quote that stuck out to me was, "Participating in a variety of brief mathematical activities during the first 20-30 minutes of the day leads students to make subtle mental shifts into the world of mathematical awareness and learning." (Laney Sammons also has a book called Daily Math Stretches for K-2 that sounds interesting, but I haven't checked it out yet!) This is why I've always tried to start my day with calendar. We practice so many important mathematical skills during calendar time. This year something new I want to try is to do a short math stretch after calendar as well. First let's talk about calendar. I am just itching to get back into my classroom to get everything set up, but my school doesn't open until August 24th! So for now, I've been trying things out in the hallway of our house. Hubby doesn't even ask questions anymore when he comes out of the bathroom and there's a September calendar hanging on the wall. He knows me well. lol. The other night I decided that I redid every single label and poster in my room to match my chalkboard & brights theme EXCEPT my calendar! Why hadn't I thought of my calendar?? So I got to working on monthly sets of numbers, month headers, and a variety of other posters I use for my calendar routine. Here's a peek at my hallway calendar display: And here's a close up look at my September calendar. (PS. I have a few blue pocket charts that I want to try dye-ing black this week... but in case it doesn't work out well, I bought a new black calendar pocket chart from Scholastic. I love how it looks!) This is what my calendar looked like the week before I left for maternity leave. Things will look completely different, but the math will stay the same! I always lead the calendar routine for the first month or so, but then my leader of the day takes over. Here's a little break down of what we usually do: *flip the number over on the calendar and count the numbers either forwards or backwards *look at the monthly pattern and make the same pattern with out bodies (clap, snap, stomp, etc.) *tell what day of the week was yesterday, today, and tomorrow *add a straw to our collection and count the straws *colour in a ten frame and count the squares *check the weather and fill in the weather graph *add any loose teeth or birthdays to the charts *sing a calendar song or watch a calendar video (such as Harry Kindergarten) We also do a calendar journal to go along with out calendar routine. It keeps all students on task and engaged with what's going on! You can read more about it {here}. Here is what I have planned for my weekly math stretches... On Monday I will read aloud a picture book that goes with a skill we are learning. I started blogging about some book ideas with my Math Book Monday series. The two large tubs in the picture below are filled with math books. I have an addiction and it's time that I start utilizing them more! lol. We will discuss the math seen in the book and usually do some sort of activity to go with it. I hope to continue this blogging series again once school is back in session! I can share more about the books we use and the activities to go along with them. On Tuesday we will do a number of the day activity. I've done this before as a math centre or activity before, but this time I created a cute set of posters that I will hang down the side of my big white board. I will laminate the cards so we can use them with dry erase markers. I created little number cards from 1-20 so each week we will pick a number, veclro it to the number of the day card, and show many different ways to represent that number! We will practice even/odd, number words, tally marks, one less/one more, ten frames, number lines, place value blocks, dice dots, counting forwards and backwards, drawing pictures, number bonds, part-part-whole, and writing number sentences! So many skills in one simple activity! I also created a matching recording sheet so that sometimes I can have students complete the worksheet as we do the posters together, or they can fill one in as an early finisher activity! (I will only be using numbers 1-20 with my students, but the pack I created has options to go up to 100 or 120!) On Wednesday we will practice our estimating! Some days we will practice estimating the amount of objects in our Estimation Station. Other days we will do some measurement activities. I have been collecting some estimation ideas on Pinterest. Check out my board below! Follow Amanda Ross (First Grade Garden)'s board Math - Estimation on Pinterest. On Thursday we will complete a "What's Next?" activity. I will have five different patterns displayed on the board and we will have to decide what two elements come next for each pattern. This activity is perfect for practicing repeating patterns, counting forwards, counting backwards, and skip counting! Plus it will reinforce shapes, colours, and sizes too! You can download a blank PDF of this activity {here}. On Friday we will do a data collection activity. Graphing isn't an outcome yet in our Grade 1 Math curriculum, but the skills that we use when analyzing the data sure is! We practice tons of counting and comparing numbers. Sometimes we will do a whole glass graph or somethings I might let them do a survey and graph activity, like I blogged about {here}. I have pinned tons of ADORABLE graphs on my Pinterest board too. Follow Amanda Ross (First Grade Garden)'s board Math - Graphing on Pinterest. You can check out any of these math products at my TpT store to help you get started! Well that's it for my math stretch ideas! :) Stay tuned for more in my daily schedule series.
Why use math sorts? Discussions Differentiation Aligned to the standards No-prep FUN! 1. Discussions We constantly tell students to show their work or explain their thinking. Using math sorts weekly will give students practice in putting their thinking into words. Your students will use math vocabulary as they explain how they sorted their cards. They […]
This week is Robert Munsch week in 2nd Grade at my school! I look forward to this week every single year. One of the best parts is hearing my kids
First Grade WOW, Windows on Wonder
A bulletin board is a surface intended for the posting of public messages, for example, to advertise items wanted or for sale, announce events, or provide information. There’s nothing like a good b…
Making science fun for kids. Fantastic, simple method of exploring viscosity with children.
Looking for some fun, creative, and unique August Crafts for Kids? You are going to love these watermelon, sunflower, back to school, and other projects!
It's time for another Monday Made It! I actually did some calculating today, and there are only 3 more Mondays after today until I go back ...
Happy Saturday everyone! Today, I wanted to share a new writing rubric that I created with my students this week for their personal narratives/stories. I don't know about you, but my students always have a hard time assessing their own writing. Plus, I always have such a hard time grading it (I always procrastinate with grading writing for this very reason!) because it can be so subjective to grade. Over the years, I've learned the answer to these two issues- RUBRICS! Rubrics are such a great way to help your students learn to assess and judge the quality of their own writing. The best part of using rubrics is that my students help to make them, so they take ownership of them which in turn makes them more meaningful to the kids. Each day this week, we looked at different 2nd grade writing samples (from other classes) and judged the writing in each area on the rubric. As we judged them, I helped the kids write the criteria for each section on the rubric. We found that using the words ALL of the time, MOST of the time, SOME of the time, and NONE of the time were easy to use for a 4, 3, 2, 1. Here is the completed rubric if you'd like to download it and use in your classroom! Comparing it to a cheeseburger was a fun way to help my students understand the difference between a 4, 3, 2, and 1. We talked about how a 4 is like a deluxe cheeseburger with all of the toppings- it can't get any better! A 3 is a complete cheeseburger but is missing some of those yummy details. A 2 is a burger with just a bottom bun- there is a lot missing! A 1 is just a bottom bun- no one wants to eat this because it's no good at all! What are some ways that you use rubrics in your classroom? I'm linking this up with Heather at Peacocks and Penguins- be sure to check out her linky for some great ideas! Have a great weekend!
Aloha friends! I am so happy it is Thursday evening!!! Tomorrow is Friday already and I am looking forward to some fun activities I have planned for my class. I promise I will share all the fun this weekend. Today is just a quick post to share what we did today in math. Our school is using the Go Math series and it is Common Core aligned. This is the third year using it and I finally feel like I have grasp on some of the alternative methods they use to teach students addition and subtraction. Today we were working on triple digit subtraction with zeros. This is the standard method that the series shows and how we all learned growing up. This way however is so confusing for many of my students! They always make the same mistake. Here's an example. They know if they don't have enough ones to borrow a ten. They don't have any tens so they borrow a hundred. They regroup in the tens place, but they always forget to take from the ten BEFORE they add a ten to the ones place! So I changed it up today and decided to show them a way that might make more sense. We reviewed that 400 is the same as 40 tens. So we took away one ten and gave it to the ones. They caught on so quick and made very few mistakes!! Even my strugglers were very successful with this method. I hope it really sticks with them and makes subtracting zeros a much easier process. Do you teach this method or other ways besides the standard algorithm? I know Common Core is pushing others to find new strategies. I hope you can add this one to your list.
What a CRAZY week and weekend!!! We are finished with our state testing and school fair. Yahoo!!! This past week consisted of ...
In an effort to fill up those first days with meaningful activities, I came across the idea of celebrating the 2nd day of 2nd grade. I loved it so much I continued to do it every year. Come read how we do it and download a FREE getting to know you activity for the first week of school.
Look forward to a great summer with these instructions for fun and silly giant summer sunglasses.
This week is Robert Munsch week in 2nd Grade at my school! I look forward to this week every single year. One of the best parts is hearing my kids
You just never know if you will win, who knows maybe this is your lucky time. Go to my previous post and scroll down to enter or just click here to get you there. Today's post will be nice and short. We worked on land forms and made an anchor chart together. They each made a land form poster and they came out cute! And something waaaaay off topic. I left this cute little surprise in our fridge for my husband. Can't wait to see his reaction when he open the fridge door. And of course I added something sarcastic in the end hehe. There is nothing more awkward than walking in a store with beer in your hand and trying to hide from possible students. I'm pretty sure many teachers can relate! HA!
One of my most favorite things to teach in Kindergarten is sight words! We practice them forward and backward, inside and out! I love seeing the little light bulbs go off when my students are able to
I am really looking forward to getting into the swing of things this week. Tomorrow, we’ll be reading one of my favorite books of all-ti...
Upgrade your math skills with our free printable elapsed time activities! Perfect for telling time practice.
Ideas to launch Writing Workshop in the classroom! Writing workshop printables, organization and activities to teach the Writing Process.
"The Writing Plan Curriculum" Includes My 5 Favorite Go-To Writing Units! Most of these units consist of 5 initial lessons. At the end of these lessons, students will have the organizational knowledge needed to write a solid paragraph that they can later expand into an essay.
The weather is getting warmer, summer is on the horizon, and everyone is looking forward to the last day of school. But with all of the excitement looming for the end of the school year, are you noticing that it's a challenge to keep your students engaged? Do you have a bunch of end-of-year reviews […]
Last week my kids did our last project for our hallway bulletin board and it was bitter sweet. For as excited as I am for summer break, I am really going to miss these 2nd graders of mine. They have wit, creativity, fun personalities, and they are so smart! As an end of the year...
Elementary education is the building block of your kid's schooling, on which the later years of education are directly dependent. Thus, it is crucial to pay attention to it; whether colorful you are teaching your kid at home or school, it is essential to show them what is going on practically. We present our picks for the 15 must-have math manipulatives for upper elementary students.
Sometimes it’s the feedback our students — rather than our administrators — give us that help us become better teachers.
I'm ba-aack! Two blog posts in one week? Ahhh…it feels so good to be back in action! ;) I have missed y'all! Today I am sharing a few of my favorite end of year pick me ups…writing style. I totally remember how exhausting those last few weeks of school could be, but I always wanted to make them super memorable for my students. I definitely didn't want to spend my last few weeks fussing lecturing holding "classroom meetings" because they were tired, grumpy, and just totally ready for summer. Let's be honest…kids will be kids, and much like adults…those last few weeks they are dog-tired! Those last few weeks, I wanted to keep on keeping on, so I tried to schedule my writing blocks around things that would make us happy. We would always spend our last moments together reminiscing on our wonderful year together and dreaming about summer..which is just around the corner! So, if you are needing to add some extra "oomph" to your writing for the next several weeks, you can check out my Ultimate End of Year Writing Bundle below. It has pretty much everything you need to get you through these next few weeks of writing. These activities will definitely brighten your day…and your classroom. Hello neon paper! Neon just screams summer…am I right?!? Let's break it down! Just look at my future graduates from last year! How precious are they?!? I can not even begin to tell you how proud I continue to be of these kids! I love that they still call, text, email, and visit with lots of stories about their 4th grade year. Absolutely love them to pieces! I know our kids are still babies in our eyes, but they are never too young to begin seeing and experiencing the value of education! During this writing, we looked at several local universities, discussed possible career paths, and talked about the most important thing...when they can get their driver's license. ;) Last year, these kids were all about getting scholarships so that they do not have to pay the big bucks to go to school. Their parents will thank me later! :) This activity led to so many wonderful conversations and definitely had my kids dreaming BIG! Of course, they all expressed their interest in becoming millionaires along the way! :) Next up...What can be better than our plans for the future?!? Our plans for the SUMMER! During this writing, the kids brainstorm their summer plans.. Then they write all about their summer dreams! That face though! #cutest End of the year is the perfect time to bundle all of your memories up into one place for safe keeping. I have included time capsule contracts, poems, and much, much more to get you going. This can also be the perfect place to hold some of your writings from the year if you are still looking to put together some type of writing portfolio. I still pull out old writings from elementary school. Maybe it's the teacher in me, but I love a good walk down memory lane. And...my favorite...letters to next year's kiddos. I always display these on our "Welcome Back" night for my newbies to read. This helps your kiddos get a glimpse into what is ahead in the new year. Plus, it adds a little spirit to those empty walls at the beginning of the year. Also included in this little pack is my Paper Bag Memory Books that I posted about yesterday. Love this end of the year keepsake...paper bag style. I also love that paper bags are so stinkin' cheap! All you need are paper bags and dollar store stickers to help your kiddos make these little scrapbook{ish} memories. Here is how our books turned out last year just in case you missed it yesterday... There you have it! I told you this would keep you busy for the rest of the year! If you want to check this unit out on TPT, click on the picture below. If you would like to view all of my end of year resources, click on the banner below! Have a fabulous weekend my sweet friends! We are off to Washington D.C. with our fifth graders. I haven't been since I was a kid, and I have to say, I am super pumped! I'll be back to share our writing portfolios from last year later this weekend. XOXO!
One item(s) I need to make over the summer is a birthday gift for each student. Here are some ideas/activities I've been thinking about. What do you do to celebrate student birthdays? Click the pic to go to the place I found each item. Pixie Sticks with balloons Silly straw with balloons Student birthday button Chair cover Recycle empty tissue boxes and paper towel tubes by filling with pencils, stickers, and other small treats! Students get to pick a bag on their birthday. LOVE THIS IDEA!!! "Abraham Lincoln Elementary School | Belleville, IL | Our theme at Abraham Lincoln is "All-Stars Believe Everyone Counts." To reinforce this and a love of reading, we recognize every student's birthday and allow him or her to pick a brand-new "good fit" book in our school office. In the front cover, students write their names after the "Abraham Lincoln All-Star Birthday Book" stamp. This could be the first book a student proudly owns." Hang on your door to celebrate birthdays!
