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!!!

Wordless Wednesday {11.5.14}



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It has been a busy few days for the Felts Family! Sammie, our littlest, decided she would catch strep, which meant mommy would have to catch up on sleep. What do you do to juggle the responsibilities of work and being a mom?

Yes, I am the super exhausted one and Sammie is the sick emoticon! We had colorful children what can I say?

Wordless Wednesday {10.29.14}

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It's that time again! A picture can say it all. What does this picture say to you? Leave your feedback!!

How do you plan your small groups?

Visual Plans {10.26.14}

So I have done visual lesson plans for quite some time, but I got away from them for a bit because I was trying really really REALLY hard to use my Erin Condren planner. I love all the organization, but I love the way I lesson plan better. I would love to take part in Peek at My Week, and maybe that will be a goal of mine in the future. For now, feast your eyes on my visual lesson plans. Sorry if they are a bit blurry. I will work on that. Don't forget to leave your comments. :)

The Sunday Scoop: {10.26.14}

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Here is my Sunday Scoop for this week. Lesson plans always seem to be at the top of my list. I was very optimistic yesterday in my plans for this weekend up until I had to spend the last several hours updating all of my blog posts because SOMEONE decided it would be a good idea to delete pictures of her drive in order to free up some space and avoid paying for extra storage. Sooooo...there's that!

Now I am back in routine and ready to plan for this next week. I am looking forward to next week because of our PUMPKIN PALOOZA. I bet you are too!! What do you have planned for your little sweeties?

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!!!

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

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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