Setting up for small group in 2nd grade can be challenging! This post outlines one teacher's simple center rotation schedule.
These free printable Brain Breaks Cards are a fun way for kids to get a needed break from their studies to let the blood flow.
These FREE Synonym Puzzles are such a fun way for early elementary age kids to practice identifying words that have a similar meaning.
Help your primary grade students explore, learn, and write about landforms. See our hands-on landforms activities plus our culminating writing project!
Help kids visualize how some words can be spelled the same, but mean two completely different things with these handy, free printable Homograph Puzzles!
Looking for easy, engaging activities to teach your students the states of matter? Check out these fun hands-on activities that meet NGSS standards and help your second grade students learn about solids, liquids, and gases.
When teaching narrative writing in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade, there are so many writing skills to cover. They range from creating a sequence of events (beginning, middle, and end) to more difficult
Make learning about the 3 types of rocks for kids FUN with this simple, edible rocks project! Learn about rock cycle with this science activities!
The Root Beer Float states of matter experiment is an edible science experiment that teaches and shows the different states of matter.
Learn about Japan for Kids with this printable book to read, color, and learn about Mt Fiji, charming gardens, and sushi without leaving home!
Hey Ya'll! Do your kids love to learn by playing games? What if I told you that you could increase your students vocabulary by playing games that take 20 minutes or less? Vocabulary is something that is highly stressed in my district. It seems like each year, more and more pressure is put on us to increase students vocabulary. Today I'm here to share with you 4 easy games that you can implement into your class to increase vocabulary and make learning fun AND engaging! Kids should get excited about learning. Implementing games into our daily routine helps increase their learning when they don't even know it. All of these activities that I'm about to share can be used in a whole or small group setting. First up is Heads Down, Vocab Up! This is a game I like to have my kids play when I have a few minutes to kill before moving onto the next subject or when their little brains just need a break. It's super simple. Does your class like to play "heads down, thumbs up" or some call it "heads up, 7 up"? Mine do! Heads Down, Vocab Up! is just like that only using word cards. You can use any type of vocabulary cards you'd like. We play using sight words, compound words, contractions, academic vocabulary and more. Here is how to play: Pick 3-4 students to be it. Give each student picked a vocabulary card. Turn off the lights and the rest of the class puts their head down (NO PEEKING!) and their thumb up. The students chosen go around the room and pick someone by touching their thumb. When the teacher turns the lights on, those picked stand up and try to guess who picked them. Rather than calling out the students name, they must call out the vocabulary word that student is holding. If they get it right, they get to trade places and be it. If they get it wrong, they sit back down. Then the next round begins. You can also have your students tell the meaning of the word, use it in a sentence or give a synonym. This way it can be easily differentiated for various learners. When using academic vocabulary cards, I like have them say the word and their own meaning of the word. This is a simple review that can be done in 5 minutes or stretched out into a whole group lesson. Up next is a little game I like to call Word Speed! Word Speed is quick game that we play daily throughout the week. I do this with vocabulary and grammar skills mostly. All you need is some chart paper and makers. You could easily laminate chart paper and use dry erase markers to make it reusable. What you'll see below is bulletin paper from our workroom. Here is how you play... 1. Split your class up into 2 teams. (You can do more if you'd like) 2. Tape a piece of chart paper on opposite sides of the room for each team. You want them far enough apart where the other team can't see the others paper. 3. Write the topic you are covering at the top of the chart paper. 4. Time them for 1-2 minutes (sometimes this will be longer such as 3-4 minutes until everyone has a turn, but they think they only have one minute). 5. Each person write a vocabulary word and passes the marker to the next person. They are not allowed to talk while doing this. (The picture above, they had to write a pair of synonyms. They cannot write something that has already been written.) 6. They have 1-2 minutes to write as many words as they can. 7. When the time is up, the person holding the marker brings it to you. 8. I give each team one point for having the correct words. They race every day. On Monday-Wednesday, I do not count off for spelling. On Thursday and Friday, if a word is misspelled, I do not count it. This helps with preventing tie-breakers. 9. At the end of the week, the team with most points is the Word Speed Champ for the week! We play with a new piece of paper everyday so that they are able to use the same words. On Tuesday, I use the back of the page that they wrote on, on Monday. I kept a tally of the points on the board. I found that they loved this game so much, that they would go home and ask their families for words to use. Once the kids got into the routine of playing for various concepts, they would always ask if it was Word Speed time! Now lets talk about a class favorite that I use for multiple concepts. This little game is a BIG DEAL! It's called KABOOM! I blogged about this concept awhile back. You can read about it here. I'll do a quick recap. All you need to create KABOOM is popsicle sticks, a permanent marker, and a cup. Here's how to play: Color one tip of each popsicle stick. This end sticks out of the cup. Write a vocabulary word on each stick. You also need 5-10 KABOOM sticks. (For my academic vocabulary sets, I put 2 sets of vocabulary words that are 8 words each, and then 5 Kaboom! sticks. For sight words, I do a full set and then 10 KABOOM sticks. Place all the sticks in a cup with the colored tip sticking up. Students play rock, paper, scissors to see who goes first. The first player draws a stick and reads the word. For academic vocabulary they must read the word correctly and tell the meaning or use it in a sentence. This is good for differentiation in your groups. If the student reads the word and uses it in correctly they get to keep their stick. If they read it incorrectly or use it incorrectly, the stick must go back in the cup. If they draw a stick that says KABOOM! They have to put all of their sticks back into the cup. This is a BIG DEAL ya'll! The player with the most sticks at the end of the game wins! I like to play KABOOM with academic vocabulary at the beginning of each small group. I can easily differentiate each question I ask based on each student to fit their needs. We also play whole group using sight words, parts of speech, and for various math concepts. This is a favorite during stations as well. I keep all of my games set up in baskets and the kids can easily grab a cup when they have time. All the other games I have created are stored and labeled in ziploc bags. Last but most certainly not least is my personal favorite, Beach Ball Vocabulary! I originally started playing this game with math facts and learned that I could use it for all different subjects. You can read my math fact post here. All you need is a beach ball and a maker. Write vocabulary words all over the ball in a random order. Here is how to play: Have students form a large circle around the room while you or another student stands in the middle. GENTLY toss the beach ball to a student. Whatever word their thumb (you can pick right or left) lands on, they must tell the definition, use it in a sentence, or give an example of. Then they GENTLY toss the ball back to you and you throw it to another student. The example shown above was played with antonyms. Students had to say the antonym of the word one of their thumbs landed on. For academic vocabulary, I have all of unit 1 words written on a ball, all of unit 2 words written on a ball, etc. This way they are getting review of words we have already learned. All of the games show above can be used with multiple concepts such as academic vocabulary, synonyms/antonyms, prefixes/suffixes, compound words, contractions, parts of speech, sight words and so much more. Use them cross-curricular for math concepts or science and social studies. I hope you can incorporate at least one of these activities into your classroom! My kids love them and I hope yours do too! Have a great day!
Handy, free printable types of rocks worksheets for learn about igneous, metamorphic , sedimentary rocks, minerals, and rock cycle too.
BOOM! Sink the ships in this free printable, Hundreds Chart Battleship math game to help kindergarteners counting with 100s chart.
Here are 7 Bible Verse Memory Games that are fun, creative, and unique! Plus these Memory verse activiteis work with any Bible verse.
Cute coin money games is a great way for teaching money to kindergarten - including different coins with piggy bank activity for kids!
Learn about South Africa for kids with these Free South Africa Mini Books. Color, read, and learn facts and information about this African country.
With so many types and formats of writing that we ask of students, it can be overwhelming for them to know where to start, what kinds of language to use, and what the structure of
Teach map skills with a map flip book craft! Check out this differentiated "Where in the World Am I?" booklet.
10 hands-on ideas for teaching earth changes and landforms in 2nd grade science with engaging STEM earth changes activities kids love!
An activty hands-on gross motor geography game for kids
Little 2nd grade Social Studies Thinkers is a complete social studies curriculum for 2nd grade. It includes scripted lesson plans for the teacher, nonfiction read aloud books that can be printed or projected, PowerPoints to go with each lesson, as well as lesson activities and more.
Bring the engaging lessons of space exploration and understanding into your second grade classroom. These space activities and ideas are sure to keep your second graders engaged and learning
Paragraph Writing in 1st and 2nd Grade Just a few months ago we welcomed our first-grade friends and they were able to write a few words and if we were lucky, a complete sentence. How can we help t…
Fun ideas for teaching adjectives and descriptive writing that are just right for October and Halloween week in the primary classroom.
If your second grade students are working on writing friendly letters, you may be looking for a few tools to get started. Here are some resources to help.
your done! make head and legs fold un cut pieces together and glue fold in half cut up to folded line teacher made. very important to cut to the fold or lizard will not bend nicely! add patterens! Teacher comes around and folds in sides while students color cut on line while paper is folded, large triangle is body, small ones are saved for heads and legs next art class Fold paper, draw a slanted line from one corner to the next start with large paper folded in half
Ready to teach telling time to your students? Read this blog post for some creative and interactive ways you can make telling time a breeze.
Thinking before speaking is tough, even for adults. I created a social filter lesson to teach my kiddos how to use theirs in conversations.
This week with 2nd grade we continued looking at the artist Vincent Van Gogh (the previous week we looked at his still-lifes and made some lovely sunflower art). This week's focus however was on his painting "Starry Night" (a personal favorite of mine)! As a class we discussed how he created a sense of movement in his sky with his brushstrokes and lines and then did some line movements. I make all the kids stand up and repeat after me. "Horizontal!" We hold our arms out wide. "Vertical!" We hold our arms straight up (I tell them this is the touchdown line). "Diagonal!" We tilt our arms diagonally. "Wavy!" We do the wave. :) "Zig-zag!" We move our right arm up then down and then our left arm up and down. "Spiral!" We draw an invisible spiral in the arm. "Broken!" We hold our arms in front of our bodies so that our left and right hands are nearly touching at the fingertips but leave some space and pretend to be sad (because it's broken!!!). Then we discuss which line types would be the best choice to create the illusion of movement in our skies (we decide on wavy and spiral as being the best). Students then go back and fill a sheet of 9"x12" white drawing paper with a variety of lines in oil pastel. Afterwards students use liquid watercolor paints to paint their papers (I let them use whatever colors they'd like). The next day when the kids come in I show them a few cityscapes (which show the buildings as silhouettes). We discuss how to cut out interesting shapes out of black construction paper... then the kids go to work cutting and gluing! Each week I teach this lesson I am amazed by their creativity with this! I get silhouettes of Spongebob's house, the statue of liberty, skyscrapers, and other famous buildings - and the kids are SO excited as they work! If we have time after they finish their cityscapes we play a game of 'Simon Says' with the line types they learned (they LOVE this too)! Ohhhhh so much fun in the art room! :) BTW - I love my job!
Estimation in the Primary Classroom 2 comments Estimation, Freebies, math How often do you make an estimation? Chances are, it's probably more often than you think. We often estimate how much we're spending as we shop, we might guess how many people are in a room, we estimate the size of things, or how many items are on a shelf or in a box. Estimation is a part of our daily lives, so why not start exposing your students to this skill? Not only is estimation a life skill, but it's fun! Kids love to make guesses and see how they did. Even if their answers are way off, they always enjoy the process of guessing and checking. Here's a peek at how I cover the skill of estimation in my second grade classroom. While estimation can take many different forms, my philosophy is you have to start somewhere, so when I cover estimation, I like to work with a jar filled with objects. It's a great tool for teaching and giving students practice with making reasonable guesses. I bring the jar out every few weeks. So, let's start with the jar. As you can see, it's nothing fancy. It came from Dollar Tree. It's what you fill it with that makes it fancy and fun! But more on that in a moment. My jar is really a canister. ;) It isn't huge either. It's a 32 ounce canister (quart) and it's plastic because sometimes I let the kids handle it and I don't want to worry about glass shattering all over the place. I like to fill the jar with like sized objects. But, I also like to expose my students to objects of varying sizes. For example, one day we may estimate spider rings and the next time around, we might estimate marbles. This gives the students practice with using their reasoning skills while they make educated guesses as to how many given objects are in the container. You can fill an estimation jar with just about anything! Sometimes I buy cute little seasonal trinkets I see, and other times, I use what I have on hand. In the past, I've sent the jar home with a different student each week and let them fill the jar. I've even asked parents to send in items that could be used to fill the jar. Need some ideas for filling your estimation jar? Here are a few you might like: When it comes time to estimate, my students record their estimations in an estimation journal. Before we estimate, I have the students fill in the basics like the date and the name of the object we are estimating, and we talk about making reasonable estimations. I give a few examples and non-examples after I show them the objects outside of the jar. I like to remove one object and show them what it looks like on its own. I walk from table group to table group so they can see this. Then, I grab 10 of the objects and show them what that looks like. As I walk from table group to table group, I talk about how seeing this amount can help them to make a reasonable guess if they take the time to think carefully. As time goes by, I share the trick of roughly counting the number of objects in a row (they need to see the bottom of the jar to do this) and then using repeated addition to approximate the total. For many, this skill is pretty advanced and often ignored, but it's a great way to reach all your learners and to encourage a new level of thinking/reasoning. We spend some time talking about how our estimations are guesses, and that we might be wrong, and that's OK. We also talk about making a guess that makes sense (is reasonable). For example, it does not make sense to guess that there are 900 spider rings in a jar this size, but it might be reasonable guess that there are close to 100. Then, it's time to estimate. I walk from table group to table group and show them the full jar, up close. I make sure each student has a chance to get a good look before moving on. When my students are ready to record their estimation, I have them do so with a crayon. Crayon is hard to erase and is a more permanent means of recording their estimation. Using crayon prevents them from erasing and changing their estimation if it is "wrong." In the mind of many 7 year olds, if their guess doesn't match the actual amount, it's wrong. I want them to understand that it's a guess and therefore doesn't need to be changed. I remind them that if their guess was way off from the actual amount, it just means they need more practice with making estimations. NOTE: When students make their estimations, they are usually pretty far off target in the beginning, and that's OK. Over time, most of them get better at this skill. Just remember, it's an exercise in reasoning and exposure to a skill. I don't grade my students on this nor do I put any pressure on them. It's a fun way for us to practice a skill that will eventually translate into their everyday life. Once everyone has had a chance to make their estimation, it's time to count up all the objects! I leave this to the kids. I place a tray at each table group and dump some of the objects from the jar onto the trays. The students have to work together to figure out how many objects they have. I teach them to group the objects into tens for quick and easy counting. When the groups have figured out how many objects they have, one student reports the amount to me and I write it on the board. Once all the totals are written on the board, we add them up to determine how many objects were in the jar. This is a great way to expose them to adding multi-digit numbers. Then, we talk about how close/far away our estimations were. Finally, the students spend a few minutes drawing the contents of the estimation jar in their journal. You can grab a copy of the journal HERE. Simply copy as many blank student pages as desired and staple them together to create a journal for each student. :) The great thing about estimation is you can cover this skill as often as you want. Any amount of practice is going to be beneficial, and it's always lots of fun for the kids. Happy estimating! DON'T FORGET IT, PIN IT! Share It:
Second Grade has been such a blast already, but I am crazy excited about October in the classroom with my older friends! Halloween, pumpkins, changing leaves
This post contains affiliate links. We all love The Invisible Boy – it tugs on the heart strings whether we were invisible as students or the ones who overlooked other students. I’ve historically used this book with 3rd and 4th graders but this year, my co-counselor and I decided to try it out with our […]
This fun and simple science experiment is perfect for teaching the scientific method in a way that kids love! Find out how in this post.
Searching for tips and tricks to help older students fix letter formation? Here is a list of tried and true letter formation practice ideas to help your students get those letters fixed!
This post contains affiliate links to products I recommend. Read my full disclosure statement. Learning to add money, make change, and compare money amounts are skills that are coming up in our money unit. I've been working on putting together lots of fun games and engaging opportunities to practice. Here are some money activities for second grade
All About Adjectives is a NO PREP, printable pack designed to suit Kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2. It is important that students develop a strong knowledge base of adjectives early on to help improve their descriptive writing skills in later years.This pack contains 34 different adjective printab...
Teaching data and graphing to third grade students combines previously-learned math concepts with making sense of and organizing the information of
