Is it too soon to be talking about ‘Back to School ideas’ already?
I love using interactive lapbooks in the classroom. They are fun to create, engaging and can be used throughout the year to review skills taught. I finally completely my Lapbook Bundle and I am happy to share the lapbooks included with you. Whether you think your learners will enjoy creating all of the lapbooks, if you
These first day of school tips and ideas for teachers are perfect for back to school! Grab your freebies for second grade today!
Hey hey hey! It’s BACK TO SCHOOL season!! Oooooh, I’m just so excited for a brand new school year, so I thought I’d help you start your year off with a bunch of free greatness to use with your class! I’ve included freebies from some AMAZING teacher mamas, so scroll on through to check ou
FREEZE is the math movement game of every elementary teacher’s dreams! It combines academics, social skills, movement, AND fun into one amazing activity.
Do you teach your first and second-grade students to learn how to write a paragraph? In this post, I share ideas, lessons, and activities for students to learn how to write their own paragraphs in a structured way. Before I dive in, I wanted to let you know you can watch or listen to all […]
This Animal Report can be used for ANY animal. It is a great way to help elementary students research and write about animals. Students participate in
habitat science unit for first grade, second grade, or third grade
Start off the elementary school year with these special back to school lessons and activities that are fun and important for K-2 kids: Participate in community building activities, get to know each other with All About Me activities, and build friendship and empathy with students.
Each Monday we collaborate with our building's new and Dual Language staff members for a professional development session based on what they highlight as their needs and/or desires for learning! This week we focused on Daily 5 ideas as all of our staff are currently working hard to get their stations and guided reading up and running! The teachers who attending the session came up with a variety of wonderful ideas and activities that could potentially be used throughout the year in these work stations. I thought some of you may enjoy taking a gander at what they came up with as well! Just a little background... we utilized a strategy many of you may be familiar with called "Round Robin" to gather ideas during our meeting. The staff were given the anchor charts with only the titles and asked to add any activity ideas they were doing, would like to do, etc. based on the title on their paper. We gave each group 1 minute to brainstorm and write their ideas, and then they were asked to pass the poster to the next group. We continued to do this until all posters had made it to all groups. This is a great strategy that you could use with your students as well to assess their background knowledge and/or learning of concepts. You could even do it at the beginning of the year to see what activities they already know and enjoy doing during Daily 5 if they are familiar with it from the year past! This may give you some insight as to what they may want to do in your classroom as well! Alright now onto the posters...keep in mind these were quickly written by our staff and we discussed them a bit after as well, so not everything may make perfect sense! But feel free to ask questions in the comments if you have any and I would be happy to try my best to answer! After our meeting, I also took some time to type up all of their ideas onto one page for them to hold on to and refer to throughout the year. You are welcome to a copy if you'd like- just click on the image below :)! (Graphics: Scrappin Doodles, Priscilla Concepcion)
One of my favorite time-saving organizational tools? My curriculum map template! Creating a curriculum map and monthly pacing guide
Planning the first week of school can be overwhelming. Check out these fun and easy activities to make the first week of second grade stress free!
Need some graphic organizers for students K-3rd grade? Grab my free writing rraphic organizers to help students get started writing!
Use low-prep writing crafts to get students excited about writing and showcase everything they have learned.
Using sentence frames to get ell students writing. Click here for more:
If you have been following our blog, you might have seen our post about our favorite teacher hack, earlier finisher packets! If you missed it, don’t worry, I will sum it up real quick for you. Essentially, despite teaching different grade, Emmy and I realized we were both having the same Issue. Kid
Grammar Day by Day is a great option for teachers who want quick, no prep options for daily grammar practice with 2nd grade students.
Science journal activities for budding scientists. Have your students keep a standards-based science journal like a true scientist.
Friday letters offer so many insights into your students and keep parents connected to your classroom. See how I teach students to manage them themselves.
Practice grade 2 math with FREE printable 2nd grade math worksheets. Turn second grade math worksheets into a FUN Mad minutes game!
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• THIS 2 PAGE DOCUMENT IS A SIMPLE VERSION AND DOES NOT CONTAIN ALL SECOND GRADE STANDARDS. YOU CAN FIND THE VERSION WITH ALL STANDARDS HERE: 2nd Grade Reference Guide- All Common Core Standards •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• This product is bundled with other 2nd grade common core I can reference tools here : 2nd Grade Common Core I Can Statements Bundle This skill goal sheet is a 2 page resource that is a fun and very visual way for the kids and parents to see second grade skills. There is one sheet for ELA and one sheet for math. Easy to copy front and back to communicate general 2nd grade expectations to parents and students This can also be provided to parents at conferences, parent teacher conferences or open house to inform parents what their child is expected to learn. These can be placed in homework folders or data notebooks as a form of communication to students to allow them to see all they have learned. Includes basic second grade skills such as: reading multi- syllable words reading with fluency retelling stories reading short and long vowel words counting, identify numbers and writing to 1000 telling time identify halves, thirds, and fourth reading and writing sight words adding and subtracting with fluency adding and subtracting 10 and 100 writing personal narratives This does not include all second grade standards but a great variety so students and parents can see what is expected. Included with the common core standards listed in each box and a second version with only the images and text. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• You may also like the other grade level skill sheets found here: •Pre-Kindergarten Skills •Kindergarten Skills •First Grade Skill Sheet •3rd Grade Skills •4th Grade Goals Sheet ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
I DID IT! I survived the first week of second grade, again! It was actually probably my best first week yet! I spent lots of time at the end of the year preparing for back to school. Opening my Back to School box was such a relief, because so much work was already done! Of ... Read More about The First Week of Second Grade
Create a solid math foundation with these tips for teaching place value in 1st grade. Use these ideas to avoid place value mistakes!
Massive list of classroom jobs for elementary students in preschool, kindergarten, first grade, or second grade - such great ideas for classroom jobs!
Setting up a fact fluency program in a classroom can be daunting- where do I store it all? How do I keep track? How do I determine if students are successful? What do I do if they aren't making progress? I have set up and run a fact fluency program in my classroom for a few years now, and while I was overwhelmed at first, I found that it's not as hard as you think to help students become fluent in math! It just takes 4 simple steps to get your fact fluency program up and running. Get Organized: I find that everything goes so much more smoothly if I am organized before I begin anything, and that's especially important when running a fact fluency program. Having assessments ready, keeping track of student data... it can be really overwhelming. I personally use a two part system for keeping myself organized, and I find that it really works. First, I printed out all of the testing originals for both addition and subtraction. I like having the originals all in one place because then I don't have to find the file on my computer, print out the page I need, run down to the copy room to make copies... I just grab my binder when I need more copies and take it to the copy room, make all the copies I need, and put the originals back in the sleeve when I'm finished! I hate trying to find things on my slow computer, so this works for me. I used to keep the student assessments in the binder as well, but I found that having all those extra pages in there was a little less organized than I would like it to be. So I decided to use hanging file folders in a crate to organize assessments. And since I really love it when things are color coded, particularly in color order, I created tabs that matched the color of each level. Inside the files for each level are the different assessments, the flash cards for that level, and copies of the reward certificate ready to go. When a student passes a level, I can easily grab the next set of flash cards and the reward certificate, staple them to their completed assessment, and send it home! It is also really easy to see how many more copies I may need of a particular assessment, and it's easy to slide them down in there once I've copied them. It is also important for you to determine what fluency looks like in your classroom. How long do they have to complete the assessment? Do they need to get them all correct? How many problems do they need to do- 25 or 15? 3 seconds per problem is considered "fluency" based on what I've heard. I give my students the 25 problem sheet. If a student does not complete 2-3 problems but gets the rest correct, I usually consider that "fluent" since it's above 80% mastery and let them move on. However, if the student is making computation mistakes, I don't. Of course, you will have to choose what works in your classroom! Practice, practice, practice! An important part of fact fluency is giving your students time to practice! I always begin our program with a letter to parents letting them know that we are going to be using the program this year. Attached to the letter is a copy of the 0s facts for them to practice with their child. I usually give them a few days or so to practice their facts at home and in the classroom before we do the first assessment. In the classroom, I like to integrate our fact fluency practice into our Fast Finisher activities, as well as math centers when appropriate. Several of our Fast Finisher activities involve some sort of fact practice. Flash cards: We began with the option of flash cards first- they are easy and since mine are color coded, the kids could just grab the color that matches the level they are working on. Fact Fluency Flip Books: A second option for my students are Fact Fluency Flip books. These are little books that students can grab and work on. Each book contains 8 pages with 11 different activities for practicing facts. For example, there is a page of number bonds, a page of number lines, etc... These are probably best for saving to use after you've taught addition strategies. I have 4 different books for each level, so students can grab a different book each time they use one. Games: I use lots of addition and subtraction games with my students that help to build fluency. Most of these games are simple as well! Games like Bump or Roll and Cover give students fluency practice while making it fun. War is another fun game, where students choose two cards, add the numbers together, and decide who has the higher sum. Other games where students are practicing adding together or subtracting two numbers are perfect for increasing fluency and providing students with practice! Boom Cards: My students LOVE Boom Cards, and if you haven't checked them out, you should! There are a ton of both free and paid options available both on the Boom website and Teachers Pay Teachers. Hot Dots: Hot Dots are something my students love to use. Power Pens are another similar option and the pens can be used interchangeably with the different card sets. I got mine through Donors Choose, so if this is something your school allows, it's definitely an engaging option to check out! There are addition and subtraction and Power Pens addition and subtraction sets that you can purchase. There are also Power Pen stickers that you can purchase to create your own. I find that having lots of choices increases student engagement and keeps them from getting bored using just one method to practice their facts. If they're tired of Boom Cards, they can use Hot Dots that day. Track Progress Of course, tracking your students progress is important to continuing to increase fluency! There are so many ways to track student progress. You can do a whole class board where students move their name to the level they are on, or write their name on each level once they've passed it. Or you can choose to make it a bit more private. Or you can choose not to track at all! In my Growing Fact Fluency pack, I've included tracking sheets for the teacher to use, as well as fun tracking sheets that the students can use to track their own progress. I also have included sticker charts, reward tags, and certificates to both track and celebrate student progress! Tracking also helps alert you to any difficulties a student may be having. When I realized that two of my students were really struggling with making it past their 1s facts, I knew that I needed to work with them and give them more opportunities to increase their fluency. I downloaded Boom Card games that just practiced adding one. One student was not actually adding one and did not understand the concept, so I taught a small group lesson on how adding one is just counting up one more. I have also included options for differentiating, so struggling students can be given the page with only 15 problems while everybody else has 25. By keeping track of their progress, I was able to identify those difficulties and work on those particular skills. Reap the Rewards I am not usually one for extrinsic rewards, and generally my Fact Fluency program operates in that same manner. For most students, knowing they've passed that level and are moving on to the next level is enough for them to be motivated. That being said, I do think it's very important to acknowledge their progress. I send home a certificate with the students once they've passed a level. If possible, I send it home that day. Attached to that certificate is the next set of fluency flashcards to begin working on. I also move their clip to the next level on our bulletin board so they can see their progress. They also get to move to the next set of Fact Fluency Flip Books, which they seem to find exciting. You can choose to do any sort of rewards you want to do with this program, and that's one thing I love about it. I've used this program different ways with different classes. I have options for different ways to track and reward, including sticker charts and reward tags, along with the certificates. Also, you can take the pressure off your students and not worry about levels, or tracking, or time, and just have fun with learning facts! Play the games, randomly use the fact fluency assessments for fun, or don't. All that matters is that your students become more fluent with their math facts and use them to become better and faster at math in general. How you choose to approach that is up to you and what works best for your students.
Classroom teachers have a ton of daily tasks to guarantee that students are engaged and learning. It's a tough job, and a stressful one, too. Teachers wear out easily if their classrooms aren't well managed. Creating a classroom that runs itself while you teach in smaller groups is the best way to keep students engaged.
One of my favorite things about back to school, is knowing that I get to meet and love on a brand new bunch of kids for the school year. I’m sure you feel the same way, and have your lesson planner packed to the max with different “get-to-know-you activities.” I want to share with you […]
Second Grade Language Arts First Semester 18 Weeks Workbook Free Printable 18 weeks of planned lessons for second graders! This one was taking a little longer than expected so I thought breaking it…
It's that time of year again! Open House season is here and we are busily working on projects to share with our parents on our big night. One of the big projects my students will be working on is their Animal Diorama and Research Report. This was something I did for the first time last year, and it was a HIT! I got this idea after my son had to make a diorama for his first grade class last year. We had so much fun creating his animal diorama as a family project, that I decided it was something I had to do with my class too! I brought the idea up to my second grade team, and they were all very excited about it... so we went for it! We decided to give the assignment the week before STAR testing. Since we wouldn't be giving homework during the two weeks of testing, that would give students more time to research, gather materials, and work on their projects. Students had about three weeks to complete their projects. We decided to have the students bring in their completed dioramas the day before Open House. We were thrilled with the results! Here are a few student samples from last year: Along with this diorama project, our students will also be completing an Animal Research Report poster with information and illustrations, as well as a writing assignment and an oral presentation. Our students will be getting both a Science and Language Arts grade for this project. I'm offering my Animal Research Report poster as a FREEBIE on TpT! Here's a sneak peek: You can grab it here. Animal Research Report Poster If you're looking for everything needed to do this Animal Diorama project with your class, take a peek at my Animal Diorama and Research Report Project Pack! It's got everything you'll need in one convenient spot! Last year, I struggled to find examples of dioramas online to show my students, so I've included detailed photo samples of my own students' projects, as well as a step-by-step presentation for your students. Here's a preview of all of the goodies included in this project pack! In addition to the Animal Research Report Poster and step by step presentation for your students (which can be projected onto your Smartboard or other type of computer projector), I've also included a student-friendly rubric with grading expectations for all aspects of this project, as well as a grading rubric for teachers to use when giving final grades for this project, student instruction sheet, writing template for research report, and a presentation outline to help guide students on what to focus on for their oral presentation. It's everything I struggled to put together last year for this project in one convenient place!
Real-life inspiration!
I've been teaching gifted and high achieving students for the past 15 years. In that time, I've come to have a great understanding o...
Inspire your second writers with this list of journal ideas and 2nd grade writing prompts shared by one of our Journal Buddies readers!
Reading self-portraits, clay snails, and much more!
Free printable 2nd grade minimalist math curriculum that covers the same breadth of difficulty and variety of problems without all the repetition.
When I took this second grade position, I had many things on my to-do list. However, the first item on my list was classroom management ideas. Any teacher would agree that the most important skill in running a class is classroom management. There are so many strategies, but my go-to is Class Dojo! The Benefits
Kids love to be helpers, so give them some amazing classroom jobs for students that will build responsibility and make your life in the classroom easier.
