{Tricks & Treats} BLOG HOP with The Elementary Entourage!

Welcome to the Elementary Entourage's Tricks & Treats Blog Hop. I hope you are enjoying yourself this Friday!! Thank you so much for stopping by to check out some of my Tricks and Treats here at The Sunny Side of Second Grade.

For those of you who are new, welcome! For those of you who have been faithful followers, thank you so much for sticking with me. I hope everyone is enjoying the cooler weather as we enter into fall, a favorite season for most of us! I know I am enjoying the cooler weather because it means scarves, boots, and a real excuse for me to drink coffee ALL DAY LONG...

Most of you already know that I teach second grade at a year round school. We started our year in July and just finished our first week back with students after our Fall Intersession. I have found that I am already having to reach into my bag of tricks to maintain my sanity! Don't worry traditional calendar teachers, if you aren't there now .... you will be soon.

One of my all time favorite tricks of the trade to maintain sanity during the beginning of the sugar rush season is Go Noodle.

So many new and experienced teachers have chosen to become a Go Noodle classroom, and if you haven't yet, please check them out. This website provides brain breaks for students. It is a well-known fact that students need periods of rest in between stretches of learning. This website allows them to actively rest through dance, song, and relaxation.

Each week, I set up my SMART Notebook file for my classroom. After I segment the week into daily sections for the content I intend to teach {please note the word intend there...you know}, I place pages along the way where I believe students will need a brain break. You should hear the excitement when the SMART notebook page flips and Go Noodle shows. It is an instant reward!

I have found that if I schedule them throughout the day, then we do them more. Go Noodle makes me happy and we all know Happy teacher = happy students!

Now what are some tricks of the trade without a treat to go with it. I have designed a product just for this blog hop, and my first ever Halloween themed product. If you need some math review in your classroom, then this just might be the product for you. I think this would work nicely as independent work, morning work, in centers, you name it! Click on the image below to snag your freebie from my store, and please don't forget to leave some love! :) A follow here, there, and everywhere is always a plus! Happy Haunting!

An InLinkzLink-up

{Secret Admirer Blog Hop - The Elementary Entourage}

Hey y'all! I am back to share with you another fun blog hop from all of us over at The Elementary Entourage! We all participated in a secret admirer exchange, and I was lucky enough to receive this beautiful card from Kelsey over at Aloha in 2nd! This card made my day and is so fitting don't you think?! Thanks, Kelsey!!

In addition to this cute exchange among our bloggers, we also have freebies in store for you...just in time for Valentine's Day next week. If you are looking for a fun activity to do with your students during the week of Valentine's Day, then I have just the thing for you. This Math Scoot will have students engaged and actively learning! What more could we ask for? This scoot has a fun Valentine theme to fit right in with your other Valentine activities you already have planned. I hope you enjoy!

{Click on the link above to be taken to my TPT store and download}

Don't forget to check out the rest of our crew in the blog hop!

An InLinkz Link-up

Secret Santa Blog Hop {Merry Christmas!}

{Click on the picture above for a direct link to the hop}

I am always looking for ways to incorporate more writing into my day. You can ask any of my co-workers, though, writing is my absolute favorite subject to teach. The holidays provide so many different writing opportunities for our little sweeties. I read a book and automatically begin thinking of how I can extend the book into a writing assignment. For example, I used the template you will see below on two different days.

First, we have been learning about fairy tales, doing A LOT of comparing and contrasting, so it just made sense to try to write our own. When I taught Kindergarten I always started with a visual. It seemed to get those creative juices flowing. I would have my little kinders color a picture and then tell me about THEIR picture. Each would be uniquely written masterpieces when they were finished. This writing assignment was no different. We began by building a snowman (yes, it is okay if you just sang the Frozen song in your head...I did, too).

Next, we brought out the writing starter for A Snowy Tale. It begins like most fairy tales...Once upon a time. We discussed possibilities for their fairy tales. They were able to tell me that they should have a main character, a clear setting, a problem and a solution. My sweeties described the plot, paying careful attention to the beginning, middle, and end.

Because they were able to look at their snowman, the stories wrote themselves! I was walking around astounded and how much they were writing and how fast. Many had to use the back of the paper!!!

At the end of the week we began the second lesson, although it is not finished. We started by reading the story Snowmen at Night and then discussed snowmen activities at night. This was such a fun conversation! We brainstormed whole group on the SMART board and came up with different activities. I modeled a story where my snowman, Blizzard, constructed a game of checkers using other snowmen! They loved this activity. Again, the creative juices were flowing, and I was not pulling teeth to get an opinion writing sample before our break.

Sound like fun?! Well you are in luck because I have put all of this in a fun pack for you for FREE!!!! Merry Christmas to all of you! I wonder...how many Olaf's will you have in your class?

{Click the image above to download your freebie from my TPT store} Don't forget to provide feedback and follow me on TPT!

Don't forget to check out all my other friends in the blog hop!

An InLinkz Link-up

Fall Favorites Blog Hop

Happy Fall Y'all!!!

I am so excited to be a part of another cool blog hop. In this blog hop I am linking up with some amazing bloggers as we all go through and talk about our Fall Favorites.

I have said it before, but I will say it again... I L-O-V-E FALL Y'ALL!!! While I may not decorate my mantle and go crazy on decorations like my friend, Dianna at Sassy, Savvy, Simple Teaching, I do love everything about Fall. The cooler weather, the jeans and BOOTS, scarves, pink cheeks on my munchkins, and FOOTBALL!!!!! Check out the decorations I typically do around my home. Our poor little scarecrows that symbolize our three munchkins have not held up very nicely, but the kiddos have managed to improvise to make sure they are all out in front of the house for the Fall season.

I have already posted so many of my Fall Favorites from school in posts this week, but I wanted to share my bulletin board with you:

Because I teach at a Magnet School of Technology and Innovation, I am always looking for ways my little sweeties can actively interact with technology. Here, we read snippets of stories and made QR codes. Parents were able to scan their child's QR code during a recent Back to School Night and hear their child reading. Parents were so excited to experience this activity with their child.

My husband is currently away running the Spartan Beast this weekend in South Carolina and all I can think about is a family message board. Fall always means projects to me for some reason. Take a peak at what I plan to head to Lowe's for a little later today or tomorrow...and yes it is because I am procrastinating writing lesson plans!

Thank you for stopping by today to see some of my Fall Favorites. Head on over to my little TPT Store to snag my items during my fall sale. 10% off my products until Monday! Enjoy!!!

{Click on the image above to go directly to my store}

Hop on over to Kelsey's blog at Aloha to Second to see some of her amazing Fall Favorites!