FIVE for FRIDAY!

It's been a while since I linked up to Doodlebugs Teaching and Teaching Maddeness...

I'm linking up today because we went to Chocolate Fest last night (see #5). You know you'd do the same if you were in my position!

1. BRAGGING!
OK, so I have to brag. I had a little love come in to second grade at a reading level D. LEVEL D! O.M.G. Child didn't leave first grade that low. Experienced what we all know and love: Summer Loss :( We worked and worked and WORKED this year, and guess what?! Little Love is now reading at an M. YES PEOPLE!!! M!!!!! The bunny went from a beginning first grade reading level to end of second grade, meeting grade level expectations! YAY!!!! I am so proud!!!!

2. FOSSILS!
We made fossils yesterday. Probably my most favorite project in all of 2nd grade!

Put a golf-ball-sized piece of clay in a punch cup. MUST be a punch cup, as they're wider than regular Solo cups. Smooth it out with your thumbs.

Imprint a dino figure into the clay. Make sure you push in the head, legs, tail, spikes, plates, etc.

Take dino figure out.

Mix Plaster of Paris

Pour plaster into the cup, filling the imprint. Tap it on the table a few times to get rid of the air bubbles and get it into all the spaces and grooves.

Let them dry over a few days. A long weekend... say Memorial Day weekend would be ideal.

Try really hard not to let the plaster splash up onto your face...

....  or get it all over your clothes and hands.

I gotta work harder at that "don't get it all over you" part.

I actually did this with two classes today, as one of my teammies was home with a sick baby, and we thought it would be cruel to make the sub do it. LOL. It was stressful, but fun!

3. DIRT CAKE! 
My other teammie had two birthdays in her class yesterday! The birthday bunnies both brought in dirt cake... on purpose! Ha ha ha! I got both! I LOVE dirt cake :)

SO delish!

4. LINKY PARTY!
Don't forget about the Classroom Quick Tips linky that Jean and I are hosting on Thursdays!

You can still link up with a quick tip that makes life in your classroom easier :)

5. CHOCOLATE FEST!
There is a Nestle factory in my town, and every Memorial Day weekend, the city holds Chocolate Fest. Now now, don't get too excited. You get a fun-sized Crunch bar when you come in, but that's pretty much it. It's your typical small town carnie, but fun can still be had by all!

The kiddos LOVED this puppet show. It was quite possibly the most annoying thing EVER!

Train Ride! 

Putting out fires!

Bumper cars (that didn't work)

Met up with my brother in law and sister in law. They snapped a pic in front of this REALLY CREEPY  automated music show.

The dragon roller coaster.

We went home, got our jammies on, then came back to watch the fireworks. This is one way we entertained ourselves while we waited for them to start.

Ooooohhh! Ahhhhh!!!

Happy Memorial Day and 3 day weekend!!! :D

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FIVE, WINNERS, and Classroom Pics!

Sorry I'm late to the party... The hubs and I took Sly to a minor league hockey game last night (so fun!!) and then the weather was so beautiful today that we were doing yard work and playing outside all day. I think my excuses are justified :)

Thanks to Doodlebugs Teaching and Teaching Maddeness for coordinating these linkies every week.

Here's what we've been up to in the classroom!

1. Poetry Continued
This week we learned about some of the kinds of figurative language. Figurative language is so fun to learn about, but I'm really focusing on why poets use it: to help the reader visualize and use their senses to respond to a poem. We learned about onomatopoeias, alliteration, assonance, idioms, and personification. One activity we did was each student wrote an alliteration using the first letter of their name. They turned out so cute that I hung them up in the hallway :)

That's quite the jungle gym!

"Equivalent"... Yes! Someone's paying attention in math!

This one got a little long, but she was so proud of herself!

Next week we will be focusing on metaphors and similes, as well as using our reading comprehension strategies when we read poetry.

2. MAP Testing... Groan...
We had our first Spring MAP test yesterday. I always petition to do the Math test first because I think it's the least stressful and brain-power-sucking. I spotted this awesome pin (originally from Bulletin Board Ideas) and created my own "iKnow" for my second graders and the MAP test.

Close up

It's supposed to look like an iPad/iPod/iPhone, but the silver Sharpie I was using was on its last leg. It turned out super cute though, and the bunnies really connected to it!

Here we are on Test Day! I was a bundle of NERVES! In my district, teachers are evaluated based on kids meeting their target growth (among other things), and I'm excited (and a bit relieved) to say that all but one student made their target growth! I had one little love beat her goal by 10 RIT points! Yessss!!! 1 test down, 2 to go... :/

3. Leap Frog Learners!
We did this super fun measuring, data collecting, and graphing activity called Leap Frog Learners.

Here we are in action!

 You can read more about it here! I also promised to give a few copies away, and so the winners are...

Michelle!

Amanda!

Watch your emails, ladies! :)

4. Animal Research Reports!
I mentioned a few weeks ago that my Studentreasures kit came in, and my press date is May 14th! YIKES! We started by choosing our animals. The library aides at my school are A-MAZE-ING!!! and they help me run this dog-and-pony show every year. They set up 5 tables: mammals, birds, fish, insects, and reptiles & amphibians on the same table. This year they also pulled some animals that don't fit in these groups (scorpions, crabs, earthworms, kangaroos, etc.) to give the kids even more options. I swear, they pulled 200+ animal books! Then students spend 3-5 minutes at each table to explore their options. Even though it takes a lot of time, I love doing it this way so that I don't end up with a book of all mammals. Some of the animals I got this year: tiger, elephant, hummingbird, mustang, salamander, and a tick. Oh yes, you read that right. Someone's doing a tick. EW.

Someone else is doing a hippo. You'd think I'd be ecstatic about that one, but I'm not. (Said in a whiney voice) I ALWAYS DO THE HIPPO!!! I usually model the process with a hippo since I have a unhealthy obsession with them. We started to prewrite on Friday, and I modeled with a wolf. Lame :( When I modeled with a hippo, I would say, "Oh look. It says right here, 'Hippos can't swim. They actually bounce along the river bottom.'" when it really might not say that in the book. I just know that  little nugget of info. I was bumbling fool when I was modeling the prewriting process with the wolf... :/

5. The Ducks are Back!
This is really a big deal, folks! Every year a mama duck lays her eggs underneath the same platform on the playground. The custodians block it off so the ducks stay safe, and every recess we have to shoo the kiddos away so as to not scare the mama away.

Lastly, here are my three favorite spaces in my classroom, courtesy of Latoya at Flying into First.

This is my calendar and carpet area. I love the "big, brown chair." I got it at Salvation Army for $10 when I first started teaching. I was shopping with my mom, and she actually bargained on the price and got it for $5 off! What I love most about it is how low it is to the ground. I feel like I'm still at the students' level even though I'm sitting in the chair. I also love the black side table. It was one of my "Monday Made It" projects from this summer. I bought it at Walmart for $12 and assembled it, then I put pink and gray argyle duct tape around the edge to spice it up!

This is where I store all my math manipulatives. I love how organized and easily accessible they are for students. In the folder slots, my students keep their writer's workshop folders and cursive handwriting books. On the top shelf are my extra supplies: crayons, markers, colored pencils, scissors, etc.

Lastly, this is where I keep all of the papers my students need: handwriting paper, recycled copy paper, spelling pretest and test papers, graphic organizers for writer's workshop. The paper organizer on the top is where my students turn in their classwork. They organize it for me: Daily 5 work, math, spelling, writing, and then the basket on the top is the "catch all" for things that don't belong in any of the cubbies below. I'm not a very organized person, so if I can get the bunnies to organize for me, it makes my life a lot easier!

Well I'm off to link up and catch up on all the blogs posts I've missed over the last two days! Good night! :)

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Science Mentor Texts Linky

Saw this super fun linky over at Collaboration Cuties and just had to join in!

We are starting our Animals unit in science this week, and I wanted to share one of my favorite animal books:

Here a quick review:

This was a toss up between another one of Ruth Heller's books, Chickens Aren't the Only Ones. What I love about Ruth Heller's books is that she writes in a way that captivates children. Her writing has a catchy rhythm and rhyme. It is easy for kids to understand, but also uses science terms (like oviparous). My one word is "funformational." Yep, I made that word up :) This book is fun for kids AND informational! Win Win!

What are some of your favorite books you use to teach science? Or animal life cycles... since I'm teaching that for the next three weeks :) Head on over and link up!

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A Peek at My Week

Hello sweet friends! Is it just me, or was this the longest. week. EVER?!?! Here's a peek as to what we've been up to this week!

Today started off on a positive note for me. We had a staff meeting and the superintendent came to pass out the monthly "You Rock" awards. One of my teammies nominated me for the award! It was a little embarrassing because I don't like everyone staring at me, but it still made me feel all warm and fuzzy :) Then the TAG (Talented and Gifted) teacher gave me a hippo cookie cutter!!! I think everyone will be getting hippo cookies next week!

1. It Weighs a Ton!

To wrap up our Measurement unit, we have been learning about weight. I have a hard time teaching this skill in the past because it's difficult to help kids to realize how much is an ounce, pound, gram, kilogram... And then it dawned on me:

DUHHH!!! I had this HUGE bag of rice in my closet (because doesn't everyone have rice in their closets at school?), so I weighed out an ounce, pound, and kilogram, put them into Ziplock bags and passed them around the circle. Last year I ordered a set of gram weights with my budget money, so I passed those around as well.

I love this food scale I ordered. Sorry, I don't know where it's from, but it works like a dream. Much better than that stupid spring scale! And yes, we're weighing one of my hippo figurines as well as a Brewers Racing Sausage Bobble Head... among other things not seen in this pic :)

2. Poetry! Fun for You and Fun for Me!

Unless you've been under a rock for the past few weeks (or years...), you know that April is the primo month for poetry. We've spent this week learning what all poems have and what some poems have. I seriously LOVE my anchor chart!

We've spent this week learning about the elements of poetry, including rhythm, rhyme, and repetition. Next week we will learn about all the kinds of figurative language. SO FUN! If you want to read more about how I teach my students to write poetry, click HERE!

3. DIY Whisper Phones!

We also talked about how poems are meant to be read aloud. The hubs made these whisper phones for me a few years ago, which came in very handy during Read to Self this week:

It only took him an hour to whip up 6 of these little guys, and the total cost was less than $10! All you need are a few elbow PVC pipe (found in the plumbing section of a home improvement store), and the purple glue.  Then I cute-ed them up with some pattered duct tape :)

4. Progress Reports? Check!

My school grades on trimesters. Yay for me that I only have to do report cards 3 times a year! But that also means I have to do progress reports 3 times a year as well. So I don't know it's a positive or negative, as I went from 4 grading sessions to 6... Progress reports are easier than report cards though because I can either give an S (satisfactory) or an N (needs improvement) for each subject area plus social development and work habits. I usually write 1-2 sentences (or more for those Ns) in each box.

While it is extra work, I do like that every six weeks parents get a report about how their children are doing. I think it keeps the lines of communication open between families and me, and there are very few surprises as to how their kids are doing in school. Progress reports went out yesterday, and I was able to crank them out in one night :)

5. Adventure to Fitness!

My BBB Jean at Diving into 2nd Grade has been whispering in my ear for months about this. After almost 2 straight weeks of indoor recess due to massive amounts of rain, I finally signed up for a FREE account for Adventure to Fitness. WHAT WAS I WAITING FOR??? Seriously, they LOVE it!!!

Not only do the bunnies get in a  work out, but they also learn educational facts about the topic. This week we did the Greek, Egyptian, and the Volcano videos. I even had kiddos from other classes asking to join us. I think at one point there were 40+ kids in my room. My teammie said that her kids were coming back sweating LOL! And to prove that it really works, check out this little love's face after running in "Mega Mode!"

LOL she was cracking me up!!!

Happy Weekend!!

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