Five for Friday {11.21.14}

Hey there friends! Another Friday means another....



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Has everyone's week before Thanksgiving been crazy? I know mine has!

 

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 To start off the week I made my first post to a collaborative blog I am proud to be a part of. If you haven't checked us out yet, head on over to The Elementary Entourage. We are currently talking about Teaching Ideas to be Thankful For. You may see some of your names and ideas there...

 

This week I have made it a priority above all else to meet with my groups in all subject areas. The only way this has been possible is by properly utilizing my SMARTIES Math Rounds Management System and my still in design READING Rounds Management System. The books above have been challenging and engaging for my students. They have loved them, and the connections are flowing! If you have access to PearsonSuccessNet, I highly recommend checking out their Leveled Readers.

Earlier this week Miss DeCarbo over at Second Grade Sugar and Spice posted about her organization methods. If you haven't checked it out, it is definitely worth the read. As I am reading it, I found myself saying, "Hey I have that planner!" Schroeder Shenanigans in Second hit the nail on the head with this planner. It is editable so you can enter your own items and print weekly to keep yourself on track. The title is also editable so if you need it to say something different it absolutely can. I used it this week for the first time thanks to Miss DeCarbo, and I feel like I am already ready for next week, albeit a short week! I still can't function without my EC Planner though.

After using it this year, I am thinking about designing my own for next year so that it includes absolutely everything I need with the ease of the 3-ring binder. Yes, I am already thinking about next year...

This week has been filled with lots of turkey fun, and I cannot wait to continue learning about everything Thanksgiving next week. Next week we will be decorating the halls with our Turkey Disguise writing, completing our turkey craftivity, and I am even considering having parents come in to read Thanksgiving books with their child. All this, and I am still racking my brain to figure out how to bring in global learning...more specifically about our country of study {Greece}. Feel free to leave your recommendations below! :)

My sweet husband is off to Maryland this morning to run the JFK 50! Yes, 50 MILES! I have no words and am at a loss to explain why he would EVER consider doing this, but there ya have it. And all he is leaving me with is his stinking cold! So what will I do while he is gone this weekend?

First, I plan to finish sanding and painting this baby white. You will have to stay tuned to see what I plan to do with it.

Next, I plan on drafting my READING rounds product (suggestions on clipart/design welcome) and shortening SMARTIES to SMART for those who would not like quite as many centers.

All this on top of taking fall photographs of my dear sweet nephews and my three little sweeties and a birthday party on Sunday. Whew! Which reminds me... a friend suggested maybe I should sell my stock photos. If you have been following me you know I love taking pictures. Let me know what you think of the photos I posted on The Elementary Entourage. What would you pay for stock photos?

Five for Friday! {11.14.14}

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 I have had a couple crazy Fridays and weeks since my last post and I decided to just get back to the bloggin grind on Friday instead of waiting for a new week. I mean who doesn't love Friday, right?! Let's see, over the past two weeks I have had a sick child, the USMC ball, and tons of work. I should be able to get enough on this post. :) Here goes...

 What did you do for Halloween? Our kiddos are a little older now and are losing interest in dressing up, so we stayed home and handed out candy to the neighborhood kids. I was surprised at just how well my children did with this. They didn't seem to care at all. My second graders, on the other hand, we giddy all day about going Trick or Treating. We spent our day celebrating doing pumpkin activities during our Pumpkin Palooza. Because we are a school for technology and innovation, we recorded all our data into a spreadsheet. I had sooooo much help this was actually a breeze!

Next up we had Veteran's Day. We had so much with this activity. We made an anchor chart discussing our country's Veterans, watched a video on Discovery Education, and completed a craftivity. I was so proud of them. They came up with each adjective found in our adjective stars!! The students are still excited about learning about our Veterans so my lessons have continued the remainder of this week.

On top of everything I have had going on at work, I have also had one sick baby girl. She came down with strep last week and has been trying to recover ever since. Poor girl. Look at that face! HEHE

So I missed work on Monday and Tuesday last week because of my sick little one, and I already had to schedule a personal day on Friday for the 239th USMC Ball in Myrtle Beach. Work was crazy because my little sweeties didn't have their regular routine, but we had a blast in Myrtle Beach. We made a weekend of it after the Friday night festivities. It turned out to be a great weekend with family and friends!

{All I can say is....welcome to North Carolina. In case you didn't know which way was behind you...}

If you have been keeping up with The Sunny Side of Second Grade, you know that I recently finished a large product - SMARTIES Math Rotations. You can find the product in my TPT Store. Feel free to snag some Freebies while you are there.

Because my math rotations are going so well, I wanted to begin READING rotations in the same fashion. More to come because I do not want to give away my secrets, but you can see the training in action below. HAPPY FRIDAY Y'ALL!!!

Five for Friday! {10.24.14}

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Hey y'all!

Welcome to Friday...we made it... and my very first Five for Friday Link Up! This week has been a fun week full of many firsts. I am really getting into my routine in the blogging world and I am putting the finishing touches on a product I hope to roll out this weekend. Be on the lookout for a flash freebie...maybe? :) Let's get this party started!



FALLabulous Bulletin Boards

Fall is by far one of my favorite times of the year. Having the privilege to work in the primary grades makes this time even more special. While walking down the primary hall this week I stopped to take a picture of one of the Kindergarten bulletin board. This classroom is undeniably one of the coolest classrooms, and Mr. Gordon does an amazing job with all of his minions. His bulletin board transformed from Assemble the Minions at the beginning of the year to Assemble the Pumpkins for the kiddos' fall activities. The skills present on this display made me stop dead in my tracks. I hope you find the display as impressive as I did...

Fall Fun With Poetry



I would like to bring more poetry into my classroom, but I need ideas. I wrote this poem for my little sweeties when we started studying fall at the beginning of last week. I have been going crazy thinking about fun poetry activities to help them understand the concepts embedded in poems. I want my kiddos to have a love for reading all genres. What do you do with poetry in your classrooms?

Product Preview

I have been working hard on my SMARTIES math rotation pack. I started with a chalkboard background with a light blue theme and loved it. When I printed it, I realized I needed more POP and added frames then reprinted. Then I wanted some circles for the rotations instead of squares, so I made the changes and reprinted. The list keeps going...you get the picture. A LOT of ink and A LOT of cardstock. I really want this pack to be special and effective in any classroom. The students love these rounds and I even have a colleague incorporating them into her classroom now with the same results. I need more feedback to be sure it is everything teachers expect in a rotation management system. Provide some feedback on my page or email if you have ideas on what you are looking for in a rotation management pack! :)



Comprehension Challenges

What do you do with your children at home? My second grader is having difficulty with complex text questions and delving deeper into fictional text. We bough a Spectrum workbook from the local B&N that has been helping. We complete one page nightly, and believe me that takes A LOT of time. {This may or may not be because I require her to always find text evidence for every answer! :)} This is a special time for me and my little munchkin. It is like our own little guided reading session. We are able to have text conversations that I can make meaningful for her. It truly is my most special time of the day.

Time for your FREEBIE!

As a thank you for reading through my first Five for Friday I am offering a FREEBIE. Head on over to my TPT store and pick up your free set of Visual Directions. These cards are invaluable in my classroom. Use them to sequence events in your classroom and ensure students understand what they need to do to complete their assignments. I hope you enjoy them. If you want even more visual directions, please support my little store by purchasing the full pack. Link is on the freebie page. Click the image below to snag your freebie. ENJOY!

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