Fri-YAY Fun!

Happy Fri-YAY! :) We have had multiple fun things happening in the classroom this week, but one thing that was new to our class was "Tech Time". We have a website we use at school with multiple different lessons. What we worked on today was keyboarding (home row) It was a great fun way for students to learn the correct way to efficiently type. My favorite part was how engaged the kids were. Plus the typing practice is to music so the kids love typing correctly and quickly so it sounds good. Below they are working hard and are soooo focused! 

I loved walking around and seeing the kids with their hands on home row and not just pecking at the letters! This is a skill they are going to need in their daily lives probably forever!

Since fall is in full swing we did our first bigger writing project this week! This included learning the writing process! We did it step by step: 1. Brainstorming 2. Rough Drafting 3. Revising 4. Editing with the teacher 5. Publish 

The kids did a great job! Last week we really focused on adding detail to our sentences, so I was so excited to see them using that skill in their writing! Our prompt was: In the fall I love to. . . .they also got to make this cute little leaf "man". . . we added these outside the classroom above our All About Me books we did the first week of school. 

NEXT, we have art! We completed leaf rubbings today. I figured since we were reading about leaves and writing about the fall we would do a fall art project. It was so easy and the kids loved it. In the video below you hear a student saying, "I'm going to pick some leaves up after school" YAY! It is so easy and relaxing...(best of all no mess)

Here is a project in the process... we got interrupted to go to PE.

Lastly, here is a picture of our owls. These are put up each time they receive a compliment from another teacher in the hall. They already have 4! This past week they got 2! I think they are starting to get in the swing of good hallway manners! We have a pretty great class:) After we get 11 owls we get to have a classroom party! So the kids get so excited each time they hear a teacher compliment them! 

I hope you all have a great weekend! Enjoy your time together as a family! 

-Miss Ellis

Daily 5 Rotations

Today we completed our Daily 5 rotations! The kids did SOO awesome, which made me so happy! I think we will have a great year implementing this. Basically the kids have choice on what they would like to do during our choice times....we have: Read to Self, Read to Someone, Word Work, Work on Writing, and Listen to Reading. Below are some pictures of the kids today during our rotations!

I love having the clip chart so the kids and I can BOTH see where they should be and what they should be working on! 

We have chrome books just for our grade level! I try and use them as much as we can, so we have a couple websites for the "Listen to Reading". The kids LOVE storylineonline.com (I also love it) ha!

Read to Self is always a good thing to practice! We have discussed in depth all of our rotations for Daily 5, ESPECIALLY Read to Self. The kids know what kind of books are a good fit for them during this time. I also just love seeing my kids enjoy that big cheetah chair! 

More word work...I love that the kids love this coin word work activity! It is great for their math skills and spelling skills! They do have multiple choices for word work activities, but I was just taking random pictures today. 

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Now I just want to show you a quick and easy activity I did with the kids today. We have been working on "Detail" in our sentences and making something OK to AWESOME. I had one student read and share hers with us! PS this would be a great at home activity you can do with no prep or crazy materials!  

Thursday!

Alright...I know I said I would be posting each day for spelling this week but I had a meeting right after school in TRF. So let me show you a picture and quick check in about what we do on Wednesday!

Below is a picture of our Sort and Copy. On Wednesday's the kids use their spelling words to write their sort and copy in our "test like" paper grid. This is good practice for them to have before their pre test and actual test! Once they get that done I check it and then they do a spelling choice.

Below are a couple pictures of some of our spelling choice options. . . 

NOW....For Thursday we do our pre test! The kids who scored 24/24 on their tests today do NOT have to test on Friday! Yahoo! I had four kids AGAIN who do not have to test tomorrow. Make sure to practice not only spelling those words but sorting them! 

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We have had so much fun the past couple days talking about verbs and dictionary practice. Below you will see some student work with their opened up dictionaries. We made it into a scavenger hunt and not only did the kids have fun learning how to operate the dictionary but I was having so much fun teaching it to them! One of my favorite parts about the lesson was having a student say, "I didn't think we were going to find any." Those two students found two and got the chance to write the page number on the smart board for the class! I love it!!

Here is the song we learned today about Verbs! Play it at home for the kids to show you how to move along with it! They had so much fun getting out of their seats today. 

Next up we had some AWESOME fourth graders come read a book to our class. Our school is working on having everyone read the same book about differences between people and how we are all unique. The fourth graders already read the book and created their "fish" to go with it. Students were each given a rock and then worked on painting their rocks to look like unique fish! We will be using them school wide hopefully this year in a project!

This is the book: Only One You

I will have to line up all the "fish" when they get their eyes on!! It was a fun project and I loved getting other kids from the older classes involved in my class. 

Speed Sort!!

Today in spelling we focused on SPEED SORTING! The kids love this and it is so easy to practice at home! The kids take their cut up words from yesterday and pull out all of their headers. Then they get a sand timer (Those ones that come in board games) and flip it over. Once the timer has started they try to sort their words as FAST as they can to try and beat the clock! It is fun to watch them when they do this activity. I put a video below of a couple students doing their speed sort. They are so focused when they play this "game". :) 

Also I noticed that there are some spelling choices in their homework that need a "coin chart" The kids have glued in the fronts and backs of their homework notebook the coin charts and scrabble tiles for those certain choices! Below is a picture of the coin chart and scrabble tiles paper! 

Today the kids also took home some SYMMETRY butterflies...This was a really fun art project to do with the kids...(we did it last Friday) Ask them how they mad both sides look the same!! 

Have a great day! Make sure those kiddos bring back their homework notebooks!!!!

Monday: Introduce Spelling Sorts

Today I sent a letter home with the kids about our spelling! The kids will be tested on only the starred words. If you child has no stars on their spelling list, they will be tested on all the words! I still expect students to practice ALL the spelling words each week for their homework choice. I am just sizing down for our tests.

In the letter I sent home I showed you our schedule for spelling during the weeks. Somedays we will change what we do for spelling practice, but for the most part this will be our weekly routine. I will be posting each day this week what we do in spelling! So below check out our Monday routine!

I have four differentiated spelling groups. Kids are at different levels, so we need to group them so they are challenged or not left behind! Below I have pictures of what we get in spelling each Monday.

First we start with our Homework choices. This page gets cut out and GLUED into their homework notebook. They are to do one spelling choice a night with all the words on the list. 

Next I take my different groups and go through their spelling words/sort for the week.(Remember there are four different spelling groups) As I meet with each group we talk about why they are sorted this way and the kids discover where they need to go. 

Once we go through this as a group the students go back to their desks with a double copy of the same list. This one is not color coded and we cut it up and leave it at school. Kids will be bringing home their color sorted words every Monday. These can stay at home because they will have the same list left at school cut up in a bag!

Sorry....this is not letting me rotate!! But as you can see this list got cut into pieces for spelling practice all week at school! 

So tonight kids should have brought home a purple"letter" from me along with their color coded word sort AND their homework notebook with their Homework Choices worksheet glued in. 

Tomorrow I will be posting about our Tuesday schedule! Have a great night! 

As If Wednesdays Weren't Busy Enough. . .

Today was early out for the kids, which means squeezing lots into our day! When we have early out the kids have to leave right from PE, which makes things interesting each week. Today not only did we have that to think about, but we had Mrs. Beckel coming in, Spanish starting (taught by Mrs. Hasbargen), and a couple high school hockey boys were coming in to read to our class!

Our math block is right away in the mornings,

and today I taught the kids how to use "Spin-It's". These are great for practicing different skills in a game style! This year we will be doing guided math, which is where the kids will be broken down into groups so they get more of a one-on-one teaching of our daily lessons! While they are not meeting with me they will be doing stations and fact fluency practice! Below is a video of a couple of the boys playing the spin it from our station! This was our first shot at them, so the kids worked with  partners, I think it was safe to say they LOVED them.

After math we had Mrs. Beckel! This was the first time she was in the room this year with us. She will be coming in every Wednesday! Below is a picture of a couple kids who already knew the different types of breathing we can do.

 Five Star Breathing:

Hot Cocoa Breathing :

Here is the high school hockey boys reading a story to the class! After they handed out youth hockey flyers to all the kids! The kids really enjoyed them coming in to read to them. 

Overall we had a GREAT busy Wednesday!!

DOJO Rewards

Last week I sent home a letter with a password on how to keep track of your child's DOJO points. If you didn't get this letter here is a picture of it below.....

(click to make larger)

Last week I also told the students what the weekly reward was for DOJO points.....The four students with the most good behavior points at the end of the week will get to use a DOJO chair ...These are just fun folding chairs I fixed up this summer. It was a good incentive for the kids! Below is a picture of our chairs....four students were smiling this morning when it was already placed at their desk!!

Hello!!

Another great day in the books for this hard working second grade class! These kiddos are hard workers and have been soooo busy in the classroom. I thought I would share some pictures of what we were up to today.

My first two kids in the classroom today were these two below! They had in common that they were both missing their top front tooth! I love that this is the age with all the wiggly teeth…I have already had about 3 kids come wiggle their tooth with their tongue for me! (haha)

We have also been discussing the importance of classroom rules this week! The kids came up with a huge web of rules on the smart board yesterday. After that they each got a post-it note and put what they thought were the top three most important in their opinion. We stuck them on our “We the Kids” poster until I have gone through their rules. I love getting them involved with creating rules for the class! That way if they break them I can say, “Hey! You made the rules!” J

The kids in math today learned how to convert their picture graphs we made yesterday into bar graphs! I love hearing them use math vocabulary. We really focused on repeating Pictographs today! They are such a bright bunch!

Lastly, one of our favorite things we did today was our “First Week of Second Grade” book. The kids did an AMAZING job on them and I was so proud. They really wanted to take them home today, but I wanted to read through them and give them a grade for their hard work. Here are some pictures of our books we were working on.

That's all I will show! The kids can show you the rest! Have a great evening.. 

Miss Ellis

First Day Jitters!

We not only survived the fist day of school, but we had a FANTASTIC day!! Oh my goodness. I already know this is going to be a great group of kids and a great year! We had so much fun today during all of our activities. We got through so many different lessons today, and I feel like I got such a better understanding of each child!

When the kids came into the room this morning they wrote and drew about what they did this summer. As kids strolled in at different times the kids were in charge of giving the students directions on what to do with their worksheet. I loved seeing them take charge and enjoy watching them help out their classmates.

After going through all of the kids’ supplies (which was a ton…kudos to all the parents for being prepared) we got a chance to play some ice breaker games and then dive right into our First Day Jitters activity! We read the book and completed a fun sheet and then continued on to reading a poem and drinking JITTER JUICE! The kids brought their poem home today, and I must say for the first read aloud together they did a great job reading! I was impressed. Below is a picture of Jitter Juice, which was to help them get rid of the jitters in their tummies (and arms according to others)

We did so many other fun things, but one thing that I just loved was when they wrote about what they wanted to be when they grow up! They completed a writing activity called, “When I Grow Up…” and later I pulled the kids aside to take pictures of them holding a chalkboard with their future job on it! (Pictures to come later!) It was so fun listening to them talk about the different job. I heard: Jailor, Blacksmith, and Farmer just to name a few! These kids have big dreams already, and I love it!

I did send home with the kids an info yellow slip on Early-Out Wednesdays. Every Wednesday this year will be early out (dismissal at 2:38) I also sent home in their take home folder those business cards I posted about after Meet the Teacher Night! Please stick them on your fridge and show your kids the blog!!

Have a great evening… we will see your kiddos tomorrow for another terrific day!

Business Cards ;)

I wish I would have thought about making a card for Meet the Teacher Night! Last night when I got home I decided to whip up a little business card. Is that funny for a teacher to have a "business card"? That seems silly... ;)  But it also seems like a great idea! I will be sending the cards pictured below home with the kids Tuesday...I am putting a magnet on the back, so PLEASE hang it on your fridge!! I would love for you to stay current with our blog.