Poetry Week

With the new Common Core there are so many standards we are responsible to teach. Luckily, I found a way to fit in poetry! Reading Literature standard RL.2.4 states that students will describe how words and phrases supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song. With the kids surrounding me on the carpet,  I started our week by reading poetry by Shel Silverstein, Ken Nesbitt, Eloise Greenfield, Jack Prelutsky, Roald Dahl, and many others.  For thirty minutes straight my students sat in anticipation of the next poem I would read. Some made them laugh, others made them wonder, and still others brought out emotions that I don't think my students knew the written word could bring out in them.

I am still completely shocked that my students sat for a half an hour! It was such a lesson in how much children want to learn when provided with something interesting or new.  We discussed how the written word has so much power.  The words one writes can make someone feel a certain way.  My students were so excited to start their own adventure in writing poems.

Brainpop Jr. has a great short video on poetry. It introduces a few important terms and types of poems.  The kids and I made a KWL chart and picked three types of poems to write this week. On Monday we wrote acrostic poems using our names, Tuesday we wrote shape poems and on Wednesday we wrote Haiku's. Throughout the week students could add to the KWL chart themselves.

The new standards put a lot of pressure on teachers and I felt as though I had started to lose a bit of that freedom in flexibility.  I had started to lose those teachable moments that take you away from your intended lesson only to fall into a better lesson because of student curiosity and interest.  Yesterday I had one of those moments when you sit back and realize that your students were enjoying learning.  They got so into their shape poems. They started to naturally group each other by image and helped each other complete their poems.  I heard children asking each other questions, complimenting each others' pictures and poems, and generally working in cooperative groups.  I stood back and just watched for a few minutes. This was one of those moments that reminded me why I became a teacher.

It was all about ice cream for these girls! They came out great. I will post a few soon. 

School Is In Session!

Another great year has started! I have a wonderful group of students who are so ready to learn.  They have learned our classroom routines in record time and I feel like they have been in my classroom for weeks!  This year has brought a lot of changes to my district from leadership to curriculum.  It should be an exciting year...

I started a new board this year. The Target dollar spot last year had these french fry containers that immediately made me think of Fry words! I bought them all up and put them in a storage bin until just a few days ago.  I am not 100% sure how I will use them but here is my idea. My students are on various Fry word lists and gain new words at different rates. I have always put their individual words on rings but they tend to get lost in the shuffle.  This year I will test the students, put about 10 words at a time on their ring and they can keep them in their Fry containers.  When they have free time or need their words for center work, they can easily grab them.  We will see how this works! :-)

School Excitement! A New Year Beginning...

I have always said that the year I am not excited to go back to school, I will retire. Luckily I still get the butterflies of excitement thinking about my new class of students, new decorations and new activities and lessons to try. This year my goal is to blog weekly the amazing things my students do. I want to use it as a year long reflection of what I want to change and what I will duplicate for next year.

Every summer I think about a new theme for my classroom. I've had superheroes, animals, polka dots, under the sea, and retro. This year I am going to do something a bit different. I am  going to let my students decide.  The beginning of the year holds a lot of testing that is one-on-one with students.  I think that it will be fun to have the students get into groups and design classroom ideas for our year. They can present their ideas and the class can vote.  I am still working out the kinks but I think it could be amazing. I believe that students hold more pride in their rooms when they create the posters and help with the learning environment. My hope is that they feel like part of the process. (Plus, I am excited to see what they come up with!)

I don't want the room to be completely blahhh when they come in so I will have the bulletin board paper and door messages up and I am making small pom poms to hang from the ceiling.  My hope is to make about 40 by September- I'm on a roll....about 11 done! :)

Below I have included step by step directions for these pom poms. I have read and tried various versions but these seem to work the best and are the perfect size.

I got the paper at Homegoods. I tried to use dollar store paper but it was so thin it ripped all the time.  Place two of the same color on top of one another. Fold the paper in half and cut along the fold. You will now have four sheets. 

Fold the papers again and cut along the fold. You will now have eight papers. 

Accordion fold the paper and staple it in the middle. 

Round the edges. You can do a point also- I just like how the corners come out like flowers.  

Holding one end, pull and fluff down one sheet at a time. Don't worry about making them perfect here, at the end you can re-fluff to your liking :) 

Add the string before you fluff the other side. Makes it easier than doing it at the end.
(Trial and error research! haha)

Fluff them up and viola! Pom Poms!!

I'm Having A Sale On Teachers Pay Teachers!

My end of summer sale on TPT starts tomorrow! (9/12-9/15) All of my items are 10% off. Follow me on TPT to get advanced notice about my sales and special deals.  Follow the link here or click on my store to the right.

Summer is Winding Down.....

What an amazing summer! From a family vacation to the Cape to a mother/daughter trip to San Francisco to visit family, this has been a summer to remember. I stepped out of my comfort zone flew across the country, explored an amazing city, and biked the Golden Gate Bridge. There is nothing better than spending time with family.

During my trip to San Francisco I got to catch up with my aunt Diane, cousins, Todd and Jamie, and really get to know my new (two years new!) cousin-in-law, Taryn. We were so lucky to get some real bonding time over great dinners and wine country! Taryn works for a great organization called Common Sense Media.  (www.commonsensemedia.org ) This website is a great resource for anyone who works  with or has children. For educators there is an amazing technology curriculum - check it out!  

Here is their mission statement: "Common Sense Media is dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology. We exist because our nation's children spend more time with media and digital activities than they do with their families or in school, which profoundly impacts their social, emotional, and physical development.  As a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization, we provide trustworthy information and tools as well as an independent forum, so that families can have a choice and a voice about the media they consume."  (www.commonsensemedia.com) 

Check out their site and follow Taryn's blog! 

Taryn, Todd, Aunt Diane, Marsha (my mom!)

I'm riding a trolley! 

Shaving Cream Fun!

To go with my "end of year - keep them entertained - but we must also clean, teach, and pack the room" posts here is a short one on the joys of shaving cream. Years ago I was teaching in a small town in southern Rhode Island (I now teach in North Eastern Rhode Island - and yes, to us this is almost like being in another state! To everyone else this would translate to "30 minutes away". hahaha)

Anyhow, a teacher in that building opened my eyes to the cleaning power (and wonderful scent) of shaving cream on school desks. There is some magical ingredient in shaving cream that takes just about everything off tables and desks. Now, I'm not recommending this as an every day activity as it can get messy and does take a big chunk of time, but for the end of the year ( or once a week)  it is perfect! 

The OT in my building also uses it as therapy and has the children write in the shaving cream ~ this is an added educational bonus. :-) 

Here is a picture of the kiddo's that were left that last day. It was fun having such a small group but we missed the other students! Looking in the background- my room is so bare! We have to take everything down every year for cleaning.....

I had to cover their faces but under those bubbles are huge smiles! 

Creation Station!

The end of the year can be full of paperwork and organizing, cleaning and surviving the brutally hot classroom. (This year the high temperature in room 4 was 94*. Add one fan and 23 students and it gets pretty hot!)  I try to find activities for the kids that are different than the rest of the year and allow them to be a bit more creative. Although teaching is now more inquiry based, kids don't get to use their creative sides too often.  In September I place a huge Tupperware bin in the coat closet. When we do projects and there are left over scraps we put the pieces in the bin. Sometimes this will mean pom poms or straws and other times I will put old posters in. Parents hear about our "creation station" bin and will send things in they find around the house.  Even the art teacher helps out!

Come June the bin comes out and the kids get their first peek at the goodies inside. CREATION STATION is OPEN!

The kids are so creative and come up with the neatest projects. It truly brings out a different side. My students think it is so funny that I used to make projects like that all the time as a kid. Our mom and dad used to get us refrigerator boxes to cut and create into whatever our brains could imagine.

I learn so much from my students and how they learn through Creation Station. Some students dive right in and start cutting and gluing. Others watch each other to see what they are making. I even have some students that will sit and draw out a design. It really shows their learning styles and personalities. This coming September I am going to have Creation Station on Friday's to get a sneak peek at my students as learners.  I think it will provide me extra insight into their learning styles and help with grouping.

Jump in and Create! 

The design planners! 

End of the School Year Writing

The end of the year is full of testing, paperwork, and packing but it is important to remember that these are the last few weeks with your students. All of the hard work you have put in this year can be seen in the behavior and academic accomplishments of your students.

Every June I have the students complete a few fun writing assignments.  The kiddos are just finishing them up and then I will post some pictures. The first is a book they make titled "My Teacher". I got the idea a few years ago when a group of students started illustrating me.  We had just read the book "I Love My Hair" and I was explaining the importance of drawing what you see. How we interpret someone or something is our own vision and it could never be wrong. Well, I got some creative drawings alright but it made me think about how the children saw me. This idea morphed and now every year I have the children illustrate and write a biography of me, their teacher! They are so funny and incredibly eye opening. It is important to see how they see me and what they remember. This helps me reflect on my year...... and get a good laugh. (One year a student drew me with very bad dark roots! I brought the picture to my hairdresser immediately! hahah)

Another writing project I have them start in September. One of the beginning of the year projects is for students to draw themselves and then write 3 things I should know about them, two things they want to learn, and one thing they worry about. I keep them in their portfolios. At the end of the year they draw themselves again and write three things they loved learning, two things they want to learn more about, and one thing they worry about. I place them side by side in a book and they love reflecting on them. I also make a copy of the June one for their third grade teachers. It is a little hint of the student they will have.

Our last writing project is the one the students like the most....or so they have told me. They write letters to the first grade students coming into second grade the next year. The students write a paragraph on the manners and rules of second grade, another on the academics, and a third on advice for the new year. It is hysterical to read what they write and fun for the first graders to read. Many parents have told us they enjoyed this little surprise in their end of year report card envelopes and it has relieved a bit of the anxiety of the upcoming year.

I will upload images soon! Happy June!  

Science Fair

Every June our third, fourth, and fifth graders compete in an science fair. They work in groups of three and for weeks they conduct experiments. To involve our younger grades and help increase interest in science, every classroom grades K-2 explore the scientific process and conduct an experiment. This year we decided to work on absorption. The students started by asking questions about how plants absorb water. We conducted the generic colored water and flower experiment first. Students observed how the water is absorbed into the stem and traveled all the way to the petals. They turned blue!  After discussion and research on plant cells, the students wanted more. I found some great ideas on Pinterest and below are the results.

We started by placing a circular dot about the size of a quarter.  This team had red and orange markers.  We put about an inch of water in the bucket and placed the paper towel side without the dot in the water. 

This group used blue and purple markers. 

This experiment was just as easy and I had all of the materials in my cupboards. Place a paper towel from each cup and see what happens. Best results in 24 hours. 

The kids had learned all about primary colors in Art so their prediction about the color that would end up in the middle cup was right on! 

Reading Week Fun!

I feel as though I have neglected my blog as end of year craziness set in around April. I received an inspirational email from a new teacher who was using my blog as a guide to her first year in teaching. What an amazing compliment.  So to all of you out there enjoying this space for me to share- thank you for your emails and hope to see some of your blogs out there soon! 

Reading Week this year was a blast. We used the text Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster by Debra Frasier as a focus text. Go to her website here for everything you need.  For those of you who have not yet read this book it is about a student who mishears and misunderstands a weekly vocabulary word. The book is full of vocabulary blunders that the kids love.  The artwork is equally as wonderful.  

We held our Reading Week the week right after April Vacation. Students had the week off to come up with a vocabulary word and create a costume.  The entire school participated and the results were amazing! Unfortunately, many of our students can't be on the web otherwise I would have shared the vocabulary parade video. But, here are a few pictures. I made the giant dictionary out of boxes from the new tables. Our custodian is great and knows I will come up with a use for anything. :-) 

Melancholy- She wore all black and walked around all day with a frown! So creative! 
Idea- He covered a box with tin foil and taped a light bulb on top. Very original! 

Reading Week Fun!

I feel as though I have neglected my blog as end of year craziness set in around April. I received an inspirational email from a new teacher who was using my blog as a guide to her first year in teaching. What an amazing complement.  So to all of you out there enjoying this space for me to share- thank you for your emails and hope to see some of your blogs out there soon! 

Reading Week this year was a blast. We used the text Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster by Debra Frasier as a focus text. Go to her website here for everything you need.  For those of you who have not yet read this book it is about a student who mishears and misunderstands a weekly vocabulary word. The book is full of vocabulary blunders that the kids love.  The artwork is equally as wonderful.  

We held our Reading Week the week right after April Vacation. Students had the week off to come up with a vocabulary word and create a costume.  The entire school participated and the results were amazing! Unfortunately, many of our students can't be on the web otherwise I would have shared the vocabulary parade video. But, here are a few pictures. I made the giant dictionary out of boxes from the new tables. Our custodian is great and knows I will come up with a use for anything. :-) 

Melancholy- She wore all black and walked around all day with a frown! So creative! 
Idea- He covered a box with tin foil and taped a light bulb on top. Very original! 

Revamping the Word Wall

So..... wall space is at a premium in my classroom. With just a few bulletin boards....and having to adhere to fire safety rules, I don't have much space on the walls. Over the years I have gotten creative. Last year I hung up a "cloths line" and now it is where I hang the anchor charts for each unit. I have been wracking my brain on what to do with my word wall. I know it is important for the younger grades to have it available when they are writing. The issue is where to put it. With about 200 words to display, it was taking up my entire back wall.

Most of the children have to bring their writing to the wall and copy down the correct spelling of the word either because they can't see from their seats or they have trouble copying from the board.  This got me thinking. Why not let the students bring the word wall to their desks like they do for the Tired Word cards.  I reprinted the Fry word lists from The Curriculum Corner (my new favorite resource)  and laminated them at Lakeshore Learning (they have the best price around).  I realized after I made them that they will also work well for independent and partner Fry practice time.  (side note- The students also have a Fry list in their desk folders but somehow throughout the year they slowly disappear.....)

More Snow Means.....

More snow has fallen which means one thing for me lately....I put another product up on my TpT store! I have so many great materials I have made over the years for my classroom and students and I am excited to finally be able to share them.  The third and final week of our Fairy Tales, Myths, and Fables unit was a week of fractured fairy tales. The kids and I love reading them and it gives them the opportunity to do some serious comparing and contrasting practice along with discussing point of view and voice in dialogue.  (all part of the new common core standards for grade 2)  This Fractured Fairy Tale Unit is a blast! We start with reading The Three Little Pigs and the Princess and the Frog.  Then we read Jon Scoeszka's versions, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and The Frog Prince Continued.  There are so many fun activities to do with this unit. Find it here on my TpT store.  If you want to check out my Fables unit on TpT click here or my fairy tale materials click here.  ( I have more fairy tale materials to upload....just need another snow day) Hope your students enjoy it as much as mine did! 

Scrabble Word Work Center

It is finally up! I have been working on improving this center for a few weeks now. I have made simple changes like increasing the space where the kids write on the worksheet and making the scrabble tiles a little bigger.  I print the third page of this packet on different color card stock and laminate. Then I cut them out and put them in baggies.  Hope you enjoy my Word Work- Scrabble Center I know the kids in my room do!

Center Time!

Catch up post 2 :-)

During my language arts block I have students in and out of the classroom for reading, speech, and OT services.  Because of this I find that I do a lot of small group instruction - more of a workshop model set up.  Here are a few of the centers I have done in the past few months. The partner fluency station and word work stations typically stay the same but other centers change depending on the unit I am teaching.  I try to make them very hands-on and interactive for my sensory needs kiddos :)

Play-dough Words- word work

 Common & Proper Noun Hunt - The Sunday paper was perfect for this center- and FREE!

 Partner Fluency Center- so Cute!!! I use beach chairs also- they can be stored out of the way!

Type It Center- Word Work- Great for those broken key boards laying around!

Scrabble Center- Spell out the spelling words and add up your points! Coming Soon to TpT! 

A Unit on Overcoming Obstacles

Well, I am playing a little catch up with my blog posts but here it goes....

A few weeks back we were teaching an ELA unit that focused on a Common Core ELA Standard on how people or characters overcome obstacles. Throughout this unit we studied the Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison, Betsy Ross, Susan B. Anthony, and Helen Keller to name a few.  To be honest, we picked these particular people because our school library had the resources. 

The first week we focused on the inventors  We read books, watched videos, and did research on the computer.  The students started to realize that these inventors had to overcome all kinds of obstacles.  By the end of the week we were comparing and contrasting what we had learned.  

The second week focused on women in history that had to overcome obstacles.  Click here for a link to a few of my resources I have on TpT. (this link leads you to a Betsy Ross free download. Go to my store for the other worksheets I mentioned.) A few are free downloads so make sure to check those out.  

At the end of the second week we started a writing project. The students invented their own pencils! This pencil had to make their lives better in some way.  I used Jennifer Mueller's product I found on TpT and just tweaked it a little for this project.  Her graphic organizers for this unit are great so check her out! The students had to brainstorm some ideas, draw a prototype, and write a paragraph about their inventions. They did so well and had so much fun! Then using Jennifer's templates, we created a model of our pencils. Check out a few below.  

Great Resource

I want to say a quick thanks to my sister-in-law at Mrs Lodges Library for the shout-out about my new blog! She is incredibly inventive with her teaching and creates materials for her students that they can truly interact with.  I even came home one day (to my childhood bedroom) to find 7 foot Dr. Suess Truffula trees covering my bed! It was like walking into the story! :)  I also wanted to mention that my brother helped her create a game called Shelve-It that teaches children how to further understand call numbers. Check it out and let her know what you think!

This year our city adopted the Common Core State standards (CCSS-another teacher acronym haha) for math and language arts.  I have been fortunate to be a part of the curriculum writing team for language arts.  Through the many hours of research we found a great resource website. It is called K-12 Reader Reading Instruction Resources for Teachers and Parents.  Although they have many great materials, I wanted to talk about their spelling program. They have 36 week programs for grades k-5. Most of the lists include sight words, pattern words, and academic challenge words. Our students love this system and it mostly matches up to our ELA program.You can print out any week you need. You don't need to necessarily go in the order they created. The site also has dictation sentences for the spelling test.

I just uploaded the worksheets I made for these spelling lists to TpT. Each week/spelling pattern has a two page worksheet with 4-5 activities. Check out the document here on TpT. 

Fairy Tales, Folktales, and Fables....Oh My!!!

It's that time of year again! I really enjoy teaching this unit although we have changed it a bit each year. I feel like this might be the best year yet :)  During our first week we read a bunch of fairy tales. This year we read The Gingerbread Man, Hansel and Gretel, The Three Little Pigs, Cinderella, and Little Red Riding Hood. The kids knew a lot of these stories so we made sure to read a few versions of each story.  

This same week we started a writing project. The students and I did a lot of research on our fairy tales.  We then made a checklist of everything our fairy tales must have.  Each child picked a story to retell and we got started. They are so excited for writing each day and I can't get them off the topic! I will upload some of the stories when they are published. 

This week we read three different Cinderella stories and worked on comparing and contrasting them. We also did some research on the countries they were from to get more of an understanding. We read Adelita (Mexican tale), Fair, Brown, and Trembling (Irish Tale) and Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters (African tale).  I was amazed at how well they knew the tales and we were able to have a real discussion. I was in shock when they started discussing the story with each other (ON TOPIC!) like I wasn't even there. It was one of those moments when you sit back as a teacher and realize how much they have grown since September.  

Next week we will begin the third week of this unit and focus on fables.  I chose 11 different fables this year that have varying morals.  Throughout the week we will compare and contrast the fables using charts and Venn diagrams, create story maps, and even write our own fables.  I also threw in an opinion writing piece because we just finished up opinion writing. I will use it as an assessment to see if they fully grasped that type of writing.  

I uploaded some more of my products on TpT this week. I also put up this fables unit. It contains everything you need including the 11 fables and all worksheets. 

Click on the TpT image on the right to scroll through my new products and visit my store.  

Opinion Writing

This week I started opinion writing with my students. We have such a great time discovering the difference between opinions and facts. I even overheard a student in the lunch line today say, "choice 1 is the best"to which another student then responded, "in your opinion!" I laughed the entire way to the teacher's room! 

I just uploaded my opinion writing mini-unit to Teachers Pay Teachers. Click here to check it out. Let me know what you think. 

I also uploaded a form I have students fill out when there is a bullying situation or something happened between classmates.  I use the form when the students come to the "talking table" to discuss the incident.  It is also a great way to track behavior.  Get it here.  

If you haven't been on TpT yet...get there fast! Click here for a link to my store.  

New TpT Items

It is Sunday! My first day of my "new years" resolution to blog at least weekly. Today I went out with some friends to celebrate one of them getting a job as an ESL teacher at a nonprofit in the city. As we talked about life our conversation turned to teaching. I find this is such a natural progression when a bunch of teachers get together! As we spoke of phonics vs. whole language and phoneme grapheme mapping, we realized that all students are the same no matter the age. She will be teaching adults English but the approach is so similar to teaching ESL children. Make it fun! Make it meaningful! Make it stick!!! 

I thought back to my experiences this year. I started the year with 15 children out of 21 reading at least 9 months below level. This is almost an entire year! I sat back that first week of school and realized I would have a very different approach this year. I had to try to make up two years of education in one! After I sat back for a bit, I realized that it would be no different that any other year or any other student. I would start with the basics and take one step at a time. When they accomplished a goal we had a dance party! We graphed gains in Fry words and reading levels and celebrated each others' success! By mid year only 9 children were below level and a big part of that accomplishment was my students. They decided to learn and found out that hard work pays off! You can't make someone learn but you can teach them how to love learning. 

Anyway, click here for my new TpT items and brief explanations of the items. I love making things and getting creative so if you have a game or item you want but don't want to make it yourself - email me- I will be glad to help. :) Enjoy! Remember ~ every day is an adventure! 

New Year's Resolution....

I was showing my blog to my family this past month and realized it isn't really a blog if you don't write! :) So my March resolution is going to be to write every Sunday.  Since today is Saturday I feel as though I am already ahead of the game! 

I finally put some of my worksheets and organizational forms I have made on Teachers Pay Teachers. Check out my store.  I think that I am going to try to put my products up as I use them in the classroom to make sure they actually work as I thought they would.  So far all of my products have been used in my room successfully.  

My sister in law, Mrs. Lodge,  is a library teacher in Ct. Her products are incredible! Check out her blog and her store. Some of her products could easily be used in a classroom setting- or show them to your school librarian.